You know, I really hate getting emails like this. Particularly when they are true and from people I respect:
Sorry to say this, but I think it is time for you to make a choice about Marmot’s Hole. You can either have quality posts by quality people (like Brendan Carr), or you can have trolls like **** and ****. But it seems increasingly clear to me that you cannot have both. I know you value the philosophy of the blog, and that is your choice. But me, I would far rather read what Carr has to say than read **** being a fucking idiot.
It’s a sad day when I’m lucky enough to get a guy like Mr. Carr to post here, and half of the 97 comments that follow are, well, silly.
It’s not like I’m asking you help pay my bandwidth costs. All I ask is that commentors behave themselves.
32 Comments
OT - Has Peter called it quits?
Man, even Bumgarner’s heat is nothing compared to Carr’s.
All I’ve got to say is I like the autumn-themed banner image. Who knew those diamond road things were in Korea AND Japan?
I do see your point about moderating. That would be an awful lot of work for Marmot, though. Sometimes the best response is no response. I do not rebut every poster who disagrees or criticizes my ideas. Posts that strongly reflect the mentality of the poster speak for themselves and are best left alone, and I trust intelligent and reasonable folks to recognize irrational ranting. In Asia, silence is not condonement. In fact, it is more often a polite expression of disagreement or disapproval.
If Marmot wants to take responsibility for moderating, it’s his blog. Until that happens, perhaps we can practice “wangtta” on the idiots by ignoring their posts.
Maybe **** should start his own blog. Anyone who can pontificate for what must have added up to at least thirty pages in that last thread’s comment section should be loading his work onto the net at his own expense. Whadya say ****? I’m not saying I would read it, but…..
That blog lives off of commentors going wild. Asking commentors to restrain themselves is like asking crack addicts to snort powdered sugar.
True - the accusations of racism were so way out that they seemed like parody.
To answer the question “Is it really that difficult?’, for some people - apparently it is.
I am a huge fan of this site as well…..
Love your work Marmot and to be honest your commentators are top class as well…
Baduk reminds me of my father…I am sure he is a nice guy but he is stubborn as a brick wall, it is his way or thinking or no way, reasoning with a guy like that is impossible..
I think my grandmother said it best when she said “don’t go throwing bricks at glass houses”
No one is obligated to read every post. If you think xxxx has verbal diarrhea, just scroll past the message.
Unfortunately, Sonagi, most people don’t appreciate being called racist. One enthusiastic troll can drive out a dozen of smart posters and guest columnists.
If you want to have a site full of noise, then leave it open. But if you aspire to something a little better than that, some sort of moderation at some point becomes necessary. Even Slashdot, home of libertarian tech geeks everywhere, figured out that lesson.
Ah, this is about commenters. For a second I thought he was talking about Sheldon and me.
Rhesus,
Peter runs a homemade blog and it goes down from time to time as he tweaks with it. I guess he’ll be back in a few days.
It’s not a homemade blog anymore. He switched [*I* switched him] to wordpress, same as here. He just forget to pay his hosting bill
What are those diamond road things for? In California they’re used for carpool lanes.
I love the Marmot and think most guest bloggers are crap — kosher?
When Marmot says “half of those 97 posts were silly,” he’s being way too charitable.
#13,
dda,
That is why I pay my bill annually.
Andy,
It gives him 12 months to forget the next installment
The reason he forgot is because he pays anually
wait a minute, you gonna tolerate a shakuhichi and a bevers but not the only two who offer any kind of opposition here? are you just interested in a preacher singing to the choir? i never knew that such strong conservative guys would be so communist.
btw, it’s ok to disparage korean people on this board but it’s not ok to disparage those who write that way?
Marmot, I would hope that people have the maturity to control themselves, but as we know, that is not always the case. As much as I dislike censorship, YOU are the boss, and if you feel that it is dribble, then the mature people who love this site will understand.
As for the previous post, nulji, I don’t see where your comment has any meat. We are discussing reasonable, rational debate -vs- immature, racist rantings. There is a difference….
Gillian
I’m with you. I was about to suggest it myself! From now on let race baiters go ignored.
well, perhaps we can all just ignore the last topic’s tangents and get on to more important subjects. i thought i might help with a topic near and dear to my heart that was covered here, but recently popped up again…
http://www.asiansexgazette.com.....news63.htm
Nulji — When I ask the commenters to play nice, I’m not referring to specific individuals. And while I tolerate certain people whom you’d characterize as “Korea-haters,” I also tolerate individuals some would characterize as being on the other extreme. And no where in my post did I talk about banning individuals. All I asked is that people try to maintain some degree of decorum, avoid personal attacks, and keep on topic. You do raise a point, however, and that is, even though the email referred to two particular commentors in Mr. Carr’s post, those two are hardly alone in engaging in occassional bouts of comment section mischief. My humble plea above is directed toward EVERYONE, not simply one or two commentors in general.
