Saturday, June 07, 2008
Friday, June 06, 2008
Prudence - in this case it is NOT called for!
Were the JG500 Forum a Forumer or Google/Yahoo/MSN Groups forum the moderators could have deleted this thread as soon as it appeared. Instead they have to go cap in hand to JG500 Admin and hope he has the time to do it eventually. This is not how moderated forums work! Does anyone else think this system doesn't make any sense? Or do most members come to the JG500 forum for cheap cyber-soap opera titillation and entertainment?
Anders, the JG500 Moderator has glibly criticized my concerns yet has produced little, if nothing, of any real value or use. I'm not trying to score cheap shots, nor am I engaged in self-promotion. In the spirit of his Code of Conduct I am seriously discussing matters of club concern. I have backed my proposals with working demonstrations and with financial donations. Does he have a problem with that? Does this go against his code? Does he find it awkward when people he doesn't like offer better solutions to complex problems than his answers? Perhaps he should try and address the issues and answer the questions rather than shooting the messenger.
Would he care to explain how effective and efficient his moderated forum actually is after its first month of operation? Can he explain why he drafted a Code of Conduct but then neglected to put in place a forum with the technology to enforce it? Can he explain why his solution results in much more work for Richard rather than less? Would he care to comment on Sharon's scathing indictment of his half-baked steam-powered mess? Does he gauge his successes by the effort he expends or by the results he achieves? Is he up to the job he appointed himself to do?
play500.blogspot.com/2008/05/failure-to-moderate.html
Is this Daffers blogging or Anders moderating?___________________________________
In light of the histrionic Prudence thread the Wikipedia extract below is an interesting read. Does remind you of anyone? I tested as high on the histrionic scale myself on the 4degreez Personality Disorder Test. Try it out for yourself - its fun, and a little introspection doesn't hurt!
Histrionic personality disorder
The essential feature of the histrionic personality disorder is an excessive pattern of emotionality and attention-seeking behavior. These individuals are lively, dramatic, enthusiastic, and flirtatious. They may be inappropriately sexually provocative, express strong emotions with an impressionistic style, and be easily influenced by others.
The literature differentiates HPD according to gender. Women with HPD are described as self-centered, self-indulgent, and intensely dependent on others. They are emotionally labile and cling to others in the context of immature relationships. Females with HPD over-identify with others; they project their own unrealistic, fantasied intentions onto people with whom they are involved. They are emotionally shallow and have difficulty understanding others or themselves in any depth. Selection of marital or sexual partners is often highly inappropriate. Most all partners chosen will have symptoms of personality diseases far worse than their own. Women with HPD often tend to enter into abusive relationships with partners who increase in the abuse as time wears on. Pathology increases with the level of intimacy in relationships. Women with HPD may show inappropriate and intense anger. They may engage in self-mutilation and/or manipulative suicide threats as one aspect of general manipulative interpersonal behavior.[1]
Males with HPD usually present problems of identity crisis, disturbed relationships, and lack of impulse control. They have antisocial tendencies and are inclined to exploit physical symptoms. These men are emotionally immature, dramatic, and shallow. Both men and women with HPD engage in disinhibited behavior.
People with this disorder are usually able to function at a high level and can be successful socially and at work. People with histrionic personality disorder usually have good social skills - but they tend to use these skills to manipulate other people and become the center of attention. Furthermore, histrionic personality disorder may affect a person's social or romantic relationships or their ability to cope with losses or failures. People with this disorder may seek treatment for depression when romantic relationships end, although this is by no means a feature exclusive to this disorder. They often fail to see their own personal situation realistically, instead tending to dramatize and exaggerate their difficulties. Responsibility for failure or disappointment is usually blamed on others. They may go through frequent job changes, as they become easily bored and have trouble dealing with frustration. Because they tend to crave novelty and excitement, they may place themselves in risky situations. All of these factors may lead to greater risk of developing depression.
Symptoms
The symptoms include:
- Constant seeking of reassurance or approval.
- Excessive dramatics with exaggerated displays of emotions.
- Excessive sensitivity to criticism or disapproval.
- Inappropriately seductive appearance or behavior.
- Excessive concern with physical appearance.
- A need to be the center of attention (self-centeredness).
- Low tolerance for frustration or delayed gratification.
- Rapidly shifting emotional states that may appear shallow to others.
- Opinions are easily influenced by other people, but difficult to back up with details.
- Tendency to believe that relationships are more intimate than they actually are.
- Making rash decisions.
- Threatening or attempting suicide to get attention.
Diagnosis
The person's appearance, behavior, and history, and a psychological evaluation are usually sufficient to establish the diagnosis. There is no test to confirm this diagnosis. Because the criteria are subjective, some people may be wrongly diagnosed as having the disorder while others with the disorder may not be diagnosed. Treatment is often prompted by depression associated with dissolved romantic relationships. Medication does little to affect this personality disorder, but may be helpful with symptoms such as depression. Psychotherapy may also be of benefit.
Diagnostic criteria
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a widely used manual for diagnosing mental disorders, defines histrionic personality disorder as a pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
- Is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is not the center of attention
- Interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior
- Displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions
- Consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self
- Has a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic and lacking in detail
- Shows self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion
- Is suggestible, i.e., easily influenced by others or circumstances
- Considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are.
The International Statistical Classification of Diseases defines histrionic personality disorder as characterized by:
- self-dramatization, theatricality, exaggerated expression of emotions;
- suggestibility, easily influenced by others or by circumstances;
- shallow and labile affectivity;
- continual seeking for excitement and activities in which the patient is the centre of attention;
- inappropriate seductiveness in appearance or behaviour;
- over-concern with physical attractiveness.
