Admin/Mod Log and related Organizational Stuff

[Pixie Dust]

I have an idea!

Give me two hours to copy the thread and then I'm good with it being deleted in its entirety.

Everyone wins!

[watergaze]

omg that thread sounds more and more mysterious by the minute haha. I guess I should stop playing around in mastering awareness and get to it

Le_R, you can alsot tell me which posts you really need to be out of public existence. And I will get to it...  Or, if that is too much work, just leave it to me and hopefully it will work out.

[Pixie Dust]

So, I actually started copying posts when he mentioned wanting the deletion. That was 3+ hours ago.

You're good to delete any part of the thread now. I finished.

[Pixie Dust]

Wait, I forgot. JJ posted in that thread. We ought to wait for JJ to give his blessing on the deletion to provide him with enough notice so he too can copy whatever he might want.

[watergaze]

time away thread has been cleaned up. The split-off talk can be found here: this-has-been-fun-talk-t7156.html

[watergaze]

Thread "The Beautiful" removed.

[Julio Juliopolis]

c/o watergaze... presumably.
This will serve the purpose of acting on something, which if not tended to, will result in no change in status:
   No matter the claim otherwise, I have (had) been effectively banned from this forum.  It was ludicrous to continue under conditions that prevailed, whether fair or not.  
  When I ended my account I was not leaving here, I had already been left out, and that's a fact.  Blocking my IP address not only kept me from being active, it disabled my access to even viewing the forum altogether.  

   I installed Tor browser which circumvents normal channels, and SOMETIMES after I solved numerous Captchas I could come here to see what others had to say, but oftentimes not.  True, I was motivated by the presence of a certain person to come here, but the machinations to do so are no longer tenable.  I like to keep life simple, and so I've uninstalled Tor browser and am unable to be here.
   I am comfortable enough right now to be consciously disengaged, as that is the sensible thing to do.  In a few months or the latter part of 2018 I might attempt to view this forum again, and perhaps I will find my IP address unblocked.  I am acting here and now to influence that possibility, and moreso unrestricted participation.

   I am Billy.  I could not in good conscience operate from UNDER burdensome future restrictions.  It seems natural that someone as effusive and colorful and eccentric as myself would have a designated place on the forum to go about my business, where no one would be forced to look at (let alone read) what I posted.  
  This is what transpired when the bevy of restrictions were lorded over me.  I don't see the point in arguing if I left empty space in a thread authored by myself.  Who cares if I occasionally left a blank page in one diminutive portion of a large forum?  
  Anyway, I've said what I came to say.  I'm not begging.  If the authorities here intend to keep me out forevermore, I accept that.

   Thanks to the someone who posted this for me anonymously.  This is also to inform a certain person that messages (hidden or otherwise) on their part will not be seen.  Do enjoy life.

[Pixie Dust]

That's the beauty of life and people.  Many people (virtual or physical) will come into our lives.  The belief that people are only one thing or another is foolish.  Every person is many people and trying to be a single person all of the time is impossible.  People are both introverts and extroverts, saintly and slutty, sane and insane.  Technology allows people to take on a mask they can hide behind any time they want.  It is so simple to hide.  It takes courage to be authentic.  

We (Sorcery) are not afraid of the metagamers who manipulate technology.  It doesn't matter who you show up as (because there's always a loophole).  The only thing that matters is that you follow the expectations for behavior when you do show up.  It's not complicated, and the admins are nice enough to provide ample opportunity for change and acclimation.  

Watergaze is hoping you'll adapt to the lifestyle of Sorcery.  She wants you to be successful.  If you want to be here on her terms (the site terms), she'll welcome you back.

[watergaze]

There are a few problems that I see in your message here, billy. 
And one of the things I am missing in it is exactly what Pixie points out. 
You make the impression that you do not want to be here on the site's terms and that what you are asking for is an exception (which is not feasible and will not happen).

