MaxtheKnife’s
official response to permanent banishment from SDC.
(Posted: 04/22/06)
***
(Update, 07/05/09)
Since I originally
wrote this page, Space.com has undergone a software update. Nearly all of the
links are now dysfunctional.
However, the actual threads, to my knowledge,
still exist and are available to read under different web addresses, minus the
numerous images that were originally posted to them.
I think this
page still reads well and serves its purpose.
Should anyone
wish to track down my citations, it shouldn’t be too difficult to do.
Unfortunately, I’m
focused on other things right now and I don’t have the time to correct all the
links.
***
The following is
a copy and past from the bottom of my October Gallery page. I actually wrote
this sometime in August 2005 and I had intended to leave it as it was. Recent
events have inspired me to expand…
What really got
me started on this epic project was my participation in two online forums. The Enterprise
mission, which is private ($3.95 p/mo) and Space.com.
I cannot list
threads to TEM’s forum because it’s private, however here’s a list of great
threads I’ve participated in at SDC.
It’s been educational and inspiring to say the least.
1. Geometry at Cydonia (My first
thread)
2. Coincidences Are So Cool! (Zen’s thread!
A must read! Hopefully, I’ll be able
to inspire my good friend Zen to provide some words to supply extra context
from his point of view. He really deserves special mention here. Zen, as I have
come to know him, has an amazing online presence. He has a knack for eloquence
and a flare for profundity. Things would have turned out much differently if it
were not for ZenOnMars. Thanks, Zen.
Good luck with your new Blog!
4. Civ on Mars, part 4. (This is the
thread that ultimately inspired my website)
5. Facinating article: Iapetus artificial construct! (This is the
thread that inspired me to join SDC)
11.
Civ on Mars, Part 4 (2nd time
I’ve linked this)
14.
Question about Cydonia Part 2
End of copy and
paste.
***
The following is
intended to be a public response to a morally and ethically unjustifiable
banishment from a well-known and respected public science forum known as Space.com’s
Uplink Community.
I registered for
uplink sometime in January of 2005. In kindest and simplest terms, my website
is a direct result of my participation there. Considering the staggering
implications of what I’ve uncovered, one would think the Uplink Community would
endeavor to help me maintain my membership.
Apparently, the
uplink community has endeavored to do the exact opposite.
On March 1,
2006, my active user account was suspended for 1 week. The reason for the
suspension is given here. So, it is written on the record, “3/1/2006 - User Maxtheknife banned for one week for refusal
to comply with moderator instructions and repeated disruptive behavior.”
The reason given is misleading and dishonest. If what I did
could be considered ‘disruptive’, it is amazing that it took until my second year
of participation to receive even a single warning about my behavior. In fact,
there are a few other instances where a post I made was deemed ad hominem and
deleted by a moderator. In each instance, I wasn’t 100% convinced of the
decision, but I agreed and no warnings or incidents occurred. (An interesting side note)
The truth behind my suspension is a little more complicated
than the reasons given. The naked truth of the matter is I was suspended for responding
to a fellow member/friend and linking informative websites to substantiate my
opinion. In short… participating. No more, no less.
The links I was forced to remove, I have posted from time
to time in order to reference other thoughts and contentions. My post was not a
deliberate attempt at topic derailment as Shadow and the rest of the SDC
moderators would have the casual observer believe. The post was simply an
observational response that required no more discussion or dissemination. The
real disruption came from TheShadow’s subsequent comments and threats.
First he proceeded to insert a moderator demand
into the very thread he
was trying to ‘protect’ from derailment. He provided zero substantiation for
his decision of judgment, in private or otherwise. Simply, he gave an order and
I was expected to follow it… without question… literally, or
else.
He wanted me to remove relevant links to Cydonia, EPH, and
Yonaguni from my post. About 1 day
later, having not yet seen his posted demand, I received a threatening private
message from TheShadow. Among one or two other similar ban threats was this,
“if I even complained about having to remove the links I would
incur a 2 week suspension.” I replied in the open to his private message
threats via my edited response.
Apparently, I am allowed to say what I want to say… I’m
just not allowed to substantiate it. The demand isn’t remotely logical by any
freedom of speech standard. This is the kind of moderating that
has persisted since I joined. Not only has it persisted, it has escalated to
the point of giving the appearance of what could be construed as a conspiracy
to remove anyone who intelligently opposes or challenges current ‘mainstream’
thinking from the popular space science forum.
This chain of events struck a very delicate nerve in me.
Had I known then what I know now about who TheShadow really is… aka,
Mental Avenger, real name… David… I would have handled this entire
situation much, much differently.
You see… the Mental Avenger and I already have quite a
history of discussion during the long Civilizations on Mars thread series. (See
links at top of page) Had I known he was utilizing two identities, I
certainly would have had a two-fold advantage. For one, I would have had the
advantage of previous conversations where Mental Avenger reveals his
intellectual limitations. I would have also had the advantage of knowing that
he was openly breaking the same rule he once had the audacity to cry about. In short, I would have had the advantage of credibility.
