Mods: Please remove jfb

He's been a member for almost 15 years.  He's not inserting new posts into archived threads, he's editing (deleting) his old posts.  Candidacy ambitions?  Moral epiphany?

Mr. Magoo wrote:

He's been a member for almost 15 years.  He's not inserting new posts into archived threads, he's editing (deleting) his old posts.  Candidacy ambitions?  Moral epiphany?

That was my conclusion as well. Good to hear from you again.

Mr. Magoo wrote:

Candidacy ambitions?

Could they be Christia Freeland? Mark Carney?

MegB wrote:

Mr. Magoo wrote:

He's been a member for almost 15 years.  He's not inserting new posts into archived threads, he's editing (deleting) his old posts.  Candidacy ambitions?  Moral epiphany?

Nice to see you Magoo. She is looking at candidacy and doesn't want anything posted here to bite her in the ass while campaigning. I changed her name and she's deleting posts. Certainly not the first person to be concerned about what they posted here.

Oh, that makes a certain amount of sense, I guess. Still seems a bit strange to suddenly be so concerned about that now. She's been successfully running for public office since even before she started posting on babble, apparently. I get that provincial and federal politics are a different kettle of fish, and that there's potentially more scrutiny on one's past statements. But still, having run in the most recent federal election, as well as the past two provincial elections, one would think the other parties would've already found anything that could've been remotely useful as oppo.

I was okay with this person doing this to the board but not over an extended period. How many days in a row are their personal needs going to get to supersede posters right to not have thread after thread lighting up as active. I use the Active forum function continuously so get it over with and stop already.

The funny thing is that she's not someone I would characterize as prone to saying anything remotely inflammatory or controversial. I can't remember her ever saying anything that deviated from the standard NDP party line. If she's deleting everything she's ever posted, she's surely deleting a good number of posts ardently supporting Andrea Horwath and the ONDP braintrust - under whose banner she plans to run in 2022.

Imagine if you ran for Parliament NDPP, and your identity was revealed.

Your opponents wd have a field day with your preo-Putin posts.. 

I love our true blue believers in democracy. Clearly the people on all sides of the political spectrum want to advertise themselves as morally superior so they try to scrub themselves clean of any non-mainstream stench. Status quo oh status quo how good you are to those that have. In Canada you cannot get elected unless you promise to take care of the middle class and that you will not upset the apple cart for our ruling elites. Democracy in action.

You mean posting here on babble isn't a stepping stone to high office?!?

I'm banning Magoo for his own good in case he decides to run for anything, like you know, reviving the Rhino party or something.   Also because it's been proven to be fun.

MegB wrote:

She is looking at candidacy and doesn't want anything posted here to bite her in the ass while campaigning. I changed her name and she's deleting posts. Certainly not the first person to be concerned about what they posted here.

So if someone was running for either the Conservatives, Liberals or even the People’s Party of Canada, would the same standard be applied and their posts would be removed for them too?

This is an intentional double post since it belongs in this thread more than the one I first posted in.

I think that erasing your past is a sign of weak character. Now if some of the statements were intemperate then one might consider removing them but I think the smarter thing to do is hope they fly under the radar and be prepared to own them if they emerge. If you are clear and straight forward on the current issues then an intemperate post will not kill you it might only show that you are human and not a political bot. If you have posted hate speech or other types of racism then it will kill you but I presume this person has done nothing that reprehensible. However if a journalist finds out about this attempt to delete almost fifteen years of political thoughts that in itself is a real issue that voters will find fascinating. The insidiously harmful part to a political career comes when people, instead of reading what you posted, speculate on what you deleted.

Wow, someone even changed her name in forums that are locked out. 

Rahim Jaffer arrested for drunk driving, cocaine posession | Page 2 | rabble.ca

the whole thing stinks.

the futility and ham-fistedness of attempting to erase your postings on a public forum of your peers; the short sightedness and lack of resolve to not be able to stand behind what your post; and mostly, how this cheapens babble.

honest thread etiquette 101 states that one edits a post for clarity; changes to the content (ie, removing language you've thought better of) are noted and explained.

this is not that.

NDPP wrote:

Good points. Perhaps this Orwellian removal process should be halted and the deletions restored? Especially if the censor intends to stand as a political candidate. Should rabble/babble ethically be collaborating in such a profoundly undemocratic exercise?

Rabble/Babble seems highly supportive of this shameful and undemocratic exercise.

That is an amusing, if predictable, takeaway. You weren't aware of this? It has been pointed out enough. 

Never mind that no one uses this site to bang the drum more than you NDPP, it is kind of funny to see you insisting on "democracy" when it suits your purposes.

If you don't like it you can always take your principles and find another vehicle. But we all know you aren't going anywhere, as much as you like to badmouth it when you see an angle.

NDPP wrote:

Death to dot jfb!

Really?

Well that's a classy comeback, but I don't think anyone depends on their good graces more than you.

If things are really so undemocratic, rather than demanding the banning of other posters why don't you do like others have and just go elsewhere?

You won't, because you have a good thing going here, as much as you like to put on a show.

Webgear wrote:

NDPP wrote:

Good points. Perhaps this Orwellian removal process should be halted and the deletions restored? Especially if the censor intends to stand as a political candidate. Should rabble/babble ethically be collaborating in such a profoundly undemocratic exercise?

Rabble/Babble seems highly supportive of this shameful and undemocratic exercise.

i agree, the deletions should be be restored.

also, i think a letter of explanation from jfb (and babble) might mend some fences.

it could be considered a mini-test of actually being in public office - say, you've been acting weirdly and annoyingly, people find out, ya gotta go face the press. do you have what it takes? can you turn the crowd, sign up a few volunteers? go.

eastnoireast wrote:

it could be considered a mini-test of actually being in public office - say, you've been acting weirdly and annoyingly, people find out, ya gotta go face the press. do you have what it takes? can you turn the crowd, sign up a few volunteers? go.

Hahah. That seems like a throwback to when elected representatives were human beings and not polished social media accounts.

This made me curious what was being scrubbed and going back and looking at it, hard to see what they were worried about. Pretty boring stuff. Wish they would have just deleted things they thought could come back at them. The way they have gone about this shows both a lack of critical judgement and no consideration for others. Hopefully, they finish soon.

I reluctantly side with jfb here. While it's ridiculous, due to the "gotcha" way that politics is played these days it seems it's no longer possible to succeed as a candidate - at least on the left* - unless you've never previously expressed a remotely controversial opinion on anything. Which is deeply ironic considering that the way people typically find their way to left wing politics is through a process of exploring ideas that challenge those who are powerful and established, a surefire way to court controversy. Nonetheless, I've seen it happen to friends of mine and it was really rough for them.

Given the circumstances, it also makes sense to me - if you're so inclined - to wipe everything rather than trying to guess at what will eventually get twisted and turned against you. It also helps deflect an attack, if one of your old comments surfaces anyways, that you were "trying to hide something" by deleting mildly controversial comment a while not deleting mildly controversial comment b. You simply delete everything. I assume, though, there is no easier way for jfb to do this than to individually delete all of their posts? I, for one, would welcome a "wipe my complete internet history" button even though I have no current plans to run for office, because things I thought and said when I was young and less well informed simply don't always reflect what I think or who I am now. But so be it.

*Note the situation is apparently quite different on the right because being obnoxious and offending people is apparently now considered a core conservative value. I certainly do not consider this better than what we are doing on the left, because at least on the left we are trying to be sensitive to different people's needs and vulnerabilities. But I do think we've gone too far and that is typically what gets weaponized against us by people who were never sympathetic to our aims anyways.