Mnemonic
A mnemonic that can be used to remember the criteria for histrionic personality disorder is PRAISE ME:
- P - provocative (or seductive) behavior
- R - relationships, considered more intimate than they are
- A - attention, must be at center of
- I - influenced easily
- S - speech (style) - wants to impress, lacks detail
- E - emotional lability, shallowness
- M - make-up - physical appearance used to draw attention to self
- E - exaggerated emotions - theatrical
Relationships
The HPD is highly reactive. If there is another major disorder present, such as delusional disorder, then emotional intensity will create anger, rage, abuse and distance in relationships.
It is important for the therapist and family members to monitor and record all situations that trigger the HPD so that the deep underlying overload of pain can be accessed and released for therapeutic change.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Poll Result for an Independent Moderated Forum
Calling Aces
In Play500.com Bryce Francis says: The basic idea behind any call is to get the most points out of the pair of hands involved in that call. You must COMMUNICATE!!!. Communication must be POSITIVE. This method of calling requires calling the aces first, and your suit strengths later. Each caller must call the lowest ACE, or the joker when it is his turn to call and he or she has no aces to call. If the first caller holds the ace of spades, his first call is six spades, even if that is the only black card in his hand. A first call of six spades says to all players that that player has the ace of spades. It gives no indication of any other card in the hand. It certainly cannot be taken to indicate a strength in spades. It is just the ace.This certainly applies to ATF500. The only modification I would make for Classic 500 is that IF you have 2 aces then call what would be your off-suit ace in preference to your trump ace. The idea of ace calling is to give your partnership an extra trick by identifying an off-suit strength.
If you have no aces then go straight to seven if you have a good hand or if the scoreline dictates a bid. Calling strength at 6 because your hand is weak just muddies the water. The exception is calling 6 strength when your team is very near the back door. I use minus 350 as my guide as to when to call strength at 6 instead of 7.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Sunday, June 01, 2008
The Three Little Bops
From Wikipedia
Three Little Bops is a 1957 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, with voices by Stan Freberg and music by jazz composer/trumpeter Shorty Rogers. It is a takeoff on The Three Little Pigs, told as a hip, jazzy musical.
The Big Bad Wolf is not interested in eating the pigs, but rather joining their band. His problem is that he is a terrible trumpeter and therefore fails to endear himself to the Bops (or the audience, all of whom refer to him as a "square"). Constantly thrown out of the clubs he visits, the insulted Wolf retaliates by using his trumpet to blast away the House of Straw and the Dew Drop Inn of sticks.
The club of bricks is where he runs into problems; wolves are not permitted in the club, but he is not the least bit discouraged. Like his forefather, the Wolf runs out of breath in trying to blow away the club. Unlike his forefather, however, the Wolf resorts to other measures to make his mark. He reenters in fur coat and ukulele with his rendition of the Charleston song (cut short by slipping on a strategically-placed banana peel). He returns in the disguise of a houseplant with his trumpet but gets blasted outside by a plunger shot from the double bass. For his third try, the Wolf shows up in drum major outfit playing a big bass drum. A dart is shot into the drum, leaving him to exit in humiliation.
Finally, he shows up with a large cylinder of TNT and snaps, "I'll show those pigs that I'm not stuck! If I can't blow it down, I'll blow it up!" The fuse is blown out on his first try, so he steps back a bit and lights it from there. Unfortunately, he is too far away and his weapon explodes while he's carrying it to his target.
The Bops hear his trumpeting from "the other place" (hell), and it has improved dramatically. One of pigs proudly replies, "The Big Bad Wolf, he learned the rule: you gotta get hot to play real cool!" Thus the Wolf achieves his goal in afterlife: becoming a member of the Bops.
Instrument Credits are believed to be:
- Vocals - Stan Freberg
- Saxophone - Art Pepper
- Trumpet/flugelhorn - Shorty Rogers
- Piano - Pete Jolly
- Guitar - unknown
- Bass - possibly Joe Mondragon
- Drums - Shelly Manne
This is one of only two Warner Brothers cartoons to give on-screen credit to an actor other than Mel Blanc during the period of Blanc's exclusive contract with the studio. The other short is The Mouse That Jack Built, which credits the cast of The Jack Benny Program.
Yoinks and awaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!
From Wikipedia
The film features Daffy Duck in the role of legendary outlaw Robin Hood, and opens to the strains of his playing an instrument similar to an archlute or bouzouki. As he prances along singing, he trips and tumbles down a bank into a lake. Watching is Porky Pig, here a Friar Tuck figure, who laughs uproariously at Daffy's inglorious plunge. The annoyed Daffy tries to prove his skill with a "quarterstaff" (Daffy: "Actually, it's a buck-and-a-quarter quarterstaff, but I'm not telling him [Porky] that."), but manages to hit himself in the face with it, bending his bill in what becomes a recurring visual gag throughout the film. He tries again, but while he is spinning his quarterstaff, Porky stops it with a mere toothpick, resulting in Daffy falling back into the lake.
Other notable lines:
- Daffy, fighting with his $1.25 quarter staff : "Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!" (quarter staff bounces off log, bending his bill. He straightens it back to normal, and starts speaking to himself) "Let's see now. Something amiss here... hmm, I'll run through it. Ho, haha, guard, turn, parry, dodge, spin, ha, thrust." (bill bends again) "Got it." (straightens bill, and starts his fighting moves again.) "Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin!" (Porky comes up and holds a toothpick up against the quarterstaff while Daffy is spinning it, stopping and causing Daffy to spin instead. Daffy then falls back down into the lake)
- See yon rich unwary traveller? I'll rob him of his gold, and give it to some poor unworthy slob. That'll prove that I'm Robin Hood, hmm? Prithy, hmm?
- "Yoicks . . . and away!" (Daffy swings from a treetop and hits another tree) "Yoicks . . . . and away!" (Daffy swings from the other treetop and hits another tree. This happens a few more times, slurring his speech a little more each time, until he's at ground level.) "Why you...!" (Daffy gets an axe and starts chopping down the last tree he hit. Eventually, all the trees that got in his way are now out of his path, and he is back on top of the first tree.) "Now then, yoicks . . . . . and, away. . ." (Daffy swings over all the trees he's chopped down and hits a rock)
- "Ho ho, very funny; Ha ha, it is to laugh."
