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Whew...found her! So do you want us to sing Passion or do you want us to read books yeseterday?
posted by
Offy
on December 14, 2006 at 2:58 PM
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Muser,
you made a good point here, and I'm not going to add anything except to endorse that encouragement.
posted by
mneme
on December 14, 2006 at 2:43 PM
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Warning! Warning! Flee for your lives!!!
posted by
Passionflower
on December 14, 2006 at 2:34 PM
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LOL Offbeats...you're so damn dark now I thought
You wuz one of my African sistas...GEt you fatigues on and head for the Front Lines.
posted by
Passionflower
on December 14, 2006 at 2:23 PM
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Well, I sure picked a good week to be sick ...
Btw, for what's it worth, I knew Blanche was bi-polar.
I'm not sure that's really an excuse for the extreme mood swings, though.
Oh, wait.
"On sick leave."
posted by
Mademoiselle
on December 14, 2006 at 1:13 PM
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Corbin
I tried reasoning with Blanche for some time before this happened the other day. I think it is sad that we cannot get along even when we hold differing opinions. We are each responsible for our own reactions to life.
posted by
avant-garde
on December 14, 2006 at 12:51 PM
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Corbin, I'm usually the last to know what's going on around here...This
time I was curious and took it upon myself to find out. How sad I am that I did. I think Blanche needs our encouragement right now. At the same time, the consequences for breaking rules must be enforced. I know would NOT want to be the subject of discussion in a public forum regarding personal issues...maybe ALL of us here on BLOGIT need to be reminded of The Golden Rule. I know I did...
posted by
muser
on December 14, 2006 at 11:34 AM
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Passion
Do I have time to tan first?
posted by
Offy
on December 14, 2006 at 9:49 AM
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Passion
Does this mean we are issued our mustard code war gear?
posted by
Offy
on December 14, 2006 at 9:46 AM
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Hi Corbin...just came by to notify you that a NEW blog war
Is looming on the horizon....yes, I'm afraid it's true. This morning in THIS POST, Blackcat insults Satanists, Christians and Ice Skaters....I'm calling for a boycott of her post....{after you read it, that is...tee-hee}
posted by
Passionflower
on December 14, 2006 at 9:45 AM
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Corbin
I think your blogs are quite good.
Still cant agree with your political views....
posted by
NorthernYankee
on December 14, 2006 at 9:38 AM
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Corbin
I think its fair to say that you and I dont agree on much but I think you ve taken the right approach in appealing to the popular opinion. I hope you don't decide to give up on this blog site, the diversity of opinion is what makes it interesting as such, personal clashes are bound to arise. If there is no passion, there is no principle and therefore no debate. Have you ever seen a parliamentary debate? They are much worse than what I have seen on this site. Keep chugging along and dont acknowledge those who dont engage you on the same level; mutual respect should be our goal.
Im sorry if I have offended you but I think Ive kept my comments at the same level as those whom have decided to comment on my blogs.
Your point has been noted.
posted by
NorthernYankee
on December 14, 2006 at 9:31 AM
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...and one more thing, .Dave,
lest I be accused of 'bullying', I apologize for having suggested that your idea might be naive...
posted by
Nautikos
on December 14, 2006 at 7:27 AM
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Sorry .Dave,
I don't agree at all with your ideas about the need for 'monitoring' this site beyond the current level.
You say you have noticed too much 'bullying'? I can't say I have seen much of that at all, but then I'm not around a lot. More importantly, as far as I am concerned 'bullying' is a very nebulous concept - one person's 'bullying' is another person's 'banter'.
Whose criterai do we adopt? How do we adopt them? How do we apply them once adopted? Do we have monitors, as has been suggested in jest? Do we set up a 'tribunal'? And who monitors the monitors?
As far as I am concerned, we are all adults here and can take care of ourselves. I certainly can. And to expect that we can iron out each and every little wrinkle that disturbs us here in Blogit is, well, naive.
posted by
Nautikos
on December 14, 2006 at 7:11 AM
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So Corbin would the Blogit police
Assume the responsibilities of a homeroom monitor? I don't think they want that job..Both believe in freedom of speech~
posted by
Offy
on December 14, 2006 at 6:45 AM
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Fortunately......
