I'm just furious with people who have contributed much, much less to the forum than he did pissing on him now that he's gone. — T Clark

I hear you, but, despite his contributions, he seemed to have burnt a number of bridges along the way, and you have to expect those affected to voice those experiences as well. This thread won't always be limited to eulogies.

I think it's fair to say that almost no one would object to this decision if Streetlight wasn't a great contributor in other ways. But we don't give out licences to break the rules to anyone. — Baden

This brings up a more general moral principle.. How much leeway does one give those who possess a lot of information about X?

For example, from what I've read, Albert Einstein was a pretty nice dude. Clearly, his immense amount of knowledge and expertise advanced our whole understanding of physics how the universe works. What happens if instead of being a nice guy, he was an immense douche to everyone who disagreed with him? My guess is his contribution to the field of knowledge in general would give him a pass.

But contributing some academic-minded posts to an internet philosophy forum and being a douche to anyone that disagrees with you? Probably not so deserving of a pass.

But even more to the point, having proprietary knowledge in and of itself should not give you a pass to do what you want.

One more point.. in a philosophy debate setting like a philosophy forum, it is not enough just to be well-read, but to also be able to interact with the minimal guidelines of decorum, as it completely dissolves the spirit of philosophical inquiry if you aggressively dismiss the interlocutor and never actually engage in the debate itself.

I am sorry you felt intimidated. — Tobias

Ok see this is a good example. If you really felt that way you wouldn't have had to come up with a way to not-so-slyly call anyone who thinks the world, let alone intelligent debate, is better off without filth (not calling anyone filth just speaking about conduct and mindset) chickenshit.

Some people just don't like garbage, dude. That's not towards anyone, at all- other than behaviors. A simple "I disagree" will do, it doesn't have to be "Well knowing you I understand why you think that". If I'm already wrong you don't have to imply I have some deep, internal problem on top of it. Eh, some do. Don't you guys call that ad hominem or something? How does that advance an intelligent discussion? A political or business endeavor, certainly. But not a debate. At least not a real one with participants seeking knowledge and insight.

To his credit I think he is confusing Christians with "Christians". Most do. I know I did. And how. That's gonna have to be a story for another day though.

Street frequently went a bit apoplectic. I didn't find him offensive but I support the ban. Rules and have to apply to everyone, including the relatively well informed. Not sure why I didn't find him offensive - his apoplexy was easy to ignore for me, but I can imagine many others being very put off by it. Part of it is that I broadly agreed with him politically and morally. I totally disagreed with him on metaphysics and ToM but even then I didn't find his views particularly challenging even when expressed at 10,000 kelvin.

Feels similar to when TGW got banned. Obviously very intelligent people, but for some reason they felt the need to suicide by mod.

I'll miss Streetlight's posts. Even some of the angry ones. There is plenty to be rageful about in this world and his vitriol resonated at times.

My own political commitments and experiences keep me from really feeling offended even by that -- for me, Street's invective was always justified by the moral atrocities of the world. It wasn't his contributions, for myself, as much as feeling the anger and expressing it in other venues from here.

But I understand we are not islands, and this is a social space.

I consider Street a friend, and a positive influence on my own thinking, and it made me sad to see so I felt the need to say something.

RIP SX

Banned Streetlight for flaming, bigotry, general disruption, and ignoring warnings to stop. — Baden

et al

I had not noticed Streetlight's banning, because I generally avoided his posts. Yes, he was a very knowledgeable fellow and his posts were well written. He wasn't always corrosive. Still...

He seemed to be driven by an ill-willed animus toward the western establishment--which is understandable--but it had no bounds. Unbounded hostility has distorted my thinking at times, so I have some understanding of how it works. Unbounded hostility comes from neurosis or leads that way (probably both, in a tail-chasing circle). For one's own mental health, one does well to derail it.

He asked to be banned? Odd, but maybe that was a self-intervention he needed.

This was educational. Some of you put up with him because he expressed what you yourselves felt. Wow. I had no idea so many people are like that.

He asked to be banned? Odd, but maybe that was a self-intervention he needed. — Bitter Crank

Streetlight did not ask to be banned. That was someone else.

OK; so it was an act of mercy (no sarcasm intended).

Unbounded hostility has distorted my thinking at times, so I have some understanding of how it works. Unbounded hostility comes from neurosis or leads that way (probably both, in a tail-chasing circle). For one's own mental health, one does well to derail it. — Bitter Crank

I assumed he was in the middle of a crisis because the last time I felt that way, I was.

