solidwhetstone didn't do anything wrong.

0  2013-12-24 by [deleted]

He asked for ways that r/conspiracy can improve, not how it can be made worst. It is also worth remembering that no changes have been made as a result of his post on r/conspiratard. To ignore dissenting voices does us all a disservice and shows selective ignorance. I have moderated here for a number of years and know solidwhetstone is not a biased voice. He did however misjudge his post and made an error in how he handled the question of making /r/conspiracy better.

Does that mean he is devil spawn?

He was the first mod to approve the top post asking for him to step down because he wanted to listen to all of your opinions.

I understand that he has possibly gone about things in the wrong way, we all make errors of judgement. Put things into perspective before persecution. We all want this sub to move forward and asking for criticism cannot be viewed as a bad idea.

Nothing has changed as a result of his post. If you have issues with the way this was handled then tell us, but don't all reach for the pitch forks.

Edit:

Moderator solidwhetstone has volunteered that he will be removed to the bottom moderator position as a result of his conspiratard post. We have agreed that if any user has issues with him - or his future moderation duties he will be removed immediately. Please see this as a reasonable suggestion from an honest moderator, not someone who wanted to harm the sub or its readers.

Edit 2:

What would you like to see as a fair outcome of the solidwhetstone episode?

75 comments

Here's an idea, ask /r/conspiracy how to make /r/conspiracy better

Too crazy?

There is really no need at all to bring that sub into this subs business.

I agree and have made that post myself months ago. solid's conspiratard post was his own doing and most of the moderators here thought it was a bad call. It was an error of judgement not a betrayal.

As somebody who browses here a lot but very rarely posts, I think he was correct, and I do think conspiritard is made up of some people that are put off from this sub, for a group of 'open minded' redditors and people that claim to work objectively, massive amounts of this sub is just 'anti-system' propaganda that is more about stroking peoples egos, with those who question becoming shills. Posters should have to post solid proof of what they say or mark it as opinion, and leave their egos behind. The mod people are having a go at is not the problem some of the redditors are. This is my honest opinion of this sub, some of the people here are more like sheep than those that listen to the MSM.

[deleted]

This kinda proves my point, the sub I should be able to come to for open minded information, regardless of the source has turned into a witch hunt. If you asked for his removal you should be ashamed. Ask your all so mighty selves, if you are the watchmen of this world, pointing out the wrong in others, who watches you? My reasoning for the comment above is also because of the burden of proof, some claims made here are opinion, pure and simple, that people try to reprisent as fact. The world you are all so sick of will never change while you act the way you do. I will fade back into the background now, but would like to add; We are supposed to be those that start a revolution of minds and society, the leaders and guides of those who start learning how screwed we are being, instead some of you look at this as a title 'I'm better than you because I know the systems fucked, and you're just a zombie, and if your view is different you must work for the government

This kinda proves my point, the sub I should be able to come to for open minded information, regardless of the source has turned into a witch hunt. If you asked for his removal you should be ashamed. Ask your all so mighty selves, if you are the watchmen of this world, pointing out the wrong in others, who watches you? My reasoning for the comment above is also because of the burden of proof, some claims made here are opinion, pure and simple, that people try to reprisent as fact. The world you are all so sick of will never change while you act the way you do. I will fade back into the background now, but would like to add; We are supposed to be those that start a revolution of minds and society, the leaders and guides of those who start learning how screwed we are being, instead some of you look at this as a title 'I'm better than you because I know the systems fucked, and you're just a zombie, and if your view is different you must work for the government

Your account is a month old.

So, this is my only account, and I read posts for months before making posts.

Sorry if that offended you. My inbox is overloaded with comments from conspiratards and trolling individuals. I'm left with searching accounts for length and content. Please accept my humble apology.

Not offended just presumed you were the same kind of assuming ass I have come to accept here, plenty of people preaching about knowing all the facts before commenting or passing judgememt, who happily assume the worst of others if they do not like what they say, not saying that is you, just what I assumed at your assuming, now we're both idiots

Let's not forget the longer we're distracted by this shite, the topics we should be focusing on are not being addressed and or discussed as well as they could or should be.