- "Oh, knock it off. How jolly can you get?"
The Mind of a Card Cheat
Whenever cards are played there is always an opportunity for cheating. There is, however, a difference between a card shark and a card cheat. A shark is definitely a cheat, but a cheat is not necessarily a shark. A cheat may be someone who just happens to take advantage of a situation. Or it may be someone who just likes to gain advantage by cheating, but doesn't really know how to cheat. Eventually both of these kinds of cheats will get caught, simply because they are not good strategists.
It is not to say that every card shark is of the same caliber, nor is it true that they all know everything about cheating at cards. On the contrary, most sharks specialize in just a few strategies that work well for them. They may be familiar with other cheating methods or even not, in fact they may even be misinformed about cheating methods outside their field and even fall victims of other sharks. Most sharks are in it for the money, they are not lecturers nor professors. If one thing works for them, they do it well and look for another "client".
Sharks come in all shapes and colors. For example, take the three card monte guy. He is a smelly street guy in worn out clothes, who probably lives in a dump (or at least it looks that way). There is not much appeal in this guy. In fact from his appearance you would not be surprised if you found out, that he has a criminal record and never did anything decent in his life.
"A cheat doesn't necessarily have to cheat. In fact, the best cheats will only cheat when it is absolutely necessary to do so. This way they decrease the odds at getting caught."
Now take the other extreme. In the Hollywood film The Sting Paul Newman and Robert Redford played the roles of two con men. In one scene Paul Newman even demonstrates a second deal. He is obviously a card shark, but this type of shark you like. He is your hero and you do not care much that he is also a criminal. This is how Hollywood portrays card sharks. In real life there may be a handful of charismatic sharks who look like movie stars, but the real-time sharks look a lot more like average guys, from any background.
So lets talk about cheats in general. What makes them tick? Why do they cheat?
A cheat doesn't necessarily have to cheat. In fact, the best cheats will only cheat when it is absolutely necessary to do so. This way they decrease the odds at getting caught. Even if they play a square game from beginning to end, they are still cheats, simply because they entered the game with the intention to do so.
All a smart cheat wants is an edge other players don't have. This edge translates into a profit over a long term play. It is like a tank full of water with a miniature hole on the bottom. If you put a container under it, all the water will eventually end up inside it. The same kind of edge brings millions of Dollars into casinos every year. Except casinos, don't have to cheat, the rules of the games are set up so that they have a mathematical edge. Some people would consider this not fair play and they may argue that this is a form of cheating, other people may disagree with that. Those are just different points of view.
When a cheat loses a hand he thinks of this as an investment - not a loss. He knows that he has to keep his victims motivated if he wants to keep them playing and raising bets. If his victims are regular customers he must even let them go home as winners some time. How else could he keep their spirits up and not make them suspicious? After all he just lets them keep some of their own money on temporary basis. Next time he will collect dividends, capital gains and his initial investment and at the end of the month, he will balance out his client's accounts so that he keeps the profit. It is like any other business, you have to keep your clients happy, get them Christmas cards etc. This is not like some of the giant corporate financial institutions, where they only promise to you that "the right relationship is everything", these guys actually make it the "right relationship" - if they know their business. Those cheats who do not get caught are not in it for a fast game - they do not have any intention in biting off the hand that feeds them.
Three card monte mobs operate at a totally apposite principle. They take your cash and run. After that you never see them again. You eventually figure out that you were cheated but there is very little you can do. Plus you kind of get over the twenty Dollar loss. They don't want to establish a relationship with you - all they want is your cash, they want it fast and then they want to deal with another sucker (all right, let's call him a customer). You will never get a Christmas card from any one of them and they don't give a damn if your feelings are hurt. Sure, if you are dumb enough to come back, they will be willing to take more cash from you, but if you make too much noise, they will walk away from you or even push you away.
Those are the two extremely different approaches in cheating. One is "white" the other is "black" -- in-between you will find all possible "shades of gray".
Online card games cheat exposed
The Inquirer By Nick Farrell: Thursday, 18 October 2007, 8:34 AM
PLAYERS of the online Absolute Poker game have found that someone in the company was involved in a cheating operation.
According to the New York Times, punters playing the game got a bit suspicious when one of the players seemed to know what cards were in their hands.
Normally at this point there would be lots of close ups of people's faces, chewing of cigars until someone spat and the cheater would be shot dead. Unfortunately since such action was impossible online, one of the players who’d been cheated requested that Absolute Poker provide hand histories from the tournament.
Absolute Poker accidentally sent a file that contained all sorts of private information that the poker site would never normally release. The file contained every player’s cards, observations of the tables, and even the IP addresses of every person playing.
The Times thinks that someone in Absolute Poker knew that the cheating was taking place and sent too much information to the players so that they could take appropriate action.
Each game was monitored by an 'observer' who is a guest who can’t see any of the players’ cards. When this observer was watching the game the cheater did not lose and seemed to know when another player had the best hand.
The gamers looked at who this observer was and in each case it was Scott Tom, part-owner of Absolute Poker, who was operating from the company's servers.
In otherwords he was tipping off the cheater the cards of the other players.
Absolute Poker has denied everything.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
RIP Harvey Korman, 81; versatile Emmy-winning comedian
Los Angeles Times : The late Harvey Korman, second from right, in a 1968 skit on "The Carol Burnett Show."
With a knack for physical humor and oddball accents, Korman was a master sketch comic who did his best-known work on Burnett's variety show beginning in 1967 in an ensemble that included Tim Conway. "It's a 45-year friendship," Conway said. "It was a great ride; we worked together probably 30 years, plus the Burnett show, which was about as good as it gets." Conway said Korman had "a complete understanding of comedy and comedy timing."
