Thread: Its' Goodnight From Me and It's Goodnight From Him

I thought I might use the Introduction section of the Forum to say goodbye.

In any venture one vital action is to have everyone pointing in the same direction. Most of you will be able to think of examples from your own lives, from work, or from the broader political scene, of the disruptive consequences if this is not achieved.

When tensions exist between participants that cannot be resolved, the appropriate action is to part company. That is what I am doing. I value adherence to scientific methodology and application of logic above political correctness and avoidance of conflict. I am sure I have annoyed many of you because of this in the past. I do not apologise for it. I have come to admire many of you because you also hold to your principles, as I try to hold to mine.

I will now make the fatal error of thanking some of you for what I have learnt from you over the last several years and months. I say fatal error, because I shall doubtless forget to mention many of you who do not deserve to be forgotten. Nevertheless, in no particular order, thanks to Mitchell McKain, SkinWalker, Marnix, Paralith, sciforefugee, Harold, 425 Chaotic Requisition, Kastler, Wallaby, jackson33, obviously, pendragon, serpicojr, kojax, riverrat, sunshine warrior, Wolf, HomoUniversalis, Bunbury, GoodGod3rd, InvertNexus, SpuriousMonkey, MagiMaster, prasit, Dishmaster, Janus, Jellyologist, The Biologista, Zitterbewebung, and several more.
I also enjoyed, though rarely agreed with the contributions of Dayton Turner, Harry Costas, Cosmo, MikeNS, and my alltime favourite William McCormick.

Please select one of the following farewells to suit your taste.

a) May God go with you.
b) May the ultimate embodiment of the teleological implications of emergent properties arising out of complexities inherent in thermodynamic systems operating far from equilibrium go with you.
c) Whatever……

I wish you would stick around Ophi

Originally Posted by Demen Tolden

I wish you would stick around Ophi

Me too.

you forgot jollybear

Thanks for all your contributions Ophiolite from start to finish, I value them very much and am glad that you have been kind enough to share them with us. I am sad to see you go, manily because you are the eminence of wisdom of this forum and your will to show us that wisdom. I'll always be glad to know I can look back on our conversations with warmth and fond memories. Thanks Ophiolite. Take care and Godspeed. And if you happen to find an old shop before I see you again, please buy me four candles.

I for one always agreed with the moderation decisions you made; I hope those who replace you will do as well you.

I think this is a grave mistake. We need a senior moderator with experience and good standing. I have learned a lot from Ophiolite, as has a lot of others.

He has been at odds with many, but I have always found his approach commendable. He is, however, still human and I think (In)Sanity's disapproval of his last lambasting of TotalScience (TotalScience completely deserved it IMO) has brought the apparently incompatible styles of theirs at a clash, with neither party willing to yield.

I can understand both viewpoints and also understand why Ophiolite decided that he had to leave, but I refuse to believe that there is no way to resolve this. If I had to critique Ophiolite's roasting of TotalScience, I would have to say that a final warning with a subsequent banning would have been in order, but that is me. Ophiolite, certainly since I've been here and I am sure ever since he's become moderator, has always been remarkably tolerant and fair IMO, as well as a good source of near Renaissance Man knowledge.

Like I said, this is a terrible loss to the forum and I refuse to believe that this cannot be resolved.

I am not sure how much weight this will carry or if this is even appropriate, but I just had to have my say. Ophiolite, if you don't come back, know that you will be sourly missed!

(Oh, and my name is KALSTER :wink: )

Listen dumbass, cut the sarcasm and the snide commentary or you are history. Is that clear Bubba? You've been warned enough times. I'll be sending you a pm shortly in which I'll express my contempt for you in much more robust terms than are appropriate in public.

Ophiolite has gone a bit overboard once again in his response breaking some basic forum rules he himself is trying to uphold. I can however see how he got to this point after reading the many one line responses that were in the nature of "I know you are but what am I ?"

Am I to understand this is the crux of the apostrophe?

O, are you joking, man? You left because of this? Get your sorry lily-white ass back here, pal. You don't have to be a mod to post here. Step down if you think you're efforts aren't appreciated and be a peon like the rest of us.

