GNN: GATHER DECIDERS COMMIT GENOCIDE

I mourn them. To me, they were the voice of--well, the Subaheim-Wurbizers. They had cattitude. I don't say that of many staff.

David, plagiarists are the ultimate in non-disagreeable voices...they agree with every word. They sign their name to the agreement!

was it my pickle quip?
Or the riding crop?

David, if the guy on the end is not Native American, then you have insulted the American icon in your rainbow Icon.

My guess is that some of those stinky lower-middles must have complained again.

DR, please post this to Save the Subaheim-Wurbizers I'll feature it.

Sorrry, you already did. I'll still feature it.

Great stuff!!

I did, Kappy. You'll find it buried up there in that treasure chest of groups.

I missed something (again, damn it!) it couldn't have been anything worse than some of the **** I've seen on gather.

I read once that the best graffiti is produced near the centers of higher education/learning where the smartest intellects can steep and stew and bubble over in -- creative humor.

It appears that when this natural process occurs here -- that is, when someone of creative and intellectual nature is moved to create the Subaheim-Wurbizers or any other such satire -- the reaction is to turn off the burner, dump all the contents, and scrub the pot clean. We starve.

I shall lay down my life for the cause of resuscitating the Subaheim-Wurbizers! I shall!

Dang it - I knew I was crossing the line when I suggested Kennedy dose her mom & aunt with Oxycodone.

Seriously though, WHY????? What possible reason could Gather have to stifle such creativity? People were participating like crazy!! One would think that Gather would appreciate, even encourage, active participation.

I must now go dig out my black outfits & cover all my mirrors. RIP dysfunctional Swabians. :-(

Ruth, it's sad but not surprising to see that the Deciders of Gather haven't learned a single thing from their past mistakes. It's almost as though true creativity is a threat to the profitability of this place--it might get people thinking about how much crap is actually here.

Perhaps it's time to repost this.

Couldn't they see how many people were drawn to articles that included their damn ads? Isn't that what they want? I want to know exactly which TOS they violated. I doubt any of the PTB have the courage to step up to the plate and answer on one of these threads. And I mean ANSWER without any of the damn double speak.

DR, you've got a way with words. Those Swabians were a laff riot. Like my grandma used to say, "goyischer kopf."

That applies to the people who purged the accounts too.

Ina, I believe they played the "we can close your account for any reason" card.

Dame Ruth, I concur, this was truely an experimental art form being tried on gather, and it was, in my opinion, wonderfully successful!

And a point for you my dear

Okay, I must have missed something. Be yourself 'cause it doesn't really matter who knows. Thanks

"I doubt any of the PTB have the courage to step up to the plate and answer on one of these threads. And I mean ANSWER without any of the damn double speak."

I recall way, way back hearing that the PTB had a discussion about one of J5K's satires of one of KEO's histrionic articles and let it stay, recognizing that it was satire. I think they cared more back then though.

Anti-Swabian animus is still a socially acceptable form of discrimination. I knew that when I took on this creative challenge, but I went ahead with it anyway...perhaps to expose that discrimination. I guess society is just not ready to have that mirror held up to its face. Shame on you, Gather.

Heil Gerace!

HEIL GERACE!

My Dad used to play a Wurlitzer, but we don't have any Swabian in us, that I know of. Thank god or I might have gotten hacked. Why doesn't anyone ever wake me up when the fun stuff happens around here?

Heil Shrub, and his lowly henchmen on internet patrol.

Shouldn't there be a link to this article in the recently published "What's Happening TODAY on Gather!" love-fest?

ooooh....
shouldn't there be links to ALL of them?

If you enjoyed the Subaheim-Wurbizers, stuff the PTB's mailboxes with these articles of support, and tell them that you don't like what they've done. All you have to do is hit "e-mail this article" and send it to abuse@gather.com, feedback@gather.com, & support@gather.com.

The question that must be answered is WHY?

My guess is that the people who "don't get" humor, the ones who can't play the popular alphabet games without a cheat sheet, those who think this site is for comparing illnesses, those who were offended by original comments with more than ten words, and possibly a few people who were upset by the absence of flashing pictures and shooting guns in the comment threads, complained.