Korman and Conway developed an uncanny rapport that made them arguably one of television's most lethal comic teams; Conway's on-camera ad-libs often made Korman crack up; producers wisely kept them in the show.
One of their favorite routines from the Burnett show was the dentist sketch, "where I kind of anesthetize my entire body with Novocain" while trying to fill Korman's teeth, Conway told The Times on Thursday. "They play it at all the dental schools, as kind of an introduction on how not to do it," Conway said.
Korman made more than 30 films, including four comedies directed by Brooks, who first discovered him when his wife, the late Anne Bancroft, singled Korman out on "The Carol Burnett Show."
"My wife said, 'You've got to see this guy. They're doing the Andrews Sisters [in a sketch] and this Harvey Korman is the best of the bunch.' . . . Harvey was so funny. When I was putting together 'Blazing Saddles,' I just knew he was a natural" for the role of Hedley Lamarr in the 1974 Western satire.
Brooks called Korman "a major, major talent, and he could have very easily have done Shakespearean drama. That's how gifted and talented Harvey was. . . . I loved working with him."
"I had some real problems working with Harvey," Brooks told The Times on Thursday. "I used to look past his eyes. . . . If our eyes met, that's the end of the take. We would break up."
Brooks also cast Korman in "High Anxiety" (1977), "History of the World -- Part 1" (1981) and "Dracula: Dead and Loving It" (1995).
Duck Amuck
According to director Chuck Jones, this film demonstrated for the first time that animation can create characters with a recognizable personality, independent of their appearance, milieu, or voice. Although in the end, the animator is revealed to be Daffy's friend and rival Bugs Bunny (who famously declares "Ain't I a stinker?"), according to Jones the ending is just for comedic value: Jones (the director) is speaking to the audience directly, asking "Who is Daffy Duck anyway? Would you recognize him if I did this to him? What if he didn't live in the woods? Didn't live anywhere? What if he had no voice? No face? What if he wasn't even a duck anymore?" In all cases, it is obvious that Daffy is still Daffy; not all cartoon characters can claim such distinctive personality.
Mel Blanc does the voices. It was directed by Chuck Jones with a story by Michael Maltese. The film contains many examples of self-referential humor, breaking the fourth wall.
In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. This was the second of three animated shorts by Jones to receive this honor (the others are 1957's What's Opera, Doc? and 1955's One Froggy Evening). Jones has the distinction of being the only director (as of 2006) with three animated shorts in the registry.
The cartoon's plot was essentially replicated in one of Jones' later cartoons, Rabbit Rampage (1955), in which Bugs Bunny turns out to be the victim of the silly animator (Elmer Fudd). A similar plot was also included in an episode of Baby Looney Tunes, only Bugs was the victim, Daffy was the animator, and it was made on a computer instead of a pencil and paper.
In Looney Tunes Comics Issue #94, Bugs Bunny gets his back at Daffy Duck by making him the victim, in switching various movie roles, from Duck Twacy in "Who Killed Daffy Duck," a video game character, and a talk show host, and they always wound up with Daffy starring in Moby Dick (the story's running gag). After this, Bugs comments, "Eh, dis guy needs a new agent."
From WikipediaJust who is the Duck?
So why do audiences love him? Despite his failures, Daffy, like the Greek hero Sisyphus, is a victim of injustice who continuously protests. And it's his refusal to surrender his will to the whims of the conspiring universe that makes him heroic. How could one not feel sorry for an ill-equipped duck with Daffy's voice that just can't seem to get a break? At least Daffy aims high. And when he fails, he resets the bar . . . even higher.
Daffy Duck has evolved from the talents of Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, and Chuck Jones. It's not like he's a total failure. Daffy's been an Oscar presenter and he's starred or appeared in more than 150 cartoons and movies, often as a self-described hero matched with his polar opposite and sidekick -- the bashful and far less brash Porky Pig. Over the course of several hilarious cartoons, again and again, Daffy always manages to get the short end of the schtick.
In Drip-Along Daffy and My Little Duckaroo the comic pair, portraying Wild West lawmen, get more than they bargained for when they face desperado Nasty Canasta. Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, has space star "Duck Dodgers" (Daffy) and "Eager Young Space Cadet" (Porky), traveling to Planet X to battle with Marvin The Martian while in search of Illudium Phosdex, the shaving cream atom. In Deduce, You Say Daffy is "Dorlock Homes" and Porky is "Watkins", Baker Street sleuths who aim to capture the Shropshire Slasher. It is Watkins, the sidekick, and not Homes, that is successful.
In Chuck Jones' masterpiece Duck Amuck, Daffy is antagonized by an unseen animator who torments him by switching backgrounds and props, fooling with the soundtrack, and humiliating him by erasing and re-drasniff.os.wing him. Fittingly, the culprit is none other than Bugs Bunny, whose astounding success would, over the years, become the lightning rod for Daffy's envy and resentment. In shorts such as Jones' Rabbit Fire and Rabbit Seasoning and Freleng's A Star Is Bored, the pair carried on a timeless screen battle of wits, with Daffy entering the battle mostly unarmed.
In the end, he may have to re-align his bill and sweep up his dignity in a dustpan, but Daffy Duck always gets something that, unfortunately, he never really hears: a grateful audience's laughter.
Article from Looney Toons
Friday, May 30, 2008
How to deal with abusive forum members
From Communityspark
Sometimes, regardless of what you try to do abusive forum members keep coming back and causing trouble. This article will teach you how to take effective action against abusive forum members to prevent them from ruining your online community.
What are your rules?
Online communities need rules. If you don’t have any published rules, how can you expect members to abide by them? It is impossible for anyone to break the rules if there aren’t any in the first place. You will never be able to deal effectively with abusive forum members unless your site has rules, so make sure you have some in place before you try to deal with abusive members.