Are you a man or a mouse?

*squeak?*

I think it went a bit further behind the scenes...

Originally Posted by KALSTER

I think it went a bit further behind the scenes...

I would agree with that. And, we can probably also assume things were said in the "heat of the moment" however it all appears to stem from what appears a meltdown on O's part. Many here have had meltdowns. No big woop.

So something has happened. O, maybe blew his lid (its not hard to sometimes) and the person who he did moaned to IS about it. Now IS asked him to leave right? Or am I wrong? If this is the case I am a loss to see why IS would take the side of a troll. Then again we don't know what or why what was said, so we can't really speculate.

I would however imagine that Ophiolite doesn't want to leave just that IS is giving him no choice, given what I said here is true. In which case I would say that it is a grevious error.

No, I don't think he was asked to leave. He did say in his farewell post why he left, if you look close enough. They just each have their own idea on how to moderate and those ideas are seemingly incompatible.

Originally Posted by KALSTER

No, I don't think he was asked to leave. He did say in his farewell post why he left, if you look close enough. They just each have their own idea on how to moderate and those ideas are seemingly incompatible.

I would wonder then why O decided to be a mod if he didn't agree with how the admins wanted the forum moderated? I would have half expected O to carefully weigh those points before jumping into a decision.

Did the admins radically change their minds recently causing O to exit?

I think it's been building up over time. Moderation in this forum has always been lenient - which is a decision made by the administration, and I understand and respect that. But few mods have ever seriously gone to bat with the more persistent problem members besides Ophiolite. This naturally leads to Ophi being singled out by said problem members. He's been over-worked and under-appreciated for a long time. I don't necessarily agree with how he did it, but I am glad that at least someone was willing to deal with TS in the way he needed to be dealt with.

I thought I should say a few words on Ophiolite decision to leave. First of all he was never asked to leave the forum, on the contrary he was asked to please continue on as a valuable active member. After his outburst with TS I was forced to make a decision, that decision was to remove his moderator status as I think I put it in a PM "for now". We either need to rewrite the forum guidelines or try to enforce them. When a moderator verbally bashes a member he/she is not upholding some of the basic forum expectations. I understand everyone has a meltdown from time to time, this however was not the first. The last thing I want to do is send mixed signals to the community as a whole that they are not allowed to do certain things yet it's OK for the administration to do those very things.

I really do hope Ophiolite changes his mind and returns. Perhaps even as a moderator of a sub forum. I've without a doubt concluded that no one person can handle all the forums on this forum by themselves. This is why I've opted to go for multiple moderators all targeting much smaller sections.

IS

Originally Posted by (In)Sanity

After his outburst with TS I was forced to make a decision, that decision was to remove his moderator status as I think I put it in a PM "for now".

When a moderator verbally bashes a member he/she is not upholding some of the basic forum expectations. I understand everyone has a meltdown from time to time, this however was not the first.

Not the first? Too much. This sounds more like a cheesy story of a jilted lover in a soap opera.

Come now, O, you're not going to leave in this fashion, are you? How utterly embarrassing.

Get your ass back here and take it on the chin, there's a good chap.

One more thing, O, if you leave, the nutjob TS wins. Surely, you can't allow that to happen.

Come on back Ophiolite!

Ophiolite,

Since I have been here, you have been the most active moderator - lately the only active moderator. So, I think it's fair to say that you have set the tone for the discussion here, and the results speak for themselves. It's the friendliest, and best, science forum out there.

I hope things don't change too much.

No doubt Ophiolite has less mentionable, less flouncy reasons for quitting this job. Like maybe he's just tired of it? That's enough.



I do hope, Ophiolite, you continue to moderate a subforum or two.

Originally Posted by (In)Sanity

I thought I should say a few words on Ophiolite decision to leave. First of all he was never asked to leave the forum, on the contrary he was asked to please continue on as a valuable active member. After his outburst with TS I was forced to make a decision, that decision was to remove his moderator status as I think I put it in a PM "for now". We either need to rewrite the forum guidelines or try to enforce them. When a moderator verbally bashes a member he/she is not upholding some of the basic forum expectations. I understand everyone has a meltdown from time to time, this however was not the first. The last thing I want to do is send mixed signals to the community as a whole that they are not allowed to do certain things yet it's OK for the administration to do those very things.

