I was
disturbed,
disgusted, and
frightened.
Having participated on websites that have been the targets of trolls, sockpuppets, and nastiness, I could not see the humor in it.
I'll get over it, but I think the Gods should apologize to those of us who were afraid that their special place was gone forever. There's a note about DMan that says (I paraphrase) "He made E2 a darker, less friendly place, put blood in the water theme, made trolling more common."
Last night, the Gods did the same thing.
I'll live. I'll keep noding, keep chatting, keep expanding and improving my homenode. But when real trolls come in, when the gates need to be guarded and the molten lead poured down the battlements, there is going to be a little less trust in our leader's judgement, a little hesitation in the Hierarchy of Angels.
I do still have enough trust in the benevolence of the Gods to speak out against what they did. If I did not, I would not be here. I would simply become another nodeless usershell.
On sumbit, my writeup was translated into 1337sp34k. Thanks a lot.
It's not that I don't think the Gods will be able to deal with trolls and hackers in the future. It's that the people will be a little slower to react. The
Citizen Militia of Everything2 has been cried wolf to.
Like I said, I will get over it, as will we all. Someday, this will be funny. Maybe even someday soon. But today? I wonder if there are a few good people who will
not come back.
In regards to Gamaliel -- I have high respect for you, as you and others probably know. I consider you a mentor, and your statements have the same weight to me as Dannye's. One statement in your w/u encapsulates, to me, what went wrong with the prank. "...the mere presence of Stile was enough to mix things up a bit and strike fear into the hearts of the newbies.....". When I was new here, I was scared anyway, hoping for approval, creating pathetic nodes about noding, whining in the Cbox, being a newbie. If last night had been my first time here, I wouldn't have come back, and I feel both I and E2 would be poorer for the experience.
I don't deny that the Heirarchy needed to blow off some steam. Let me make a suggestion. Next year, invade /. or The Stile Project, or someplace that deserves it.
I'm strting to feel bettar about it already.
Yes, the fact that I fell for it
hook line and sinker did add to my rush of negative emotions. Big news here,
nobody likes to be the butt of the joke.
1'11 g3t 0v3r 1t.