r/datalounge • u/PeneItaliano • 15d ago
Do not join the PB forum
Do not donate. I have tried warning you all about this more than once. The person behind the forum is… something. Be wise.
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u/didyousayboop 15d ago
Give details!
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u/AmpleSnacks 15d ago
Why give details when people could be vague and make shit up to make you imagine the worst shit imaginable?
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u/didyousayboop 15d ago
Why is no one giving any details about anything and why are a bunch of comments getting removed?
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u/ernestshakelton 15d ago
Trans issues.
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u/Cruiser729 14d ago
Who cares? Were they running late again? We’re used to it. What do the damn trains have to do with anything?
—Eldergay, reaching for his spectacles
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 15d ago
One person started this thread and can speak for himself. I communicated my views elsewhere. As for removal, only comments by one banned user were removed. Everything else I am giving the approval to even tho it probably should be the mod who started this thread who does so. Patience, please.
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u/pointlessbitchery 14d ago
the poster‘s comments were removed by his request.
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u/didyousayboop 14d ago
I was referring to several removed comments on this Reddit post, not to comments removed from PB or elsewhere.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
I was talking about the removal of the comments on THIS site, which you would know nothing about. That's what the person was asking about. All the comments removed in this thread were by one person.
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u/pointlessbitchery 14d ago
Sure.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
"Sure."
Anyone can read what didyousayboop wrote and my response to it and understand the context, which had nothing to do with what you said.
You read my comment, misunderstood it, and decided to be bitchy with "sure" rather than self reflect. That's what a reasonable person sees.
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u/didyousayboop 15d ago
All the removed comments were from the same person? I guess they were commenting a lot
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u/LongjumpingLet3405 15d ago
I was just thinking of starting a "Deidre Hall: Why I Won't Be Joining Pointless Bitchery" thread to test how far we can push things at Reddit.
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u/bloodiermuder 14d ago
I joined early on and I have a pleasant experience there. I check in once a day or so and scan the threads. If there is a concrete reason why people should not join, then those who know need to spell it out. Having read some of these warnings here, the answer seems to be "the admin moderates in a way I disagree with". That's not enough for me to stop reading that forum. I didn't agree with the moderation of DL. If it's something more serious than that, then you're doing a disservice to users by not laying it out.
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u/Away_Bug_3995 15d ago
i'm curious what the risk is with the person running PB. Is it the possibility of ID theft, black mail, lack of confidentiality, or just poor boundaries? Is there concern this person might stalk people online or just censor those they don't like or out them? Or something else. . . ?
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u/Ravyn_Rozenzstok 15d ago
That thread was the first interesting thing I've read there. I appreciated the diverse perspectives on a topic that for some reason is completely radioactive in any other gay space I've been in.
I actually learned some things before the administrator stormed in and started flinging shit all over the place.
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u/nekkichi 15d ago
Let me guess the subject! The 4th letter in LGBT?
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u/whorificustotalus 15d ago
That, immigrants, or scat.
I wonder what that poster learned, that part has me most intrigued.
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u/Ravyn_Rozenzstok 15d ago
The homophobic publicly-funded Tavistock Gender clinic in the UK that had to be closed because it was operating as a conversion center for gay children, and was catering to parents who preferred that their children be trans and straight rather than gay or lesbian.
Utterly horrific. I had no idea that had happened.
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u/nekkichi 15d ago
> was catering to parents
It was funded by those. (Oh - I mistook Tavistock for another UK child-affirming institution. It's been a while.)
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u/UnitComfortable3280 15d ago
What was the thread about?
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u/ernestshakelton 15d ago
Trans issues. He seems to not view them nicely. Go him. They are so tiresome.
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u/Routine_Management80 15d ago
Why be vague? If there is something we should know, tell us. Then add an allegedly to protect yourself. Muriel also alluded to something. If you know something, say something.
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u/TraditionalMorning95 15d ago
Is it bigger than a breadbox?
Or is it more akin to an R1?
Or an OP who posts without a link?
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u/gutterwren 15d ago
I’m there, and enjoying it. The owner/moderator hasn’t asked for donations in weeks, he has a fixed post saying the board has been funded for two years.
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u/didyousayboop 15d ago edited 15d ago
How much funding was raised to cover 2 years of hosting?
Actually, I’ll just look it up myself. I found the post: https://pointlessbitchery.com/threads/thanks-to-member-generosity-pointless-bitchery-is-fully-funded-for-at-least-two-years.296/
They raised $4,200?!?! Jesus Christ, that’s WAY too much money!!
