The true story behind 12/18, for everyone asking.

[scottheisel]

Because I have nothing to do at work today (well, not true, but eh, whatever), I'm digging around on the site to try and educate those who were not here when all the absurdity went down. Unfortunately, after combing literally thousands of posts I've made as well as others, it looks like (and I am completely serious here) that one of the moderators has been going back and quietly deleting references to the incident in long-dormant threads to cover the incident up.

Off-topic: Jeff's a moderator.

Back on-topic: Here's what happened. There was a thread on the board regarding the X-Men movies here:

http://vinylcollective.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=etc&action=display&thread=5405

Jeff had originally put in the thread title "(Spoiler Alert)" which many of us found silly, since the movies were 5-7 years old at that point. We teased him a little in the thread, then in the early morning of 12/18, I made a thread with a title something like "Let's talk about The Bible (SPOILER ALERT)," and then my post said something like, "Jesus dies but comes back as a zombie." That was the whole thing.

Jump about 10 hours, and I sign on the board at work around 12:30pm only to find my joke thread had been deleted. So I posted the following, with a thread title that was something like "Thread deletion?":

[serious business]

So we already have our first mod issue -- Jeff deleted my "Let's talk about The Bible (SPOILER ALERT" thread (and then PMed me and asked "Why are you being an ass?").

Jeff, my thread was in no way any sort of violation of any board rules. I was busting your chops because you were hyper-sensitive. It's a message board. These things happen. Take your lumps, give some back and move on with the day.

Deleting the thread is childish, and not how I expect a mod to act.

[/serious business]

People started to respond to this post, then *poof* -- it, too, was deleted. Luckily, I still had it open, so I cut-and-pasted the text into a new thread titled "Thread Deletion (take 2)" or something, which also ended up being deleted. This continued six or so more times, as I documented each time I re-posted:

(12:45pm EST - This thread was posted a few minutes ago then mysteriously disappeared. A board glitch or violation of mod power? You decide.)

(12:50pm EST - This is the third time this thread has been posted. Jeff, please stop deleting it.)

(12:52pm EST - This is the fourth time this thread has been posted. Jeff PMed me the following: "Just drop it. You're 25 years old. I'm not deleting / locking threads unnecessarily, it's a part of being a mod." Jeff, what you're doing is being a crybaby. You had no right or reason to delete the first thread, and even less of a reason to delete a rational, level-headed thread made to discuss its deletion.)

(12:55pm EST - Jeff, stop deleting this thread.)

(12:56pm EST - Jeff, stop deleting this thread.)

After that last one, Jeff actually banned me from the boards, which resulted in a whole bunch of people posting threads asking what was going on (all of which were deleted by Jeff). I emailed Virgil, Ben and a few other peeps to let them know what was going on (I had cut-and-pasted all of the previously quoted text into my email to them, which is why I still have it). I think I made a temporary new account, too; or maybe someone else made one for me. Can't remember.

Then shortly after that, Jeff started a thread called "I'm sick of this" or something, and gave his side of the story. The thread spiraled out of control (we're talking literally dozens of pages in minutes), and it actually ended up messing up the board for a few minutes -- it went from 18 pages to 12 in a split second, somehow a bunch of data was lost. Anyway, it was a pretty epic (and eventually hilarious) thread, where everyone came to the conclusion that Jeff grossly overstepped his boundaries as a mod, with Jeff defending his actions and saying he wouldn't step down as mod. Eventually, the whole thing petered out, and the legend of 12/18 was born.

The thread in question was this:

http://vinylcollective.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=etc&action=display&thread=5423

However, I say "was," as now the thread number has been re-assigned to a thread created in March 2008 (however, if you look at threads 5422 and 5424, they surround the original thread in question, timestamp-wise) -- I'm assuming ProBoards randomly does that once their system discovers a thread has been deleted.

Anyway, that's more or less everything. I'll now field questions.

[jhulud]

Goddamnit Scott! Can't you just accept the past and let it go?!?!?

We have to create NEW monumental **whatever this would be called** and not rehash the past all over again.

Live in the now!!!!

[dante3000]

Thank god! Now all the people who don't know can finally be aware and move on to the next phase, not caring.