I have a life to live and a business to operate....so I can't sit at my monitor and keep up with comments in real time......so have at it and when I get the chance I will check things out.......I'm off to work.....
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 14, 2006 at 6:41 AM
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There you go putting words in people mouths......first of all we are all very different individuals...what is normal to you, would certainly be quite different from what is normal to me.......But, I must say, I had no idea we were going to have to specifically define each and every word on this subject....
Don't take this the wrong way, Dave....but being from England....you are accustomed to having a camera on every pole, much more control over your daily life. I'm not accustomed to that yet. So hall monitors kind of causes a rash, so to speak.
If you think Blogit is making enough money off of this site to be able to "police" all of the data going through here.....I've got a perpetual motion machine, I'd like to sell you.
So what would be the next option? Voluntary administrators? Ahh....now, theres a slippery slope........would those admins also be blogging? See where we're headed here?
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 14, 2006 at 6:35 AM
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So Corbin, the 'normal' you want back is the same 'normal' we've had. That's where we disagree. More monitoring - I'd call it caring for individual members of this society - must take place by us as individuals and Blogit as our adminstrator. Otherwise there'll be more victimisation pretty soon.
So, to answer your question more monitoring would help us to have a more comfortable society where victimisation cannot build up to the extent it has done in this case.
posted by
_dave_says_ack_
on December 14, 2006 at 6:25 AM
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Taps........
Thanks for stopping by.......for the record......officially, I am not bipolar. I have never said I was. Now as to ornery......that's an entirely different subject.....
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 14, 2006 at 6:13 AM
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There's a whole lot of demonizin' goin on.........
Who is trying to demonize whom?
Dave......please, post about whatever you would like. It's your blog! You pay for it........That's something I always wished she could have learned to accept......
If you want to talk about the future of Blogit....go for it........
But that doesn't mean others have to read it.....and that doesn't mean others have to comment on it.....
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 14, 2006 at 6:07 AM
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Corbin, I didn't realize she had a fiction blog that dealt with her issues.
I didn't know she was even bi-polar until after all this went down. I didn't read her much after the abuse she put me and several others through earlier this year. I just knew something must be wrong, so I did what I normally do when someone comes after me with outbursts, I stay away from them.
posted by
Ariala
on December 14, 2006 at 5:59 AM
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Dave....
Yep.....I've been reading posts with with a lot of misinformation...they have also have contained subtle threats toward bloggers here.....sort of a ..."You'd better watch your step in the future" "You're being monitored" type of thing......
How is that helping things here on blogit?
And you seem to have a problem with taking people words on things they say.....let me explain something to you...I don't give a rat's ass as to whether you take my word or not....so don't assign that level of importance to your statements.
I just found out from a comment this morning about that she had a fiction post that was actually a journal dealing with her problem.....
Who claimed any know of or lack there of of e-mail to or from Blanche......I haven't heard any of the bloggers you are assigning the new role of culprit to mention that they had been warned about her problems.
No one sent me an e-mail...."Hey, Corbin, Blanche is bipolar and might be having a meltdown, take that into consideration."
As to your last comment............that's something I'm sure everyone here on Blogit is really looking forward to........
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 14, 2006 at 5:44 AM
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You've been reading posts that deal in misinformation perhaps. You've either not read me, or not read me carefully. Perhaps you have read me and are misinterpreting it. Either accidentally or on purpose.
Let me be clear about my position:
I do not blame those who got hurt at the weekend. Are you saying this to demonize Blanche's supporters. What Blanche did was wrong and she got the right punishment from Blogit. I don't dispute that. The blame is not for what happened at the weekend, but for what didn't happen in the long months of lead up to this. Namely, us as a community not standing up to bullying and Blogit as our administrators not taking control of bullying behaviour.
Many got hurt at the weekend, but don't put the innocents and those trying to help into the same bracket as the small knot of bullies who gloried in it all.