Editing posts of abusive forum members
If a forum member makes a post that is against the site rules, you should edit it. If you edit the post of a member, it is important that you contact them to explain the reasons why you have made the edit. Your message should be professional and constructive: you do not want to alienate your forum members. By remaining friendly and professional, you are showing that you still value them, and want them to remain part of your community. You are also reducing the likelihood of them taking offence at your actions, and therefore preventing a potential escalation of the situation. A good example message would be:
Hi (username)
I recently had to edit your post at (insert url of post) because it was in breach of our site rules. Our site rules do not permit (insert rule that was broken here). You can review our site rules in full at (insert url of site rules page). Thanks for your understanding - if you are unsure of anything or wish to discuss this further, please get in touch.
I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future, and thank you for being a valued member of the community.
Regards
(your name)
How tolerant are you going to be?
It is important that you determine how many warnings you are willing to give members who persistently break your site rules before you’ll consider taking further action against them. I would recommend allowing members to make no more than five mistakes per month before taking further action. Regardless of your policy, by the time you contact the member with their second warning you should include the following:
I understand that people make mistakes from time to time, however this is now the (insert number) time I have had to contact you regarding your posts. Unfortunately, if you continue to break the site rules I will be left with no choice but to take further action against you. This could include a suspension of your posting privileges, or in extreme cases the deletion of your account at (site name).
Again, ensure that you come across as professional and keep the lines of communication open. You don’t want to lose this member, you simply want them to abide by your site rules. Keeping the lines of communication open will help clear up any misunderstandings and make it far easier to encourage them to adjust their behaviour compared to other, more rudimentary means.
Deleting posts of abusive forum members
Deleting posts should be reserved for the most serious breaches of your site rules. Remember that if you delete the opening post of a thread, you will be deleting the entire thread, so make sure you only delete content if you are left with no other choice. Again, if you delete a post you should always contact the poster with your reasons.
Suspending abusive forum members
A temporary suspension may give a hot-headed member time to cool off, and should be considered before deleting their account and banning them. Again, make sure you communicate with your member so they know what action you are taking, and why.
Deleting abusive forum members
If you are completely unable to get through to a persistent rule breaker, you may need to bite the bullet and delete their account. You should have warned the member about their conduct on a number of occasions before taking this step - it should never come as a surprise to an abusive member when they arrive at your site to find their account deleted.
If you decide to delete a member’s account, you should do so as discreetly as possible. Don’t make a public announcement about the action you have taken; remain professional, and respect your ex-member’s privacy. If you start posting their username and reasons why you have deleted their account in public, you risk a community backlash and the possibility of the banned member developing a grudge, turning them into a persistent problem.
Banning abusive forum members
You may find that the member you have removed from your online community develops a grudge against you and your site. If this happens, they will try any and all methods possible to cause you problems. They will likely sign up for a new account, use different email addresses and different IP addresses in order to make it more difficult for you to prevent them registering for a new account.
The steps I follow to ban abusive forum members are as follows:
1. Ban the username
2. Ban the email address
3. Ban the IP address(es) commonly associated with the abusive member
As experienced forum moderators and developers will know, these methods are not always successful. If your banned member continues to join the forum under aliases, you should consider temporarily making new accounts inactive until you manually approve them. Very often you will notice patterns to the information the banned member uses to register - they may have a favourite email provider, they may use similar names, they may try to register at certain times of the day. Normally, after a day or so of failed attempts to re-register, the banned member will give up.
Remember that if your banned member does get through from time to time, it is not a problem taking action against them - one click and you have deleted their posts, another click and you have deleted their account. The process is far more time-consuming and inconvenient for the banned member - stick to your guns, and you will always win.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Kentucky Fried Chicken makes black men impotent
Nice work there detective daffy (Flippa)Kentucky Fried Chicken has been claimed to be owned by the Klan and that the chicken is laced with a drug that makes only black men impotent. Ironically, the franchise is actually owned by an African-American.
Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders' will was rumored to have left 10% of KFC's profits to the Ku Klux Klan.
http://www.snopes.com/business/alliance/sanders.asp
According to numerous websites, and, in particular, urban legend expert Jan Harold Brunvand, author of numerous books on the subject of urban legends, beginning in the 1980s and continuing through the '90s, Church's Chicken became the victim of two rumors: 1) that the company was run by the KKK and 2) that the company used saltpeter, or a similar substance, to make black men sterile. Often, the rumors were combined into one story, to make it seem even more plausible. However, as with all urban legends, none of this has ever been substantiated; in fact, as has been noted, Church's has often been instrumental in the encouragement of African-American-owned-and-operated businesses and is currently presided over by the industry's first black female.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Daffers' Vitriolic Hall of Fame
- You are one paranoid sick duck you should be shot (Anetta)
Nailed me in ten words - brilliant! - Daffy's tantrum didn't last long! More will leave, after he is rude to them. Site will never keep going with site police like him. (Rae 2006)
Translation: Daffy caught me cheating on multiple occasions and I was forced to admit it on the forum before I slunk away. - You abuse people at free will and expect people to respect you or actually take what you have to say in consideration. Anyone who has seen these forums over the last few years will have seen all the crap you go on about and the trouble you are always trying to stir up. (Benno)
Translation: Daffy caught me plundering Toby's elo with a friend so I could get to #1 - my friend confessed on the forum but I was too humiliated so I slunk away for a few months. - Daffy I am so upset with what you have said, I have never did this, now I want you to have the balls and say who I cheated with. When I read what you hypocrite dude.wrote, I immediately said to my daughter this a f......ing lie. You are 1 hypocrite dude. (Abba)
Daffy watched me using Toby's account with two other cheats in a locked room to transfer his elp to my account - I won 16 out of 16 games in less than 15 minutes in a locked room late at night to get to #1. Fast play, eh? - The friggin japs are a real weird mob. last poll i read, the new generation of japs dont even eat whale meat. i figure its like a battle btween japs and aussies. who owns what bit of land. o yes, im rascist. japs want expansion, can understand that been in japan, and sure is one smog haven. but.... whales are worth preserving. not sure if japs are. (Flippa)
OK, so it's not about Daffers but it's a great post, eh? - The duck's a real tool but a great lay! (Toby)
True. - It makes me happy that there is someone with less of a life than me. (Anders) Come on Jeanie, you can you much better than that!
