is it just me or did a whole bunch of people who frequent this forum just get banned?? the post count seems to have dropped significantly!
Astro and didge have been banned... what a shame . Their posts were always full of advice and informtaion and stuff, and they're really friendly too, especially Astro, she has a really quirky sense of humour
oh ok... well i knew they were controversial, but banning them? looks like someone higher up saw something i couldn't... but yeah i learned a lot from them!! oh well... so who's gonna be the forum shit-stirrers now??
*shrug* I dunno. I agree they both had a lot of positive stuff to contribute, but they allowed their attitude to get in the way. I'd much rather bannings hadn't been needed, but I think they were kinda provoking it. You only have to look at how peaceful the forum is when they're not around. I mean, I agreed with much of what they said, it was just the way they said it that I had problems with.
I with the Doktor on this one. Didge and Astro could be so aggressive and hysterical. It put me off even when I agreed with them. It does seem more peaceful around here, which is definetly a good thing. TTFN Sage
I've found that I haven't agreed with both Astro and didge on several fields, but they weren't ever rude to me, I guess it's because I wanted to learn something new, or at least hear their opinion, instead of having a ridiculously arrogant attitude, standing ultra-firm in my beliefs without even wanting to HEAR about someone else's opinion. "You only have to look at how peaceful the forum is when they're not around. " I wouldn't say.... peaceful... I'd say... the forum was a lot more interesting and fun when they were here... they never attacked anybody personally, but they're both damn good debaters... "Didge and Astro could be so aggressive and hysterical." What do you mean by hysterical? As in, hysterically funny or psychotic-hysterical? You just had to read between the lines of their posts, I mean, most of the time when people thought they were being "aggressive", they were just playing around, except most people failed to notice that they were really only joking... Either way, I think that the fact that they're not around has been a great loss to this forum.
It's pointless going back over all this really, but I just can't help myself... The thing is, I'll happily agree that Didge and Astro potentially had a lot to contribute. I even found Astro extremely funny sometimes when she was slapping down a blatant troll. Didge I just found abusive rather than funny though. Still, I think part of the issue is where you draw the line. I haven't got a problem with either of them being rude to trolls, but I think the problem is what you define as a troll. Quite often it would appear that their definition appeared to be anyone with whom they didn't agree. Take Megara for example..... I strongly disagree with 90% of what he says, but I've found that it's perfectly possible to discuss these issues with him politely. If he's out of line, I've been able to say so to him, and on a couple of occasions he's apologised for causing offence. Now ask yourself.... which approach is going to make him more inclined to seriously consider the arguments behind vegetarianism - treating him politely, or treating him sarcastically? Sure, you could say "well he's never gonna change anyways", but I've known many, many rabid meat-eaters who've suddenly turned veggie when I'd have least expected it. This is why it's important that we don't alienate people. Unfortunately, this isn't how it was. Astro and Didge were both rude to me on a number of occasions (you could debate who started this for ever, but the truth is lost in the miss of time), despite the fact that I actually agreed with them on most ethical issues. I'm a moral vegetarian who would never eat meat, period. I agree with the ethical case for veganism and think that people should adopt a vegan diet if they can. In fact, my actual differences with Didge and Astro debate back to an argument over the technical definition of the word 'vegan'. Hardly "standing ultra-firm in my beliefs without even wanting to HEAR about someone else's opinion". That depends on your perspective, and whether you regard people being rude to other people as 'interesting'. Now that's just plain wrong. I can think of a number of times that Didge was directly abusive on a personal level towards me. Astro tended to fall back on sarcasm, but the intent was still to belittle and deride.... which is a personal attack. You know, I actually agree with you. I'd rather see people learn to get along with each other and tolerate different opinions. The fact that Astro and Didge were never able to do that is a loss to us all. Remember, what finally got Astro banned was her making repeated personal attacks towards Skip on a number of different threads. I actually thought she wanted to be banned, looking at what she wrote. She can't have expected any other outcome. If you missed it and want to see what she said, I'll PM you, but I'm not gonna put it up in public again. As for Didge, I have no idea of the specific reason why he was banned, but I did notice that not long before he left he went on a posting spree, posting nonsensical comments on lots of threads in the veggie forum. It looked like he'd given up on being here and was being deliberately disruptive.
i discovered these forums only a month ago and i have never heard of these 2 but they sound like they were cool people i guess.... is this why whenever i go back into older threads it will appear as if someone is talking to themselves completely? cuz they were arguing with someone who was banned?
