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Author Topic: An Open Letter to James McMurray  (Read 7801 times)

Kyle Aaron

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #45 on: December 13, 2006, 06:59:40 PM »
James McMurray, ease off, for fuck's sakes. Come here to talk about games. This is not thefuckupthatbitchRPGPunditsite, it's therpgsite. Focus, James-san, focus!

RPGPundit, don't be a wuss. You say extreme and ridiculous things to get a reaction, and sometimes, you get a reaction. Surprise, surprise. That's the internet persona you've chosen for yourself, Fighting The Power - so you're naturally going to attract other people with similar internet personas, who also want to Fight The Power.
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jrients

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #46 on: December 13, 2006, 07:14:23 PM »
The fact of the matter is that I had already pidgeon-holed you as "Pundit' personal bugaboo" before he complained to me that you wouldn't get off his back.  That's not a good sign, dude.  I can seriously count on one hand the number of posters around here that I don't have a neutral or better opinion of.
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James McMurray

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #47 on: December 13, 2006, 07:24:38 PM »
Quote from: Spike
that said. James, going into the pundit's 'personal' forum and commenting about 'wow, more pundit stuff' is rather...er... stalkerish. I mean, it's not like that part of the forum isn't clearly labled as "pundit's turf". This of course, has led to that.


True. I specifically haven't posted in there since the truce, or if I have (I post all over the place) I know I haven't been negative ro insulting.

Quote from: JimBobOz
James McMurray, ease off, for fuck's sakes. Come here to talk about games. This is not thefuckupthatbitchRPGPunditsite, it's therpgsite. Focus, James-san, focus!


The thing is, I thought I had eased off. I'm still hopinh Pundit will explain which parts of which posts were insulting beyond the two we've already discussed.

Quote from: jrients
The fact of the matter is that I had already pidgeon-holed you as "Pundit' personal bugaboo" before he complained to me that you wouldn't get off his back. That's not a good sign, dude. I can seriously count on one hand the number of posters around here that I don't have a neutral or better opinion of.


Have you been reading my posts since the truce? Do you think I've gone overboard anywhere (or even near the railing)? If so, please tell me where.

edit: added names to the quotes for clarity (and people like me who sometimes scan for their names).

David R

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #48 on: December 13, 2006, 07:30:21 PM »
I thought this site was all about encouraging your bette noires :D

Regards,
David R

King of Old School

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #49 on: December 13, 2006, 09:05:25 PM »
This discussion is stupid.

Obviously JM can contribute something other than anti-Pundit rancor -- both jrients and Pundit have admitted as such.  Threatening to ban or neuter him, then, smacks of the rankest form of hypocrisy and double-speak.  Particularly if the last comments of which Pundit complains ("have you read the books or played the game?") are the kind of "attacks" that are threatening to drag the board into the quagmire...

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #50 on: December 13, 2006, 11:11:04 PM »
Quote from: Spike

that said. James, going into the pundit's 'personal' forum and commenting about 'wow, more pundit stuff' is rather...er... stalkerish. I mean, it's not like that part of the forum isn't clearly labled as "pundit's turf".   This of course, has led to that.

Pundit: vague mutterings of 'measures being taken' are rather... er... bullying or some such.  Either let it go or DO something. Don't threaten with vague 'something' for days on end.  Banning, of course, would be the end of the dream. But it's your dream, not mine... I've just been 'basking in the freedom'...

Now, get thy passive agressive behinds into the thunderdome. Two men enter, one man leaves.



The delay wasn't an attempt to be ominous, it was something that happened due to discussion between me and the other Admins, and trying to figure out if we were technologically able to do what I really wanted done.

The current measure which has been implemented is that rather than do anything at all to stop James from writing, I have put myself on his ignore list.  I couldn't put him on mine, because of the practical reality of being the Admin here meaning I have to read the posts.
Instead, at least for the time being, he can't read my posts.

The thing is, I agree that he's a useful poster. When its not about me, he's been very productive and useful to this site. I don't want him to leave it. But because he can't help but make sniper shots at me whenever it strikes him to, I think it might be better for him to just not see me anymore, and stick to doing other, more useful things with his time here.

The alternative was to censor what he said, and I didn't really want to do that, unless this kind of crazyness continues. I think that this alternative is better; maybe after a while I can undo this too, and things will calm down. I hope so.

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #51 on: December 13, 2006, 11:12:49 PM »
Quote from: JimBobOz
James McMurray, ease off, for fuck's sakes. Come here to talk about games. This is not thefuckupthatbitchRPGPunditsite, it's therpgsite. Focus, James-san, focus!

RPGPundit, don't be a wuss. You say extreme and ridiculous things to get a reaction, and sometimes, you get a reaction. Surprise, surprise. That's the internet persona you've chosen for yourself, Fighting The Power - so you're naturally going to attract other people with similar internet personas, who also want to Fight The Power.


I agree with this, and I agree that it "takes two to tango".  But the reality is that this was getting too disruptive (how many threads got derailed by this?), and this is a needed break for both of us.

