Reply #31: This is a wonderful post.

[Meldread]

I didn't even know about the purge until well after it happened. I simply saw the community going silent and the bitterness and resentment rising. I slacked off in posting because I didn't share in the bitterness and resentment; primarily because I had no idea of what was going on. I didn't even know the degree to which silence was enforced over the issue until I read your post. Reading your post, knowing the details - that does make me angry.

I feel the community should be informed why such drastic measures were taken to silence any discussion of what had happened. Maybe it doesn't seem like that big of a deal to Skinner and the other Admin's, but after reading your post and knowing the full depth of what had happened - a lot of things make more sense to me now... and the bitterness, anger, and resentment expressed by many (in varied ways) seems like a big "duh" moment.

I can certainly support any banning of people who openly attack moderators or the administrators of DU. The fact that they are LGBT means nothing in regard to that, but I find it hard to wrap my head around the line of thought that says it's a good idea to silence all discussion regarding the matter. It seems to me that the exact OPPOSITE course of action should have been taken. When the justified bannings happened (of those who had attacked the moderator), and people began to ask questions and show grief, the first thing on the minds of every moderator and administrator should have been to explain to the community what had happened and why.

Laying down the law, telling everyone that verbal assaults against the moderators won't be tolerated, saying that you're sorry the bannings had to happen and wish they hadn't been necessary, etc. Those were all the appropriate ways to handle it - at least in my opinion.

I'm actually somewhat shocked. I'm shocked that Skinner has allowed something like this to fester for years and is just now really trying to address it. To be bluntly honest, since I didn't really understand what was going on, my main response to the bitterness and resentment was mostly eye rolling and chocking things up to oversensitivity. Now that I'm armed with the full knowledge I'm a bit disappointed and appalled - and I really didn't know or associate with the folks who were banned!

Skinner can you please explain what happened from your perspective and why such drastic actions were taken?