This website and why I love [censored]

[Mat Sklansky]

Most or all of the following was in a pm I sent to Microbob, with some addition. Ryan and [censored] agreed that it should be posted here.

[censored] has always done what I ask. Aside from Astroglide, he's the only moderator who has ever been able to effectively control oot, and keep in mind he chose Astroglide, and Astroglide left because he was not ok with having one of his decisions overturned. On the other hand, I have quietly overturned some of [censored]'s decisions with no fallout.

Any decision Mason makes in terms of "cleaning up oot" will only make the enforcement of those rules harder. And again the only moderator I know here tough enough to enforce these standards is [censored]. Before [censored], every attempt I made to keep that forum under control by myself and with other combinations of moderators failed and made me want to shut the place down.

Considering that I feel oot is important to the overall community here, that makes [censored] the most important moderator I have.

Jim Kuhn and Mike Haven do an excellent job of handling the second toughest forum on the site. However, when Jim (or others, etc.) say [censored] should go, they're coming from a limited perspective. And they are wrong. Even though people, including Mason and Ed are loathe to admit it, the newest and biggest customer base we have is comprised of men younger than 25, and what that implies. Getting that base to the forums and interested in poker through our non-gambling doors is good for the whole company. I really believe it is.

I'm 36, but I remember how I was ten plus years ago. A sanitized, civil OOT would have been less than appealing. So as I said, I'm not strongly opposed to some stricter requirements placed on the other topic forums, but such requirements make the need for a personality like [censored]'s more necessary, not less.

You're a nice guy (microbob and others). Everyone knows you're a nice guy. I'm a nice guy too. But I've come to accept that most people aren't very nice. I think most poker players aren't very nice, and I think that young men with an interest in poker are amongst the least nicest people in this country. At least in terms of how they wish to communicate with one another.

Long before these forums exploded, I gave up on trying to get people to behave as human beings. I quickly discovered that any attempts to change this led to threads like the one you tried to begin (in ATF), addressing insults. Now there are people who take this too far, and in those cases I would ban them.But as you can see from El Diablo's remarks (and he's ridiculously well-liked and respected in virtually every forum) our attempts to force civil discourse simply make things worse.

The only way to keep people under control around here, in my experience, is to make absolute demands and to stick with them. People are [censored]. They really are. Especially on the internet. Even the nice ones. Nobody. No moderator. Not me. Not Mason. Not you. Nobody is going to change this fundamental fact.

Ed and Elaine are young idealists who can't accept this. I don't blame them. But I believe your complaints about this forum are like theirs: dismay over the way people are willing to behave towards one another. That's how I see it. Elaine isn't really concerned so much with how the forums are policed, I don't think. I think she's horrified by the fact that people and the people who find and like oot even exist. And I admit that it's sad.

So if you think I have a point here, ask yourself if your concern is really the unkind words flashing on the computer screen, or if it's really a deeper disappointment. The disappointment that people are really just vulgar animals who can be controlled to some extent (and if you choose to remain a moderator, I will help you get and maintain that control and be open to policy changes acheiving that), but can never really be changed.

This is what you need to ask yourself. And if you think I've misread your feelings, don't hesitate to tell me. If your feelings don't stem from this deeper sense of disatisfaction with your fellow humans and you really are interested in forcing more civil behavior on the masses here at these forums, and you really feel that it would be worth your efforts to try and force such changes, then I'll keep on working with you to achieve that goal. But if such a goal is achievable, I need people like you to help me put the measures in place. Just complaining doesn't help. Making posts asking people to be more kind, doesn't help.

So think about this stuff and get back to me. And whatever happens, I think you can tell by the length of this message, that I do care. And the funny thing is, despite what so many think, so does [censored].