I really do hope Ophiolite changes his mind and returns. Perhaps even as a moderator of a sub forum. I've without a doubt concluded that no one person can handle all the forums on this forum by themselves. This is why I've opted to go for multiple moderators all targeting much smaller sections.

IS

Since your accepting blame for Ophie quitting your forum, giving the reason, I must say you are bordering on lunacy or totally unaware of what goes on around here. There may be 10-15 remaining active members still posting and posting to some of the most trivial nonsense you could possible find, just to keep this forum alive. TS, was not the first to get under his skin and would not have been the last.
People just don't visit a SCIENCE forum to read nonsense and most important, I would think to join that level of conversation. Ophie worked with what he had, which was probably an error in not being MORE objective, yet maintaining some discourse. If you really want this forum to make it, assume with some profit, I would suggest getting Ophie back, possibly Mega Brain and encourage Pendragon to occasion visit. Then pick your own darn moderators, not forming some popularity contest to do the job...

Any one interested in what Ophie is up to, google Ophiolite+Science+Forums and you will find him.

Ophiolite,

As a tired old scientist I understand your decision, but for what it is worth your moderation decisions were always spot on, and Total Science is an ignorant twerp. As are several other contributors.

This is not because they have strange ideas, as you know, but because they have no interest in understanding why their ideas are not scientific. Not why they are wrong, but why they are not scientific.

You may certainly leave and the world will continue to move along, and "whatever," but you were right, and they were wrong.

Originally Posted by free radical

Ophiolite,

As a tired old scientist I understand your decision, but for what it is worth your moderation decisions were always spot on, and Total Science is an ignorant twerp. As are several other contributors.

This is not because they have strange ideas, as you know, but because they have no interest in understanding why their ideas are not scientific. Not why they are wrong, but why they are not scientific.

You may certainly leave and the world will continue to move along, and "whatever," but you were right, and they were wrong.

Seconded, pretty much, (albeit I am not a scientist, but promise to be older and even more tired than Free Radical, if that's what it takes).

Is there any chance IS and you can swiftly resolve this between yourselves and you return? If there is, I will hope for it.

I know it's not easy keeping the science up when you're up to your crotch in trolls and conspiracy theorists, but I'm not the first or only one to say that most of the serious people here took you seriously, and respected and usually agreed with, what you said.

If we cannot persuade you to return, then, as they say, may the wind be ever under your wings and may you never grow old - we will miss you.

All the best

shanks

I've missed this whole episode, presumably because recently I've never bothered to read anything with Total Science's moniker attached or in the vicinity. This is after all a science forum. I'm not a scientist but I can recognize BS when I see it.

I'll add my pleas to those asking Ophiolite to please reconsider - stick around Ophie, we need you!

I've only just spotted this thread, so forgive me for bumping the thread. I had wondered where Ophiolite had gone and it saddens me to see him leave, especially in such circumstances. It is even more saddening to know that the troll TS had a part to play. Ophiolite, it was great to debate with you and to learn from you too. All I can say is thank you for the kind mention and I do wish you the very best of luck in whatever you do from here on.

Who is TS?

Originally Posted by thyristor

Who is TS?

The reason why minor insane asylum tenants should not be given access to the internet. He caused the whole debacle that saw us lose our most precious member.

Well what's his name? I guess Ts is an abbreviation.

Total Science. Here one minute gone the next. A mardy and self righteous person who's arrogance resulted in the loss of, as KALSTER says, our most valued member.

Total Science, a legend in the making. :?

I said Ophiolite had less flouncy reasons to finally quit this forum and I'm gonna stand by that. Last straws say nothing of the camel.

Hmm, how could I miss this thread? I was right in the middle of some discussions with this Total (Non)Science. And I must say that I had lots of respect for Ophiolite's way of dealing with him. And Ophi was right confronting him with the truth. So, I would also be very happy, if he reconsidered and joined us again. We'll miss you.