Moving of Microsoft thread

[Fit In LA]

I agree with the Moderator.

THis thread has been moved to the appropriate site.

[+ deej]

What part of "political activism" is exempt from being categorized as politics?

 

What part of legislative agendas are removed from politics?

[Rick Munroe]

Contacting a corporation is now considered political activism? If I pick up the phone and call Verizon to complain about an error on my bill, is that now political activism? Deej, when it's an issue that affects all of us as gay men, I wish you would let as many people as possible see it. There was no way this would have degenerated into a political argument, and if it did, you could have moved it at that point. Sheesh.

[+ deej]

When you lobby Microsoft on their stand on a legislative issue it is politics.

[Rick Munroe]

>When you lobby Microsoft on their stand on a legislative

>issue it is politics.

 

You're wrong. My post was asking people to ask Microsoft to return its 2001 Corporate Vision Award to the LA Gay and Lesbian Center; there was no mention of lobbying Microsoft on a legislative issue. Did you even read the post before you moved it, or did you just assume you knew the content? Also, I really hope the email you just sent me was a joke, because I can't believe anyone could be that uninformed.

[Guest ChgoBoy]

>>When you lobby Microsoft on their stand on a legislative

>>issue it is politics.

>

>You're wrong. My post was asking people to ask Microsoft to

>return its 2001 Corporate Vision Award to the LA Gay and

>Lesbian Center; there was no mention of lobbying Microsoft on

>a legislative issue. Did you even read the post before you

>moved it, or did you just assume you knew the content? Also,

>I really hope the email you just sent me was a joke, because I

>can't believe anyone could be that uninformed.

 

 

Is there perhaps a piss fight forum?

[Rick Munroe]

I don't know what you mean by a "piss fight" since I'm not into water sports, but I do know this...when I created this thread asking people to take action about Bush's Education Secretary's homophobia: http://babydb.male4malescorts.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=79070&mesg_id=79070&listing_type=search it not only didn't get moved, it got pinned to the top of the Lounge. That thread was very obviously political in nature, but it was an issue of importance to us as gay men, so it was kept in the Lounge. I don't see any difference here.

[Doug69]

>That thread was very obviously political in

>nature, but it was an issue of importance to us as gay men, so

>it was kept in the Lounge. I don't see any difference here,

>other than deej having some sort of connection or loyalty to

>Microsoft, as evidenced in his post in the original thread

>that is now in the Politics forum.

 

The problem is that you haven't passed beyond the emotional stage -typically associated with 8 year-olds - where you are incapable of realizing that not everyone sees the world the way you do.

 

There are lots of good reasons why people may disagree with your childish, idiotic, narcissistic, truly self-destructive "call to action" against Microsoft, one of the most pro-gay-rights companies ever, including:

 

* A belief that it's dangerous for corporations to try to influence the outcome of political debates, one way or the other;

 

* A belief in the right of corporations to act in accordance with their profit motive;

 

* A belief that, in this time where there are abundant real enemies of gay people in lots of places, it is indescribably stupid to attack a huge company which has been nothing but pro-gay -- all because they decided not to continue being involved in a fight that they should never have been involved in the first place;

 

* Demanding that they give back a petty, obscure, 4 year-old "award" sounds like a second-grader petulantly demanding his toy back from another kid whom he's decided not to be friends with anymore;

 

* Spending even one second of gay people's collective time fighting Microsoft is an even bigger waste of resources than spending time investigating the escorting websites of reporters.

 

Because of those possible grounds for disagreement with your post - which you, in your pre-adolescent belief that your views are the only veiws, are unable to recognize - your post was just as political as any other post in the Politics Forum, and deej was absolutely right (cough) to have viewed it as being political.

 

Your political views are no more pure or universally held than anyone else's. So it's really time to give up on your pitiful belief that the things you believe are so good and objectively true that they somehow transcend "politics."

 

It's possible these days to play lots of games with words. But denying that it's "political" when you issue a "call to action" against a corporation due to their behavior with regard to pending legislation stretches the meaning of "political" even wider than your hole - i.e. beyond the breaking point.

 

I think most people see that.

[PacNW]

RE: Broader issues re: the MC

 

It is my impression that the hand of the moderators has become much heavier since the changing of the guard. They seem to lock, or lock and move, threads much more quickly than in the first few months I followed these boards.

 

The general principle seems to be to shut down or banish to the rarely read PR&W forum anything that is controversial or that may lead to controversy. It appears to me an attempt to impose an artificial Mary Richards POV on the Lounge that doesn’t sit well. (I’m sorry … Rick and Mary are forever entwined in my mind.) As one who laughed at Mary as often as laughing with her, I’m disappointed in seeing these boards take this life through rose-colored glasses turn. Disagreements between people are natural and nothing to fear. They’re part of human nature and the urge to repress them, drilled into us as "etiquette", like other forms of repression does more harm than good.