There are two distinct problems with postings.
One is personal attacks. The other is off-topic content. I am not guilty of the former, but I am of the latter. Some people will ignore the Marmot’s request; however, if the rest of us resist the urge to respond to insults and name-calling and ignore irrelevant ideas, no matter how interesting or how much we want to refute them, then we will have a more readable board.
[insert superfluous comment here]
Corpy Carly, **** does have a blog (you can follow the link from his name); ****, however, as far as I know, does not.
Andy wrote: “Ah, this is about commenters. For a second I thought he was talking about Sheldon and me.” LOL!
Nerdieboy: Yeah, where I live in Canada, they’re also for bus/HOV lanes; but in Korea and Japan, they warn drivers of crosswalkslike the big X’s here in North America.
As to the topic at hand, enough fur flies in all directions on some threads that I wouldn’t deign to single out one or two people. Some threads just deteriorate a big anti-Korean gangb*ng, so yeah, maybe in this case, **** and **** were flinging most of the sh*t, but I’d say that in general, a lot more people than just them have dirty hands.
…Which is why several intelligent commenters who used to frequent the Marmot’s Hole no longer appear here.
I will admit that I have been guilty at times of defending myself in ad hominim attacks but I would not agree that I have ever started them. I often enjoy reading the comments but I have to admit that there are times, more lately than there used to be, that I choose not to, not because I dont find the topic interesting but rather because the comments at times are not very thought provoking nor are they part of a conversation that I really want to be a part of. I agree with the Marmot that it would be prudent for people to show some restraint in their comments. What I took that to mean is that if someone posts a comment that you don’t particularly agree with, instead of posting a comment in response accusing the offending part of being a racist A-hole, it would be more effective to take issue with the way the comments were presented or the argument its self, not the person and certainly in a civil manner.
As far as that goes, it is good to see Curious back-it seems that it has been a while.
I agree with the Marmot that it would be prudent for people to show some restraint in their comments. What I took that to mean is that if someone posts a comment that you don?t particularly agree with, instead of posting a comment in response accusing the offending part of being a racist A-hole, it would be more effective to take issue with the way the comments were presented or the argument its self, not the person and certainly in a civil manner.
That sounds racist to me, James. Why insist that everyone conform to your nation’s cultural standards?
A little humor…
What I took that to mean is that if someone posts a comment that you don?t particularly agree with, instead of posting a comment in response accusing the offending part of being a racist A-hole, it would be more effective to take issue with the way the comments were presented or the argument its self, not the person and certainly in a civil manner.
If the person’s comment is relevant to the OP, then yes. If the comment is irrelevant, then let it go. That’s how discussions get way off track.
James wrote:
“As far as that goes, it is good to see Curious back-it seems that it has been a while.”
Thanks! I’ll see how long I stick around this time….
People do leave the board. I believe the majority leave this board because they leave Korea altogether, due to re-assignment, relocation, etc.. And, many had such horrendous experience in Korea that they have nothing to do with Korea. Including this board.
I miss some people from a year ago. I hope everyone is doing well.
For a while,(a couple of months ago?) Marmot was posting only a few articles and very few comments were coming in about those articles. I guess blogging is like a business. Sometimes, it is slow, then it picks up without no apparent reason.
Another big reason for exit is commentors setting up their own blogs. Kushibo used to come here often but I rarely see his comments. Ditto with Nora sumi park.
I do not agree that the main reason for dearth of commentors are due to some commentors’ vicious remarks. There were more name-calling and verbal attacks last year than it is now. Actually things have toned down quite a bit; I may be the only one doing it now.
I guess in the final analysis the content is the key. Along that line, maybe I MUST welcome Brendon Carr’s article, even though it did invite much controversy (mainly from me). I hope more people of caliber(Paul H, Richardson, and many others whose names I cannot remember at this moment)do contribute to this forum in the future.
I hope this board continues as an exchange forum for people to share information, experiences, heartaches, prejudices, etc. And, I must give credit to where credit is due. Thanks, Marmot. (Yes, I am brown-nosing.)
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