About the alleged non-seriousness of the dome
The “party line” is that the thunderdome (TD) is not to be taken seriously, ever. That is at best a generalization and at worst a hypocrisy. It was initiated, like on many forums, as a place to “let the steam off”. But, over the time it became something else. I haven’t checked in details the chronology, but the following “functions” developed.
It is or became the natural place for channers. With their taste for dubious content, it is easy to imagine that they rapidly get rid of users that were not sharing their views. At some stage, there was a sub-forum within it, also called the thunderdome. To differentiate it from its parent, it was referred to, in chan style, as /td/. As I haven’t been there, I cannot elaborate on it.It is also used to take of annoying people. This term covers everything from scientologists trying their handling skills to bawing users. There is an official space to stock such posts, called the Wall of shame. There, the threads are locked and not visible from non-users. This treatment does not seem to be harsh enough to some, so they managed to having these threads sent to the dome where annoying people are taking care of. As I already explained here my own experience there, I won’t elaborate here.
This was very useful for the admins / mods as this was a problem they had not to take care anymore. They went as far as having specific TD mods, washing their hands of what was happening there. Some people, including TD mods, became its stars. They are in charge of the “care”, while others adopted the role of sidekicks or mignons. This stardom system got to their head, as mentioned by part of the staff (see below). The egoless nature of Anonymous was lost there, as they could be valorized for their exploits.The TD mods were demoded at the time of the first phase of the Megaphonebitch, Tory “Magoo” Christman and Tommy Gorman’s drama. At first, a part of the staff decided quickly to pull the TD over. But, about one day after, it was back online, with the change mentioned above. Admins who were not in favor of this measure did it. It has been suggested that this was done behind the back of the other admin(s). Apparently, they won the internal debate, or at least the first group did not dare to pull it over again. Interestingly, it was also the “other functions” of the dome that were annoying part of the staff[1].
Recently, it became a place where actions are planned, ranging from tourism – sharing an accommodation at the DC demonstration – to some form of hacking – outside of my limited expertise – to “political” propaganda – namely the “Magoo call out” and the “Welcome back channers” manifestoes.So, continuing to refer to the dome as non-serious is not serious, especially with the recent evolution. IMHO, the “party line” will have to be adapted.-
28 Juillet 2008 à 11:07 dans
- An anonymous story
You might want to ease up on the [sic], cause you yourself can't spell a lick.
Posté par Jakey — 12 Aou 2008, 12:50