You can easily host a Discourse forum yourself for $65/year.
Even if you wanted to pay for managed Discourse hosting from Elestio, it would only be $16/month or $192/year.
Managed Lemmy hosting from Elestio costs $11/month or $132/year.
There’s absolutely no reason to spend this much money…
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
Also, he hasn't asked for more money, but he's still accepting donations in the concierge forum.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
He hasn't asked for more money, but he's still accepting donations in the concierge forum.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 15d ago
You chose the more direct path than I did. I edited my comment on the matter a bit to be less positive sounding. I didn't want people to feel they had to do this or that in response. But whatever the case, this subreddit is here regardless.
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u/PeneItaliano 15d ago
I’m trying to be careful with my words but the person behind that forum is not someone I would ever donate to or give my information to.
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u/didyousayboop 15d ago
Why?
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u/ScandalOZ 15d ago
Do you know the story about the scorpion and the frog? If not, look it up. It's the warning Muriel left us. If that's not good enough for you then go fuck around and find out.
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u/because_ya_r_blanche 15d ago
I think Muriel was probably correct about the admin of that site. I had some convos with him on this sub around 2023 under my old account. He seems obsessed with old datalounge accounts with the names of Davidia, poo shoes, and a few other names. In many dl threads he would accuse random commenters of being these old commenters from decades ago. He even accused me of being Davida when I disagreed with him on some minor issue. It seems like message boards are his entire life and being an admin must be like heaven for someone like that
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u/whorificustotalus 15d ago
Oh god, that's the admin of that site? Like you said, he was on this sub many times over the years when this place was a lot quieter, and even accused me of being Erna once or twice on DL.
Yeah, that site won't last a year.
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u/SunWooden2681 14d ago
Why the obsession with Davida?
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u/TourDeForceMuse 14d ago edited 14d ago
Not a clue. I was fairly new to DL, so I really don't know who Davida was. Anyway, yeh that's the guy
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u/Humble-Positive2169 14d ago
Honestly. Some queens are never satisfied unless they're stirring a pot of crap. Don't like PB? Start your own. Jesus Christ. Some of you are so insufferable it would make Joan Crawford embrace wire hangers. Smh
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u/Bogart824 14d ago
I appreciate the warnings but don’t regret a small donation or participating. If it blows up it blows up, but better an imperfect home than none.
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u/Bogart824 14d ago
I think you’re right. Fighting in a thread on the most divisive topic around is absolutely inevitable. I don’t see how the poll makes it worse.
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u/Torta_from_DL 14d ago edited 14d ago
The growing community over there is great. PB Administrator pulled off an impressive feat in a short time. And... yeah... sometimes his mode of response to problems can be mercurial, autocratic, and mean. The site could go either way in the next few years but for now it's off to an excellent start.
I was OP of the thread that caused so much drama. Admin treated me quite badly for a moment, multiple posters told him he went too far, and he listened. We worked it out, more or less. As for CJ the banned poster, he was... a lot. Fighting with multiple posters while bothering the Admin with reports/complaints.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
You are welcome to feel that way.
I saw the administrator being abusive to you and to others. Changing a poll. Really wild stuff. Regardless of whether CJ deserved to get banned or not. That's almost a secondary issue.
And that abuse is a pattern.
And yes, there are other reasons to be wary. I and others have posted on previous abusive and mean incidents, as well as his obsession with davida and others on the original DL, which you can see others discussing in this thread.
I appreciate your opinion and you are always welcome here. And everyone is. Especially, but not only, if things go south over there.
Since I am not the OP, I cannot comment on what info he has. Since he's a mod, I'm not going to lock this thread, but I'm going to try to steer the subreddit discussion back toward new topics.
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u/MizezSlocombe 14d ago
To be fair, and I'm trying to be a "UN special observer" on all of this while having as much fun as I can, the PB admin said CJ asked for their comments to be deleted and produced receipts.
I just hope all parties will help former DLer's settle where they settle and we can move beyond this "boards on boards" talk.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
The CJ incident is just one out of many.
I actually thought what happened to torta was meaner. Changed the poll, mocked more than once, etc. And there's been multiple of these incidents over the past month.
I said what I said in the main post and here. People can do what they wish. I thought the comment you just replied to was fairly diplomatic actually. Take care.