The unfortunate truth is that Im adminning the site, he's not, so the sanctions have to be taken by me toward him.  As it is, I tried to pick the one that would do the absolute least to stop his participation on this site in a productive way, and that wouldn't actually abrogate on his freedom of speech.

RPGPundit
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you've played 'medieval fantasy' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

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The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #52 on: December 13, 2006, 11:14:56 PM »
Quote from: jrients
The fact of the matter is that I had already pidgeon-holed you as "Pundit' personal bugaboo" before he complained to me that you wouldn't get off his back.  That's not a good sign, dude.  I can seriously count on one hand the number of posters around here that I don't have a neutral or better opinion of.


That, and the responses I got on my blog entry about this, confirmed to me that it wasn't just my own perception of things, and made me feel more at ease about doing something about this. I'm still not happy that it had to come to that.

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James McMurray

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #53 on: December 14, 2006, 01:14:23 AM »
Odd. I can't see any of Pundit's newest posts. The new indicator and front page of the various subforums says they're there but when I go to look at them they aren't there. For instance, this thread has an entire page 6 I can't see, presumably because it's Pundit-only.

Is this the "measures" that were taken or just the board acting funky?

Settembrini

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #54 on: December 14, 2006, 01:45:51 AM »
I can read your posts.
I assume you are "ignoring" Pundit, seems to be the "measure" that was talked about.
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Kyle Aaron

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #55 on: December 14, 2006, 01:46:33 AM »
James McMurray, they've used a board function where you've got him on ignore - whether you like it or not.
Quote from: RPGPundit
The delay wasn't an attempt to be ominous, it was something that happened due to discussion between me and the other Admins, and trying to figure out if we were technologically able to do what I really wanted done.

The current measure which has been implemented is that rather than do anything at all to stop James from writing, I have put myself on his ignore list. I couldn't put him on mine, because of the practical reality of being the Admin here meaning I have to read the posts.

Instead, at least for the time being, he can't read my posts.

The thing is, I agree that he's a useful poster. When its not about me, he's been very productive and useful to this site. I don't want him to leave it. But because he can't help but make sniper shots at me whenever it strikes him to, I think it might be better for him to just not see me anymore, and stick to doing other, more useful things with his time here.

The alternative was to censor what he said, and I didn't really want to do that, unless this kind of crazyness continues. I think that this alternative is better; maybe after a while I can undo this too, and things will calm down. I hope so.

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James McMurray

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #56 on: December 14, 2006, 09:14:48 AM »
Ah. I'd think the optimal sequence would be to inform and then implement this sort of thing. :)

Ah well. I tried to get him to explain exactly how I was breaking our truce in my posts. If he didn't want to or couldn't do that I can't make him.

He also seems to have a blind spot in regards to me, as I've been a useful poster when it does involve him as well.

Ah well. Such are the vagaries of internet forums. :)

rcsample

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #57 on: December 14, 2006, 10:42:45 AM »
Quote from: King of Old School
This discussion is stupid.



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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #58 on: December 14, 2006, 02:06:25 PM »
Some of you have e-mailed me regarding this issue and decision, and I'm not looking to be the authoritarian mod here.  I would appreciate knowing from more of you, right here on this thread, if you feel this is a good way to deal with these kinds of problems when they come up, if you think something else should be done, etc.

I was having a good conversation in PM with David R; which led me to conclude that one of the things that wasn't dealt with well in this situation is that there was not enough community policing, as it were.  Jrients started this thread, which is good, but basically I think that before that James had the idea in his head that it was only me who was pissed off about the way he was doing things, or me and my "allies" (whatever the fuck that means).

That tells me that not enough of you guys were writing to say that this was stupid behaviour.  As in, I know now from PMs and from my blog entry and from here, that a lot of you found this whole situation very annoying, and yet there wasn't any commentary.  Had there been, not to slag James but to let him know that it was disrupting the chat, I'd like to think that he might have realized it was bothering other people than just his "intended target", and he might have changed things for real before sanctions had to take place.

Then again, maybe he wouldn't have.  In the end, I'm not very upset about the decision I took in and of itself; I am bothered that I had to get to the point where I had to do so; and I'd love it if everyone saw it as "their business", not to report on people or slam people, but to express to people when they feel that something is being intentionally off-topic or disruptive or harmful to the forum.

I know this might be difficult for some, having come from boards where the official policy is "leave it to the mods, don't try to act like you're a mod because you're not, the mods are special snowflakes who's beauty you could never even dare to lay eyes on"; but around here, my goal is to NOT have to show anyone my "special beauty" (none of you are my type) and I'd rather see rational people communicating with other rational people, or verbally chastising and expressing collective annoyance with irrational people; instead of waiting for an Admin to do something about it.

I figure the other Admin guys here feel the same way.

Don't make us whip out our "special beauties", guys...

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Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

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The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

James McMurray

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An Open Letter to James McMurray
« Reply #59 on: December 14, 2006, 02:21:33 PM »
Lots of chatter here, very little of it I can see. Anything I should be interested in?