Surely you people are aware that there's a part in the TOS written in ink that's invisible to mere mortals' eyes but visible to those of Real Paid Lawyers. That section says "anything that may be trouble, regardless of any other policy, will be erased immediately."

Copying T.S. Eliot's poems: LTP (Low Trouble Potential)
Some idiot not getting the joke and calling the FBI about the Tibetan nanny with the Persian name or Children's Services about the child endangerment: HTP (Hight Trouble Potential)

There's a very simple answer to why, Sandy--it's the same answer that always applies in these cases--because they can.

Well, I missed the articles and alters that are now gone, but I still want to offer my support to the cause. I see too many people I respect and enjoy upset by this, and I have no doubt that I would feel the same had I been connected and involved.

david,
as Freud supposedly said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
I was making a humorous point. In the iconic photo the man on the end is Ira Hayes. A Pima Indian, who once again was lied to by the white man. But he didn't hesitate to give his all in a time of need. Hence my tongue in cheek at the parady your icon makes.
I didn't see the movie. But befoe 'flag of our fathers' was a book, I did an article here on gather about Joe Rosenthal who took that photo and what it meant to him.

thanks for sharing.

(are we still allowed to say anything else?)

I don't like this article. Please excuse my impersonal comment but I don't have time to read and leave an honest thought. Since I dislike more than I like, I leave this comment with an apology if your article is really good.

What TOS, exactly, did any of them appear to violate? Is "making the stupid feel stupider" now a violation? I hope not, since it's one of my life goals. "Having too much fun," maybe? "Failure to play enough games"? I realize my friends and I are above the recommended IQ for the site, but this is insulting.

One of those tic-tac-toe chickens could run this site with more consistency.

Is "making the stupid feel stupider" now a violation?

Is this even possible when dealing with adults who name birthday party decorations for entertainment?

Candles!

Streamers!

Not familiar with the material being discussed, but have gotten the impression it may have been a group fictional work If so it was more creative than most but just another Gather game and should have been identified as both a game and a work of fiction. If this was done I do not see why it should have been deleted providing the material was not plagiarized.

As for the Subaheim-Wurbizer clan some of them still seem to be posting on Gather which raises the question of whether or not they have really been wiped out.

Just passing through.

Heil Gerace! Or should I say, Say Goodnight Gerace!

Dame of My Dame:

Your BFF, FF, has been so tied up with closing the case that I missed the entire noble Subaheim-Worbizer clan and all they graciously posted. Damn, Dame. I hate missing out on special stuff.

Is there a place where I might read furtive re-posts, even at mysterious, non-Gather places?

I support the cause. I just want as many of the facts as I can knock back.

Damn, I missed it all. Sounds funny as hell.

You guys are just a bunch of rabble rousers.....

Keep it up! Maybe good natured fun like this will sink in.....

We can always hope, eh?

:-)

Btw, there is supposed to be an article posted today to address this....whatever it says.....

Through my tussles in the past, I have found that there are some good Gather Admin folks, and some not-so good Gather admin folks. Often, the good ones have to clean up after the bad ones (aka: immature control freaks, with egos bigger than the building....sometimes doing the bidding of those-who-shall-not-be-named, and thus emboldened to do stupid things. I affectionately call them: "The Young and the Ruthless" ;-)

Soooo, whilst this never-ending struggle of good vs. evil plays itself out on Gather, and the place sinks as a result of the not-so-honorable having too much power in the past; its important to not take out our frustrations on those who try to mediate. Now the whole good cop/bad cop strategy has been used too.....so its often hard to discern real sincerity from fake stuff.

Once we get a clear, and rational mission statement from Gather owners...then, we will know what to believe and support. If we, and the admin staff, have that clear (non-conflicted) mission statement; then all will know what behaviors are appropriate and which ones are not. It is this internal conflict that we all suffer under....hence all th e confusion.

Just a few thoughts...

:-)

BFF,FF: Check out "Exiled to Swaberia" and "Save the Subaheim-Wurbizers" groups. You can click on them in the list above. As a fellow New Yorker, you should certainly become involved in this calamitous occurrence.
The loss of this family at the hands of a genocidal, power-mad leader is beyond deplorable. IMPEACH GERACE!

