Where do we think Daloon has gone?

He’s not in Askville ;)

yeah…personally..I’m very sad about this…

Nobody asks when I’m gone!@daloon come back we miss you!

Why did he go?

had enough i think of his negative liberty being restricted i guess

ah, i see.

from yesterday?

Did something actually happen here? I remember congratulating him for reaching 10K just a couple of days ago. What makes you say he’s GONE as compared to doing something else for some reason?

His profile is missing. How odd… and sad.

Maybe he’s getting his butt waxed and shined.

He had a different avatar this morning.

@jmah yeah…it’s been building for a while…but he had enough over the past couple of days…which you know…is understandable… i just really hope he’s ok… knowing his personality…

Oh Daloon, how I miss you already! Who else is going slog through my gray matter in a pair of bunny slippers!! Come back daloon, come back!

But can anyone tell me what happened the last couple of days?

@lynneblundell What did you mean by “negative liberty being restricted”? Also, did he voice issues to you that he was having or is it written somewhere in threads that you could link to?

Are you sure he didn’t just have a bad reaction to all the lurve in the 10K thread?

Anyone know how to reach him?

and where’s Bri_L? He’s been gone since he asked his invisible question.

How can you tell someone is gone and not just too busy to get online?

I hope Daloon isn’t gone. He asked interesting questions.

@Darwin His account is gone.

Although Bri_L hasn’t posted, he did sign on today and his profile is still there. I am very glad to see that, because on the heels of the daloon disappearance I think Bri_L (or any other beloved flutherer for that matter) might just destroy my faith in fluther. Personally I’m still working through my grief over whatthefluther!

@jonsblond What was his invisible question?

Bri_L was on the site today. It is a totally different matter.

[mod says] Daloon was upset that one of his questions was moderated. We (as in “The Mods”) tried to deal with it privately, and, we are as surprised and saddened as the rest of you that he decided to disable his account.

Edit: For added clarification, this was about a single question being moderated.

I don’t really care how unnecessarily sentimental this comes across,; but Daloon really really really helped me a lot…he was one of a few people that spoke to my soul…and i do love you all but I connected with Daloon.

I suppose some would argue that it’s his final decision to disappear at the end of the day… but the petty bureaucracy of question asking and his questions being rejected got the better…

@Marina I meant the ‘owners’ of the site not allowing him to exercise the liberty he should have to ask the questions he wants to… I’ve never had a problem as already discussed with my questions..which have been very similar to Daloons at times…but i guess… i don’t…the point is…

he’s gone

@miasmom It was “Do you ever feel invisible?”

I wish there was some way to ask him to come back or to let him know how much he is missed. Anyone have any ideas or shall I ask that as another question?

I’m just glad to finally find out he was a dude.

@Marina I’m sure you and everyone else knows that users can still surf the site anonymously and see comments as well as create alter-egos to leave comments.

Please let me to add that as far as I know whatthefluther is doing fine, he has just not been on Fluther in a while. If you are out there WTF it would be great to hear from you!

I’m sorry to hear about all this. I always thought of daloon as a staple here.

Well, that’s sad news…I hope he realizes that he is well-loved here and returns soon…

@shilolo Thanks for the reminder. I was so upset to hear daloon left, I was not thinking clearly. Also, that relies on him passively checking. I was thinking of something more active.

I hope that if any fellow flutherers get upset over things that happen on this site, they take a breath, step back and step away for a few days. Learning that another fluther deletes their account upsets us all. Maybe if time is taken away, they would change their mind about leaving.

yeah really! Come back, man!

so does anyone have any ideas as to any other question answer sites he might have gone to? or do you think he’s just going to lay low for awhile?

@chyna, well said thank you!

I was saddened by his decision to remove his account.

With regards to the moderation decisions, it’s unfortunate that despite multiple attempts by the moderation staff and myself to talk with him about the moderation process, this was the result.

I think that if someone needs a break from the Internet, they need a break from the Internet.
Sometimes we all need it, don’t we?

@jonsblond

Amen to that…

He’ll be back.

you think?

