In light of the continuing, and in fact worsening, fiasco at the IIDB discussion forum, I'm creating an open thread to document the continuing misuses of power. The Internet Infidels Board of Directors is now engaged in a full-scale effort to rewrite history, shuttering feedback forums, deleting countless threads on IIDB that have been critical of their recent actions, and banning numerous members without warning as punishment for dissent. (The stated reason for those bans is "useless complaining", which I think speaks volumes about the Board's attitude.)
In response, I want to document their actions and disseminate that information as widely as possible, so that new users who are considering joining IIDB will have the best chance to make an informed decision. If you are a former or current IIDB member who'd like to post your story, please do so here. I'll also compile posts and threads from other forums that are relevant.
• Post from IIDB Board of Directors announcing that complaints about board management "will no longer be accepted as a topic for discussion"
• Reposted statement from II board member "The Other Michael": "There's only room for one prima donna in this ballet troupe, and that's gonna be me"
• Thread on the RichardDawkins.net forum, containing numerous testimonials from veteran posters, moderators, and administrators explaining why they left IIDB
• Detailed timeline of events at Rants & Raves
• Another timeline at Rants & Raves
• List of moderators and administrators who've resigned, at Heathen Hangout
I also recommend the following internet discussion forums instead of IIDB:
IMO, the complaining from most of people was worse than useless. It was outright malicious. IIDB was/is under concerted attack by people bent on destroying the community, all while falsely claiming to be "promoting community." (Have you actually taken a look at the "Qauttro Formaggi" forum at RnR? Between the many one-sided accounts of "persecution" where bans are a badge of honor, there are threads dedicated to trolling tips, spamming, and more sinister forms of guerilla warfare. What little conspiracy theorist is in me says this whole furor could just be an RnR membership drive.) I say "most of the people" because there were a handful of people who were/are unhappy, but not malicious. It seems they got caught up with the bandwagon illusion created by the malicious complainers. The complaining has continued, like a broken record for two months. Nothing new to say; nothing unpredicted to say. We've heard their demands, their petitions, and their far less common polite suggestions. Thousands of times. We got plenty of input. We largely disagreed with the input, but people just wouldn't take "no" for an answer. They wouldn't accept less than a scapegoat's head on a stick, and control over IIDB policies. But II is a private organization, and doesn't have any legal or ethical requirement to honor such unreasonable demands, or even to provide a soapbox for people to repeatedly shout those demands from.
The malicious complainers were there solely to keep the illusion of a community in tatters going. Otherwise, the rest of us would just go back to business as usual, the community as usual, even if a bit smaller community. Prior to October, the community was oblivious to the fact that Michael was a self-described "prima donna" behind the scenes, because his demeanor had no effect one way or another on normal IIDB discussions. His demeanor still has no effect on normal discussions, although the malicious complainers will surely claim otherwise, for reasons they have yet to outline. The real reason they claim such is because their complaints are what create the illusion of major problems at IIDB. The mere fact that they are complaining, and that so many of them are complaining, for so long, fools unsuspecting IIDBers into thinking there really must be some substance to their complaints. And then the unsuspecting people join the crowd. The bandwagon effect in action. With this blog entry, you've joined them, too, Adam. You've been taken in by the illusion.
Doesn't it seem a bit strange to you that the people who are complaining loudest that the BoD wasn't fostering a sense of community are the same people who have actively tried to convince admins, mods, and regular posters to abandon IIDB, and thereby destroy the community? Doesn't it seem a bit strange to you that some people think they will need to inform people of problems at IIDB, or else the newbies won't know there's a problem at all? Doesn't that indicate that there really isn't a problem with the community? If there really were a problem, no one would need to inform the newbies of it. They'd figure it out pretty quickly on their own and then ditch IIDB on their own.
These malicious complainers are jilted ex-lovers. "Hey IIDB, I'm just stopping by one last time to say how totally over you I am! I'm with my new girl, RnR, now, and she's so much better than you. I'm gonna tell everyone I meet to stay away from you, because you're terrible in bed. People need to know how terrible you are in bed before it's too late for them." These people are trying to destroy Michael or the whole BoD on trumped up charges, and if that requires destroying IIDB in the process, so be it. Much of the RnR crowd is simply obsessed with IIDB. It's unhealthy. They've got a forum dedicated to discussing other boards, and its name is a jab at Michael and IIDB, as are many titles there. Its postcount is 14% of the total for all of RnR. RnR has plenty of potential as another non-theist community alongside IIDB, HH, FF, and others. But the infighting has to stop. Each board just has a different flavor. That's it. So what if you don't like vanilla? Maybe I do.
These malicious complainants can't just be happy with their own preferred flavor of message board. No, they have to constantly trash their former favorite as well. Given that we're a bunch of atheists, many of whom are former religionists with chips on the shoulder, that's not too shocking. It's quite lamentable, though, since IIDB is actually on the same side as all those other boards. We're all on the side of secularism; we should be working together for secularism and other goals that we largely have in common. But no, we're infighting instead. For two months, I've been stuck dealing with near-constant e-drama, rather than posting actual useful stuff in my forum (the former brainchild forum of ELGS!) All this infighting is very much detrimental to the cause of online secularism. This is so utterly lame.
On rewriting history: The real reason for moving all the dissent into hidden storage is because we're trying our last option to get people to move on. Nothing new was being said; people kept dwelling on the same old things. Things that were off the discussion table anyway. We weren't gonna give them Michael's head on a stick, but some people just couldn't accept that. It was severely distracting from the discussions that IIDB was created for in the first place - not to mention taking up an inordinate amount of staff time for no benefit whatsoever. We've always done just the same "rewriting of history" in the Positive Atheism & Secular Activism forum, since it's one of the Secular Community forums. Those forums don't allow promotion of theism, in order that we can instead focus on actvism, or church/state separation, etc. I edit out preaching from theists in my forum. Zap, it's gone, disappeared, and an infraction goes to the theist. Countering the preaching via debate, as in the General Religious Discusions forum, would only be a major distraction. Well, all the complaining about IIDB policy and Michael and the BoD is in the same boat as preaching in PA&SA. It's a distraction, and a mostly malicious one, at that. IIDB exists primarily to facilitate discussion of metaphysical naturalism - not its own policies or prima donna directors. After trying for two months to satisfy the unsatisfiable, the BoD finally said enough is enough.
Stacey Melissa
still an IIDB moderator, giving only his own take on events
Comment #1 by: Stacey Melissa | December 18, 2007, 12:56 pm