Talk Elections

A needed poll.

Badger has made a terrible mistake.

Seems like a cool guy. Not sure why people are hating on him so much.

The orgy thing was a bit much but his stories are quite entertaining.

Well, not really needed. I've only been here 3 days, plus I seem to have attracted enough attention already for the time being.

As much as I probably should, I won't revoke the FF label just yet. His contributions have not been horrible.

I don t know what he was in 2010, but he seems to have changed and definitely wants to be a new guy.
So personally, I agree with badger, he should have a second chance, everyone can change. :)

Certainly appears to be a FF! Especially if the miserables are complaining.

I didn't like him pre-banning, but he seems fine now.

I was no fan of his before he was banned (I got 1 or 2 death points because of him), but the jury is still out on his latest incarnation...   

I literally couldn't stomach Libertas before he was banned back in 2010. Old Libertas was an obnoxious hack and troll.

Now, as he returned after a long waiting period so to say, I can see an improvement, so I'm willing to give him a fair chance. I really don't get reactions by some; if he let us down, he'll be banned again, no big deal.

Needs rebanned

Seems reasonable so far. I didn't know him in 2010 (which I guess clouds my judgement) though.

My heart doesn't exactly thrill to his current persona, but from what I've heard it's a distinct improvement over his old one.

pretty chill i was going to chat him up on aim again last night but i passed out oh well

HP

FF

Badger was one of the strongest proponents of banning me back in the day. We were not by any means friends back then. And I recall him being a Democrat at one point back then and is a Republican now, politically the opposite path of me. There was no bias or incentive whatsoever for him to want me unbanned. And yet now you baselessly criticize Badger rooted in baseless criticism of me.

Also Badger doesn't have the power to ban or unban posters. Only Dave and Nym can do that.

Weird, I guess.

"Weird"? As opposed to what? "Normal"? Do you consider yourself "normal"?

Well, I don't know him yet; so I'll not judge him either way now

I hope not, but only time will tell. ;)

Although Libertas is right in that only Nym makes the final call about banning/unbanning, and there wasn't much opposition recently to unbanning him among the other mods, I'd rather be proven wrong when someone convincingly expresses they've changed rather than give no one a second chance based on the way they acted when they were 18.

Look Libertas, you had a rather rough "debut", in no small part because of hostility towards your return. I understand how you must feel but, believe me, there's no point in responding to every single negative post. If anything, it creates bad impression.

Well I still thank you for the support you gave to me leading to my unbanning.

I have tried my best to distance myself from my troubled past and establish a new Libertas.

Evidently I have made some missteps. However it can be like walking on eggshells when there are a lot of people still holding 4-5 year old grudges who will nitpick anything I say to pounce on as evidence that I need to be rebanned, however trivial.

The critics of me today, when I've only been on the forum for a total of four days after a four year absence, are behaving as pettily as the "old" Libertas when it comes to holding vindictive grudges. In the meantime I have made peace with some former enemies and made friends with new members. I hold no grudges or vendettas.

Down in Atlasia I am already serving in the Northeast Assembly again, appointed by a governor from another party, and I intend to run and win for a full term with bipartisan support.

I do not wish to be the cause of a "Demod Badger" campaign which politicus seems to be suggesting above.

Who is this?

Kal is wise.

Then please stop. Stop posting about secret gay orgies. Stop posting about drugs. Stop responding to literally every negative post about you that you see. Stop being weirdly obsessive about what everyone says about you. Stop posting about how you end up falling into guys who like you because you look like white supremacist jail bait or something. Stop posting about how you got drunk and vomited all over some guy's bed/dick because of unfortunately timed cocksucking. Stop drawing attention to yourself over the worst possible things at every opportunity.

Your new reputation as a slightly skanky and self destructive attention whore oblivious to your psychological issues is literally because of the things you have chosen to emphasize and because you're actively trying to draw attention to yourself. If you want to change these things and make everyone believe you're not a troll or a terrible poster, and that you've really become a different person, then please stop deliberately drawing attention, start making more mature posts that actually contribute to something outside of this site's hideous "forum culture", and for the love of all that is Good, learn to keep certain things to yourself.