Everyone F's up... now if said suspect behavior should continue, then get all up about it. Let's all get back to the real business at hand.

[deleted]

Agreed, but if we jump on someone (anyone for that matter) for a poor choice/bad decision/momentary lapse of reason, it does not help anything.

Like I said, if said behavior continues, then I would be one of the ones asking for judgement to be passed. Mistakes can be learned from, if someone cannot learn from their mistakes, or poor judgement then so be it, then it's time to act on it.

But I feel this is more of a divide and conquer effort, seems to be working well as the front page is full of discussion regarding this, and has "distracted" from the "real" issues of topic.

Carlin said "they' don't want people that can think, even more, they don't want people that think having discussions with others that can think. OMG it'll become a movement... =)

If I had to guess, of course this is a "benefit of the doubt" line of thought here, I would say that in earnest he sought to find out from r/conspiracy's biggest critics "Why" they hate on this sub so hard, to address what it was about the sub that causes their ire and maybe a way to bring more into or back into the "discussion".

I may be wrong...

But a lot of energy and time has been wasted on this petty crap. No deep thinking here, which is what we come here to do, engage our minds in critical discussion to figure out truths that would otherwise be quickly swept under the rug from view, and dismantle the nonsense.

Just my 2 cents, which under today's dollar isn't anything anymore.

unbanning known trolls so they can come back here and troll some more is pathetic.

[deleted]

I'm sorry but I have responded to hundreds of comments here over the past 2 days. Please go back through my comment history.

Completely agree. The mod role is a volunteer position. We cannot expect perfection. I believe he was well intentioned and was showing initiative. It remains my view that he should stay on to mod one of the hardest subs there is to moderate.

[deleted]

Yes you must listen to the community but how do you define the "community"? A noisy minority of commenters out of 204k subscribers? What period of time is needed to determine a reasonable per cent of the community has read your post and had its' say? A few hours or days? A few hours mean you are only listening to subscribers in or near your time zone. That is not fair.

At the moment, the noisy minority has a megaphone in this sub, all they are missing are pitchforks. More time is needed to get a broad and considered opinion. Who could be against that?

Well in my personal experience I am now being bombarded by conspiratards in my inbox. They have arrived like a virus. I'm getting all kinds a strange comments from previous threads that made the top list here. A few I was the OP and others I was just commenting on. When I look up their profile almost all are from /r/conspiratard. This is lame. They are going through previous and current top stories with a downvote brigade/trolling attitude.

but...but.. they don't brigade! /s

Right, I'm getting randoms replying to shit I've said months ago.

He just comes off as a complete moron going to a known shill/troll forum to try to take suggestions.

Have you actually read the responses he received to his post? When I read the replies (a few hours ago) the majority of the replies were appreciative, considered and measured. I let facts determine my opinions. What do you do?

Put the pitchfork down for a second and take a look at his post.

Huh?

Have you read the post the mod made in /r/conspiratard? The 'shit forum' you refer to? The post was actually reasonable and the comments he received (on an admittedly childish sub) were largely decent. You should take a look before calling for the mod's head (aka, actually look at the evidence before coming to a judgement).

He isn't a moron but i think he may have misread the divide between conspiracy and conspiratard, I just don't think he should be hounded so much because of this. He already updated the css for us and hasn't made any changes as a result of his post asking for ideas on how we can improve.

Yeah, i dunno. I'm not really following this controversy much but you think a mod here would know that that place is essentially modded by Israel firsters who make Rachel corrie jokes and are likely paid to do things like that, or are just plain psychotic. It just seems like a rookie mistake, or someone who doesn't respect the posters here.

solidwhetstone came in after the donbueno episode some months ago. He is not a hardcore conspiracy theorist and this has possibly lead to this mess. Take a look at his account, he has a great reputation on reddit. I think he has simply misjudged the divide and made an error of judgement, i haven't seen anything malicious towards r/conspiracy from him since he has been an active mod here.