 

There is a related issue which has troubled me for a while. How much of life in Hooville (i.e., this MC) is carried on behind these boards? On a critical level, since the reason for being of this website is contacts and relationships between people, there is naturally going to be more behind the scenes than on a forum devoted to collecting dolls (Rick again!) or gardening hints. However, I’ve received emails from members in-the-know tipping me off as to How Things Are, which I actually have appreciated, but which reveal a shadow MC beyond this one. Additionally, escort/client meetings, monthly Hooville meetings, and the Alert system, all conceivably provide hidden avenues to influence the way these boards run. (And yes, I do understand the principle that ultimately how this site is run, and even if it is run, is completely in the hands of the owner(s). My opinions can be treated as irrelevant and there’s nothing I can do about it. Still, participation is encouraged and this is one individual’s challenge to that concept.) So to restate the original question: How much of the direction this site takes comes from an in-crowd whose discussions go on out of the sight of the rest of us?

 

To the problem raised by Rick’s original post, here are a couple of suggestions for Daddy and the moderators. (1) Ditch the Politics, Religion & War forum. Open the Lounge to all discussions without imposing artificial restrictions. There surely can’t be anything more tedious than refereeing differences on the appropriateness of where certain opinions are expressed. Spare yourselves, and instead of pandering to the whiners who worry you with this, let them be the ones to lump it and exercise their own self-censorship to avoid threads that they don’t like. (2) Lighten up. People will not always be nice to each other. Threads will go off on tangents never dreamed of by their originators. We won’t always wake up pretty. We are all, or we all better be, adults here. Short of postings that pose legal problems for the site, let us deal with things on our own.

 

Respectfully (really!),

[Rick Munroe]

>Your political views are no more pure or universally held than anyone else's.

 

I never said they were. But the fact that my previous thread asking people to contact Margaret Spellings about her homophobic policies was not only not moved but pinned to the top of the Lounge means that the policy here is inconsistent. That's all.

 

>stretches the meaning of

>"political" even wider than your hole - i.e. beyond the

>breaking point.

 

I rarely get fucked so my hole is still tight, but thanks for thinking of it yet again. A day without Doug thinking of my ass is like a day without sunshine.

[jackhammer91406]

Doug,

You were almost persuasive until you started using words and phrases like the following:

 

 

....The problem is that you haven't passed beyond the emotional

>stage -typically associated with 8 year-olds....

 

....childish, idiotic, narcissistic, truly self-destructive....

 

....sounds like a second-grader petulantly demanding his

>toy back from another kid whom he's decided not to be friends with anymore.....

 

- where you are whicn (sic) your pre-adolescent belief that your

>views are the only veiws....[/font color=red]

 

 

 

Doug,

You make a perfectly cogent argument and then resort to a tatic of derogatory name calling.

 

just who IS the 8 year old here anyway? I am not sure anymore

[taylorky]

RE: Broader issues re: the MC

 

and instead of pandering to

>the whiners who worry you with this, let them be the ones to

>lump it and exercise their own self-censorship to avoid

>threads that they don’t like. (2) Lighten up. People will not

>always be nice to each other. Threads will go off on tangents

>never dreamed of by their originators. We won’t always wake up

>pretty. We are all, or we all better be, adults here. Short of

>postings that pose legal problems for the site, let us deal

>with things on our own.

>

>Respectfully (really!),

>

 

 

hear hear...one problem,people would have to ...*gulp* think for themselves.

[Rick Munroe]

>Doug,

>You were almost persuasive until you started using words and

>phrases like the following:

>

>

>....The problem is that you haven't passed beyond the

>emotional

>>stage -typically associated with 8 year-olds....

 

Jackhammer, that was the first sentence of his post. At which point was his argument persuasive if he was only persuasive until his first sentence began? :7

[jackhammer91406]

Rick,

I said he was ALMOST persuasive.

His overall point, I take it, is that there may be a differing opinion to yours.

 

MY point is that he could have conveyed that without resorting to demeaning you or your opinion.

 

As for your original post and where it belongs, that's not my call, I have no moderator title or function.

 

I applaud your desire to notify all of us on issues that affect our community. Not everyone will always agree with you, but the fact that you continue to be a concerned citizen is a quality in you that I admire.

 

Keep being a smart ass (trademark borrowed for purposes of kissing up to an escort)

[Rick Munroe]

>I applaud your desire to notify all of us on issues that

>affect our community. Not everyone will always agree with

>you, but the fact that you continue to be a concerned citizen

>is a quality in you that I admire.

 

Be careful; you'll get accused of being an escort worshipper! :o But thanks.

 

>Keep being a smart ass (trademark borrowed for purposes of

>kissing up to an escort)

 

Oh, well. Too late.

[Doug69]

>>Your political views are no more pure or universally held

>than anyone else's.

>

>I never said they were.

 

You should really try reading your own posts some time. Trust me, I know that's not fun to do, but it would help you a lot - especially if you're going to be claiming that you didn't say something when you so plainly did:

__________

 

DEEJ: >When you lobby Microsoft on their stand on a legislative

>issue it is politics.