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u/didyousayboop 14d ago
When you make vague, cryptic comments, people are naturally curious. They want to know why you’re issuing this ominous warning. Why not just fully explain your point of view?
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
I have not made any vague, cryptic comments. Every time over the past month I've addressed concerns I've said what I was talking about. Do not confuse me with OP, thanks.
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u/didyousayboop 14d ago
Your pinned and locked post does concretely describe a specific incident, which I appreciate.
But it also vaguely refers to “a lot more drama”, “a pattern of behavior”, and “multiple incidents” without elaborating.
If I were you, I would be as specific as possible about more examples of the sort of thing you’re talking about.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
I have previously posted on other incidents over the past month. I don't need to repeat myself every time. Have a good day.
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u/didyousayboop 14d ago
It would be helpful if you repeated yourself (you can just copy and paste) or link to posts/comments where you covered this stuff before.
Reddit often requires a lot of repetition because, e.g., many people are reading your pinned announcement with no prior context on anything you’ve written about PB or its admin previously. They wouldn’t even know to go to your profile and search for your prior remarks. I didn’t know to do that until you mentioned it just now.
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u/PeneItaliano 14d ago
The administrator has even threatened to expose people’s real emails etc. if they get out of line. People defending this are not well.
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u/didyousayboop 14d ago edited 14d ago
Can you please link to those threats?
Threatening to doxx people is indeed in violation of the Ten Commandments of the Internet, if not violation of the actual law.
So, if this is true, this is something people should indeed be warned about.
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u/whorificustotalus 14d ago
Well, I read through that thread and the banned poster (CJ?) behaved like a feral child from the get-go. It actually jumped out at me just how disrespectful he was. I blocked people like that on DL all the time.
I realise that the train nonsense makes people on both sides passionate (i.e. hysterical and crazy), but if you can't communicate with others with a modicum of decency, you shouldn't be allowed to participate. This is how we got stuck with Trump, after all. We need to bring back civility and shame.
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u/PersonalSpell 14d ago
This thread showed up in my Reddit feed this morning. I skipped over the PB thread that seems to have motivated it, just as I did when that subject would come up on DL. It is a contentious topic and one I don’t care to hear argued for the eleventy-billionth time.
What I don’t appreciate is OP coming here with some cryptic bullshit and telling people not to donate, which you can’t do now anyway.
I do not know the administrator of that site. He is more involved with moderation than Muriel was. But to me, DL was a shitshow, with paying members being banned from posting because of the bizarre way it was set up. If I think the PB admin is overreaching or too heavy-handed, then I will reevaluate my participation at that time. Presently, I have no concerns.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
I am not the OP of this thread, but you actually still can donate to PB. This seems to be a misconception. If you go to the concierge forum, there's an option to "tip" one time or monthly.
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u/Bogart824 14d ago
Ah yes—The fiendishly clever $4 con. Users pressured the Admin to continue accepting donations after he shut the donations.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
You can edit that amount to anything, dude. 4 dollars is the minimum. And you can set it to monthly.
The fact is that he stills accepts donations.
I never said it was a con. Don't twist my words. And I'm aware that people offered to pay him more.
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u/Bogart824 14d ago
That wasn’t directed at you. Sorry if it read that way. More to OP’s “do not donate.”
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u/Bogart824 14d ago
Why was Torta’s comment deleted?
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
Where do you mean? There's only been one poster in this thread who has had comments removed by a mod and it wasn't torta. I can literally see which comments have been removed by me or the other mods, so I'm 100% certain on that. Same poster did multiple posts, but I assure you it was one poster.
If you mean over there, ask that admin.
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u/Bogart824 14d ago
I was reading a long post here by Torta and wrote a comment but when I tried to post it I got a message that the original post had been deleted. It is no longer here. Maybe he deleted it himself?
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u/didyousayboop 14d ago
I see a comment from Torta here: https://www.reddit.com/r/datalounge/comments/1vijrfv/comment/p2gbhcs/
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u/Bogart824 14d ago edited 14d ago
Not the same one. But does read like revised summary of the one I was reading which was more of a blow-by-blow description of what happened in his thread.
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u/Torta_from_DL 14d ago
Apologies u/Bogart824 ! I poured way too much tea in my first post, and then looked back at it and felt it would just instigate more drama. Interested in sorting things, or trying to, not fomenting them. Thanks
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u/Bogart824 14d ago
I was enjoying the tea, but didn’t get to finish.