- Daffy is rude. (Loryn)
Original. - To observe the degeneration from citing evidence and making arguments to name calling and animal fetish jokes gives me great satisfaction. (The 4th)
OK, so it's slightly better than Loryn's.
You have to draw the line somewhere!
Let's grow up, moderate our own forum andsave Richard time, money and bandwidth. For example:
Let's Talk 500 - hosted by Forumer
Play 500 - hosted by Google Groups
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Daffers in Non-Memberland?
It must have been a rabbit wearing a duck mask! Watch the full movie here.
The 4th wrote:
This member happily fleeces average members of ELO points, in 2-player games - but abuses the same people when they play at the same level as a partner, in a 4-player game, after a loss.Good grief - Daffers sighted in non-memberland? Nay laddie, it must surely have been a rabbit wearing a duck mask.
This member will play a 4-player game with a non-member for 2 rounds of a rotation, and ALWAYS "have to go" when it's the member's turn to partner the non-member. The member can always be found in another room next door, 5 minutes later.
The rotating 4-some system was established to both reduce incidents of cheating and provide the most level playing field for all players. To abuse this system, by milking 2 relatively easy wins from a member/non-member team and then running away when it's your turn to partner the non is too lame - even for me. I respect my own ability (real or imagined) too much, to pull such a stunt.
This is ELO manipulation - that is increasing your odds of winning by any means other than you own ability in a fair game played on a level playing field.
For the record, I'm not against ELO manipulation. If someone wants to voluntarily give their ELO to other members, that's their business. But our mystery member is quite vocal on the evils of ELO manipulation.
You can't have your cake and eat it too.
Enough innuendo. It is Daffy. The 1st time it happened, I wrote it off as bad luck. The 2nd time it happened, I became suspicious. The 3rd time it happened, a pattern had been established. After posting this message, other members correctly guessed the culprit (in-room chat) and told me they had similar experiences.
Stacking the teams is like stacking the deck. Just plain unfair.
I avoid non-memberland because of the very stunts Grumma is eluding to in another topical thread. The place is crawling with undressed members, albeit most with nicer agendas than others, but with some whose motives are downright pathological. I do play there with my good mate Gus, an undressed member, and very occasionally when invited to partner with other members. Being the pompous old killjoy we all love to hate, however, I don't partner non-members without a credit reference and a CV.
By the way, I thought you "won" ELO off other members in 2 handers. Still, if he wants to call it "fleecing" I'll play along with his fantasy. If he comes dressed as Little Bo Peep, cries and wails a lot and brings a few shorn sheep next time perhaps I'll dress up as the Big Bad Duck - could be fun ;))
But why did the twat keep coming into my rooms night after night, month after month, challenging me to 2 handed games of ATF500? Did the sheep want to get shorn? Didn't he know that the evil duck was lurking there waiting to fleece the poor bugger of his silly ELO? Didn't he notice that the first two members who joined us were always welcomed when they asked to join in? Doesn't he realise good partners critique, but don't "abuse", each others play but never that of their opponents? There's no explaining some clowns in cyberspace.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Richard and Julianne - kudos for a job well-done
I want to express my ongoing admiration and appreciation to Richard and Julianne for their hard work and support for the club. I know I express myself critically and directly and tender egos often misinterpret this as personal abuse. Although I play the ball and never the player sometimes the player's head gets very near the ball and, well, heads are the same shape as the ball aren't they? So, I hope my comments about JG500 are seen only as my continued support for the club and my desire to suggest improvements and offer assistance.
See: Forum Moderation Another Victim of Lag
Get a Life!
The irony was dripping of the screen as I was thoroughly enjoying my weekend chatting with my wife, planning my upcoming holiday, updating my blog and playing 500 with my mates. Conversely, this member was thoroughly miserable, whinging yet again about never being able to get a good game at the site, and very strung out for lack of sleep.
I enjoy my life - a lot! I have a great job teaching wonderful students; I sail up and down some beautiful coasts; I play 500 with some loverly people; and I enjoy getting up the noses of cheats and their defenders. But I don't give out foolish unasked for life advice - and I expect the same in return.
What I admire about the local people where I live is that they seem to know far better than many of my compatriots where to draw the line. They would consider it rude and uncouth to give a casual acquaintance life advice. So do I!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Forum Moderation Another Victim of Lag?
Richard would probably love to lose this forum's load from his server and his busy day. In our email correspondence about my "Let's Talk 500" demonstration forum he said:
I'm happy to switch the current forums over (but) I guess this whole thing would be a lot more attractive to me if I didn't have to do any work... This would help my bandwidth costs too.Free moderated forums are easy to set up and administer, whether they are hosted by Google/Yahoo/MSN Groups or Forumer. As Jon pointed out, it wouldn't take much work to incorporate an independent forum into this site and they could be made to look as one.
- Let's Talk 500 - a demonstration of an independent feature rich moderated forum for players of 500
- Expired JG500 Forum Thread on Let's Talk 500
- Play 500 Google Group - a demonstration of a basic independent moderated forum setup in ten minutes
- My email correspondence with Richard about an independent forum for JG500
Sharon wrote:
Hi everyone,
I wanted to publicly state that my role as one of the site forum moderators is over.
I was initially approached by Anders in early April and agreed to be involved in both the set up of the Forum Code of Conduct and in moderating the site. My reasons for doing so were solid and I felt it was an extremely necessary step to move the site forward into the future.