As you well know, your rights were limited more and more due to your own behavior. It is not you who was treated unfairly. But you treated this place in such a way - and you were mean and abusive to our members and admins/mods (on that alone you deserved to be kicked out). The fact that you seem oblivious to why things progressed the way they did and portray yourself as a wronged party is ludicrous and hints at the underlying problem in your behavior and your lack of knowledge and tact. 

Without serious reassurances (backed up by consistent behavior) that you will fall in line with our rules and guidelines there is no way you will be welcomed back. 
If you want a place where you do not have to keep our rules and guidelines in mind and respect them then you can find many such places (elsewhere). We will not allow any place at this site that will be exempt from our rules and guidelines.

There are things we are not willing to compromise and you should well know by now (and have known already many months ago) what those are. Other than that we are indeed generous and allow a wide range of expression on post topics, even style. I have not seen a more accepting place towards eccentrics on the sorceric web yet (the fact how long we tried with you is just one among many things that prove my point).

I am not sure why you picked to comment on the removal of your subforum when there are more important things you should be talking about. The deletion of your empty subforum was in my view just a thing that happened due to the shrinking of our goodwill toward you and your involvement here at the site coming to an end. If you were to stay here at the site and we had known you as a member who posted like a normal user I'd have left your subforum there for a while longer and waited for it to fill with other threads. 
And, yes, we did effectively shrink your rights until you did not have that much left - though you could still post wherever you wanted, if your posts passed the - I dare say very necessary - screening process.
The only way we could get you to not post nasty stuff was to not allow you automatic unchecked posting rights (and going over your posts before they were allowed to appear at our site was additional work for us) and you still kept at it in places where you were unlimited... until nothing was left (first your subforum, then PMs). You did it to yourself (and you were well aware when you crossed the lines in your subforum as well as in PMs). You could have learned and adapted to the site and your rights would have been restored, instead, you kept to your antics and had the posting rights shrink.

I remember that we tried to ban your IP, however, since you kept on posting, I thought that it did not work and we proceeded to ban/delete your accounts (anyone who uses sockpuppets is in danger of having their IP banned). Therefore, I was under the impression that (once we unbanned your account) you were not banned anymore. Hence, I guess, it is good to know that the IP ban did work on the technical side of things. However, since your account was deleted there is no way for me to know which of the IPs that are on the banned list is yours. I dare say the time to ask for your IP to be unbanned was when we decided to unban you as a user. It was not my intent once we unbanned your account that you would keep functioning here with an IP ban (I had already forgotten we even tried to ban your IP). At this moment though I am unsure what to do to help you, other than unban every IP (though I might consider that in due time as a general cleansing thing). But, I also have to say, if this is the only thing keeping your Kao obsession and your weird posting in check then we would do everyone a disservice if we made changes in this regard. 
After all, nowhere in your message do you give the impression that you want to change your behavior.
Nowhere in your message is there a sign or a promise of better tomorrows if you come back. Hence, you are not helping us see how having you here would serve anything good. 

Why do you even want to come back (you even say the sensible thing to do is to stay away)? You said quite explicitly that you didn't like how I do things at the site. For all intensive purposes, it did not seem like you and this place were a good fit.

"I was motivated by the presence of a certain person to come here, but the machinations to do so are no longer tenable. "
If the only thing enticing you to read and participate at this site is Kao, then (given the memory of your behavior when interacting with her and how you disrupted different threads leaving her messages and whatnot) it does not seem like something we want around. 

But even if you had written now that you will not post like you did before... we would still have to face the fact that your word does not hold much value in this regard anymore. You reassured us before that you will stop this type of posting, and did not keep your word. 
Moreover, anyone who is able to post the bs you posted to me and others... and then addresses me again asking for a favor... without even acknowledging the wrong of their behavior and apologizing for it... well... that person does not exactly seem like they wanna make amends.
Someone who finds it so easy to be insulting and mean to others... is not somebody we want to take many chances on (and we already took a couple with you). You said nasty things to many members. I don't like nasty (and they didn't like it either). Not only did you give no apologies for saying some of these things (although I am of the opinion that apologies do not make things right, they at least can show that the person has seen there was a wrong), you also give no indication of wanting to do things differently. And this is what it boils down to for me. 