A simple yet informative investigation of Mental Avenger
& TheShadow implies
that David knowingly
used the fact that I was unaware of his dual identity to his advantage in the
debate forum. When I learned the truth about this breech of conduct and proven
double standard, things escalated quickly between us and the result was my
final banishment. Interesting to note that soon after my suspension, prominent
long time contributor Skyeagle was
banned for similar unethical and morally questionable reasons on 04/05/2006.
Soon followed by my friend Jatslo’s ban
on 4/21/2006. Then, astonishingly, my good friend Bob, aka, Rhw007 and Wiz007 was banned on 04/16/2006… for, get this… multiple identities:
So it is written on the record… “Usernames rhw007 and wiz007 banned,
multiple identities”.
Please read the entire thread
that precipitated my 1st suspension and decide on your own if I was
being ‘disruptive’ enough to warrant even an edit, let alone a
warning followed by threatening private messages, and ultimately permanent
banishment. In my considered opinion, this is obviously a morally ambiguous and
ethically challenged excuse to eliminate superior scientific
‘competition’.
I have reason to believe that by the time this incident had
occurred, the controlling biased majority had already formulated a plan. A plan
that was intended to push me to my limits with the hope of me causing an
infraction of the rules thereby providing false justification for banishment by
reasons deemed ‘disruptive’. False justifications mind you, because the one
leading the crusade turns out to be a hypocritical, rule breaking, truth
twisting, discredited cop-out. Apparently the hijack police that Telfrow threatened me with was no joke.
No… the truth of the matter is ‘disruptive behavior’ is a
very subjective term. Apparently ‘disruptive behavior’, within the context of
this well-known space science forum, is to be defined by a man who no longer
has any credibility aside from that which is given by the morally and ethically
questionable space science forum that openly encourages anti-scientific
behavior.
Case in point: Member/User Yevaud. I
actually had to sing to this
guy at one point just to get him to calm down shortly after he discovered my
website. What do you suppose happened as a consequence of the exchanges? Dear
old Yevaud gets promoted to the newly founded ‘Mission Control Team’. How’s that for justice. Apparently, malicious behavior is
something to be rewarded at SDC.
Understand that when Yevaud decides to quote me, he never supplies the reader with a link to the context of my quote. It is really quite
disgusting that I was forced to do it for him. If you’re reading this, Yevaud, I really want to thank
you for posting some of my favorite responses, in Mental’s ridiculous propaganda thread. Got context?
Moving right along…
This brings me to my report on the reality of events
precipitating my permanent banishment from SDC.
On April 14,
2006, my active user account was permanently banned. The reason given is here. “4/14/2006
- User Maxtheknife banned for multiple violations, including ignoring Moderator
warnings, violating Moderator specific instructions, multiple
re-editing/deleting of post that was edited by a Moderator.”
Considering the
amount of context and evidence I have provided about my unjustifiable
harassment at SDC, it should not come to anyone’s surprise TheShodow would
engage in increasingly morally ambiguous editing habits as evidenced in his
highly questionable editing romp thread. The ‘editing’
that went on in this thread eventually progresses from bad to worse. By the
time MRO arrived and the first startling images were released, TheShadow was
demonstrably out of control.
In a nutshell
full of provided context… That’s when things finally boiled over.
I started a
thread here.
A short time
later, a fellow user named dmjspace, starts a similar thread in the SETI section.
In that similar
thread, Yevaud makes a blatant false accusation, “Just be warned, they may come here and continue their
shouting and hand-waving.”
I simply
responded by saying “The only shouting and hand waving going on down there
is from your camp” That’s it… that’s all I said. Which, by the way, is soon
substantiated by ZenonMars here.
Later that
night, I logged on to find my post deleted and replace with “***deleted
irrelevant, off topic derailment attempt*** edited by, TheShadow.”
This is
essentially what happened up until the following PM exchange. I will provide
the PM threat/warning exchange between me and TheShadow as well as my email to
Calliarcale who I once believed might actually have some moral integrity. I was
wrong. Once a cop-out, always a cop-out… or so it seems. Rather than respond to
my following email, she decided to pass it over and respond to the next
politically ‘manageable’ question. That post is linked here.
To follow is the
PM exchange between Shadow and me following my response to Yevaud’s fallacious
comments…
maxtheknife,
I am going to make this very easy for you. If you ever again edit a post that
has been edited by a Moderator, you will be banned, and the ban will be
permanent. If you disagree with the edit, you can contact another Moderator or
Uplink Administration, but reediting (or deleting) a post that has been edited
by a Moderator is NOT an option. Not ever.
In addition, it is not appropriate, nor will it be allowed, for members to make
the kind of disparaging remarks you have made lately against other members. You
grade school tactics won’t work here. Badgering other members about not
responding, or not responding to your liking, is inappropriate and will not be
allowed.
You are on very thin ice, be careful.
My response....
I disagree.... You're an unfair, narrow minded, ad hocing, cop out.