The weekend is not the issue now. That happened and was dealt with.
But what kind of 'normal' do you personally want to go back to? The 'normal' that got us to this point. I'm not going back to that kind of 'normal'.
You didn't know about her illness. Well, we'll have to take your word for that. Others did and knowing this they taunted her in a multiplicity of ways. For months, not just at the weekend.
Also, what knowledge can you possibly claim of any help to Blanche or others abused that was given privately in email. You seem to be saying there can't have been any helpers. What a crass assumption.
On your final point I've got a lot more to say about where we go from here. I won't be writing about anything else for the near future.
posted by
_dave_says_ack_
on December 14, 2006 at 5:19 AM
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Corbin
To add my two cents worth to this debate, let me first of all say that I feel very sorry for Blanche. I had an inkling of her previous problems - how could I not, she referred to them occasionally, but I didn't know details, and didn't want to know any.
As you know, I do not 'socialize' here as much as others do, for my own reasons, but in her case I bent my rules a bit. Then I began to notice something unmistakeably irrational creeping into her posts and especially her comments. And when she attacked me, essentially without provocation, as well as you through me, I realized that she was on a downward slide, and completely stopped dealing with her. And I only found out later, after the fact, as it were, how she had behaved on other peoples' blogs.
In the 'real' world I would have wanted to sit down with her, and would have tried to find a way to help her. But this is not the real world, and we should not delude ourselves into believing that it is, and that we can do more for one another than is really possible...
I have been thinking of Blanche these last few days. She is a warm-hearted, talented lady, and I had certainly hoped that she had overcome all her demons. It is very sad that they have returned...
posted by
Nautikos
on December 14, 2006 at 5:14 AM
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I haven't posted about this until now
and there will be no further post from me on it.....I'm tired of it.
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 14, 2006 at 5:13 AM
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Not to be obvious, but if we want to help the issue die...
Then we all have to stop writing about it in any way. I understand Dave's loyalty, but we can only control ourselves. Dave1Spirit's comment about a bipolar person not being able to come to a place of heated discussion is out of touch. Ted Turner, the owner and founder of CNN, is bipolar. As are many powerful and successful people. Believe me, I don't in anyway condone what happened, or what she said to people, and I believe she needed to at least step away from here and take care of herself... it's too bad it had to happen like it did... but many of have some personal responsibility here. Many of us said harsh things, and I'm sure many of us would change things said and done. She may have been at the point where she truly believed she was right, it's part of a manic phase some people experience called delusions of grandeur. All of you have valid points, and she is suffering in a way that she was too disruptive to be here and it was right that she go now. In the healing process for mental illness it's important to follow rules. I've worked as a mental health care provider and if one of the people I was working with was speaking like that they would be removed from that environment until they could function with the others civilly. I'd like to think we could just wish her well and let it alone.
posted by
Temple
on December 14, 2006 at 3:47 AM
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Corbin_Dallas
I don't know why some people assume that everyone reads every post and knows what is written. There are so many people to read that I seldom ever read out of more than one blog per person, and thats not every day. In order to have known what we now find we were expected to know about Blanche we would have each had to been reading all six or so of her blog posts every day. I didn't even know until this morning that she had a fiction blog that is not fiction but is her history of her mental problems. It is way at the bottom of her list of blogs. As much as I try to read people, I never seem to know what is going on with whom. I had no idea of the war going on between Blanche and other members until she suddenly became focused on me. I don't ever remember reading anywhere that Blanche said, "I am bipolar". I don't ever remember any other blogger saying, "Blanche is bipolar". Now it seems that we were supposed to know and to respond to her abuse as if we had read everything she wrote and knew what was going on. P.S. I know nothing about you. Are you by any chance bipolar? I think that we should all fess up so that we will know when to excuse bad behavior because there is no control.
posted by
TAPS.
on December 14, 2006 at 12:57 AM
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Maybe people keep blogging about this because it was traumatic and shocking, and nobody fully appreciated what had happened until it was over. When something like this happens in "real life", people are offered counselingt
posted by
babe_rocks
on December 13, 2006 at 9:41 PM
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I just tried to encourage her to be upbeat and positive...