All these facts... that you have lied to us, that you have abused your rights and when we tried to curtail them you took actions that circumvented our efforts, the fact that you were abusive and foul-mouthed towards the sorcery team and our members and the fact that I do not see a willingness in you to change and respect this place (I do not see in you even a recognition of what the problem was that we had with you)... is why I cannot in good conscience allow you to return at this time.

[watergaze]

Le_Regard was deleted as a member of this site. 
I thought he took care of it on his end, but that did not seem to have worked out, so I did it for him as he previously asked.

[watergaze]

Tryingclown's threads 
Power and Clarity Balance: power-and-clarity-balance-t7106.html
and
I need Advice: i-need-advice-t7058.html
have been moved from Intro and Support forum to New Seers. Hope he has no objections - Support Forum is for site related issues and the seeking advice thread seems like not exactly fit for introductions (I had to search for it for a bit till I found it there) .

[watergaze]

I cleaned up the Honor and recapitulation thread a little bit.
The poop talk and some clearing up of misunderstandings is found here: poop-talk-and-beyond-split-off-from-hon ... t7169.html
Talk about terminology is here: wondering-about-the-use-of-mest-terminology-t7172.html

I am not totally happy with the result / way the clened dup version is right now - too many disconnected video posts and strange lines and somewhat disturbing pictures... plus are some messages by Pixie that do not seem to be directly linked to the topic of honor and recap, but I am not sure how I'd separate them and such. Maybe rosy and Pixie can help me out here? Maybe not? 

I did what I could. Not sure it was helpful much though. But at least the talk about terminology can be looked at separately..

I was also writing a post about by honorable acts, 2 that surfaced for me when I placed my intent on it... when the thread was still fesh.. but then all the stuff that was in the thread kinda put me off. It is not focused on the matter at hand enough so I do not feel like it will result in practical relevant stuff for me if I participate. I might be wrong... just saying how it seems to me. I do hope I am wrong though. I liked the idea of exploring where it goes but the way the thread turned out is really not my cup of tea. It kinda seems like it is an argument now, but I do not feel confident I can split it in a way that makes sense and does not cut stuff that is important.

[Pixie Dust]

Regarding the Honor thread: I like the way you split it.  The poop topic did derail it and is distracting of more meaningful conversations.  I like the split you did with the weirdness too as once Rosy did his abstract postings, I just followed him (it's his thread).  I like the split when the topic of terminology arose too.  Overall it became a nonlinear discussion.  Your split points were logical.  I'm happy with however you slice and dice it.

[watergaze]

yea, I think if I kept cutting/splitting it I'd not feel very confident about what the result would be. We shall see how it evolves. And, yes, it is rosy's thead, hence why I left a lot of (to me) strange nonsensical stuff .

But having said that, I was pondering what to do further, if to do anything, because the thread is not in New Seers and I feel like a more linear version of the thread would make it more accessible to others and also be more enticing to participate in. 
Thnx for pitching and giving your view on the thread. Thnx for confirming my decision. Much appreciated .

I might revisit it later and see if to do anything else, but so far I think it makes sense the way it is atm.

[watergaze]

And, linked to what I was asking you in the honor and recap thread, I wanted to say I'm glad we understood each other in the end . I am fine with a more wholesome response to stuff, not everything needs to be clear and linear. There are perks to not being linear (I've experienced them too and wouldn't mind more of that) . However, I do get more on my toes if there is something said that could be taken in a bad way (it's just my spidey sense tingling). When you said rosy made others suffer, whereby rosy did not say something like that in so many words, I wanted to see where that was coming from to see if I missed something (if I did and it made clear sense then I could turn off the spidey alert). I had a feeling that rosy might not take kindly to being told such (if it was not something he himself expressed before). And I hope that my input helped buffer that a little. 
With these kinds of things, I try to be a bit careful. And I find that raising awareness in this regard is sometimes also linked to my duties at the site. Nevertheless, we do need certain challenges, ones that are done kindly (like I felt yours was - and I do not mean you were challenging rosy but that it was a bit of a challenge for him to read that). 
So, to be clear (cause one never knows heh), I am not telling you what to do here, just pointing out what is behind things for me . 