Daloon…if you are by any chance hiding under a new name and at least observing I would like to say we love you around here! Come back!

Yes, fluther is very addictive.

Daloon, please come back x goodnight all x

His choice.

Wow. Damn. I’m really not cool with that.

@daloon, where the heck are you???

I suspect he WILL be back, under a new name and avatar (if he isn’t already). He likes to do that sort of thing.

DALOON! Come back! Timmy fell down the well, and we can’t get him out.

:(
maybe he just needs time to cool off, maybe he just deactivated his account so he wasn’t tempted to respond. i hope that’s the case, and that he returns when he settles down. i did enjoy his posts a lot.

aw, daloon please do come back.

i can hardly imagine fluther without most of the jellies that frequent fluther so often, especially daloon! ))=

Oh, dear, this is very upsetting. When I made up that yarn about the Batman for TitsMcGhee last night (yes, it was made up), I thought Daloon would be right along to top it with one of his fantastic fictions. I noticed that he wasn’t, but I didn’t realize something was wrong. Something IS wrong. Something is wrong when Daloon’s not here.

I think ass avatars should now be outlawed until daloon comes back.

Bri_L isn’t gone. He posted on the milestone thread more recently than the invisibility question.

I agree with dverhey!

@Jeruba Thank you for letting me know.

and he just hit 10000 lurve, too.

that’s a shame.

It really bums me out that he got upset enough about one question that he quit. I, along with most of the other mods, have each had our own experiences with being moderated. It never feels great, but I’ve never been so upset that I’d even consider quitting over it. I really like Daloon, and I tried my best to help him through being moderated… but he was not appeased. I truly hope Daloon decides to come back after he’s had a little time to cool down. He’d be welcomed with open arms.

I’m quite upset… I was wondering where he was last night, and just now realized that he’s gone gone. Wtf kind of question was so important that he’d peace out like that? He was one of the first jellies I was really tight with, and we’ve definitely had a lot of good discussions… Someone find him and bring him back kicking and screaming!

Would it be wrong to ask what the question that got modded was and why it was modded?

I too miss Daloon, but most of us have had one or more questions modded. It didn’t seem compelling enough, at least for me, to bow out. One query out of more than 300? It seems an extreme reaction (again, to me.) I hope he reconsiders.

Also, browsing another thread, I think daloon changed his avatar before he went. That disappoints me. i’ll miss seeing a tattooed ass on his threads.

@dverhey Yes. He changed his avatar to a ‘stock’ one before he left.

That’s a little weird. Why would he do that?

That’s too bad. I would always attracted to his responses because of that avatar.

And his quips were always so well thought out and detailed, and his questions were always inspired and thought-provoking. Damn.

It was always worth it, even with the huge responses a lot of the time.

DeadDolly reverted back to a stock avatar before she left, too.

@augustlan: Does that have any specific significance?

You weren’t here for DD, but she went apeshit over people correcting her grammar and spelling, she really took it personally. I remember thinking she was gonna leave soon after her beauty regime, regimen, regiment question. Search and you shall see.

I think people don’t want to leave their avatar behind, and symbolically take it with them when they go.

It’s just so strange that he up and decided to peace out. I didn’t even get to say goodbye :( I’ll definitely look at the deaddolly stuff.

Maybe we should all go back to default avatars for a day in honor of our dear departed Daloon…. Or not.

Hopefully he is observing this and realizes how many people he has touched. I loved his questions too.

When he left Askville for the last time – he did it a few times, he changed to a stock avatar and said he hasn’t been back since his last time leaving. (oops – hit answer before I was finished.) I don’t really know if the change to the stock avatar really means he will stay gone, or not.

Well fuck, that kinda dashes my hopes of him coming back. Why did he leave askville?

He left several times – or would change his avatar and name. That had a lot to do with depression. In the end, he said it was how the site was run – or not run. Where there are moderators here that care enough to watch the site, on Askville, it’s hit and run, at best.