Well I feel like I'm George McGovern in 1972 fighting up against the Nixon machine throwing everything its got to crush me, right down to the "Amnesty, Abortion, and Acid" implications because I admitted to drug problems and allegedly "degenerate" sexual behavior, both of which I described as personal flaws, not badges of honor.

I wrote a fairly long (not novel-length but substantial) introductory post discussing my graduation from college and my work in politics since then, including my job working as the writer for a local Democratic politician's office, my volunteering on 3 election campaigns last year which made me the busiest I've ever been in my life and sometimes really stressful knocking door-to-door in the freezing rain for a candidate I knew was doomed to lose anyway. Being out until 3 am all by myself sometimes re-leafleting a neighborhood me and a friend had spent all day leafleting only to come home and find our sleazy opponent had thrown out our leaflets and replaced them with their own, in some cases, lacking our our creativity in getting leaflets to squeeze into doorknows and handles, they threw out our campaign lit and then put their Republican campaign flyers into mailboxes, which is a federal crime. And all that work without being paid a dime.

I discussed my position on my local Democratic Party county committee and my elected position on the executive board of the Young Democrats chapter in my county, and I also participate in my borough's Democratic reform club which seeks to move the often moderate if not outright conservative Democratic Party here to the left.

I also mentioned some maps I had made which I hope to get around to sharing to get advice and commentary on.

I thought I made a compelling positive introduction distancing myself from the "Ron Paul Will Win 50 States!!!!!111" hack of four years ago in being able to provide objective insight into discussions about politics and elections based on experience and being somewhat 'in the know' when it comes to New York politics. Look at my contributions to the NY-11 special election thread in Congressional Elections section and compare to the "both candidates are NWO fascists!!!111" I would have posted four years ago.

I've been given zero credit for any progress I believe I have made by those who have already made up their minds that I am still a mega-HP at 24 just as I was as a radical "libertarian" anti-Semitic Catholic and self-hating homophobic closet-case at age 18.

I disagree that you've been given zero credit. You've certainly been given credit by those who made your return possible. If they believed there was no progress, we wouldn't be talking night now.

As of the others, yes, it can be frustrating. I myself can get annoyed when someone brings up silly stuff I said or did years ago, but I won't give them satisfaction, because seeing me upset by this is what they want. Some people are going to be negative "just because" and there's little point of being bothered with this.

Others are just sceptical but can change their mind. It's natural when someone gets unbanned (especially with notorious previous record, which you've acknowledged) there's scepticism. Just prove them wrong :)

I never made more than a grand total of one line referencing gay orgies in that same long introductory OP I just referenced earlier, and as mentioned it was listed among my flaws. And it was also edited out of that post within less than a half-hour when it became the subject of controversy that distracted away from everything else I said in that post, pretty much all of which was more important IMO. (And just a few hours later I nuked the whole post because people were accusing me of "attention seeking behavior").

The story about one of my crazy dating experiences that left me wondering what the hell had just happened was essentially my response to the question raised by that thread as to why I do not have a relationship. The oblique references to my sexual encounters with a fellow consenting adult were relevant to the story because I don't think there would have been a second date had he not ultimately blamed himself for triggering my vomiting.

It took weeks of therapy to try to process everything involving that individual.

But I really don't appreciate being called a "skank" and as a feminist find your attempts at slut-shaming behavior inappropriate. Posters like Lief appreciated my candor and encouraged me to continue the story so I did. I'm prone to stream-of-consciousness rambling when certain topics are triggered so that 'story' turned into a very long post, which nobody forced you to read if you didn't want to. Ultimately it was nothing but a crazy date story to highlight why I am weary of dating in NYC, nothing illegal was referenced; pedophilia was mentioned, but it was merely my own fear and speculation that the guy I was dating was a pedophile, despite being two years younger than I was.

I also don't appreciate being criticized over "psychological issues" and accused of not being aware of them; in that very story I referenced my therapists as well as the psychiatric medication I was/am on. So I don't appreciate the stigma you are putting upon people with psychological issues either.

