Posted on 04/11/2008 5:47:55 AM PDT by Squidpup
Ohman. Now you’ve done it. What’s the brand name? If it’s Ralph’s I might be able to find it at Von’s.
:oP~~~~~
You asked about the Tornado thread from yesterday. Yep, it has been completely deleted from FR. Too embarrassing for the moderators, I would guess.
For those who missed it:
As you may know, there was a weather event in Okaloma where multiple tornados were on the ground. Someone immediately started a FR thread (under Breaking News) when CNN starting showing a live feed from a helicoptor from a TV station in Hennesey Oklahoma (news9.com).
A huge low-lying black cloud spawned about 11 funnels which touched the ground, over a 3-hour period. The photographs were amazing and the thread had over 400 posts. We were really having a great discussion over the efforts of the “storm trackers” and the helicoptor crew, and the local TV feed. Fox and CNN carried it for about an hour — then they left it — but the event went on for 2 more hours.
Anyway, one of the Freepers noticed that the moderator (spelled modyoulater?) moved the thread from Breaking News to General/Chat. And we got off into a discussion that many of us didn’t undrestand the guidelines the mods used. And that if a thread on real-time forming tornados wasn’t breaking news, what is? And the moderator got all huffy and said tornado events didn’t last over an hour and it wasn’t life threatening because the tornados were over farmland. And that weather threads should be under general chat/weather, and many of disagreed. And others chimed in, saying they had gotten sick to death of the threads of the California wildfires, which were always posted in Breaking News. Nothing nasty was said, until the moderator said, “all of you can bite me.”
Then someone got another moderator in on the thread and the second moderator “suspended” the one who said “bite me”.
I myself tried to explain why I thought the thread should have remained in breaking news so that when people clicked into Free Republic, they would immediately see that the tornado event was going on. And as it was, it was stuck over in “chat” and many people were going to miss the fantastic live video coverage. The moderator said that wasn’t the purpose of Free Republic, to guide people to watch live videos. The moderator said to me that I probably was disappointed there weren’t any casualities from the tornados. I thought that was a bite harsh, to accuse me of that — I hadn’t said anything along those lines.
Anyhow, the management must have felt embarrassed, etc., by the pettiness, silliness, stupidity of the moderator(s) and they deleted the “bite me” comment, and tried to delete all of the argumentative comments by the moderator. The thread was so mishandled by FreeRepublic moderators that, at some point, the moderator COMPLETELY deleted a thread of over 400 comments — all to save face.
I’m really disappointed in the lack of maturity I’ve seen exhibited by the moderators as of late.
See my response. Message #1,822
You said: Too bad the thread was pulled. There were quite a few good “when pigs fly” jokes.
And one good “bite me” joke.
Ohman. That’s really pitiful. Not to mention being beneath the dignity of FR and JimRob. Maybe the moderators need to be screened a little better, and/or given sensitivity training.
I have to agree, though, that it should have stayed in Breaking News. We KNOW tornadoes can last more than an hour because most of them are on the move and can be destructive for hours as they cover many miles. Which is why the term “storm chaser” was phrased.
My son lives in Arkansas, and I’m always interested in the storm paths, whether they are tornadic or not. Thanks for ‘splainin’ that fiasco. It’s sure too bad that some folks have to suffer from small mindedness.
It’s not a “Ralphs” brand...but it was a generic.
Gotta Git...See Ya!
Ta! Safe journey!
That’s a great recap.
I wondered about “modyoulater”. He/she got suspended or banned, but I don’t think it was a moderator. I think it was just a butthead.
Anyway, it was absolutely amazing. I had the live feed from Ranger 9 going and the live thread... great way to spend an afternoon!
The mods did get awfully defensive, and it went bad from there.
I’d never seen a moderator say “bite me” before! A few brave souls bit back, but I didn’t dare. I try to keep a low profile these days.
I did draft a couple of retorts, but had the presence of mind to hit my “back” button before I hit “post”.
Like you, I don’t get the criteria for Breaking News. If Breaking News means “Happening Right Now”, then this surely fit.
Oops. Wrong copy & paste...
Or not.
Nobody here? On to other projects...
I’m back.
And going forth....
You would think so. In fact I think "Olive" in part of the Mod lecture series defined it that way.
Maybe you just ran into some very grumpy mods who don't like people talking about the weather.
Is it just me, or do articles stay in breaking news for weeks sometimes?
Seems there is a definite lack of consistency. Either way, there is never a need for pi$$iness on the part of the mods.
They do. Mostly because there isn't a lot of truly breaking news. Think of it as something that they would interrupt a program to announce.
Multiple tornadoes yep. Prince Charles builds new house nope.
Go figure.....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021216/posts
Post 5 on that thread made me snicker.
I chuckled a bit at that too.
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