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I see a lot of names I do not recognize on this thread mixed in with names of people I am familiar with. This is understandable since I have barely set foot into this Barrow in several months. I pretty much decided to return a few weeks ago, though I did not intend to return quite so soon. But when I peeked in a few days ago, I realized the time had come.
For those of you who don’t know me, I am one of the original four Administrators of this forum; Barrow Wight, Mr. Underhill, Sharku and Mithadan – the original cabal. We have been working together at making this into a special community for six years now. During this time, we have experienced an array of problems and issues ranging from spamming and flaming all the way up to alleged stalking (fortunately the purported victims and the persons accused turned out to be separated by a rather broad ocean). In order to maintain order and to preserve the character of this place, we have been forced to delete posts and threads, give warnings to members, close contentious threads and suspend and ban members. In addition, there is constant redirecting of posts to the proper forums and work to make the site and discussions better. BW started this place as a community for serious Tolkien discussion. Unfortunately, we have often been so busy putting out fires, fielding complaints and suggestions and working to maintain order that we barely have time to post ourselves. That’s why I left for a while. I got burnt out. To any of you who may have a contrary perception, it is really not easy being an administrator.
I am writing here as a disinterested and uninvolved insider. To define terms, I am uninvolved in that I was not part of the Moderator/Administrator group discussing the problems that had arisen with Davem and the Lord of the Bible thread and took no part in the decision to ban him – I wasn’t around. I am disinterested because I have not and will not take the time to reconstruct what happened. I am an insider because I am intimately familiar with how this site is operated and what goes into decision making here. We determined early on that we had to have rules so people understood how to comport themselves on the BarrowDowns. They boil down to “stay civil and stay on topic” although they go farther than that. We also have to enforce those rules. Sometimes, its easy. Spammers get nuked out of hand. Newcomers who engage in flaming and demonstrate no real interest in participating get banned without discussion. I’ve done this many times myself. Newcomers who don’t get how things work but actually seem to want to be involved get directed to the rules or get guidance.. It’s more difficult when a long standing member starts acting up. These cases get debated, sometimes for weeks or months. Warnings or suggestions are sent. If the member doesn’t straighten out a temporary ban comes next. A permanent ban is the last resort. Often, even “permanent bans” aren’t always really permanent if the member shows real contrition, recognizes what he or she has been doing and promises to shape up. Such decisions involve lots of angst and concern; the decision to ban a long standing member is NEVER made lightly. We try to give people chances and regrettably have, in the past, given people too much rope.
A few years back, there was a well-respected and long standing member that I’ll call “X”. X joined even before I did. X was given a lot of leeway and apparently believed X was indispensable and untouchable. X became rude and abrasive, ridiculing posts of others and actively harassing newcomers. X was given warnings and even a temporary ban. But members avoided posting in the forums X frequented; they were intimidated or scared and some claimed X received preferential treatment. There was another member, “Y”. “Y” was about as knowledgeable in things Tolkien as anyone. Y knew HoME inside and out, and developed unique theories and opinions, some of which were fascinating and some of which were disputed. Y had a set of issues as well but was a valuable member. X didn’t like Y and engaged in a campaign against Y. The Admins didn’t know about this. Finally, Y had been insulted enough and left. No amount of requests made Y return. X was permanently banned but Y never set foot in the Downs again. Y was not the only member to leave because of X. Since then, the Admins have been very aware that there is such a thing as giving a member too much rope and too much leeway. We also learned that we shouldn’t even appear to treat one member differently from others because of who he is. This place is a community and the needs of the many always outweigh the needs of the one.
As I said, I have not researched what happened in this case. I have not even read the Mods thread in any detail. I have read this thread. Some people have posted to say they felt Davem had acted improperly. Even some of Davem’s supporters concede that he was not acting in a sterling manner. The Mods that have posted have reported that this issue was discussed at length; this is true. Warnings and a temporary ban were given. What was done was clearly not arbitrary or capricious.
I have found some of the posts on this thread to be a little offensive or, at least, lacking restraint. There is no pro-religious slant to this site. Look back at the Tolkien and the Bible thread from a few years back. I personally closed that thread a few times when tempers flared. Without naming names, I will tell you that some of the Admins and Mods are not even Christian. If this forum were suddenly swept up in a revolution of fundamentalism, they would vote with their feet. They haven’t.
The theme of this forum is Tolkien-related free expression within reason, reason being civility and some degree of propriety. This site has always been this way and will stay this way. We have always been the “serious” Tolkien board.
The quality and volume of posts in the Books forum has always been in a state of ebb and flow. I’ve peeked in and there are some good threads there right now. But people are not posting as much there right now. Why? We could publish traffic information showing thread hits but it’s not necessary. Everyone is watching this entertaining sideshow rather than posting elsewhere.
If the Admins and Mods were the evil dictators some have implied, this thread would have been killed on day one. It wasn’t. People need to express themselves, state their dissatisfaction and maybe rant a bit. So we’ve allowed everyone to vent a bit. But I think enough is enough.
We appreciate Lalwende’s post indicating Davem’s regret and sorrow. If he had expressed those sentiments early on, we might not be here. Our members need to feel free to post in Books and elsewhere without fear of ridicule, disparagement or even condescension. An “I won’t do it again” might have sufficed at the beginning if it was sincere. But now there is an awful lot more to apologize for than his posts before he was banned. There has been a campaign of disruption since then and some truly nasty things have been posted on blogs. This whole thing has been truly sad.
Could I wave a virtual wand and unban Davem? Yes. Will I do so? No. That is up to the person that made the final decision. I won’t second guess his judgment. Will Davem be allowed to return? Maybe. I won’t close the door. Some healing needs to take place before we can even consider that and some semblance of normalcy must be restored. I think that all that can be said in this thread has been said for now. It is time for healing and this thread is antithetical to that. This thread is temporarily closed for a few hours so that members can reflect and so that tempers can cool down. If posters cannot act civilly once the thread is reopened it will be closed again.
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