Devin has the kill switch

As someone who has moderated a board or two in my time... I understand the shit you guys deal with and the strains it must take considering the size of the site/boards.

Yeah, I've adminned on a couple of boards and seriously fuck admin board stuff.

I used to admin/mod over at pretty big message board years back and despite experiencing the same kind of flood of unnecessary bullshit first hand, I still do not get this attitude some posters seem to have.

Maybe I'm just lucky and I avoided these steep CHUD subscription fees that others clearly must be paying to cause the rude, entitled behaviour some posters are exhibiting. For me, this is a free service, one I take advantage of gladly and I am not owed a damn thing more than what is given to me.

It's about damn time. I say that as a guy who doesn't particularly like Devin. Sometimes a new sheriff can get shit done.

Sorry about the shit storm, Nick.

Troy's right on the money here...hell, i fully support Devin having "Zeus Bolt of Smiting" power; any previous ban has been the product of either violating the rules or being a total dick.
I cant understand the bitching on this; you're not going to get banned for never posting on movie or news threads, you're going to get banned for being either a troll or a complete asshole.
Devin and his opinions/actions may not always be something I enjoy or approve, but he's never banned or called someone on the boards over anything that wasnt justified.
Look at the comments or go see other site's boards, and you'll be thankful for Devin, Eileen and Nick's works and time here.

For what it's worth, I love this site and this board and everything it represents. I've also come to really appreciate many of the regulars for several reasons. In some cases, it's natural to come out in defense of a "friend." (Even when that friend may have done something bad, one tries to see things from their point of view and be understanding) But, even in doing so, I couldn't condone outwardly rude and unpleasant behavior. I do think it may have been excessive punishment to ban some posters that were banned, but I understand why it was done. This is your dinner table. I'm happy to sit and share in some wine.

Please don't hold it against the whole community when a few of us step out of line, though. Sometimes people have bad days. And there is such a feast of wonderful and entertaining discussion preserved on these boards that it would be a tragedy to destroy that.

I love CHUD. Nick and Devin are my mountaintop film gurus, from whom I've learned so much. Let me get that out of the way first.

Clearly trolls need to be thrown on their asses. That's necessary. But "troll" does not equate with a regular board poster who is a functioning member of the community, but who also has authority problems and personal conflicts with the admins. They might get in the admin's face, they might fight a lot and piss the hell out of the admin, but that's something between them, and to use the banhammer is an abuse of that power. The people who deserve to get banned are the ones who disrupt/fuck with the community as a whole, not people who have feuds with individuals, be they mods or regular posters.

If an admin gets really pissed in a sniping war with another board member, they should take it outside.

Thanks a lot, Doug!

Maybe...

Or, the owner of this site should set the rules and do whatever the fuck he pleases, up to and including giving banhammers to who(whom?)ever he wants.

Christ, you talk about this "community" as if it is a society. It is not.

Your tireless efforts are greatly appreciated by many. We're incredibly lucky to have this site, and it's a PRIVILEGE to be given 100% FREE access to it's forums. One would be hard pressed to find a more potent/diverse array of minds gathered in one place on a daily basis, and we have you to thank for this, Nick.

Devin with the Kill Switch sounds like fun.

HA! Now that would be some hardcore drama.

Look, I'm no heavy-hitter around here. I show up, chat a while, and carry on. Maybe my opinion on stuff like this isn't as valued as some others, but here it is anyway: if you aren't doing anything that warrants a kill switch being used on you, why worry about it? I'd rather have someone policing this place with an iron fist than have this place devolve into a trollfest.

I honestly think this will be a good thing for the site. Devin is a LOT more reasonable than people give him credit for.

a. http://chud.com/forum/showthread.php...ight=donations

b. "Theoretical virus?" Keep crapping on your customers. You can't fire me. I quit!

Asking for whatever people can spare so he can save the site ISN'T asking for much.

Oh look, a one day timeout.

I'm perfectly fine with this. I may disagree with Devin every now and then, but he's never been a dick about it, and I don't think he'll start banning people just for civilly disagreeing with him. If you make it personal and don't talk about the argument itself, I'd say you deserve a banning.

HA HA HA what the hell is the point of all this?

Devin's shown a hell of a lot of restraint throughout the years. I trust he will be firm, but fair.

There are some feal fucking crybabies on the intergoogles I have surmised.

Devin's law will be like Devin's love.

The timeout thing is making it hard not to picture Devin as a british nanny.

Mrs. Devfire?

Seconded.

huh. Is this the ground moving?

Nope. It's being flushed down the toilet.

