Thought I'd check in on the clubhouse. I see I missed several moderator changes (the
clubhouse does eat its own) and we now have Fab "I delete all comments I don't like
cause censorship is the heart of academics" Sun. But, this is not a government site,
so there is no protection from the 1st Amendment. Looks like the content is thin
(based on all the flashbacks) and the community seems smaller.
For the new people, I'll reiterate my reasons why this blog should be closed down.
First, you are professionals. The difference between the students you complain about
and you? You are paid. You are suppose to be the mature, highly trained side of
academics. Posting snide, sarcastic stories about students and colleagues is a
little like giggling at the fat girl during recess. It's inappropriate and not the
kind of behavior we encourage in our students, much less ourselves.
Second, you represent a very small minority of academics. Most of us have rarely
encountered the situations you portray as common and frequent. The outside world
reads this blog and fears this is a typical college experience (well, perhaps no one
other than the clubhouse reads this blog). You are doing a disservice to the
academic community.
Third, a common refrain is that this blog is a "watercooler" to vent frustrations. I
get that, the pressure of your demanding jobs must rival air traffic controllers. But
remember those family gatherings and that uncle who needs to express his racist or
sexist comments? That's kinda how you guys sound. Now, if you were construction
workers, or in the food industry, we might expect this level of discourse. But you
are suppose to be the intellectual elite, you are suppose to be above this kind of
thing. If you need some way to vent, buy a kitten, talk to a mental health
professional. We don't need to be reminded that you have troubles, it seems a
personal matter to me.
Obviously, human nature makes this type of behavior impossible to stop or control.
But how about you, at the very least, put your site behind a password field. Keep it
secret. We know you are like angry white people, but don't emulate the Trump
movement and relish in the lowbrow.
Sincerely, honest_prof
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Hey, (dis)honest_prof. Nice to see you again. Why don'tcha get off'n yer high horse and sit awhile?
ReplyDeleteWhen you do, how about not being a coward? If you're serious about wanting the blog closed down, give your real name. There won't be any IRL consequences, and you won't come off looking and smelling like a troll.
Oh, he knows that the mods know who he is, and if I remember it was Ben or Archie who suggested I not out him formally. But with some help I was able to - years ago now, Jesus - use IP addresses from his building on that bloated and overrated university in the Pacific Northwest and the address from some sort of vacation or family home in Scituate MA to confirm his identity.
DeleteI know it gives him a rare thrill to see his name in lights, but it's a lazy day and I figured, why crank out another flashback when we have NEW material from a longtime community member!
It's always nice to hear his same complaint, because, shit, I almost forgot how horrible we were.
You're at Harvard? Me, too. I'm uh, yeah, I'm the PRESIDENT of Harvard. Uh, and also the Dean of, uh, Political Science, and, uh, Theater. Yeah, that's the ticket.
DeleteHe didn't mention the quality of graphics or the style of font so I assume that they are ok with him. This confirms that he's a nutcase.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird. I was going to close the page for good today. Damn!
DeleteHe is not wholly wrong. We might all benefit from a more professional discussion of the academy. I know many of us agree.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. There's other sites for that - why do that here if you can do that in several other places? This place is unique.
DeleteLeslie K writes:
ReplyDeleteTook a swipe at food industry and construction workers. Nice.
Hey, self-fulfilling prophecy on those comments being deleted.
DeleteI think you should just leave his comments up, unless they are way over the line. They say much more about him than about us, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteI hear you, and you are not alone. I couldn't resist since his claim is that I delete contrary comments. It looks like I gave him a great big post though, right?
DeleteAnd, I must confess, this guy has been a problem for years, and I just can't stand to let him have more time than just a dribble now and then.
Sorry for those who don't agree.
I think it's ridiculous to give him any space at all. He has been a hassle for all the mods over the years. He has his one complaint and he sends it in when he wants to tell other college proffies how to live. I feel icky just leaving a comment here after some of the bullshit he has said on these pages.
DeleteHe's a fucking chore. That's all I can say. He gets to win because every once in a while I have to fuck with him. I don't know why he does what he does but it's been YEARS, many years more than most of our newest members. And anyone who's been around for a while is generally sick of his bullshit.
DeleteI am with Cal on this one. Well, I'm with him on most things, since there are only 4 of us.
DeleteThe three comments I deleted were: 1) In response to a comment about him swiping at food industry and construction workers, he said something like: "Like you swipe at colleagues and students. 2) In response to my claim about who he is, and how I found him because he commented from the same account at his office in Eugene and his "summer" house in Scituate: "I wonder who this PNW university person is, because I've never gotten any emails from you like you said you've sent. Most Harvard professors have homes on Cape Cod." And 3) "Did you guys catch the Bachelor last night?"
ReplyDeleteI made the last one up. But that second one, that's so fucking rich.
In fact, according to an Internet search, here are some places our hero has lived. This was a page I used years ago when I was trying to figure out who was bugging us all this time:
DeleteSyracuse NY
Oswego NY
Ithaca NY
Scituate MA
Boston MA
Phrae Thailand
Bloomington IN
Boulder CO
Eugene OR
Lyon
Guwahati
Wow, I had a girlfriend from Phrae! Small world!
DeleteDon't apologize, Fab. Everyone who has worked on the page has had to put up with his shit. If it were me I wouldn't even have put up his original post. He is one of those guys who MUST be right, and has to tell others about it.