This is sad. I hope he comes back. He’s very imaginative and thoughtful and he was one of the first to welcome me here back in late November, which I appreciate very much.

Aw, daloon! Come back!

:/

@cak: So he left Askville because of a lack of moderation, and he leaves Fluther because one question (as shi said) was modded?

Really?

I still want to know what this modded question was! Anyone? Anyone?

I gotta second Tits! What kind of a question causes enough of an uproar to have a favorite jelly blow this hot dog stand?

[mod says:] The Q was “Do you consider yourself lucky or unfortunate?” Details: Give examples.

I can see why it was pulled. Oh well.

@PnL: What was it modded for specifically?

@asmonet – in a round about way, yes. But you have to understand that Askville is the polar opposite of Fluther. Askville says it has a moderator, but it’s a huge joke. They never – ok, hardly ever, respond to complaints or abuse reports.

It’s gotta be hard for him to go from nothing to a site that does actually care enough to have mods and the creators actually involved in the activity on the site.

I don’t really know what happened and I’m sorry to see him go, but ultimately this was his decision. I hope he’s able to return and all but if not, understand it was his choice. I wouldn’t go blaming the mods.

@TitsMcGhee The question was deemed a ‘poll’ or ‘chat’ type of question. Better suited to the chat room than the main question page.

@AstroChuck – if my post made it sound like it was more of the mods fault, I didn’t mean it that way. There are guidelines and we need to work within those guidelines.

@AstroChuck I agree with you 100%. It is unfortunate that Daloon felt he had to leave but it in no way reflects on the mods here. I believe that the hard work of the mods, managers and founders is what makes this site the last one I want to visit before I turn in for the night and my first destination when I fire up the old laptop. Well, that and the really cool drawing of Dr. J and the totally awesome book suggestions from Amazon.

@cak, you post did not sound to me that you were blaming the mods, just describing what makes Fluther so much better than “The Site Which Must Not be Named”

What is Askville?? I keep seeing it mentioned here on Fluther. I just checked it out, and I can’t figure out the format at all! It makes no sense how that is a community at all…

Askville is death.

@casheroo -—any community feeling of askville died a long time ago. It was a great site, but they changed everything.

@cak- It’s cool. I was referencing your post. I was just making a comment.

Could he be off adding more geography to his gluteus maximus? Seriously though, he added nice flair and uniqueness to Fluther and I wish him the very best and a quick return here, hopefully. He’s very missable.

I definitely don’t blame the mods, and I can see why the question was modded. It’s unfortunate that he was so up in arms that he felt the need to leave, though.

@cak- I swear I can’t write anything correctly tonight. What I meant to say is I wasn’t referencing your post.
Sorry. I’m such a dumbass today.

@AstroChuck – no problem – I’m on cold meds…I understood what you meant – even through the fog.

Hmm. I did see the question in question come up, but didn’t bother to look at it because it seemed like a pretty pointless question (unusual for Daloon) and I had no interest in thinking about it or reading about it. But I didn’t for a second think there was anything wrong with it or that it shouldn’t be here. It was more like “Not up to your usual standard, Daloon—I’ll just pass.”

Couldn’t it have been modified enough to survive?—e.g., “What does it mean to be lucky?” or “Do you think some people are just unlucky?” or “Do you believe people make their own luck?” Wouldn’t he consider changes?

oh wow, I answered that one! I would have never thought that particular question was at issue.

Hm, based on the jelly table discussion we had I guess this is a first example of how “delicate” the issue of the revised guidelines is.

Mods: Not that I’m taking it on me to second-guess you, really not, just pointing out how the mod hammer can go awry. That question was, well, gray area, in my humble opinion of course.

@Daloon

c’mon man, come back, really!!!

Was this a consequence of the “new” guidelines? Shouldn’t there be (a) a public announcement of changing policies and (b) a grace period while people get used to them?