I hear you. Still don't understand why a non hardcore conspiracy theorist is modding this sub though. Ah well

[deleted]

That sounds like the average college student. Again, no real reason to moderate a forum like this one

I began RES tagging them (posters from conspiratard) and it's mind blowing how often you see them appear in threads over here trying to stir shit up. They never once offer any counter arguments to anything, they just mock, ridicule and troll. For him to approach them speaks on behalf of his ignorance of this community.

Give an example.

Bullshit.

He still needs to be removed as a mod and this is the entire community speaking. Let me explain to you why, it's not because he simply asked conspiritard a question but because of the way he speaks about his own community to a community created entirely to discredit and belittle this community. In reading his comments on the thread in question it's painfully obvious that he thinks very poorly of his own community and where he should be defending it instead he's openly talking shit about it. I want mods who feel as passionately about this content as I do and he seems like just a dip shit kid who thinks this is a fun hobbie.

You don't speak for me. I want him to stay as a mod.

He doesn't understand that most of the users here dislike the blatant disrespect for this sub and alternative discourse coming from r/conspiritard. That alone proves he is incompetent of moderating. He should do the gracious thing and resign.

Seriously, this is stickied?

i mean are you fkn serious when a petition with 2k upvote thinks otherwise?

Go sticky the petition.

2000 upvotes is 2000 users. That's 1%. You like the 1% being in charge of everything?

Definition of irony!

Meister Shillster I love seeing this username in here all the time with baseless content.

Tagged in RES.

One day I hope you to make a comment worthy of receiving a tag from myself. Until then, remain a blank.

Maybe one day you'll actually offer an intelligent retort to something instead of mocking posters

It's mainly the same 10 or so people though (of which you're one, 20 day old account) really, plus a bunch of people I've never seen before in years of being here.

Popcorning my way through this drama

PURGE EM ALL! NEW MODS ALL AROUND

His attitude when replying to users is my problem.

He just replied to me on another thread. Can confirm the attitude.

[deleted]

Examples? You are aware you can go look at his post history, yes?

Why don't you look? He's just deflecting all criticism from him and refusing to accept he was wrong in going to people who do nothing but troll us for advice which ended up being completely censorship based.

All the posts I was going to show as examples have been deleted. Mostly from the petition thread... Let me dig a bit deeper.

Here's a question I dont see being asked; other than behind the scenes CSS updates, what is necessitating an overhaul of this sub? Seems to me this was the core of the last big mod purge, and that was also because mods made changes without conferring with the subscribers.

I hope its understood why people would be skeptical of another call for sweeping changes, especially when it appears a pattern is emerging with mod action. And thats ignoring the constant calls from brigadeers to declare this sub dead, or for everyone to move to a new sub.

There was never a major overhaul planned as far as i know, it isn't needed. However asking if there are ways we can make the sub better isn't a far out request. No changes were ever discussed apart from a design update. We want to keep the sub as it is but if we can make improvements we will listen. solid just went to the wrong audience, not fully understanding the divide between ourselves and conspiratard.

How could he not understand the divide between the two subreddits?

The best way to make the sub better: Ask the community FIRST.

Seems like he's done a lot wrong, actually.

Why don't people like OP try to understand what r/conspiritard is?

This is insane, seriously.

[deleted]

It's been less than two days. Chill out a little.

Yeah, pretty soon this all blows over, we forget about it, and this tool is still a mod.

Homophobic comment. Could you kindly amend please as it is against the rules. Thank you.

Excuse me?

[deleted]

[deleted]

The inference is well known. The term is well used as derogatory slang for a gay person but I can't be arsed to argue as I have to go to sleep.

You're one I those people that go out of your way to look for ways to possibly be offended, huh?

[deleted]

[deleted]

That was a pretty lame reply which betrayed your age.

Does anyone else find it strange that conspiratard has been allowed to exist for so long? I thought subreddits dedicated to sabotaging other subreddits or downvote brigades were against the ToS?

Edit: the fact that it exists is a pretty big red flag. If there's an entire sub being allowed to compromise our home here, it's a sign that we're on the right track, and we're making a lot of people worry about what is discussed here (Which is a good thing.)

