What Happened to the Epstein Thread?
 

Oops - I accidentally posted this over in PARF when I meant to ask here, in "regular" OT. I know many of us avoid PARF so probably wouldn't see it there, so being unable to move it, I'm double posting. Sorry...

It appears to have been deleted in its entirety. A few of us were having a respectful, adult exchange this morning regarding the various natures of child sexual abuse. I took off for a few hours to go to one of our local game department public hunting sites so I could run and swim Ed a bit and, when I got home, the entire thread was gone. I'm assuming one of our "usual suspects" was unable to control himself (again...) and said something inappropriate enough that the moderators shut it down. It must have been something else - not just moved to PARF, not just locked, but entirely deleted. I guess I'm glad I missed it.

Maybe not far from the truth. I started that thread and though we did have a few strange detours, the core of the discussion was pretty good. I am following this case through the Miami Herald and will post if anything new pops up. July 30 is the prelim hearing in NY and that should make some waves.

Keep watching and talking about this guy so he can't slip below the radar again.

Threads do just disappear now...seemed OK when I dropped by....leave the threads....ban the idiots :)

It went to moderator space in the time it took me to post a post that never got posted as the thread wasn't there when I finished.

People who complain about PARF were making PARF posts. Then complaining at the disagreement to their PARF posts. Very hypocritical.

The thread should have been in PARF to start with giving the strong political connections around the issue.

They may clean it up and bring it back like they did the soccer thread. They may move it to PARF(Where I think it should be).

I suggested Epstein is a dirt bag and I bristled when someone seemed to be minimizing his dirt bagginess. Oh, and I threw in comments about another figure who is prominent in the news these days which was perhaps not entirely fair. Back to the original topic: Yeah, I think Epstein is a dirtbag. I'm pretty sure about that.

No, what you did was to bring Trump and his wives into the discussion. You also suggested that our President pursues under age girls and had extramarital sex with a porn pro. You know, that one who was working with that lawyer set on taking down Trump and running for president himself.... Avennatii.

Yeah, Wayne did the same on occasion. meh.

Yep...PPOT had a small, but good band then ;)...

I don't recall threads just disappearing in the past....they would be closed, or typically just moved over to PARF if a "good" discussion necessitated it....it worked. I had a thread disappear recently....no problemo. It was for actually moderating this board, or watch it die....jmho.

Most posters have disappeared....just like threads do...YMMV.

I'd like to see more than "glimpses" of what PPOT was before, but that's just me....I dunno?

Now GOML...

Yes, on that I think we can all agree. Epstein. Dirtbag. Banging vulnerable underage girls. Dirtbag.

I think where it really went off the rails was when I chose to answer your "moral relativity" argument. I presented another aspect of that, that of exploiting vulnerable, underage girls (and boys), preying upon their confusions and anxieties regarding their sex. Trusted, "caring" adults using their influence over these young people to encourage them to make decisions they are too immature to make - life altering decisions, with all too well document results. All to selfishly push these trusted, "caring" adults' political positions. Pushing these young people to surgically and chemically alter their birth sex, rather than encouraging them to wait until they are mature enough to make such an important decision. Dirtbags.

A few of us were having an informative, adult, civil, respectful exchange regarding that concept. You and I (and others, most notably Terry) have gone out of our way to demonstrate that it is entirely possible to have such an exchange over some pretty contentious topics. We all have something to learn from one another when we conduct ourselves in a respectful, adult fashion. It's great when we can do that.

Alas, there are still a few who can't seem to bring themselves to participate at that level. In this particular case it was, once again, Shaun. His very first "contribution" to the discussion was a full-on personal attack, something we have, unfortunately, seen all too often from this guy. Oh well. At least it got shut down before it devolved into another one of his days long, emotionally driven meltdowns, like the one we had to endure over some silly little shooting video.

I share KC911's lament, wherein the threads would be left standing and the idiots would be shut down. It's the moderators' house, though, so it's entirely up to them. As it stands, however, it looks like we will be treated to more of Shaun's emotional diatribes, wherein he is unable to intelligently address the message, so chooses instead to attack the messenger. I'm actually embarrassed for him, but I'm pretty sure I'll get over it.

Maybe Shaun requested it be removed as part of some new "social experiment"

Here's a suggestion. If you are posting about a topic that is going to draw PARFers like honey, post it over in PARF. It is all well and good to say that everything was fine until the thread devolved (just like it would in PARF), but I expect that there was a 100% chance of that happening from the moment the topic was posted.

If you post certain topics, you have to expect that there will be other people from PARF who will also be interested in coming over to regular OT to post in it. You know which ones will do it, we all know which ones. That is a given. The point is that you can't expect different results just because it is a new thread. I would be willing to bet there is an Epstein thread in PARF right now.

You know where these threads belong. If you start such a thread, you created the result as much as anyone else, And You Should Know Better. Parf topics are going to draw Parf responses even if no PARFer responds. But there will never be a day when a PARF topic fails to draw PARF regulars. Build it, and they will come.

Stop pointing fingers and take it upon yourself to do the right thing. Don't come up with a brilliant retort to my post, that would be missing the point, which is pretty obvious.

In his defense, I'm sure when Cajundaddy started that thread, he was quite sure there was nothing political about it and that he would gain universal, bipartisan support of the assertion that Epstein is a Dirtbag. And he did. Where it started heading for the ditch is where Superman introduced our current President in his "moral relativism" argument. Or, maybe more accurately, that is where it gained the potential to head for the ditch. It was still holding its own as a polite, respectful exchange of ideas, in a most un-PARF-like fashion, for some time after that. So, yes, in spite of your assertion, we can indeed point fingers. It's pretty damn obvious who sent that one into the ditch. And to expect everyone to "see that coming", when posting what they hope will be a non-partisan issue, is quite unrealistic.

Ultimately what I find most disappointing about that whole schlimazel is the very notion that that sort of behavior is acceptable anywhere on this forum. The childish personal attacks leveled by characters like Shaun, George, Beygon, Peteremsley, and others should be grounds for immediate banishment. There is just no call for it and it should not be tolerated. Even in PARF.

So, the thread is not deleted, but in moderator land. My fault, I haven't had time to go through and clean it up.... other duties at Pelican take precedence for me. I'll have it appear tomorrow though.

I recieved a few PM's on Sunday about this topic when I checked in on Monday. At first I saw no reason to close it, but then I went to the last page... aaaand you guessed it. Seems a bit late to go through and give people a time out though.


If you're interested in helping regulate things here and become a moderator, feel free to PM me. Sure could use the help.

Man, it always makes me laugh when people post finger pointing comments and fail to mention the dozens of other supposed culprits (most of which are on his or her brethren list). Why anyone would give two shiits about what someone else posts (other than blatant, threatening posts , which some on the "real" list have been known to do, and/or attacks against non-combatants, as Fint would say - a members family members, etc, or post pics of memebers without their consent), is beyond me. If I were a mod, I would want to ban the finger pointers and crybabies.

PS - I still miss PARF! How you spanners are allowed all the fun, while I can only read and participate in the safe-space forums, is a real mystery! :D

It's your god damned "music" videos. :p

Ha ha - no doubt! Rock the house!!!!!! :D

Eric,

Thanks for the update, and thanks for doing the thankless job of moderating us 'adults'.