patrick.net

I think quesera's right, ignoring hasn't worked because there is always someone who'll answer. Maybe better to ban because intelligent people are leaving in disgust.

Ban and be done with it.

I'm pretty doctrinaire about free speech, but sadly he's made the site measurably worse off for both sides of the debate. He's free to start his own no-doubt heavily traffic'd blog and discuss the finer points how how much better his life is than everyone elses there. It gives me no pleasure to say this, but...

[mortal-kombat-voice] finish him [/mortal-kombat-voice]

Cheers,
prat

Harm

It just occured to me that my tolerance for MP has probably waned because I haven't had any poetry from primetroll to make it bearable. I think it was AntiTroll who offered to make MP some fugu, blindfolded no less. I wish MP would take him up on his offer. :twisted:

Actually the fugu reference was from primetroll's latest Haiku masterpiece --see his 6:20 post. ;-)

Oh my goodness, I got my people mixed up and didn't even realize primetroll was still making it interesting. What's wrong with me? Too much white noise I think...

@MarinaPrime,

How on earth did this last post create such a fuss? Harm, News.. are you guys trying to ban me b/c we have this bet? That’s really weak guys. And then, i read some guy named ‘Chan’ calling me a POS asshole etc etc. When have i ever used a swear word or put down anybody?

Even when provoked, i keep it pretty civil

If you had bothered to read the entire thread you would have known that the bet or lack of civility on your part had nothing to do with it. And btw, I've deleted Chan's comments and gave him a warning.

I really don't care one way or the other. Problem is, many others on this blog DO care, and your presence appears to be keeping many of them away. I don't like having to play the role of censor, but that's the way it is. I'm sorry, but it seems to have come down to either you or everyone else --we'll know by tonight anyway.

Peter, SactoQt,

I'm going to be tied up until late tonight, so can you please monitor the active threads for me (if a flame war erupts, send the offenders' IPs to Patrick, etc.)? Thanks.

So are we still supposed to vote? I will just in case. I personally would just say keep MP around for the sake of freedom of speech, because I find it easy to ignore his comments when they get overly useless (and I do think he's bizarrely--and unintentionally--funny), but if he's keeping intelligent posters away...I have to vote to ban. :-(

But who will be the voice of dissent? Where's Fake P? I miss him.

Jamie,

Yes...For all who have not voted, per Harm's last post the deadline is still midnight tonight.

BayQT~

Re MP, I vote "abstain".

Well, MP has made his final farewell, twice. Yet promised to check in at the end of the year. :roll:

Maybe we can have an actual discussion now.

changing his name to Scrooge McDuck.

LOL :lol:

Primetroll's idea has merit. If MP get's over his tantrum and checks back in, and the vote goes in the 'let him stay' direction, let him have his thread and those of us who'd rather not talk to him can just not participate in that thread. The real trick will be in getting him to stay off the other threads.

Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible, so we don’t waste even more time on the subject, okay? I want a thumbs up or down on MP from EVERYONE –not just regulars.

Well, only because we get "blogged down" on this one person--bye!
Conversely, I think it's good to consider how I can bring something interesting/useflul to this site.

Well, only because we get “blogged down” on this one person–bye!
Conversely, I think it’s good to consider how I can bring something interesting/useflul to this site.

I suppose we should all be asking ourselves that.

Ultimately the problem with MP is that I want to give the guy the benefit of the doubt but he always screws it up for me. :neutral:

Ok, it's past midnight, so the "polls are closed" so to speak. Fellow blogsters, may I have the envelope please.... (drumroll)

Ban MP: 9
(10 if you include astrid, who hasn't posted since the "incident")
keep him: 2
Abstain: 1

BAN IT IS!

Some parting thoughts...

Things about MP I will miss:
1. Having a relentless anti-bubble contrarian to argue with now that Fake P & Face Reality rarely post anymore.
2. primetrolls' MP-inspired poetry
3. His comic relief value --many of his claims and "arguments" were so ridiculous and over-the-top that they couldn't be taken seriously.

Things about MP I WON'T miss:
1. His immature, arrogant, solipsistic way of defining everything in relation to his own absurd, inflated ego-projection of himself.
2. His tendency to provoke (or manage to be the center of) numerous nasty flame wars, thereby driving away quality posters.
3. ALWAYS ON TRANSMIT NEVER ON RECEIVE (over time he improved somewhat, but this tendency never really went away).
4. His whiny, disingenuous, fake self-pitying (see his "last" post above) and painting himself as a victim when he damned well knows WHY he's being banned.

Too bad it has to come to this, but sometimes "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one."

Np, Jack. Hopefully this will put the matter to bed for good.
I've already noticed a measurable improvement in the quality of posts and participation --heck, even Surfer-X came back to weigh in.

“the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.”

Here's the great thing about the internet: He can start his own blog, and put out his message for all to consider. Not only that, he can turn on comments, and he can link to posts here, posting counter-arguments.

So, he get's a forum for his viewpoints, and we don't have to do bayesian a**hole filtering when reading threads here. And, if the fancy strikes us, we can head over to his place to see his arguments.

Really, it's a win-win.

Cheers,
prat