This is the Wish-washy Journalistic Attempts of Sinepyriah...I mean OuT2FaR....on E2.. Censorship...... Cover-ups.... Conspiracy Theories.....Bee Hive Mentality... Disappearing Noders... and How You Might be Next!
It was a bright and seemingly uneventful day, but there was an odor lingering in the air with such pungency not even with a slight breeze could it be removed. It was the smell of a cover-up, and it lurked around every corner. I thought there for a minute the next refresh would be the one that lead me to the blatant controversy hidden with in plain view, but soon and with a little encouragement from the e2 staff, I thought that my mind was in fact playing tricks on me. This is when I found 'it', though. As I sprang into action the words, "Never fear OuT2FaR is here" crossed my mind; and after a brief bit of off-site correspondence, I realized I might be on to the truth, only if I followed up on some leads. That slightest webble-wobble in the story was what I was looking for, and when it presented its self, I struck. I forced myself into everyone's business and this resulted in many restricted conversations, but this is what I managed to bring to the light of day.
I had not seen anything from Ushdfgakjasgh for a while when the editor log for January 2010 came out, and everyone was able to derive a common conclusion, Ush was missing and so was Swap. Alex made it sound so simple, and adding something like ten rules we should obey by so we too wouldn't disappear like the person that remained nameless in his editor log. This made me think, whom the fuck does the think he is Moses, or even worst yet, God? Why should I live by his ten commandments, when I do not follow the original ten?
I asked a few questions about what had caused these things to transpire, and the administration’s response was the same every time. It seemed minimal and rehearsed. This is when I became curious, and then my curiosity met the blatant lies, and a cover-up worthy of Richard Nixon. I do not feel the need to remind everybody here at E2, that it is no secret of Nixon's cover-up attempt. The tape recording, the break-in at Watergate, all this should be common knowledge in today's society. So, here I am trying to find out what is going on, and Alex is telling me what is important and not important, and what should be my business. If I remember correctly, Nixon tried telling everybody what to think of the transcripts read during on the million-dollar question in the Frost/Nixon interview, before he would resign and proclaim he was not a criminal. However this beside the point, what had Alex done that it had to remain a secret?
I was actively denying their denial of what really happened. I ran the gamut, against all the active personnel, and did not receive a single worthy piece of information. I was in the midst of breaking down a couple people’s stories when a private message came across asking if I wanted to know what happened. Of course, the cover-up installed by Alex heightened my curiosity, so I followed the lead with fervor. It was Ushdfgakjasgh, using a new account, and after a few minutes circumventing the establishment, Ush and I had made contact off-site.
This is about the time things became interesting, and I feel obligated to mention, this is about the time when my investigation was attracting threats from the most superior member of this website. Basically, I was told, if wasn't going to shut up, I would be forcefully silenced. This is conflict, and you people should beware of it by now, I Do Not back down from a fight
I tried to understanding Ush’s history and previous actions from another point of view, but everyone denied an interview. It is no secret that e2 had banned Ush before. I do believe the first time was for the same reposting thing, and another for what Ush claimed to be an accident involving Jessicaj. It is not clear which side is telling the truth, Ush says there was not a problem with the style sheets, and Jessicaj was not supposed to add the coded script, which was titled ‘NODE_CONTAINER’ to the style sheet being used, and when Jessicaj added the script some complications arose. This possible miscommunication prevented Jessicaj from logging in to the account with the script in place. They fixed the problem, but the accusations of sabotage stood and then they banished Ush from the site for a second time.
When Jack finally stepped down, Apatrix took over, and changed his name to Alex and lifted a few of the previous rulings. Presumably, to hide all the past editorial evils he may have committed, but once he repented his sins, he reconsidered his ways and started giving people their privies back, and Ushdfgakjasgh was one of the people to have their account unlocked.
A while back, Swap and Ush started feuding; swap wanting Ush to leave the site, started criticizing Ush’s work in the catbox and moved on to posting some of Ush's personal information on 4chan hoping they would attack Ush. Swap then sent Ush a copy of The Ush Chronicles, which I believe was an attempt to convince Ush to leave because the chronicles had been proof that everyone thought Ush was an annoyance. (The Ush Chronicles Not Included.) This initiated the whole Swap fiasco, where Swap had been a little too free with privileged personal info, which leads to the banishment of Swap. Why the banishment, and not a simple removal of powers, I do not know. I heard Swap walked, but this is not confirmed.
Ush immediately posted a section of The Ush Chronicles to e2 and the staff quickly nuked it. Alex told him to stop posting secret e2 editor logs, Ush then re-posted this information to e2 three more times. This is what led to Ush’s banishment.
At first, I thought nothing of The Ush Chronicles, there really was nothing there, no substance and it was going be quickly deleted. I was correct. When I saw Ush posted it repeatedly, I thought, “Oh shit, here we go.” This is exactly what I did to piss off Jessica "sweet pea" Pierce, and have my account put on the list forbidden to submit material. I then read, in the catbox, shortly after my conclusion Ushdfgakjasgh asking to talk to Nate himself. I thought, that would never happen, but now thinking back, I think I may have even said it aloud to myself in a moment of haste, "I hope Ush gets the chance to at least exchange a few emails with Nate himself. It is not like anyone is going to get hurt, right?”