ReplyDeleteI was a part of that group that had his identity shared so we'd watch for his logins from HIS BUILDING AT OREGON and his Scituate place in the summers. I find it inconceivable. I'm not as kind as Fab but curbed my urge to out him.
But why anyone has to bother with him is just ridiculous. Of course we've all had colleagues who are assholes, and at least no one that I know is forced to deal with him on a daily basis.
Scituate, huh? Sounds like a lovely place to spend a hot end-of-July day, taking a break from your job working with engaged students, collegial colleagues, and reasonable, supportive administrators. If I were there, I bet I could find a lot of better things to do than checking in on a blog of which I disapproved. So, um, h_p, why don't you go take a dip in the ocean rather than lecturing those of us stuck in the pedagogical trenches during the dog days of summer?
ReplyDeleteAnd I mean that in the nicest possible way.
Forget a dip in the ocean. This fool can go jump in a lake.
DeleteI beg Fab to quit letting this asshole have space!
ReplyDeleteI've taken down 20 comments from our troll. I'm sorry I ever posted his original text. I'm at a loss with what to do.
ReplyDeleteFab
For someone who hates this site ever so much, he's spent a lot of time here today.
DeleteComments are set to moderation for the time being. A little chime goes off on my phone and I hit a button to upload the comment. During waking hours it shouldn't be long. Sorry for the inconvenience.
DeleteI caused this shit for myself by posting the thing he sent in. Maybe I'll learn. For all of his claims, I've given him so much space on the page. Fuck me.
I thought the original post was a joke, written by Cal. I even imagined him lazily sitting on a bench on a golf course waiting for the drunk foursome ahead of him to hurry up. And he was holding his iPhone far out in front of him because he didn't have his reading glasses.
ReplyDeleteIt would be just like them to make him up, wouldn't it?
DeleteNow, go back to sleep Fab.
Well, you let him have his say (and then, apparently, he couldn't stop -- not that I'm one to throw stones when it comes to commenting on comments on my own post). He probably has a defensible point or two in there (which doesn't mean that I agree with them), but mostly he sounds pretty out of touch (given that the average proffie these days, if such a thing exists at all, is probably an adjunct at a community college. There's a reason the New Faculty Majority chose their name; it's not hyperbole).
ReplyDeleteFor whatever it's worth, the post reminded me that I'd really like to visit Cape Cod (though I don't think that Scituate is actually on the cape -- all the better, I suppose), and Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. Not feasible right now for a variety of reasons, but a nice daydream for this summer-term online proffie.
The whole diatribe reminds me of the kind of person who feels that (s)her has to put on a very public show of being the most religious/patriotic/loyal-to-our-[school|team|gaming platform] at every opportunity so that everyone will know how very, very wonderful a person they are.
ReplyDeleteHow of of those do you know? How many of them to you believe to actually be good on the inside?
The ones what got it don't need to show it is all I'm sayin'.
Harvard?
ReplyDeleteHonest Prof: “You are suppose to be the mature…” “But you
are suppose to be the intellectual elite, you are suppose to be above this kind of thing.”
Suppose?
How did this ass get a graduate degree?
DeleteSounds more like someone who didn't get into Harvard, or (perhaps more likely) went to Harvard at some point but didn't get to return (or stay) as a faculty member, and considers that a serious loss. He does, indeed, exhibit a fierce loyalty to the idea of an academic "elite" (if I'm remembering correctly, this is the same commenter who periodically uses "juco" as an insult).
DeleteThe only piece that doesn't fit is that he sounds pretty happy with his present job. But he also seems to be claiming, or at least implying, that his present job is at Harvard, not that university in Eugene. Of course having a job at Harvard would pretty much undermine any claim to understanding what the lives of most professors are like, but he doesn't seem too bothered by that).
Assuming he actually does have a good academic job (by whatever definition of "good"), the Harvard fixation is pretty sad. Maybe it's a case of relieving one's own frustrations by kicking (or, in this case, lecturing) those (whom he perceives to be) further down the prestige hierarchy?
So funny. He just sent in another comment. This one was so polite. Maybe he thinks I've forgotten years of his condescension. I haven't. Of all the moderators everyone know I am the most receptive and forgiving. But not even I can stomach his shit anymore. He has spent years telling us to shut down for the good of his profession. What must his days be like, correcting the wrongs around him. I am listening to the Stones and eating 2 servings of lasagna. I will survive even this. LOL.
ReplyDelete"Guerrilla Mail" Oh so edgy...
ReplyDeleteThe most important part of trolling is establishing a consistent persona. You really need to decide if you're going with "Establishment Tool" or 'Edgy McEdgelord."
2.07/10
I sometimes wonder if this guy is Untenured, Polly_Mer or one of the other Crampicle alpha trolls after about a dozen drinks...
ReplyDeleteSince this posting went up, that Chumabawamba song's been stuck in my head.
ReplyDeleteI get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away
He drinks a whiskey drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the better times
He's back?! That would be a mirative moment, if only mirativity existed.
DeleteWhen he's got some time on his hands, maybe he can respond to this:
http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/20142/
"is [not even] a little like giggling at the fat girl" [fixed that for you]
ReplyDelete"Most of us have rarely encountered the situations you portray as common and frequent." [citation needed]
"You are suppose to be"
"you are suppose to be"
"you are suppose to be" [once is a typo; thrice is a 'stupido']
Holy shit. It's like this guy's been trying to be the "cool prof" to his students for so long, he's regressing into being one of them.