Now that I have a bit of time to go over the threads and also to participate some, I really appreciate your input at the site. I enjoyed participating in threads (wish I had more time to do so). 
I also felt like Le_Regard was a good addition in terms of sparking certain discussion topics, although in terms of some of his posting style and judgment he was not such a perfect force hehe. Too bad people have judgmental/mean streaks... I wish the world was more homogenous . But then people like you would probably be bored . And then who knows what would happen, so I guess there is a sense to everything after all

[Pixie Dust]

I appreciate your feedback and thoughts on how you approach the site from a growth centered perspective.

I can see how it may not be easy managing such a wonderful assortment of eccentric personalities Also, the site can be a handful when many of us are active. It can also get a bit strange when people are having their own private-type discussions that don't seem to be linked to anything specific. It can look like a bunch of gibberish to people outside of a conversation.

You have good intentions and that has always been glaringly obvious. I like how you've tried to accommodate anyone. Holding a space for such a diverse population is far from easy, so I find it really interesting and ambitious of you to even make the attempt you have done an amazing job with what you've been given to manage (we have been a handful!).

As with most situations in life, it's far easier to deal with us @ssholes when you've ensured you are doing well. I hope you always put yourself first because if you are not well, you can't take care of us I mean, not like we need to be cared for but sometimes it's nice to be carried what I'm trying to say is, we are grown adults and there's a couple psychos tossed into the mix. We should be a low priority. Come and enjoy us whenever it's good for you, but never let us distract you from your life and progress. You are so special in all kinds of ways I can't put to words. You deserve so much good, don't let anyone give you less than that.

You're doing great. If anyone says otherwise, they're wrong and can go f*ck themselves. You do what makes sense to you

[watergaze]

Pixie, I really appreciate your appreciation . 

(I so miss the smileys that I imported into our yuku version of the site)

[watergaze]

cleaned up offtopic talk from Pixie's dreams

JJ banned storytold.

[Pixie Dust]

[watergaze]

serloco's banter moderated in Power thread in the Art of Staling subforum.

[watergaze]

Cleaned up Time Away Thread to stay on topic

next on the to-do list - admin out wolfndown (billy's sock puppet)
wolfndown /billy can say goodbye until that happens.

Serloco, I would be curious to know whether you'd be for billy staying here at Nagual Forums / sorcery, hm?

[serloco]

Well, in the past billy has shown that he wasnt capable of being civil. However he has shown me some change recently. If it were up to me I would grant him a probationary period.

[watergaze]

Billy, I have had the feeling this is you cause you have similar patters. It was nice to confirm it though when you made it clear through stuff you wrote .
It is not my intent to make it hard on you. I just wish to spend my time doing other things than moderating you and the interactions people have with you (which tend to get out of hand - like in Time Away or how serloco got into a somewhat name-calling mode).

I actually remember how you said you might want to come by in the fall this year. And I thought that by then I might remove your IP ban. However, if your behavior stays the way it was then you coming back will not really be possible / will not work out (i.e. will be very short lived). Before I knew who wolfndown was your new alt/sock puppet raised a flag. I just hope you are able one day to have a normal discussion with people on forums such as these. Maybe you can go train it somewhere before putting it into practice here . May the force be with ya

[Julio Juliopolis]

talkingpidgin and wolfndown both discovered to be billy sock-puppets. Both accounts have been banned.

[talkingpidgin]

Julio, these are sock-puppets simply because I haven't succeeded in renaming either 'Billy.'