I'm going to try to avoid negativity from now on, and if my true life stories provoke such controversy here, then I'll stop sharing them, but imagine how I felt actually living through this wild ride with a crazy person.

Contrary to this false impression created of me as some sort of "degenerate" hedonistic reincarnation of Oscar Wilde who should be on trial for buggery, I am a mostly shy and reserved boy who is seeking a loving long-term-relationship and I only end up depressed after mere sexual hookups- which this whole episode turned out to be. And I have clearly acknowledged I have psychological issues I am working through with multiple forms of therapy. I did not even want to have sexual activity of any sort with this guy on our first or second dates, but his "you want to make me happy, don't you?" line as he moved in close to me easily co-erced low-self-esteem me, especially in the altered (and vulnerable) mental state I was in.

As my therapist said, I have a hard time saying no- especially to someone who bought me dinner and drinks and paid me lots of compliments.

And the one time I did work up the courage to say "no" to a guy I met on Grindr led to physical and verbal abuse- and ultimately rape.

So it has not been all fun and games and pleasure for me.

So Marokai's latest post accusing me of "skanky" behavior and mocking me as having "psychological issues" I am not aware of I think warrants an apology.

I think Libby is worse than Christopher Costantini of the Kansas City Ballet, sock puppet and troll.  

So I made a poll about it in the match-ups board.

Thank you for advertising.

Libertas, you have to keep in mind that about half the forum is celibate-by-choice virgins with sexual mores that Victorians would attack as too prudish. That you're being attacked for posting a story about a past relationship in a thread about relationships is ridiculous of course, but unfortunately not surprising.

I'm all for giving banned posters a second chance, but I have serious doubts that Libertas' character (as opposed to his political views) has changed substantially. And his early posts certainly have done nothing to clear those doubts.

Sorry, but exactly what doubts do you have about my character? If this is about any of the sexual-related stuff that's really silly. My political views shifted because of internal changes within my character toward a belief in treating all human beings with love and kindness, and avoiding conflict between people when there can be resolution. That's why I now believe, under our current system of global capitalism, that we need a very strong welfare state and safety net because nobody should have to live in poverty and suffering. That's why income inequality has shot to the top of my list of this country's problems. That's why I oppose war with all my heart and favor peace and diplomacy to resolve conflict. My political views shifted because I matured in character. I believe in honesty, empathy, and mutual respect between all people. I avoid lying, cheating, stealing to the best of my abilities as a flawed human being and were I do to do any of those things I would feel extreme guilt. I don't rob or rape or kill people, not because it is against the law, but because I believe it is wrong.

So am I confused about people judging my character based on 4 days of posting here. If it's based on anything related to sexuality, then that's just silly. If anything I was being honest to a fault about my flaws as a human being when I brought those foibles up.

You may disagree with some things I've said, but I think you are really jumping the gun in claiming I have poor character.

Just stop whinging.

Why not tell the people incessantly whining about him to stop? Is he not allowed to defend himself against people attacking him? 

Seriously, I fail to see how making calm reasoned arguments to defend myself against attacks constitutes whining. Especially when someone is flatout accusing me of having bad character.

If there is anyone who is whining, it is my critics who won't be a willing to cede a centimetre of possibility that I might actually turn out to be a good poster when I've only been here four days, and a lot of that time has been wasted defending myself against people who decided I was a horrible poster on day 1.

There is not one person I've ever known in real life who would say I possess poor "character". 20RP12 might be right that some people might think me to be a bit weird, and clearly troubled due to lifelong struggles with depression and anxiety, but those same people would not dispute for a second that I am a generous, caring, genuine person with a commitment to social justice. If posters here would just put aside their biases maybe they would come to realize that I'm not evil incarnate.

Libertas the most sensible thing  to do now is to lock your intro thread, stop peeking into this one (and the rest of FC) and then start posting on the regular boards.

There really is no point in keeping this sh**tfest going.

Excessive hyperbole.

I like him.

No good, rotten HP.