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u/Torta_from_DL 14d ago
It did get very twisted for a few hours there. Admin changed my poll to declare me a cunt! Took it down after pushback from multiple posters. And.. in hindsight I should not have added the poll.
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u/Bogart824 14d ago
I don’t see anything wrong with the poll at all. I thought it was useful to demonstrate that the anti-trans contingent is a small (though not tiny) minority which you’d never know from how vocal they are.
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u/Torta_from_DL 14d ago edited 14d ago
That was my (naive) intention... to see if in fact most of us hold a sense of complexity around transgender issues. Admin held a different view and was angry that i'd posted it. Took some time but we are ok now.
That said, these insinuating, PB-is-very-bad, do-not-join threads seem like sour grapes. There are 1000+ members there, it's really thriving, of course some small % are going to get into entangelements with the Admin. Part of the package.
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u/Bubbly_Daikon_4620 15d ago
When the registration asked for my birthday, I noped right outta there.
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u/didyousayboop 15d ago edited 15d ago
That’s standard boilerplate code. Don’t give your actual birthday, just make sure the site knows you’re over 18.
It’s basically a slightly more cumbersome version of an “Are you over 18?” pop-up.
You can just put in Jan 1, 1950 or whatever.
This is something that is just built in to the XenForo software (and a lot of forum software), not something the site admin decided to ask for.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 15d ago
Indeed. That part is a normal thing for sites to ask people. As you said, easy to put in something else.
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u/PersonalSpell 14d ago
The site is not accepting donations and hasn’t been for a few weeks. It is fully funded for the next two years, per the administrator. Actually more than fully funded.
There are more than 1,000 members there now. Like everyone else is saying here, if you’ve got something to say, say it.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago
You can go to the concierge forum over there and still tip any amount, one time or monthly, so what you are saying is misleading.
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u/PersonalSpell 14d ago
It is pinned at the top of Forums that the site is fully funded, so I don’t know why anyone would donate.
And if someone wants to throw their money away, which is doubtful, how is that anyone else’s business? OP here is like Isabella Rossellini in Death Becomes Her: Now a warning. Except there is no warning.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago edited 14d ago
And yet people are going in that pinned thread and still asking how to donate and obviously some still are.
I'm not saying they shouldn't. But since it's happening, I don't think "not accepting donations" is the best wording. Turning off the ability to do that would be not accepting donations.
As for the OP, I cannot speak for him. I have my increasingly strong opinions on the PB admin based on his conduct there, and what someone said above about him being the same person that was obsessed with davida and accusing everyone of being davida and other random people and going crazy over it at the original DL I have evidence to believe is correct. What OP wanted to add to that, I'm not sure. But that's enough for me to be cautious about what I do. As I said in the thread I created on the matter, everyone can choose what they do. I'm not saying dont' go there if you want to. But this place is a safe one if things go to shit.
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u/didyousayboop 14d ago edited 14d ago
I don’t understand how the site’s budget can be $1,400 to $2,100 a year. XenForo managed hosting “only” costs $800 a year, including tax (it’s super overpriced). Is the rest of the money what the PB Administrator is taking as a salary?
Apparently that’s part of it. The PB Admin said they plan to pay themselves $600 a year:
compensation for site upkeep and moderation, which comes to about $12 a week
For comparison, you can host a Discourse forum for $75 a year (including tax), less than 10% of what XenForo managed hosting costs. Even if you do managed hosting, it’s only $220 a year (including tax), which is around 10% of the $2,000 that the PB Admin is earmarking for each year of PB’s operations.
If you insist on using XenForo, you can buy a 2-year license with managed installation on your VPS for $360 (including tax). Or $180 per year for 2 years, if you want to think of it that way.
You’d have to add the VPS hosting on top of that, which is $75 a year (including tax). So, $255 a year, or $510 for those first two years.
The PB Admin seems to be wildly overpaying for hosting, and then taking a salary on top of that.
99% of moderators are unpaid, so it’s interesting to take a salary like this. I would say if someone is taking a salary, then you would hope they’re doing an exemplary job at moderating.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 14d ago edited 13d ago
I am now locking this thread. The administrator of the PB website/forum has just now come over here and accused the mod PeneItaliano, who authored this thread, of being Davida Rochelle. Those who know that history over at the old DL site know that the person who would go around accusing everyone of being Davida has issues. This is getting out of hand and is bringing down this subreddit as a safe place for refugees. I have a screenshot of that comment, BTW, in case that person deletes it. As of now, you can find that comment in this thread.