 

RICK: You're wrong.

_________________

 

Typical Rick Munroe - comes and screetches out some point, then, when confronted with arguments against it which he can't answer, resorts to denying that he ever made the point in the first place.

 

But the fact that my previous thread

>asking people to contact Margaret Spellings about her

>homophobic policies was not only not moved but pinned to the

>top of the Lounge means that the policy here is inconsistent.

>That's all.

 

That wasn't your only point. Again and again you told Deej that your post shouldn't have been moved because it wasn't political. Now, you deny that you ever said that. Who do you think you're fooling?

 

>I rarely get fucked so my hole is still tight, . . .

 

LOL!

[Doug69]

>Doug,

>You make a perfectly cogent argument and then resort to a

>tatic of derogatory name calling.

 

Let me say two things here, if I might:

 

(1) You missed the entire point of my post. I wasn't arguing with Rick's point about Microsoft. I was offering examples of what a reasonable person may say and think in opposition to it in order to illustrate that his original post was - contrary to his claims - a controversial political statement.

 

(2) The mere fact that a person says something about someone else that isn't nice doesn't mean that the person is engaging in childish name-calling.

 

I honestly thought I was doing Rick a favor by pointing out to him - out of concern for his well-being - that he suffers from an emotional problem whereby he is incapable of realizing that not everybody sees the world as he does. It does appear that, somewhere along the way, his emotional development with regard to this attribute ceased to progress at around the age of 8, and I was telling him that in order to help him to realize it.

 

What's a nice way to tell someone that? Let me know and I'll use it next time.

 

I think letting someone know about these things is much kinder and more caring than letting the problem remain concealed. There may be some sting in the beginning with my method. But with your method, these problems simply linger and fester and worsen - all out of some misguided allegience to superficial, plastic "politeness."

[taylorky]

>

>>I rarely get fucked so my hole is still tight, . . .

>

>LOL!

 

whoa...that was a shot!

 

this should be fun

}(

[Doug69]

>Jackhammer, that was the first sentence of his post. At which

>point was his argument persuasive if he was only persuasive

>until his first sentence began? :7

 

Will you admit to everyone that you're sending me blank e-mails to my e-mail account with subjects like "sad and pathetic" and "moron," or are you going to falsely deny that you're doing that because you're concerned that such behavior will conflict with your carefully crafted escort persona here?

[seaboy4hire]

Rick I read both your posts (schools and Microsoft) and although both are imo political it is odd that one was removed and the other left in this forum. Doug the call to action is something that the LA gay orgainization started and wasn't started by Rick. There was an article on 365gay.com a few days ago asking Microsoft to return the award they recieved a few years ago. I think that Rick was just posting that info for those who don't read gay news or may have missed it so they could have the info. Just my two cents.

 

Hugs,

Greg

Greg Seattle Wa seaboy4hire@yahoo.com

http://www.male4malescorts.com/reviews/gregseattle.html

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com

[Rick Munroe]

I have no idea why my post was moved; there's nothing political or religious or war-like about it. It had to do with the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, Microsoft and their new anti-gay-rights policy (or more accurately, the abandoning of their support for gay rights). I don't understand why it was moved. Discussing gay rights and big corporations on a gay message board is considered too political to be discussed in a general forum? That does not compute. I hope someone can move it back here; it did not mention Bush or Republicans or Focus on the Family or anyhthing like that. It was a call to action to let Microsoft know how we feel and to have them return the LA Center's award, that's all.

 

Anyway, I hope you guys will head to the Politics forum and read the post and make the call(s). Thanks.

[Doug69]

>I think that Rick was just posting that info for

>those who don't read gay news or may have missed it so they

>could have the info. Just my two cents.

 

The only point I was ever making was that Rick's post was patently political. I'm not one of those people whose delicate sensitivities are offended when posts are in the "wrong" place and who consequently press alert buttons crying out for help.

 

I don't really give a shit where Rick's posts go. As far as I'm concerned, he can put them all in the Lounge, or he can put them all in his hole (where they will have ample room to rest comfortably, notwithstanding the fact that their number now exceeds 5,000).

 

I was merely pointing out that Rick's denial that his post was "political" - all to fuel his protests that his precious little post was moved - was utterly absurd.

[uptownmike]

Mr DEEJ:

THANKS for doing a great job here as a moderator. I believe I speak for many quiet guys here who appreciate your efforts.

 

Like most, I don't come to this site for politics and don't appreciate those who continually try and post their personal political agendas on this board. There is a Board for their stuff

called the Political, Religion, and War Board- why can't they keep their political junk there???

[ErikMcAlister]

Give me a break!

You were talking about POLICY and suddenly changing support on particular LEGISLATION.

 

Good move, deej.

[LovesYng]

Hey Rick, Since a lot of this thread is you or about you see if the moderator's will lock it for you (LoL)

 

When in doubt I whip it out :+