I don't know if I'd be so melodramatic. If this is going on partially because Nick's trying to fix shit with the site, well... As long as Devin doesn't transmorph into some trigger-happy dictator I'm okay with it.

He dwells on a great mountain. What use to call on him? Little he cares if men live or die. Better to be silent than to call his attention to you; he will send you dooms, not fortune! He is grim and loveless, but at birth he breathes power to strive and slay into a man's soul. What else shall men ask of the gods?

Devinicus is a grim and gloomy god, ever watching from atop his mountain in dark clouds and obscuring mists, ready to pass a disapproving judgment on any and all. However he is also said to value courage and tenacity in mortals, even if the human ultimately proves too frail to succeed.

I couldnt resist.

In the other thread, someone put up a set of rules from another board that said people had to pay ten bucks to be there. Consider that option. It might be better than some of these sketchy ads where the jerks running the show "forget" to cut you a check.

This kinda sucks Nick, Devin is a really good critic but he's IMO too emotional to justly run a forum. I see this creating more problems than it solves.

The CHUD staff is in essence a group of humane literates who understand the 20-35 male zeitgeist, and that is a rare and beautiful thing. This site should be growing, and I truly believe CHUD's health is best when you and Devin create while someone else babysits the kids.

Personally I think the Jakes would be just about the best mods possible.

Jeez, I step away from the forums for 2 days...

CHUD definitely needs more moderation. If that's Devin, fine. But, I think we need at least a couple more moderators.

I have only one request, personal attacks needs to be moderated. Sometimes it can get out of hand and detract from decent discussion. (I'm no saint, I've taken the bait and went personal before.) But, I feel it's a rule that should be enforced.

yessss hey guys I got a vote crown me motherfuckers

I'm 1000% against anything that distracts Devin from writing more Star Trekkin' articles.

Man's gotta finish the series or I'll never get the chance to buy his book.

Exactly, if Devin had finished that series.


could have been turned into a Turnabout Intruder reference that brought the house down.





(I don't really have a problem with Devin as a mod, I just wanted to make my dumb Star Trek Joke.)

I'm convinced that Jakes is actually the Dog with Sun Glasses pictured in his avatar. He barks into a microphone which converts his barks into text which we read on CHUD. Since dogs are loyal therefore Jake would be a great Moderator!

Also my shit's got autotune

Agreed. That should be a CHUD book, I've said it before and I'll say it again.

SA charges a one-time $10 for the forums, but they run a shitload of banner ads, too. Now, they can probably afford to be way more selective about their advertising, especially with 100,000+ posters. That's a million bucks in registration fees. Plus ongoing re-registration from people who get banned and pay to unban themselves.

I just don't think that option scales well to CHUD. Our total membership is a drop in the bucket compared to that place. The regularly active posters constitute an even smaller fraction. And I'd bet you'd only get the high-volume posters and the old-timers like you and me to actually come through and pay for an account here. We'd lose a lot of valuable voices along with the detritus.

And CHUD would still need ads.

I don't post much anymore, but I do read the main page daily and the movie forums and the recent dicussions life permitting; not an unsusual habit for members whose lives outpace time allotted them for leisurely writing and reading. The forums — in spite of the noise and precious humour — are a great read to guage films and television shows and psychological weather in the chattering classes. So I'll be reading the site regardless of what happens to the boards and posting now and then if it's allowed.

Now, I know I just typed three sentences and stated nothing either critical or constructive. (Besides the notion that there might be something to posting occaisonally and the odds are 12:1 in favour of you not being funny.) So consider this: giving an edit-minded guy like Devin the kill switch may cut-down some of the expulsiveness dragging global board discussion in pointless or insubstantial directions.

Regardless, any person who has posted here for more than 5 years knows this part of an approximately 18 month cycle: a cycle wherein a subpopulation of new members, who can best be described as dumb, combine with a smaller population of older members — members who have become for whatever reason annoying — to create a source of obnoxious posts that inspires the reaction titular to this thread. As was said before: same as it ever was.

I'm old to these boards, and dumb

Boo! I'm still waiting for the remaining six Rocky breakdowns!

I'm in Mattioli's corner on this one.

Wait ... six?

Rocky v Predator? Or was that an absinthe hallucination I had?

"It's about moving for-*SLICE* EEEGGAAAAAAA"

Rocky Balboa meets John Rambo in THE HURT BOMB

What? Don't tell me I'm the only who saw this.

The mental image of John Rambo building a literal hurtin' bomb as Tony Burton cheers him on is wonderful.