[mod says] Being a moderator here is fun and rewarding, but, it can be challenging too. You think, “should I remove or not?” “If I let an established user get away with a sub-par question, will the newbies be upset?” “Shouldn’t I hold the same standard for all users?” Blatantly stupid questions are easy. Grey area questions are harder to tackle. However, what I believe separates this site from so many others is that the questions are, for the most part, high quality. Yes, people do enjoy the occasional frivolous romp, and so do we, but, in general, we are tasked with maintaining that high quality.

Speaking for myself, I am genuinely shocked and saddened by what happened. I really thought we could work things out (and, we put a lot of effort into it). Even if we were wrong to ask him to modify the question (which I don’t think we were), it seems a fairly trivial issue not warranting a dramatic exit. All he needed to do was to embellish it a bit and it would have been fine. It is hard to understand why he would leave over that, but that’s his business.

[mod says] ^^ What he said.

Well said, shi. :)

@shilolo

meh, we all have drama days sometimes :)

YOU CAN’T ESCAPE ANYWAY!!!!

He’ll be back…

Wow, I really must have missed something over the past couple of days.

I will miss daloon, but he seemed to be expressing some reservations lately about how involved he would let himself get with fellow Flutherites. Maybe this isolated incident was just a good reason to make that final push away from the emotional pull of the site.

Hopefully, this is what will serve him best mentally and emotionally.

I hope he comes back soon. No one will be mad, we’ll welcome him back gracefully. At least I will, I don’t want to speak for anyone else.

Oh, I just found this out. I am saddened by this. I love Daloon. Even if I didn’t always agree with him, most of his questions were great and he always shared very thoughtful answers.

I really hate to see a long-time, dedicated Flutherer leave under such circumstances.

I was just thinking a few days ago how this site seemed to coalesce around Daloon. He seemed to be everywhere, at least in the questions that I looked at, and I always loved reading what he said, whether I agreed or not. I have noticed that sometimes the people who are the most active in an organization soon leave. Could there be a burnout factor?

@LostInParadise: I could see that.

Go away for a day or two and I miss all this!

I am very sad that Daloon is gone. He seemed like a pillar of fluther-itude. He helped me out a lot on a question I asked that got modded (that he managed to answer before the mod) and we had a really good discussion about it. I’m really going to miss him. He was such a wonderful flutherite. :(

Daloon Gone? No way!

Over being modded? There must be something happening outside of Fluther that had him stressed as it does not make sense. Being moderated is just part of QC. I have had questions pulled and I am sure many others have.

I just read about new guidelines and so I am off to check them out.

When or if he returns will it be have to be under a new ID?

One of his problems, I think, was that he WAS everywhere. He PMd me recently that he felt responsible for writing at least three decent questions/day…in order to help the site out, a role that he certainly didn’t need to take on.

His answers were usually very long and well-thought out. That must have taken a big chunk of time too. Maybe he wanted to concentrate on other parts of his life? Just speculating now, with no data to back up this claim.

I agree with Cak. I don’t blame the moderators. Daloon didn’t make any secret that he suffered from bipolar disorder, and overreacting to negative feedback (ie feeling rejected) is not at all uncommon, especially when going through a manic phase.

I don’t think daloon left “over being modded” or “because of one question” daloon left because he’s sick.

I hope that when he gets better, he’ll come back.

@gailcalled We could be talking simple burnout here. Three well thought out questions a day would be a real challenge to keep up.

Daloon, as they say, has disappeared and reappeared before, on that other site. His questions seem to get stranger as the depression sets in – it’s almost traceable. If he’s in a state, I can see where getting modded (an action that would probably embarrass, but not fatally embarrass a well person) could push him over the edge.

That said, I think he will be back. We all miss him, and I bet he misses us. 10K lurve isn’t enough to hold him to the Daloon name – he’ll probably start fresh, like he has before. New name, new face, no lurve. We’ll know it’s him by his actions, though. :)

Bummer about what happened – but bummer still that Daloon feels this way. I wish there were more that I could do to help than just be a 40×40 square on the Internet.

Well said, laureth!

You know, re-reading my answer, I wish I could re-phrase it. I hope he gets better AND I hope he comes back. I don’t care which one happens first.

