If the sb isn't a place for debate/discussion, (and if it's not heated at all, I would call it discussion), why was the site owner even participating in the discussion. Why was he not just saying 'this is not the place' or "i have made a thread in debate/chitchat".

shutting the whole shoutbox down because keith has suddenly acquired the ability to know what choices people are going to make and when just sounds more like HE was too close to HIS breaking point in an argument, so he shut it down. circuitous excuses from staff reek of immaturity and insincerity

- Instead of making it that the SB is automatically viewable, have you guys thought about maybe having is so that users have to read and agree to the rules before being allowed to post? Not every single time, like a one time thing.

It may be redundant to have people view/agree to the rules/terms of service a second time but maybe redundancy is needed in some areas.

Guys, let it go. This is Keith's website and he can do whatever he wants to/with it whether he has good reasoning for it or not. He gave a logical reason as to why he closed down the SB, so just let it be. Discussing it more is not going to change the SB closing down nor is it going to change the fact that he can and will close it in the future if he feels like he needs to.

switch cheeks, you're giving him a rash

>> Except that in this case it was literally like he was saying, "Ok, women. Shut your traps" when he shut it. That isn't cool. No matter how much he says that he is a "feminist".

Why is the Shoutbox a default widget when it appears to be one of the most difficult areas to moderate because of the nature of its medium? Regardless of whatever and whoever is in there, isn't it hard to rein it in enough to use it as a portion of the site's "face," in the way that it is now, in purely PR terms? (I'm sorry, I can't write because today was rough.)

I know there have been positive changes there and with the newbie limits with forum posting but is the SB so essential that it needs to be a default? The newbie helper perspective only goes so far. The rules are attached to it and even then it's not enough. [edit] I wonder what the staff response would be if the "little newbies have big eyes" point wasn't an issue at all. I didn't see the chat logs but we were told here that no rules were broken after all. (Screen caps anyone? Someone is capping it in there 24/7, it looks like.) How heated is heated? What would be considered escalating? Doesn't staff at least ask people to change the subject for x reason, even if they get ignored? Like a chance to keep it going before shutting it down.

I find it troubling that ticketing is being portrayed as a last result considering that many things can only be dealt with by ticket. Isn't it some peoples' sole job responsibility on this site? I think it's a little sad when users mention that they don't want to be a bother with a ticket when sometimes it is the best or only method.

He owns it but without us, there would be no site at all. So no, he can't just do what he wants. He's running a business, and has to treat it as a business, which means pleasing his customers (and yes, we are customers) and being diplomatic about situations.

Uh, except everyone wasn't joining in. As a SB usual, I was lurking. Thank you very much. So that reasoning is /not/ correct. You weren't even there. Please stop ass kissing.

Also, his sunshine sparkle color is probably not gonna be ignored, especially if he said to take the debate to the forums. But he didn't. He fueled it.

I find this amusing. Excuse me a moment.

-hahahahahahahahaha-

Ahem.

I think the SB needs some mini mods over it. I mean something like this is shut down but I had to read about lady boners and graphic descriptions of what parts of the female genitals took the place of a males and worse.

Not cool bro >_>

I find it funny how this is still active, yet I see no thread about the original topic in the debate forum.

Why does the shoutbox even still exist if it's constantly causing problems? It seems to do nothing but fuel drama.

😕

[insert whiny, obligatory 'why is SB still here?' post]

the same could be said for the forums or cws or the site itself (there was an entire website dedicated to SUBETAdrama) stop zeroing in on one thing

if you don't have something to add to the conversation, butt out find some other way to be the * special snowflake * like everyone else

, not to derail but just to offer a minor correction to your post: is still alive and kicking. 😈

"The shoutbox isn't for debating, but hold on, let me go ahead and debate with the users in the SB."

loooool.

What I'm getting from this discussion is: they were blatantly disregarding the rules in the SB, and are now complaining they were mistreated by their actions having consequences they didn't like.

Keith was rash about shutting it down IMO and I do kind of agree with whatever user who said it sounds like he was reaching the end of his tether and needed a restart - though to be fair on him, I don't doubt there are people who do demand the last word when told not to do something in the SB. But all I'm hearing from that first post and some after it is "we were breaking those rules, got punished and, instead of taking responsibility for it and continuing the discussion in its proper place on the forums, we're gonna create a thread to whine about the punishment and claim sexism because that's a useful tool to push the blame onto other people".

Like yeah complain that Keith could have taken better action but damn not every little thing is about men "silencing" women. You broke the rule and he decided that was the best course of actions to prevent rules from getting broken further. Criticise the disproportionate punishment if you're gonna argue about it, don't get offended and indignant over your own presumptions of his behaviour.

It greatly bothers me that the SB is closed because of a discussion "being close" to derailing to name calling, when other things, potentially a lot more damaging to the site's image/reputation, still happen on what seems to be a common basis.

I certainly vote for it to be removed from the default widgets; let the newbies ask their questions in H&Q, which IMO is the proper place for that. Wasn't the 24h wait time lifted? If not, then I also vote for at least shortening it. Maybe make it so H&Q is the only place they can post on for the first 24h, then put someone to watch out for spam there.

For what it's worth, the SB isn't the same as the forums. The forums get much heavier modding and posts usually stay visible for longer than 5 seconds. There's a reason why many people would prefer to see it gone from the site.

I think the last time this issue came up (in May?) Keith said that it wouldn't err eally be possible without allowing tons of spammers to get in. :c

As you can see, according to staff, the Sb does a lot more than just cause drama and problems. According to staff, the vast majority of the time, the SB is a welcoming and friendly place.

Just stop with the 'you guys were breaking rules' crap, they site owner clearly stated that no rules were being broken