Job Discussion Forums

[killian]

Hi, as a long time member of this forum I feel compelled to bring notice of a situation that has become untenable. A certain member of our on-line community who no longer lives in taiwan (besides myself) inserts useless commentary into many threads, leading threads astray unto which they descend into slagging matches and such threads are then "locked".

Dave's ESL Cafe was a very valuable resource prior to my leaving for Asia as well as when I lived there. It is hoped that the original spirit of the former can be recalled and retained: querying souls could post problems that altruistic old hands could try to help them with. Recognizing such, all we can really strive for is to leave the place better than we found it.

As I receed from this phase of my life, it is hoped that the patient moderators of this site recall the folly of the village green. The village green was a place where the folks of the village could graze their animals. As long as everyone was careful not to abuse the situation, village greens were a great thing. When individuals realized that they could abuse the village green by owning and grazing more livestock than the green could support, the entire community was damaged. overgrazing led to reduced weight and health problems. village greens were done away with and greater fragmentation of the community ensued.

In all honesty and with malice towards none I now point out that a certain individual who shall remain nameless is damaging our on-line communnity. My primary concern is helping this site remain a viable tool for future and present day educators.

Moderators, please consider taking steps to prevent such abuse.

[brian]

It is a shame that it has come to this but maybe Killian is right. At one stage I had tried to avoid confrontation with this individual, but some of the things that were being said really gave me no choice but to join the slagging match. I can't personally understand that individuals position nor the fact that they feel the need to remain involved in this board considering the fact that they are now removed from the topic of this site - but I think that we all would welcome them if they were offering something of value. The problem is that they aren't, and as Killian has remarked, any threads to which they become involved with are beginning to be locked, which is a shame.

I would like to say that we should all just ignore this poster and maybe then they will go away, but what damage will they do in the meantime. Maybe, a step short of banning might be in order.

EOD - As moderator of this board, could you send the individual a message and see if you can bring him around?

[EOD]

I do not have the authority to ban individuals arbitrarily. The only person with that ability is Mr. Dave Sperling himself and rightfully so.
It is his name on the site and his hard work that brought the Internet to the forefront of ESL/EFL field.

[TaoyuanSteve]

I advocate banning. Believe it or not, until recently, I didn't. But he obviously isn't going to stop his antics. I would ignore him if he didn't continue to mislead people. He tries to pass himself off as someone more experienced than he is. More than this, he deliberately insults people. He clearly cannot respect the other users on this forum or its rules. Time to boot him off.

[naturegirl321]

Even if you ban him, could'nt he still come back under another username?

[TaoyuanSteve]

I suppose one who was banned could post under a different user name. However, it would be somewhat tricky as it would require reregistering. Besides, it wouldn't be the same if you had to use a different online persona and couldn't identify yourself under your old one for fear of being booted off again.

[jason_seeburn]

[Pop Fly]

[jason_seeburn]

[TaoyuanSteve]

[jason_seeburn]

but you guys don't understand what is actually going on on the island, and you see it all slanted and one sided. So doesn't that give me the right to clear things up, regardless of who I flame?

[Aristotle]

[Okami]

Ban Jason Seeburn and do so immediately. Be sure to document his many abuses and load of misinformation.

[TaoyuanSteve]

Oh. come off it Aristotle! Jason doesn't know what's going on over here. That much is totally clear (to most of us in the real world, that is). Jason, if you want to claim to know more than everybody currently living in Taiwan (while you live in Toronto-- and only lived here [you claim] nine months), please provide some shred of evidence to support your claim of superior knowledge. It's preposterous for you to assert that you know more about the place that I live than I do. It's been made abundantly clear that, in your short stay here, you learned nothing of the language and culture; as well, you knew almost nothing of the regulations governing the job you did while you were here. I have watched you learn things from more experienced members of this forum, only to turn around and use it in later posts, claiming to have known it all from your own experience (remember when you said those studying Chinese had to leave every two months?). You know, Jason, you're getting something of a rep on the net as know-it-all greenhorn. I found it amusing to find you mentioned in a thread on Forumosa.com. It's somehow appropriate that your one ally here is generally regarded (here and all over the net) as one who believes the sky is falling, the earth is a rectangle and Foreign teachers are going to be blamed for Chen Shui Bian's attempted assassination.

I'm one who likes to keep things respectful, but honestly the environment is getting poisonous here.

[Fortigurn]

Wise words from killian, brian, TaoyuanSteve, and of course the irrepresible Pop Fly.

You can add my name to the list of supporters for a ban.