I don't really think its Tom. I think Tom is the fall guy for someone else. When you sell off a part of your company for bigger investment, they often take over control.....prostituting your good rep and name in the process. I think Sam Walton is rolling over in his grave when he hears how much Wal mart buys from China. I know the guy who founded Kentucky Fried chicken openly protested the lowered quality/standards of the food there after he sold out.

Tom could be a nice guy......

Has anyone else's Subaheim-Wurbizer articles been flagged for "Hate Speech" or is it just me (and my stalker, presumably)?

Patrick: He may indeed be a "nice guy", but he is the ultimate Decider. There are those who think the MIC is a nice guy, too...that doesn't excuse execrable behavior on either of their parts.

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

Patrick, thank you for the best laugh of the day: "Once we get a clear, and rational mission statement from Gather owners.." Wanna guess how long we've asked for this, or how many have asked?

I also defended Tom, for over a year, saying that he had given us the tools with which to build this site (ratings and comments) and that we were guilty of the direction the site was taking by not using them well. And then I went the direction you have on this thread - poor Tom's the fall guy for the investors.

I am not so generous now that poor Tom allowed the hit list group to crucify me and others who tried to protect what we believed was his vision, with not a single response to the many communications I sent him.

Dame Ruth, this one has made it to #3 Most Read, so there is some impact that will need to be addressed to the community at large if thinks are not handled well.

I agree with you ladies, don't get me wrong. I just know that in many cases there isn't an "ultimate decider;" much as we would like that concept to be true, and despite what some would lead us to believe.

It feels like things are being 'Run' by a committee that can't agree on things (hence no mission statement, etc) A group of people with conflicting priorities/values; and each with minons that do their bidding.

Also, VP's are usually less helpful that toilet paper.....but cost a whole bunch more; salary, and ego wise. In technical military terms, its referred to as a Cluster F*k. Until someone rises up as a leader, and has the support to see things done right (plus has values that promote teamwork and cooperation vs. infighting and contention) things typically follow this apparently bizarre course. My first career was in business mgt (degree from Univ of Michigan Business School....an undergrad version of Harvard B school, case studies galore. ) This is a classic scenario....many papers and books written on the topic. Look at Apple, Inc....how Steve Jobs came and went....and came back. Most founders with the vision end up going, and the whores come in to prostitute the concept/goodwill....pumping out as much $$ as they can, and neglecting the very values that built the business. Subway Sandwich Co. flourished, because underpaid and disgruntled employees put tons of meat on the sandwiches to get back at managment. Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream struggled, and the founders prevailed....thus their continued success. When you corporate-ize a business you often lose its soul. In this case, the public image of a soul could have been just that. By making that perception a reality, aka being clear and sincere for real, they can regain positive growth and flourish. Lacking that? Not so pretty.

The interesting thing is that there are so many of us that still hold out for that which we were, apparently, misled was here. So, again I repeat for the one thousand and tenth time: "move fast, folks, before all is lost. Because it gets worse and worse, and pretty soon us 'pain in the asses' will give up too. Then, it will be a dark day for Gather.

There is a mission statement, Sandy, they just don't want to share it. In which case, it probably needs a huge overhaul. Otherwise employees and 'customers' (aka us and the advertisers) will be in continual conflict, and nothing will get done. If you gotta hide it, its not so nice.....or 'acceptable' to the people you propose to use. By not using folks, and having them team up with your efforts, miracles happen. Thats how I built a business from the ground up, to 65 employees and millions in sales.

We succeed because people want us to, and help us on the way. No one can do it alone. So teamwork is critical. Ask any football coach, or TQM expert (my other career: Phd thesis in Total Quality Managment in Information Systems Design/Implementation ;-)
Deming and Mc Arthur rebuilt Japan on TQM after WWII.

So, all that said.....Gather has great opportunities...so long as they remember it is based upon people; not mis-use and mis-direction of people..

justa few (more;-) thoughts......

:-)

Is it just me, or is it starting to smell a little bushy in here?

It has been for a long, long time.

Why? Well, because they own the place, and that's about all the reason that's needed. UGH.

Dame Ruth - Thanks for commenting on my article about comments and the heads up about the comments group. I tried to be as redundant as possible in that first sentence for the sake of clarity.

Clearly, your reply indicated that you get the BEST comments, with the possible exception of the Frog but then he only left one comment. A good one but only one. I'll bet he has some others that are stellar as well.

I am starting to think that I agree.