To focus on what was good and right in her life...instead of the dark things. I'm not the sort of person who would have gone to her and said, "Hey you're being a little too harsh on BC and Ariala."
With Blanche, that sort of tactic wouldn't have worked anyway. Who knows why certain people don't like and/or can't get along with certain other people? It's one of those things we'll never understand.
I do know that neither Blackcat nor Ariala have ever been hateful or mean toward anyone...it's just not their nature....me? That's a different story....I'm an "IN your face" sort of person who doesn't mind telling you that you're an asshole if indeed you ARE one.
posted by
Passionflower
on December 13, 2006 at 9:01 PM
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Fair enough Corbin
I suppose I feel a bit guilty about it all because in much of it, I was completely oblivious to how bad it was....and yes there is a part of me that still feels I should have known how to make it stop.
posted by
bel_1965
on December 13, 2006 at 7:57 PM
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Bel....
You and I have had enough conversations to know that I wasn't casting aspersions your way.....your hearts was breaking as you watched what was happening......
I read a lot of the late night gatherings here because I get up early and that makes it real early on the Left coast...and in some of those little gatherings there were many encouraging her activities......it's really aggravating to be lectured by someone who knew what was going on and admitted not doing anything about it.......
This whole thing is like walking out on a small frozen pond (no pun intended) and watching the ice starting to crack....it runs helter-skelter in many directions. But it never would have happened without that first step......
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 13, 2006 at 7:53 PM
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Corbin
My friend .. I saw the patience you showed toward her remarks in your blogs and often wondered if you were getting tired of biting your tongue Its good to know that you were aware that I tried to help and like we both said whats done is done and can't be undone and there is no usefulness in dragging this unfortunate episode out any further. All things happen for a reason and there are lessons to be learned. Take care!
posted by
BrightIrish
on December 13, 2006 at 7:37 PM
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Corbin
I didn't know exactly what the diagnosis was but I knew there was history. Yes, on many levels I whistled in the wind but to be honest, I also didn't spend much time following the dispute when it first started because I thought it had become a political battle and we know that politics get ugly around here. I was more than a little slow catching on because I didn't get myself involved in blogit battle #2354789 or whatever it was, I have seen them come and go and assumed this would be like many others. I had been aware of Blanche's issues because I have read her pretty regular and I think many, like myself forget sometimes that just because I knew it didn't means others did.
We can play the blame game forever but for me here is what it is in hindsight:
I suspect Blanche either went off her medication or as this stuff often does, it just quits working as it should. There was a real live human being in her life that to my knowledge was/is a member here and I foolishly thought he might step up and make an effort to help her. I tend to expect things out of others that I expect in my own life and I am still stunned that person didn't seem to be making any attempt to do something.
I know from personal experience when one gets in the way of a train wreck you end up injured; I had no desire to be injured. It's hard to see things sometimes even in a small community due to life going on. Until today I was completely unaware of some of the threats that had been made etc...
There is enough blame to go around or we can simply take the time to heal, recover and move on or we can let this eat us all up.
posted by
bel_1965
on December 13, 2006 at 7:29 PM
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Irish
I blocked her early on....but it only keep my site clean....the comments and name calling continued...this went on for a lot longer than the last weekend. I know you were trying to make a difference...you were one of those I was talking about.....but so many more enjoyed the battle. It got to the point that at the end of November....I decided to avoid much political commentary....and just maintaining my blog with Christmas news bites......
