Quote:


No it isn't. The only 'pandemonium' was trying to get all the injured off to hospital.

Quote:


Perhaps that is what was going through people's minds in considering how to respond in Boston - how easy it would be for them to set up more.

The only over-reaction I see is from you, making all these assumptions about 'things you heard'.

mantra wrote on Apr 27^th, 2013 at 7:37am:


The admin at D&R had a very fair attitude towards the membership regardless of where they were positioned politically. No one was ever sacked for having a leftwing view.

However, they were determined to maintain a certain standard of literacy. The inarticulate, the hopelessly dyslexic, the juvenile texters who ignored all the rules of grammar ... were quietly, and humanely 'retired' without notice or ceremony.

They were cast off into the Great Void to drift through cyberspace until gravity eventually would land them upon some minor planet more suited to their modest talents. From what you say it seems quite a few of these exiled inter-galactic space travellers eventually arrived here on Planet Ozpolitic.

And then there were the Pests and the trolls. Not having the intellect or the care to say anything original or remotely interesting, these camp followers would do nothing else but devote themselves to adjudicating the posts of members who they most resented for their wit and wisdom. These white ants were usually very quickly exterminated, never to be seen again.

And then there were the Squabblers. They would engage in endless ad hominem with a willing partner, and that would become their reason for logging into D&R. As they caroomed around the board from Topic to Topic, thread to thread, crashing into everybody's conversations, they were monumental disruptors of the easy flow of debate around the board.

These brawlers would often end up on the D&R vet's stainless steel table being quietly euthanized for the good of the majority. 

mantra wrote on Apr 27^th, 2013 at 7:37am:


As admin I would never have tolerated some of the gratuitous and utterly boring biffo that was allowed to continue endlessly between or from certain individuals. A Flaming thread might have solved this problem.

I did my fair share of Mixed Martial Arts over there on certain (deserving) individuals, and on occasion I too was known to succumbed to the wicked pleasures of a little bullying in the playground.

But I practiced these vices in moderation, and made sure to otherwise make sober and (hopefully) sensible contributions to the topics under discussion.

As for Tony Abbott ~ he lost me the moment I heard he had mounted a personal vendetta against the founders of One Nation simply because he didn't like their brand of politics. What he did was tantamount to the political assassination of a democratically elected party. 

freediver wrote on Apr 27^th, 2013 at 8:10am:


We are all making assumptions about 'things we heard' FD - you no less than me. But I'm not the only one who is dismayed by this. There was a good quote from a US anthropologist in Paul McGeough's article in today's SMH:

Quote:

Herbert
Quote:


That statement will not endear you to a few of the members here. Still the place is now dead and buried with few mourners - may it rest in peace forever. 

freediver wrote on Apr 27^th, 2013 at 9:48am:


Alas and begorrah, but I am soon to be beamed up to the bridge of the inter-galactic Starship Debate And Relate Mk2 as its orbit takes it past Planet Ozpolitic at Warp 9 in a few hours from now.

But thank you for your kind words anyway.

Nicole Page wrote on Apr 25^th, 2013 at 1:50pm:



Modern History test - a tale of our times


How Soon We Forget . Please pause a moment, reflect back, and  take the
following multiple choice test. (The events are actual cuts  from past
history. They actually happened! Do you remember?)

1.  In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and  massacred
by:
a. Olga Corbutt
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold  Schwartzeneger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17  and 40

2. In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over  by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old  women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and  40.

3. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in  Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy  Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and  40

4. In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up  by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Kylie  Minoque
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and  40

5. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70  year old
American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his  wheelchair
by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davy Jones & The  Monkees
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly  between the ages of 17 and 40

6. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was  hijacked at Athens, and a U.S. Navy diver
trying to rescue passengers  was murdered by:
a. Captain Kid
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother  Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and  40

7. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby  Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
d.  Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

8. In  1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a.  Meatloaf
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male  extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

9. In 1998, the  U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Tarzan
b.  Hillary Clinton (to distract attention from Wild Bill' s  women
problems)

c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim  male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

10. On 11  September 2001 four airliners were hijacked; two were used as
missiles  to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining  two,
one
crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted to  a crash by the
passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:
a.  Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme  Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly  between the ages of 17 and 40

11. In 2002 the United States fought  a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Lawrence of Arabia
b. The Lutheran  Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages  of 17 and 40

12. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and  murdered by:
a. Bonny and Clyde
b. Ned Kelly
c. Billy  Graham
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and  40

13. In 2002 the Sari Nightclub in Kuta Beach, Bali, was blown up  killing
189 young mainly Australian tourists by:
a . The "Bundy"  Polar Bear
b. Ho Chi Minh
c. Paul Keating
d. Muslim male  extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

14. In July 2004,  three London Underground trains and one London Bus were
suicide bombed  by:
a. The Spice girls
b. The Beatles
c. The Four Tops
d. 4  'British' Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17  and
40



Nope, .........I really don't see a pattern here  to justify profiling, do
you? So, to ensure democratic western  Christian civilisation never
offends
anyone - particularly fanatics  intent on killing us - airport security
screeners will no longer be  allowed to profile (or target) certain
people.
They must only  conduct random searches of 80-year-oldwomen, people in
wheelchairs,  little kids, airline pilots with proper identification,
Secret Service  agents who are members of the U.S.President's security
detail, 85-year  old World War II veterans with metal hips, and Boy Scout
groups. They  must never "target" a turban wearing 17 to 40 year old male
who appears  to have a suspicious package tied around his body. This would
be  unjustified discrimination!

Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 27^th, 2013 at 11:00am:


Very funny. You got me there. I think you know which board I was referring to though.

Quote:


More collateral damage.

Quote:

Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 27^th, 2013 at 11:24am:



I wrote what you're responding to, not mantra.

It wasn't charges of tampering or censorship that I was referring to. It was the allowance of certain members to freely abuse, while others didn't get that "privilege" (if you could call it that).

I have no beef with the place. I am not interested in revenge in any form.

I would speculate that it didn't get any new members in its later years because it fell off the top of google search. I remember at one time it was the first or second hit, even if you typed in something like "Australian debate board" rather than its title "debate and relate". But in later years it came nowhere near the top search; in fact, I noticed on some occasions it slipped down to the second and third page.