I would learn later Alex finally gave in and Nate told Ush personally Alex's judgment stood. I remind you, Nate’s decision based on a discussion with Alex was most likely one sided and at a completely biased angle. That is if you believe Alex contacted Nate in the first place. It is hard to tell if the person Ush said he was talking to was even Nate. I believe it is possible that Alex told Ush using a fake email while posturing as Nate that his word would stand. I believe this idea, because if I were Nate, I would not want the petty nonsense of this site bothering me at all hours of the night.
Shit, Nate might not even exist. It is completely possible that this is an example of the Emmanuel Goldstein character featured in the book 1984 by George Orwell. Where the person everybody thinks is in charge does not really exist. A fictional character ironically meant to provide a sense of security. In this case, the same beehive mentality established in the book when it comes to questioning authority is here at everything2; whatever the ministry of truth says goes, and anybody who disappears does so without question. They also foolishly believe it is necessary to sacrifice whomever to protect the hive.
Over a short period, Ush created over 150 accounts in attempt to rejoin our community. This is why I think you can only remove a certain account and possibly the persona attached, but removing a user is not only stupid, it is an exercise in stupidity. They can simply by pass the blocked IP address with a proxy, or one of the various types of software options, or they could even change the physical location and really throw a monkey wrench into the valiant effort of any geek squad. Can you now see why taking on this task is insurmountable and why in doing so, you create more problems for yourself than what it is worth? Plus, continuously blocking someone for your own amusement is a damn shame. Life can be a cruel mistress as it is, and that is without other people making a game out of inflicting misery on others.
When I was first put on the list forbidden to post new write-ups, at the time, no help documents existed and for some people I was not worth the time to explain how the site worked. So, after a year of establishing the boundaries of this society, I decided to create a puppet account to test my assumptions. I wrote for the site for two years under the handle Sinepyriah, and in those two years, I posted 50 my writings and had only one nuked in that entire time.
My goal was not to produce anything super-fancy as Sinepyriah, but to write something once a month to help find my style and build other skills. It also provided a way to prove to everybody including myself that my locked account was unnecessary. Soon I found out how easy it was to contribute to this site. I was under a big misunderstanding about how the website worked when I first joined, and decided to use it to develop the ideas for the book I am writing. I did not know about the scratchpad, and because I quickly figured out you could edit a write-up after posting, I thought I could jot down what I had written out and make it look pretty later. Boy was I wrong, but before I learned the protocol, I reposted a few times in an attempt to save it somewhere in the node gel when I finally came to a halt on behalf of Sweet pea, and without a single word as to why. This might not be entirely true; I did not save the messages, but there was no lengthy explanation given as to why, before being left to fend for myself with my own devices.
This is why I think being able to circumvent the system is a good thing, and this is one reason why I think we should always allow people to form puppet accounts. It provides a check in the balance of power by preventing any one person from oppressing another’s right to free speech.
I should mention there was no reason for me to be exactly fair when it came to writing this, but I want to remind everyone, this is just one moment in Alex’s life where true character showed through, but it is not a full evaluation of character. I feel we both acted in a foolish manner in the past on a particular daylog-- I know I did, acting as if Alex had no idea what flow is-- but if Alex did not feel the same way, why later after becoming Mr. Head-honcho, did he delete the whole thing instead of correcting the typo I pointed out. I believe this is because he did not want some negative comments he made reflecting on his leadership skills, but when he was just an content editor it did not matter. This is because Alex is now the end of the line, the last person to speak to when it comes time to grind the ax, so he must maintain a good image and appear to be thick-skinned but still fair and just.
This leads me to think Alex banned them both of them because he lost his temper and mishandled the situation like he did with me, and then foolishly tried to salvage his pride, as would anybody else would do in this case and destroy the evidence by floating the bodies down river. In my opinion, this is much like what happened with the Dman, we know something happened but we do not know what exactly transpired. We just are not asking the right people the right questions.
This leaves all but one question unanswered, why do I care about what happened to Ush. The answer is simple really. I care about every last one of you and would care about a sudden absence, but the real question that is begging to be free is why I wrote this, and the answer to that question is not so simple.
As you may or may not know, I like to find the underlying cause of things, examine it from every angle, and never setting for the first answer given. It is in my nature to do this, I cannot help myself, and I would be going against the grain if I did; and I feel Ushdfgakjasgh is a person of similar qualities. I would fight for everyone, and every one of your beliefs, I will fight Ush’s and Swap’s beliefs as well. Well, not so much for the reason of Swap’s disappearance, because that was not only malicious, I feel we have a right to privacy, but you do get my point, right?
We are entitled to our opinion, but I also agree our opinions are just like assholes, and in that sense, we all have one and we should not talk about them with just anybody. Trust me on this one; no one cares to see your asshole, and if you keep parading it around for everyone to see, people are going to get mad. This is because as a society we are prude; and if we are ever going to come together, the whole lot of humanity, we first will need to learn to respect each other, including all of our dirty bits. Therefore, what this all boils down to is, we are not bees, and there is still some fucking room in our brains for some freethinking. We need to love every single person for who they are and who they have become, along with any beliefs they carry with them. We do not need to comply with the mentality implied by our society to ostracize those who are different in any manner.
We are becoming our own worst enemy, and before you know it, we cannot trust anyone. It will be the person you least expect that gives you up to the thought police. Who was the spy, your neighbor, your romantic interest, your colleague? You decide which future you want to live in, some kind of Orwellian cosmic fuck hole, or something of your own manifestation.
A getting to know your noder node, no way?