Who can joke, who can’t?

i'm assuming those are rhetorical questions, as they're pretty difficult to speculate on. but if i were asked to speculate, i think ender mostly assumed that people would realize how firmly his tongue was implanted in his cheek when he typed these absurdly hyperbolic insults, and when people didn't get it he couldn't resist taking it even further. then he made all these classic rivals, even "enemies" if we want to go that far, that we see here in this thread. and i know there are many more. that "it was his schtick" is a lame and inept defense is without doubt, and yet that's exactly what it was and why he was given so much leeway. he played the instigator role so well for so long that at least to some of us i think it felt like we needed an instigator, that his role could even be helpful in the sense of questioning the bubbles that we sometimes create for ourselves.

but i understand that it definitely doesn't feel that way to the people who are on the receiving end of his tirades, and it's not my intent to invalidate that experience. i guess i just want to acknowledge that it's a more complicated issue than it might seem. ender is a complicated person. so much that we now have to have a policy that is seemingly really only about him.

 

I will say that I've noticed a definite tone change in the jcc.. much more welcoming and supportive.

 

I've noticed that the old Ender vs VLM pissing matches basically never happen anymore. He hardly ever says anything to you. The only time I ever see the drama is when you drag it back up with bitter posts like these. I've long considered it a dead feud.

Of course. Why would anyone take them seriously? They're deliberately over the top. They tend to target groups of tremendous, unassailable power; his two favorites being America and Christianity. I have no doubt I would have let out a loud laugh at the comment that started this thread.

One of my favorite JCC comments of all time came from BF2K1....as a response to Ender calling for Muslims to denounce terrorism. I think Vivec called on BF2K1 and asked if he supported it or whatever. BF2K1's response?

"Of course I don't condone these actions. I only want death to America."

LOL, but it's not that far off the comment that just got Ender banned.

Nevermind that it was obviously sarcastic and playing on a perception of radical Islams wanting to destroy America. Nevermind what it was in response to. Nevermind any context or nuance or understanding of human communication. We have to take everything literally now like robots.

I think "it was funny" is a great defense, though.

Ender has been pushing it to the very edge for years. This result was only a matter of time.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who'd like nothing more than for Ender to be permabanned. For others, I'd say be careful what you wish for. You might find this place a lot less fun without him. I know I would.

 

Fun is subjective.

Personally, I feel like a dark cloud has lifted from JCC and the sun is shining now.

 

Not really.

That's what the TOS and user notes are there for. As has already been explained if a user has a very long history of bad behaviour, mod edits, warnings, ban's etc. then they will eventually run out of road and they'll be permabanned (after a mod squad discussion)

Those are the rules and it doesn't matter what the general userbase thinks or how "popular" or not that user is. It doesn't even matter what the people who have complained about that user thinks should happen.

Now other than the mod's and admin's nobody here knows if Ender has reached that point but he's obviously one of the most "controversial" users on here so if he isn't at that point right now he must be in the last chance saloon.

 

I do not consider sticking up for myself a "pissing match".

 

What you're doing right now could, to an outsider, be construed as a pissing match, man.

 

Call it whatever you want. Everyone was tired of it popping up in every thread. But I haven't seen it in a long time. Good. I'm glad it's a thing of the past.

I'm just relating my perspective. There have been a couple times when the thought occurred that VLM and Ender have been getting along better, or just ignoring each other. Good. I'm glad. I think it's better for the forums.

That's all I meant.

 

That doesn't make them right.

 

He's just saying, he's glad that they happen a lot less frequently... they used to happen pretty regularly. I agree with him

 

I was responding to you with that last.

 

I never said anything or anybody was "right."

lol... anyway, the point is, the place already has a better vibe.

 

I bet he did. That is peak Ender

 

Things have also changed a lot since Ender started posting here (2001). Posts that might have been OK by standards then might not be now. (Think of #MeToo, for example).

 

I didn't find the comment funny in the least. He wished me, most of my friends, and most of my family dead. I don't know a context that makes that funny. It's hard to "let out a loud laugh" when you feel like you've been punched in the gut.

The impression I get of Ender is that he's a troll who knows he's smart and funny, and he uses his sense of humor to get away with posting hateful comments about people and things he doesn't like. I don't know if that's the real him or not, but that's what I see when I read his posts.

 

I think it big part of it is he simply doesn't know how to just be himself... to just engage in mellow and relaxed discussion... extreme social awkwardness, I guess. He avoided threads like the best friends thread, because people let their guard down and engage with people on a more real level. It's kind of sad, actually.

Anyway.... as much of a paynus as he could be, Ima miss him, in a small way..

 

This is a good example of destroying someone while remaining within the TOS. Which I have absolutely read.

 

I'm sorry @tom, but I think you're wrong. I think what started as a schtick became something genuine. I think he actually believed those things about Americans, Christians, etc. In fact not too long ago he posted a fairly long post about how his hatred for those things was real.

Not to mention, any time I'd try to reach out to him via PM to be friendly and smooth things over, he'd make it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with that. He posted openly that he thought I was genuinely stupid and a "living meme". Finally, he said every time I posted it reminded him that it was my "fault" another poster is permabanned and he wishes that poster were here.. said poster was permabanned for telling numerous people my last name and where I worked against my will, aka doxing. Ender knew this and still hated me and blamed me, the victim, anyway.

This isn't a schtick. It's bullying and being a terrible human being.

Good riddance.

 

The **** is "living meme" supposed to mean anyway?

 

It's essentially saying you're not a human.

 

It's saying you're a cliche. A walking cliche. You say things that are so cliche that they are actual memes, making you a living meme. It's saying that your comments, opinions, beliefs, etc are exactly what one would find on those political memes stereotyping certain groups.

You once referred to Rogue_Ten as a "walking Che Guevara t-shirt on a college freshman", which was hilarious. That's exactly the same thing. A Che Guevara t-shirt on a college freshman is a meme, which would make Rogue_Ten a living meme.

 

Yes, but that's more creative

 

I think a big part of it, for you, is, and I've said this to you before, I think Ender is/was genuinely intimidated by you. When you would stand up to him and say that his behavior was ****ed up, he would never argue back with you... in fact nine times out of ten, he'd agree with you and knock it off. He wasn't like that with most people. So, I can understand how you don't see how much of a problem he actually is.