[rtw88]

Somewhere, an eagle is crying.

[andrew13]

this was somewhat funny at the time and maybe for the next week. now, seriously who gives a fuck?

[Guest falloutcollapse]

I remember getting that e-mail. It was awesome.

[brennan]

hmm. interesting story. you honestly expected someone to step down as a mod? don't fuck with them. and in turn if they fuck with you get the entire board behind your back. i suppose that's the lesson learned here.

in any case i've moved on to the not caring phase now. but thanks for clearing that up.

[minty]

Haha I do actually remember this now! Never forget.

[skumbucket]

a little surprised we haven't let this go. i mean, the whole "never forget" thing still tickles me, but bringing it up in an in-depth way seems to be beating the proverbial deceased equine.

[lokithelion]

can this be stickied so people stop fucking asking already?

[kyle]

It's funny that people still think they were "right" in this situation. Everyone involved was stupid. Everyone. Scott, you had a right to be upset, but it's been a year and you're still bringing it up? You're really just making yourself look silly by continually calling attention to the situation, especially since NOBODY outside of the 3 or 4 people involved actually care.

[scottheisel]

a little surprised we haven't let this go. i mean, the whole "never forget" thing still tickles me, but bringing it up in an in-depth way seems to be beating the proverbial deceased equine.

I'm only addressing it now so things don't go crazy next week. I doubt anyone had noticed, but I wasn't posting in any of the 12/18 threads people were making this week. I'm just laying out the facts now so people can be done with it.

Personally, I still find the whole thing hilarious. I'm not the least bit mad about it anymore, although I still do believe that Jeff was in serious violation of his mod privileges and should have had them revoked. I would've felt that way had it happened to anyone on here, really.

[oakland]

Can someone name all the moderators so that I can determine which one was the asshole that tried to get me kicked off for saying something was gay.

[jhulud]

[littlejonnyhormone]

So what happens if I post a thread about the bible, and include the fact that there are spoilers within?

[pjaicomo]

a little surprised we haven't let this go. i mean, the whole "never forget" thing still tickles me, but bringing it up in an in-depth way seems to be beating the proverbial deceased equine.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

[scottheisel]

It's funny that people still think they were "right" in this situation. Everyone involved was stupid. Everyone. Scott, you had a right to be upset, but it's been a year and you're still bringing it up? You're really just making yourself look silly by continually calling attention to the situation, especially since NOBODY outside of the 3 or 4 people involved actually care.

Nowhere did I say I was "right" in my first post. I simply laid out facts. I don't think anything I wrote can be disputed, because none of it's opinion.

And again, I'm only bringing this up to put an end to it, since other people (aka not me) had been talking about it on the board this week.

[aarondanger]

me and kirby also posted WTF threads about jeff.

then we were denied.

[hickey]

Personally, I still find the whole thing hilarious.

Exactly. It was funny. And it really killed a work day. I could care less about the drama, but 12/18 created epicness the likes of which haven't been seen since.

Was the Ice Nine Kills thread on 12/18 too?

[skumbucket]

one of the mods should delete this thread.

just for maximum lulz.

[murakami]

what happened 12/3?

[scottheisel]

Personally, I still find the whole thing hilarious.

Exactly. It was funny. And it really killed a work day. I could care less about the drama, but 12/18 created epicness the likes of which haven't been seen since.

Was the Ice Nine Kills thread on 12/18 too?

Nope, that was earlier this year. INK was the same day as laxative pizza. That seriously might be the greatest day in the history of the Everything Else board.

[hickey]

Exactly. It was funny. And it really killed a work day. I could care less about the drama, but 12/18 created epicness the likes of which haven't been seen since.

Was the Ice Nine Kills thread on 12/18 too?

Nope, that was earlier this year. INK was the same day as laxative pizza. That seriously might be the greatest day in the history of the Everything Else board.

You're right...so that was probably February or March.

Either way, 12/18 is funny for its ridiculousness.

[thechuckdiezel]

Agreed

[dante3000]

You know...if we're bringing up teh maximum lulz maybe we should immortalize the day Matt Ramone went off saying Scott got his buddy fired and posted it in every post and even started a few threads.

??/??/08, Never forget?