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 13, 2006 at 7:18 PM
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Corbin
Hi .. Speaking for myself .. I was really upset to see the vulgar remarks that Blanche was hurling towards other Bloggers and at the same time I knew she was irrational and in need of help. I honestly believed that everyone who stood on the receiving end of her wrath were also aware of her illness. I did try to tell her what she was doing and how offensive she was being but I know from life experience that when a bipolar person reaches the depths of despair that she had reached then they feel persecuted and would not listen to God himself if He choose to lead them in the right direction. I did suggest early on that everyone block her and let this ride out because she probably would have sought help without the feedback but nobody came to read my suggestion until it was to late. I do hope this passes soon and without more Blogit battles because if anyone else besides Blanche is to blame then they know it in their heart and no amount of fingerpointing or arguing is going to make one bit of difference toward what has already happened and will only cause more discourse in our Blogit community.
posted by
BrightIrish
on December 13, 2006 at 7:10 PM
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Corbin
I am sorry for her. But I am just as sorry for those who were insulted, cussed and absolutely offended. There is no excuse for that sort of language on this or any other medium. There are others on here who are plain evil but they don't come at people the way she did. It would have been me but I stayed away this time. I tried to make senses to her with such posts as your career does not make you a control freak when she was on to TAPS, and I said some other things in posts I knew she was reading. I was attempting to talk her down but it was too volital by then. We have had two or three on here since I came like that. I had come under it before and it hurts. It is uncalled for! Her boyfriend has no such malady and he is so offensive it is terrible, who says much about him? I blocked him a long time ago.
posted by
Justi
on December 13, 2006 at 6:44 PM
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One would assume that there would be some sort of contact. ...
if such a report had ever been done. But the "report" was just part of her final delusion.......I doubt if she could have put it together at the end. But why does it matter......what's done is done.....
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 13, 2006 at 6:36 PM
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kingmi
Good point...I sure haven't...
posted by
Offy
on December 13, 2006 at 6:35 PM
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CD, Has anyone else heard from the blgoti staff as sanctioned, suspended or
something due to her report?
posted by
kingmi
on December 13, 2006 at 6:28 PM
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In spite of everything.....
it's a pretty nice place.....we're 10 times more likely to remember bad things than good things.......we just have to work harder at it......and yes....this will blow over......I just hope we can minimize the bumps until then...
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 13, 2006 at 6:13 PM
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No, we need 85 degree temperatures here in Michigan
I for one would be so shocked (and thrilled) that blogit would cease to exist in my life.
Until it got too cold outside once again. 
posted by
David1Spirit
on December 13, 2006 at 6:06 PM
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We need a nice big snowstorm......t
to distract us perhaps....
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 13, 2006 at 6:03 PM
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well, everyone keeps saying how "..we have to let it go....."
And yet I see post after post, and comment after comment going on and on about the issue.
Like I said earlier, soon it will all blow over. How soon is up to us I guess!
posted by
David1Spirit
on December 13, 2006 at 6:01 PM
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CD
I am really hoping this goes away real soon...but you are right to ask the question..where were they when things were snow balling out of control....
posted by
Offy
on December 13, 2006 at 6:00 PM
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David........
I hope you are right.......but I'm afraid that it going to continue.....All of us have to be willing to let it go......this will be my one and only post on this, the last time I ignored and acted like nothing was happening.....this time I had to say my piece......it's not worth any additional blogs........
I hope we gain the wisdom and strength to move past this sad episode.........
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 13, 2006 at 5:58 PM
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This is the most important of all issues, Corbin.
What does a new person think. ., one who comes visiting Blogit for the first time??
posted by
Joe_Love
on December 13, 2006 at 5:54 PM
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It needs to end.....look at the potential for driving people away and keeing new people from joining.....
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on December 13, 2006 at 5:52 PM
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I didn't know she was bipolar either; still it's no excuse for her actions
If I am an alcoholic I shouldn't allow myself to drink and then get behind the wheel.
If I am bipolar I shouldn't allow myself to come to a place of discussion (something heated discussion) and throw out the kinds of comments that she did.
But, in a few days this will all blow over; and life will go on. That's the way it works!
posted by
David1Spirit
on December 13, 2006 at 5:52 PM
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I wrote a post earlier publicly asking Dave NOT to do this.
It serves no purpose for him to continue this. And yet he's promised another post tomorrow.
posted by
Passionflower
on December 13, 2006 at 5:51 PM
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