@laureth: That should be a t-shirt…Be More Than a 40 pixel Square

@Dog: Burnout is right. He did impose that goal on himself, unnecessarily. If and when he returns, maybe he might consider relaxing a little.

There once was a bloke named Daloon
His appearance that of full moon.
His knowledge and wit put us to thought.
But one day on Fluther he was not.

His input and insight were missed
All because he got a tad pissed
But we know time heals all wounds
We hope he reincarnates soon.

@Dog: Much lurve my canine friend.

If he ever reads this, under his own name or any other, I want him to know I kind of understand reactions that others don’t always understand. We had a good talk one day about our own personalities (and personality flaws) over PM and I think maybe his personality is feeling particularly strong in one way or another and the modded question was his last straw. Daloon..if you’re reading this at all, I understand instant (and sometimes for no apparent reason) reactions. Hopefully you’ll come full circle and rejoin us. :(.

Yep. I agree with @adreamofautumn.

But also, if Daloon doesn’t want to come back, or doesn’t want to reveal himself under any new names, well, we move on, too. Daloon’s great and all, and I like him a lot, but there’s more to Fluther than Daloon. He’s absolutely welcome to rejoin us, but if he doesn’t, that’s also his choice, and I can only mourn that sort of thing for so long.

@laureth: Very good point.

Wow… where have I been? I just ran across this thread. I hate to see Daloon go, but I can understand somewhat what he did. I got pissed over something stupid and deleted my account for a day, but I came crawling back, tail tucked between legs. I hope he’ll let his head cool and come back to us.

It’s been very difficult to be without fluther. I’ve been feeling like I’ve lost a member of my family. It’s actually made me sick.

Some people might wonder why I deleted my account. I will try to explain.

I asked a question, and got it taken down because it was a “poll-type” question. I hadn’t known that there was a vendetta against poll questions, and was told to look at the guidelines. I checked, and they said nothing about it either. Then I was told that it would be added soon. I felt burned that some new rule was being applied before it had been published.

Then I realized that if fluther was going after poll questions, then probably more than half of my questions would get taken down. I think I said “all” my questions would be taken down, because they are all poll questions. I should know from polls. Poll questions are my livelihood. Then I was told it was really “this or that” questions that only required a yes or no.

This upset me again, because question I asked specifically asked for more than a yes or no. It asked people to give examples of their answers. I felt like I was being picked on in an arbitrary and capricious way. Moderators tried to tell me why they took it down, but the more they said, the more unreasonable it got. I didn’t know who I was talking to. I didn’t know who had made the decision. It was like fighting a schmoo. You push in here, and it sticks out there.

I tried to say this in a public forum as well as in PMs. Uberbatman told me that if I didn’t like it, I could always leave. I thought this was stupid, but it was also true. This is a private place, and the owners can do whatever they want. So I felt like my voice didn’t matter. fluther could make decisions I considered ill-advised, and it didn’t matter what anyone thought, and I was included in the anyone.

I felt betrayed. I had tried very hard to help the community. I tried hard to ask good questions, so people could have fun answering them and learn something about each other. So I asked poll questions right and left. I guess I was doing the wrong thing.

I still don’t understand what fluther is looking for. I guess they want it to be an informational place, asking questions that have a specific answer. It has nothing to do with community, after all.

I left Askville because it became too much like high school, with cliques forming here and there, and in groups, and attacking people the cliques didn’t like and driving them away. The only thing Askville really cared about was that you didn’t swear. On fluther, I heard, you could swear, and discuss things in an adult way. So I came here. I enjoyed the freedom, and adult conversation. Now, it seems, that is being destroyed. The rules are clamping down, and not even in an understandable way. Moderators can be capricious and arbitrary, and there is nothing you can do.

I had thought that if you worked hard, and tried to help build the community, that you would be given the benefit of the doubt. I guess not. I realized then, that my contributions weren’t truly appreciated. Sure, the moderators said they were, in private, but in public, they did something different. The whole thing seemed so unfair. So wrong. It feels wrong to the core of me.

