Have the people that have received confidential, leaked information from either of the "private" forums on FT (TalkTeam or TalkBoard) forwarded that info to Randy or other Webflyer staff for investigation?

Can we leave Hitler out of this, at least?

ozstamps said that he had - I think Randy should give him props for that. At least one other said that they wouldn't (!).

Affirming Adolf Hitler? My God....

Randy, moving all of the threads makes sense. It really looked odd when the one relating to me was the only one that was moved.

This is especially true since, in my case at least, ClueByFour's, "first step" didn't exist (as a matter of fact, neither did steps two or three).

Mod1: User X is doing something bad.

Mods2-5: discussing action.

Consensus: ask Randy to intervene in the form of a timeout.

The discussion (and I use that term loosely) about me was initiated by B747-437B who stated: "As many of you have probably noticed, yesterday Punki started yet another
thread criticizing Steve's action, and the moderation process as a whole," referring to this thread.

Is it inherently "bad" to question a moderator's action? In this case the the original moderator reopened the thread as a result of my post. Does that make him "bad" as well?

Well despite the fact that I was right, B747-437B continued on with his totally off-topic insults. Other moderators (some of whom I previously respected) also jumped into the fray slinging their own totally irrelevant mud.

I couldn't believe that techgirl actually posted: "Earlier this morning, I donned my flame retardant suit and moved her "off topic" post about seeing FTers names in license plates to OMNI.
Can't wait to see how she complains about us squelching her fun." Sounds like her only goal was to stir up trouble. How does this help Randy or FlyerTalk?

OK, back to the thread that started the moderator discussion. A lot of other folks (many of them moderators) jumped into the fray and made a lot of false statements to and about me, many of which should have IMHO been deleted by a moderator as they were clear TOS violations. It is amusing that most of the poster did not even realizing that the original moderator evidentally agreed with me and reopened the thread.

The Result: The memory with which many of you are left is that that Punki is a bad person who hates moderators. Guess Hitler understood the average Joe pretty darned well. Glad to know that there are at least some of you who read and understand a little bit more than the average guy in his target audience.

Yes, Randy, MoreMiles does have a private moderators forum. There are some MM moderators who have strong opinions regarding some MM posters, but I assure you that I have never seen any off topic back-biting or gossip within that forum. I think you know Rudi, BlondeBomber, dgolds and I (among many others) well enough to know that that type of activity would not be condoned in our presence.



[This message has been edited by Punki (edited Feb 02, 2004).]

No need to get alarmist. There is not a terrorist or a hyper-skilled hacker behind every bush.

Background checking the moderators will do truly little and if anything discourage some from participating and going through that headache. [Note: One of the best sources for identity theft and related pilfering is background check related data submissions and the background check processes themselves.]

No one is advocating doing nothing. Some of us, myself in particular, are saying that the sky is not falling ... and merely updating the security from a technical side and a revision in access privileges and a decision-making/access rights matrix is sufficient action. Bringing in the federales and a private sector company or two is just excessive and a waste of resources. If we start adding to Randy's burden he may just decide to dump this entirely -- sooner than later.

Often is not always or is it, Randy?

I truly cannot see Randy running around like a chicken without his head saying: "I'm a victim! I'm a victim. It's all my fault! It's all my fault!"

I'll second that thought.

FewMiles..

What I was affirming, Analise is that Hitler clearly understood how easy it was to manipulate the mind of shallow thinkers with lies, and that is certainly truth.

Fortunately, there were some who were smart enough and brave enough to withstand.

Anyone heard of Godwin's Law?

Mention Hitler or Nazis - this thread is now deemed CLOSED!!!

I am still laughing at the ever dwindling number of loose cannon Mods who have posted to this thread, who - * * make NO mistake whatever * * , directly initiated all this fracas, and caused their own Star Chamber board to be closed, and yet are yelling for everyone's heads to be lopped off - except their own. It is like a bad driver weaving through traffic lanes without indicating, causing accidents and chaos all behind him, and thinking he is not the cause - "the other guys are Officer".

Talk about "The Emperors with no clothes"

Pretty weird sense of values and morality.

Flyertalk IMHO will be stronger and better and more transparent from this day on. And certainly more enjoyable and fair for ALL who use it.

As Kokonutz (and others) have opined in recent days - exposure to bright sunlight DOES have that effect. Even bruised egos get a nice sun-tan eventually.

Randy has acted wisely in my view, as he always does, and I feel sure hopes in a day or so when this is but a faded memory that Flyertalk is a friendlier and more useful place, to learn and talk about miles and points - and NOT discuss private closed trials. Of which there will be no more.

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~ Glen ~ sipping bubbly from a UA 747-400 exit row 15 near you SOON!


[This message has been edited by ozstamps (edited Feb 02, 2004).]

Anyway, I still don't see the point of bringing Hitler into this, and no matter the context, I find it very questionable to quote Hitler as being right on anything.

Being German, I would ask you to remove these references.

Bringing Hitler into this as an example of how a person can manipulate things in a bad way:

Blowing things out of proportion, no matter what someone here might have done to manipulate opinions or whatever.

Bringing Hitler into this to say he did something right (which I know is not what you intended to do):

Even worse.

So either way, the Hitler reference is, with all due respect, unnecessary and out of line.

The point of giving Hitler credit for this very applicable and appropriate quote:

is, Attorney28, that he is actually the author of the statement. I thought about taking credit for it myself, but, unfortunately, I can't lie with a straight face.

The fact that I can acknowledge that Hitler had a good understanding of how to manipulate with lies, only indicates that I am smart, not that he was right. It really doesn't take a genius IQ to recognize that a paper hanger who made a good shot at conquering the world, must have been a good manipulator.

Having been German for a lot longer than you, I think I will just leave the quote alone. The only thing worse than a stubborn German is a stubborn old German.

Note: Saying the name Hitler is not a TOS violation.



[This message has been edited by Punki (edited Feb 03, 2004).]

attorney28. I agree 100% with you there is no need to mention Hitler on FT. I honestly do not feel anyone was being insulting to Germans or yourself on FT.

Perhaps some may not have heard of the Godwin's Law I quoted above:

Godwin's Law

Godwin's Law prov. [Usenet]

"As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress.

Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin's Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful.

http://info.astrian.net/jargon/terms...win_s_Law.html

[This message has been edited by ozstamps (edited Feb 02, 2004).]

You know, while I can't speak for every other moderator, I called for your timeout for intentionally and knowingly posting information from a clearly private forum onto a public forum. If it makes you feel any better, I'm more than happy to call for your timeout here in a public forum for exactly the same reasons.

You clearly don't support Randy's action or the house in general--if you had, you would not have posted what you did.

Quote:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Randy has acted wisely in my view, as he always does, and I feel sure hopes in a day or so when this is but a faded memory that Flyertalk is a friendlier and more useful place, to learn and talk about miles and points - and NOT discuss private closed trials. Of which there will be no more.

Pot. Kettle. Black.


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Don't feed the trolls.

HEY!

Pot. Kettle. Black. is [b]MY[b] line.

Next thing you know, people will be (Loving that bolding)!