Yevaud's remarks were the... "disparaging remarks made lately against
other members.". I simply responded.
I didn't edit the post you edited... I responded. I'm allowed to respond....
cop out
Wanna take this up in Spaceter's thread? Hmmm, cop out?
I think it's you who are on thin ice.
I have made ZERO disparaging remarks.... show me one.
I'm going to post these two PM's in spaceter's thread later today when I get a
chance.
Go away. The light is on you.... mental
Btw... I did contact another mod.
We'll see....
Calli... I hope you see what's going on here...
I received this PM from Shadow this morning:
I hope you do the right thing, Calli. Shadow is blatantly out of control and
editing anything that doesn't suit his worldview. It's wrong and borders on
censorship.
You and I may not like each other, but we have managed to stay civil and
respectful of one another. The same cannot be said for shadow. His weakness has
been exposed and he's clearly trying to cover it up.
He has failed as moderator and does not deserve to be one any longer.
Regards,
Max
Soon after these
short exchanges, I was banned. I followed up with one more email to Calli. This
email describes the chain of events clearly showing that Telfrow’s interpretations are false as
usual. I replaced nothing.
Well Calli... Do you really think shadow was justified in
banning me?
So you know, I did not edit his edit. I responded. He proceeded to delete that.
I then went in and simply marked the post as edited by me so his name wouldn't
appear. He went back and marked it edited by "shadow' again. Seem childish
to you yet?
I finally deleted the entire post and left it marked as edited by me. I've done
it before... to one of your edits as a matter of fact... I simply did not want
his name on my post. There is nothing in tos about doing so. The shadow is
mental, not to mention twisted... no two ways about it.
Remember what you said about cow towing? Pretty sure I'm banned cuz I would not
submit to the mighty shadow. Did you expect me to cow tow? Please, spare me.
I don't expect you to do the right thing here, so....
Have a nice life,
Max
When this is
presented in the context of the disingenuous tactics already exposed by this
short investigation, I think no further response by me is necessary. The truth
and evidence speaks for itself. As does Calli’s non-response.
To follow are a
few posts from my past at SDC. I post them because they indicate the type of
open and friendly attitude that I tried to employ during my participation at
SDC.
I have been open and honest with Uplink members.
These are posts
by Mental Avenger and TheShadow. I post them here for all to see and examine.
The first few posts in the Mental section are well after his belated, somewhat
hidden, 'Free Space' announcement revealing his dual identity. Interesting,
don't you think, that the announcement was not made in Suggestions & announcements?
Provided are links which conclusively prove that MA was responding as if he and
Shadow aren't one and the same. (Compare for yourself the dates of the posts
provided in both sections)
Then notice several other posts showing exactly how biased and ignorant David
really is.
TheShadow posts:
Shadow politely chews out Stevehw33,
04/08/06
Response to Spacester 03/19/06
Shadow on MTK's first suspension
03/02/06
Sinister? Minion TEMers again?
02/25/06
Shadow on trolling and disrupting
threads 02/21/06
Hmmm, More on trolling and Hijacking
02/21/06
Nice list there, mental 12/28/05
Poor baby... 11/17/05
Well, well, well... Shadow comes out
of the closet 11/08/05
Interesting thread about shadow by bbk1. 11/13/05
Link to 'Look Who is Stepping out of
the Shadows' 11/06/05
Mental
Avenger posts:
MA post example 1 02/24/06
MA response in my Geometry thread...
blatant bias revealed 02/20/06
MA & Shadow love to say yadda...
02/15/06
MA and Shadow love to draw the
'bottom line' 11/06/05
They appointed this guy as
moderator??? 11/25/05
Link to an entire Thread started by
Shadow but contributed to by MA as well... incognito. Really disgusting, imo.
11/13/05
An interesting thread about having the courage to stand up
for one's convictions. Interesting posts by MA... 10/11/05
Lol... MA almost gets the
politics... 10/11/05
Pure/unadulterated MA stupidity in
the old 'Deconstructing RCH thread 09/30/05
Might as well link the whole
Deconstruction thread... really good stuff in there 08/30/05
Deconstruction of RCH Pt 2 09/22/05
Well, well, well... MA on
"Multiple User ids, Alter-egos, Disingenuous Pseudo-support. " 09/22/05
More ad hominem and admission of
bias from MA 07/31/05
A nice thread...SDC is Under Attack
by RCH and the Woowoo Patrol!!!! 07/27/05
Natural or Artificial... This is the
thread I really wanted to find. It shows the blatant stupidity that SDC coddles
and caters to. 06/06/05
ZenonMars post 03/09/06 followed by…
Wise ass MA response. Notice date… 03/09/06 (Whole thread)
***
Conclusion:
It is obvious morally ambiguous and ethically questionable
reasoning and methods have taken over the position of ‘moderator’ at SDC.
Rather than appointing unbiased moderators capable of choosing a road of moral
ascendancy, SDC has chosen a road of moral discordance.