It was not an easy process or task and the original Moderation Team (which included Grumma and another member as well) all spent many hours of our own time on a completely voluntary basis in meeting with the rest of the team to talk over our views, issues, processes etc, as well as drafting, reviewing and finalising do?@!ents and emails.
Forum moderation was launched in early May.
Since that time I have become increasingly disillusioned and incredibly disappointed with the level of support offered to us by the Administrators of this site.
Our moderation team has met and made specific recommendations to Richard via email about steps he needs to do in order to act on our decisions - emails to be sent to members who breach the code and offending posts to be removed. Despite the lapse of a significant period of time, Richard has not acted on our suggestions.
I have had email correspondence with Richard today. His responses to my questions, comments and suggestions were entirely unsatisfactory to me. I am extremely frustrated by Richard's lack of action and support which he purports to have for the moderation process.
As a consequence I am unable to continue my personal involvement in moderating the site and seriously question the value in having moderators at all given the current logistical arrangements.
The effectiveness and capacity to act of the moderation team is significantly compromised by the set up as it is now.
It is very unfortunate as my aim was certainly always about improving the site for everyone.
I wish to pay tribute to the energy, drive and level-headedness of Anders who is an incredibly mature and impressive young man. Grumma and our other original team member spent many hours on do?@!ents and processes and their work was important and highly valued. Brillo has been a clear thinking, sensible and essential part of our moderation team.
A big sigh of relief and warm regards from,
Sharon
(Who is now looking forward to spending her 500 time playing cards rather than moderating!)
BL Shaz but WD for trying.
Friday, May 23, 2008
At The End Of Life
Al Bidiya Mosque
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Images of the United Arab Emirates
Ras Al Khaimah
View Larger Map
How to get to #1
Here are some excerpts from my posts in last year's expired 500 Boys forum thread.
- How to get to and stay #1 the hard way:
- Challenge top players to rotating foursomes and win more than you lose.
- Don't use MSN or any other form of private communication with your partners during the games.
- How to get to and stay #1 the easy way:
- Find a "preferred partner" who will communicate with you during a game using MSN or some other form of private communications and cheat like hell.
- Try not to MSN the other members in the game by mistake but if you do lie like hell.
- Refuse to rotate partners or find a believable excuse not to do so. If challenged lie like hell and tell everyone you have always rotated - even before it became common practice.
- Find a friend who doesn't care about elo to throw games to you in a locked room. If challenged - lie like hell.
- If you can't get a friend to do this then buy another membership or two. These can be used to bolster your elo and to reduce the elo of your rivals. Use the second account to win games off your rivals and then logon in a locked room with both your accounts and quickly forfeit several games to yourself. I call it the "runtaj" maneuver after the two silly members who perfected it. Oh, and of course, lie like hell when discovered by telling everyone it was for a member of your family or a tactic to get Richard to improve the elo system. Hehe, most of the membership will believe you - try it!
- Disappear every time you are #1 and only reappear to practice steps 1-4above until you are #1 again. If challenged lie like hell and tell them your PC isn'tworking or some other lie that explains why you can't play a lot.
- Find a third cheat and really have fun playing bent rotating foursomes -some say three players vs one is better than sex or chocolate. Its like picking on the new nerd in school. There are several cheats who are happy to throwgames for you whilst partnering your opponents - that's how they get theirkicks. Newer members are particularly juicy and they never suspect what isgoing on. More experienced members find it easy to spot so be careful. Ifcaught, guess what? Lie like farkin hell!
- If you need to lose a game to regain #1 because you haven't lost for a few days pop in for one game with a good player and lose only one game. Then lie like hell about having to go somewhere else and get the hell out of there! Good honest players are dangerous and should be avoided at all costs unless your"preferred partner" or second account is at hand.
- Whenever someone mentions the "C" word in the forum immediately post that you have never cheated; that there is no more cheating on the site anymore; and, that you have heard that there used be be some cheating before but you have no idea who it was. Accusing them of cheating is also a good move.
Those few champs of late who haven't regularly and consistently rotated their partners, who suddenly disappear as soon as they win their gong only to reappear with their "preferred partner" when they lose it, are sticking out like sore thumbs and are looking decidedly sad and silly.
The culture of "preferred partners", with the associated possibility of cheating, is dead. Long live rotation.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Cyberbullying on the Internet
Cyber bullies, cyber bullying, flame mail, hate mail
The Internet provides the perfect forum for cyberbullies, individuals whose aim is to gain gratification from the distress caused by provoking and tormenting others. The anonymity, ease of provocation, and almost infinite source of targets means the Internet is full of predators from pedophiles targeting children to serial bullies targeting ... anybody.
Cyberbullies get a perverse sense of satisfaction (called gratification) from sending people flame mail and hate mail. Flame mail is an email whose contents are designed to inflame and enrage. Hate mail is hatred (including prejudice, racism, sexism etc) in an email.
Serial bullies, whose behaviour profile you'll find in full at Bully OnLine, harbour a lot of internal aggression which they direct at others. This may include projection, false criticism and patronising sarcasm whilst contributing nothing of any value. It may also include a common tactic of "a number of people have emailed me backchannel to agree with me". This is standard bully-speak which I've experienced on several forums. In every case it's a fabrication or a distortion - usually the former. It's also a variant of the serial bully head teacher who says "a number of parents have complained to me about you...". When challenged, the identity of the alleged complainants can't be disclosed because it's "confidential". The purpose of this tactic is to wind people up. Don't be fooled into believing it has any validity - it doesn't.
People who bully are adept at creating conflict between those who would otherwise pool negative information about them. The method of creating conflict is provocation which bullies delight in because they know they can always coerce at least one person to respond in a manner which can then be distorted and used to further flame and inflame people. And so it goes on. The bully then sits back and gains gratification from seeing others engage in destructive behaviour towards each other.