...yes, but some subreddits are more equal than others.

I'm just gonna leave this here...

What I've been hearing:

"You know, if solidwhetstone had just used a sock puppet, I wouldn't be as nearly offended because I would've had no idea that he was communicating with another sub. However, since he decided to make his actions transparent, I'm highly upset."

A fair outcome would be for it all to be forgotten. I agree with the substance of your post. I see little to nothing wrong with what he did.

We have agreed that if any user has issues with him - or his future moderation duties he will be removed immediately.

I think that's really foolish. I do think that it would be prudent for him to take a hiatus of a couple weeks from moderating here, since anything he does is going to be looked on by the recipients and their supporters as retaliation.

The title of your thread is inherently combative and inflammatory towards this community. A thousand plus are telling you that he did in fact do something wrong. Are you so wise you can sit here telling /r/conspiracy that a thousand+ of us are wrong, and that you know better? Or is it because you are so disconnected with regards to what this subreddit is supposed to be about? I would think the latter.

If we assume the best of /u/solidwhetstone and say going to /r/conspiratard was poor judgement, this still does not excuse his poor behaviour in dealing with this incident. His, and now your, damage control has been pitiful, and indictitive that you have little respect for this community and its voice.

The primary issue in the west regarding speech isn't legal protection for speech(Free Speech). It is the ability to be heard against bullying and ridicule. Manufacturing complacency and silenced "consensus" is the game those in power play now. This is the issue most faced by conspiracy theorists. One that has taken its form on Reddit as /r/conspiratard. This doesn't need to be further fueled by /r/conspiracy mods.

What we need are some mods with proper understanding of this and the willingness to save this community by the removal of /r/conspiratards. Disagreement is fine, trolling is not. Its a slap in the face of everyone here that this trolling is even "state sponsored". My suggestion is getting several new moderators with the sole purpose of removing /r/conspiratards until they are no longer a problem. I volunteer for for one of these positions and I'm sure many others here would as well.

[deleted]

Thank you for showing some professionalism.

Who made him a mod, when? Just curious.

Personally, I don't care for /r/conspiratard it's just a circle jerk of this sub, some people claim shill this & troll that, really "up/downvote brigades" would pose a bigger threat & you can do the same to them if it's such a problem.

Really I see that sub as "oh so wise (/s) and critical" of this one, and perhaps all Solid wanted was to see what they would do that's so much better, perhaps he/she never considered actually enacting whatever they suggest.

& I can think of worse things a Mod could do that would certainly deserve removal would be censorship or banning/deleting posts for illegitimate reasons, and if indeed the charges of racism are true which I think you'd have to be insane to say there has never been racist things said on this sub, then he might have good reason to ban/remove posts but he never has.

My vote is I think he should stay, maybe he regrets his decision, and it's lesson learned, I mean look at the backlash, and we all go back to what we were doing, what did we lose from him going to "the enemy" for advice?

I will most likely get downvoted for my opinion but if giving even a single fuck aboot my karma was my forte I'd have just shown myself the door, and really I'll just laugh because according to Reddiquette, you don't downvote opinions, and if you do you at least say why, that's what bothers me not imaginary points but when someone is all "eeh-click" without showing their fuckin' face.

[deleted]

RELAX people and get back to discussing more important things.

This is much harder to do when the subreddit is being actively vote brigaded with mod approval.

[deleted]

[deleted]

[deleted]

I'm OK with this decision. I expect this dead horse will be kicked for a few more days though.

3,000 redditors think he sucks.

Kill the wise one!

Yeah, i dunno. I'm not really following this controversy much but you think a mod here would know that that place is essentially modded by Israel firsters who make Rachel corrie jokes and are likely paid to do things like that, or are just plain psychotic. It just seems like a rookie mistake, or someone who doesn't respect the posters here.

I began RES tagging them (posters from conspiratard) and it's mind blowing how often you see them appear in threads over here trying to stir shit up. They never once offer any counter arguments to anything, they just mock, ridicule and troll. For him to approach them speaks on behalf of his ignorance of this community.