I don't think it's appropriate to psychologize someone who's not around to defend themselves.

If you see any members called "deletedmember" + some combination of initials, that means they requesting banning or membership removal. Otherwise, it was us that initiated it.

OK; so it was an act of mercy (no sarcasm intended) — Bitter Crank

I don't know what you mean.

It means you put him out of our misery. And maybe his.

I’m going to miss Streelight. He was probably one of my favourite posters here because of his knowledge on continental philosophy and post-structuralism. I think his corrosive anti-capitalism was honestly well-meaning and sympathetic as someone who’s also Marxist leaning, but I agree with everyone here that it got way out hand. He didn’t have to be an asshole to everyone who disagreed with him. He didn’t have to say those who disagreed with him would end up being killed. He didn’t have to call people stupid, or dumb, or wasting all of his time. I think this is overall a good lesson that even helpful, knowledgeable people can still be gigantic bellends when their egos are over the moon

This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.

Re: @Streetlight

Once anger gets the better of humor and one's sharp wit dulls to nothing but bitter vitriol, you're no longer a gadfly – just a bore (à la mean drunk). Good riddance; and good luck, comrade.

:death: :flower:

Lmao, streetlightx has been the same way ever since I've been on this forum, he broke the rules of this forum on a regular basis, so I'm surprised we're now talking about not making exceptions... Did he finally turn on the wrong people/positions? He should have been banned years ago, he's been a garbage contributor from the start. He derailed threads with his vitriol, and made little effort to explain his positions, he just belittled and insulted whoever disagreed with him. If everyone acted even half as bad as he did, nobody would ever want to post here. Dunno what he did to lose his special treatment but glad to hear he's gone.

Lmao, streetlightx has been the same way ever since I've been on this forum, he broke the rules of this forum on a regular basis, so I'm surprised we're now talking about not making exceptions... Did he finally turn on the wrong people/positions? He should have been banned years ago, he's been a garbage contributor from the start. He derailed threads with his vitriol, and made little effort to explain his positions, he just belittled and insulted whoever disagreed with him. If everyone acted even half as bad as he did, nobody would ever want to post here. Dunno what he did to lose his special treatment but glad to hear he's gone. — Judaka

Agree. He is one of the reasons I lost respect for this forum.

And this is how right-wing authoritarianism wins: By "good people" doing nothing and just being all politically correct, destroying some small offenders while letting the actual villains be.

Dogs bark, and the caravan goes on, straight into hell.

Good riddance; and good luck, comrade. — 180 Proof

He's not your comrade and you're not his, and you know it.

He derailed threads with his vitriol, and made little effort to explain his positions, he just belittled and insulted whoever disagreed with him. If everyone acted even half as bad as he did, nobody would ever want to post here. Dunno what he did to lose his special treatment but glad to hear he's gone. — Judaka

Here here..
His special treatment came from an idea I raised that if a person is knowdgeable in specialized areas, people often give that person a pass to act like an arrogant prick.

Example: I know X thing that makes you money. My specialized knowledge is necessary for your company’s doing well. I can therefore act XYZ negative ways against others because I wield this knowledge with impunity. The thing is he rarely used the specialized knowledge in such a useful way, so isn’t even that close an analogy.

I can remember for example he ran a long thread on Wittgensteins PI and got a lot of in depth debate about passages therein. That raised his stock amongst the literati in these parts. For every one of those, he had 10 times more negative impacts towards posters even slightly different in interests and takes.

It's nice that both supporters of Street and his detractors have found a way to complain here. Maybe y'all should go camping together or something. :kiss:

I think part of the special treatment came from significant credit he had built as a poster at the original PF and as a mod here. Someone with a better memory can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall him being so strident in years past.

As someone else pointed out, his focus moving from philosophy to politics marked a significant shift in his tone.

He was always arrogant and dismissive but yes, his aggression got worse over time it seems.

Maybe y'all should go camping together or something. :kiss: — Baden

Yet again, back to the Brokeback Mountain fantasy thing.

I realized I had not applied what I learned to actually living so had nothing to share along those lines. — ArielAssante

Perhaps if you focus better you can post something actually lived and offering that kind of value.

And so again, @Baden sets the prices of participation at being nice to fools.

So be it.