Many serial bullies are also serial attention-seekers. More than anything else they want attention. It doesn't matter what type of attention they get, positive or negative, as long as they can provoke someone into paying them attention. It's like a 2-year-old child throwing a tantrum to get attention from a parent. The best way to treat bullies is to refuse to respond and to refuse to engage them - which they really hate. In other words, do not reply to their postings, and on forums carry on posting without reference to their postings as if they didn't exist. In other words, treat nobodies as nobodies.
The anger of a serial bully is especially apparent when they come across someone who can see through them to espy the weak, inadequate, immature, dysfunctional aggressive individual behind the mask. For instance, when serial bullies see themselves described at workbully/serial.htm they usually send me an abusive email.
If you receive abusive emails or flame mails or hate mail, you can forward it to abuse@isp where "isp" is the service provider the abuser is using, eg "aol.com" or "yahoo.com". Although Internet service providers may not act on every complaint, the more complaints they receive about a particular individual (with examples of abusive email) the more likely they are to close down the person's account.
The objectives of bullies are Power, Control, Domination, Subjugation. They get a kick out of seeing you react. It doesn't matter how you react, the fact they've successful provoked a reaction is, to the bully, a sign that their attempt at control have been successful. After that, it's a question of wearing you down. The more your try to explain, negotiate, conciliate, etc the more gratification they obtain from your increasingly desperate attempts to communicate with them. Understand that it is not possible to communicate in a mature adult manner with a disordered individual who's emotionally retarded.
The Number One rule for dealing with this type of behaviour is: don't respond, don't interact and don't engage. This is not as easy to do as it sounds. It's a natural response to want to defend yourself, and to put the person right. However, never argue with a serial bully; it's not a mature adult discussion, but like dealing with a child or immature teenager; whilst the serial bully may be an adult on the outside, on the inside they are like a child who's never grown up - and probably never will. Serial bullies and harassers often have disordered thinking patterns and do not share the same thoughts or values as you.
The second rule is to keep all abusive emails. Create a new folder, perhaps called "Abuse", and move hate mail and flame mail into this folder. You don't have to read it. When the time comes to take action, this folder of hate mail and flame mail is your evidence. Bullies, especially cyberbullies, are obsessive people and if their account is closed down you may start receiving mail from another address. This can later be compared to the abusive emails you've already received to identify the perpetrator. You'll find the same words, phrases and strategies occurring.
The third rule is to understand bullying. Read through Bully OnLine carefully, understand the profile of the serial bully. Recognise that you are not dealing with a person who has the same mindset as yourself. Bullying, and especially cyberbullying, has links with stalking - see related/stalking.htm for links to stalking sites.
Rule four is get help. If you're a young person, this is essential. Even mature experienced adults often cannot handle bullying and harassment by themselves. Sometimes you are dealing with a severely disordered and dangerous individual.
Rule five is become alert to provocation. It could be called "The Baiting Game". A provocative comment is made and those who respond spontaneously in irritation (eg non-assertively) are then encouraged to engage in conflict with those who respond without irritation (eg assertively). The provoker watches, waits and stirs the pot with the occasional additional provocation. What interests me is the sense of gratification that a provoker gains from watching others indulge in destructive interaction initiated by him- or herself. In this context, gratification is a perverse form of satisfaction akin to, but distinct from, pleasure.
The sixth rule is become an observer. Although you may be the target of the cyberbully's anger, you can train yourself to act as an observer. This takes you out of the firing line and enables you to study the perpetrator and collect evidence. When people use bullying behaviours they project their own weaknesses, failings and shortcomings on to others. In other words, they are telling you about themselves by fabricating an accusation based on something they themselves have done wrong. Whenever you receive a flame mail or hate mail, train yourself to instinctively ask the question, "What is this person revealing about themselves this time?"
The seventh rule is decide if you want to take action, and if so, prepare carefully and strike hard. Sometimes refusing to respond and engage will result in the cyberbully losing interest and going off to find someone easier to torment. Sometimes though, especially if there has been interaction in the past, the cyberbully is so obsessed that s/he cannot and will not let go. You will have to make that person let go, but only through swift, hard, legal action, and only when the time is right. Don't deal with the abuser yourself (this encourages bullies and stalkers), use a third party such as a solicitor.
Finally a reminder - never try to mediate, negotiate, conciliate or otherwise deal with a bully or stalker yourself. Always remember Rule #1: don't respond, don't interact and don't engage.
My page on stalking which includes a behaviour profile of the Internet stalker may prove interesting.
Bully OnLine is a gold mine of insight and information on bullying which identifies the different types of harassment and bullying, and exposes the principal perpetrator, the serial bully. Everyone, whether they're receiving flame mails or hate mail or not, knows at least one person in their life with the profile of the serial bully. Click here to see ...who does this describe in your life?
Have a look through this web site to recognise the bullies and bullying in your life ... start with Am I being bullied? then move on to What is bullying? To find out what you can do about bullying, click Action to tackle bullying. Have a look at the profile of the serial bully which is common to sociopathic managers, harassers, stalkers, rapists, violent partners, abusers, paedophiles, even serial killers of the organised kind.
If bullying and harassment have caused injury to health, commonly diagnosed as "stress", see the page on injury to health and the one on the psychiatric injury of trauma, a collection of symptoms congruent with the diagnostic criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.
Links
May 2005: One in five young people bullied by mobile phone or via the internet [More]
March 2005: Study reveals 40 percent of students claim to have been bullied online [More]
Staying safe in cyberspace, a page from Bullying Online at www.bullying.co.uk
Cyberbullying - practical advice for parents and schools
Conflict in Cyberspace: how to resolve conflict online by Kali MunroThe Psychology of Cyberspace by John Suler
Links to cyberbullying and Internet violence sites
26 August 2004: article in New York Times, Internet Gives Teenage Bullies Weapons to Wound From Afar