So I learned that I could not trust fluther. I decided to take Uberbatman’s advice, and leave. Honestly, I didn’t want to make a fuss about it. I hate it when people threaten this or that, and never do it. It seems like a ploy for attention. So I just left. Of course, I missed it instantly. I also wondered if anyone noticed that I was gone. As someone noted, you can use a new identity and lurk, and so I saw that people did notice I was gone, but most people seemed to support the moderators. This saddens me, because I honestly don’t know if I have a place here. It is too picky.

I am a person who bears several stigmas. I don’t think like the conventional voices in society. fluther was a chance for me to speak my truth, and to talk about the things I really think about, but never talk about. Now I am being shut down.

Some people want me to stick around. Others don’t. It’s not a referendum, but the truth is that I do care what other people think, and if I feel judged, it’s hard to feel comfortable.

I write my questions with thought. When I choose to put them up in one form or another, I do it for a reason. I know fluther doesn’t like story telling questions, and they don’t like questions designed to let people be silly or creative. I try to see how far I can go, sometimes, although mostly I have stayed within the bounds, because I really don’t like being modded. I like to be a good boy. Sometimes it gets too restrictive to be a good boy. You find yourself breaking rules all over the place. Rules you didn’t know existed.

I want to stay away, because I fear what this place is becoming, and I don’t want to go down with the ship. I guess I don’t have to. I’m not captain. However, I miss the people, and I miss being pushed to think about various things. I’m willing to start over, since daloon has been taken. In any case, lurve really doesn’t matter, except to show that people appreciate things you’ve said.

I’m sorry that this has been a rambling, repetitive missive. It’s late, I’ve been crying, and I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing. Well, I’m sure you’ll tell me. flutherers always respond, even if it’s only to say that was too long, so I won’t read it.

Dude! Welcome home!

I’m glad you’re back!

@daloonagain: Please, please take my offer to chat about the moderation decision so I can talk about “poll” questions and any miscommunications about it, and the forthcoming policy changes.

Hi, @daloonagain! I hope you will want to stay.

Wow, I teared up a little. So glad you’re back Daloon!

Please stay @daloonagain! I always look forward to your questions even if I don’t always answer them. They are creative and thought-provoking.

I, too, don’t always understand why a question is modded or pulled. I have answered several that I thought were just fine but that were subsequently removed. I have also seen questions stay that I thought were really awful. I must admit that I rarely flag simply because I believe in freedom of speech as long as it isn’t abusive, but when I have flagged things sometimes nothing happens. Obviously I don’t “get it” either.

But please stick around. Even if you lose a question now and then, your others are definitely keepers.

@daloonagain I’m glad you’re back. I hope you don’t feel like people ever ganged up on you :( that makes me sad to think you might have felt that way. Don’t let such a trivial thing, as having a question modded get to you. You’re more rational than that!

It’s not the issue of one question getting modded. It’s the issue of the unfairness. It just felt so wrong and unjust. I didn’t want to deal with such pettiness any more. I still don’t. I’m not sure this is the right thing to do, but my heart is stronger than my principles.

This is really hard for me. I think that people are going to call me petty and silly and I’ll have to agree, and I’ll be unable to explain it. I mean, I’ve tried several times, and I don’t seem to be able to make any headway. It will be hard to be myself. I’ll always be questioning myself, and wondering how to make the question pass inspection, and… yecchhh!

@daloonagain to me Fluther is a fantastic way to learn something about nearly everything. I have learned from your questions.

99% of your questions stand. This tells me that you need not walk on eggshells when posting.
I too look forward to seeing the new rules for clarity.

@daloonagain: OK…I’m really glad you’re back as you have been an important part of Fluther for a good long time.

However…Enough with the navel gazing and get back to work (er, hobby). There’s questions to be asked and answered.

And while your at it, change your avatar back ‘cuz right now you’re looking…half assed.

Welcome home daloon.

@daloonagain there’s a lot of truth in what you say, I’ve seen it myself. I understand where you are coming from, and I too came here from Askville, and probably for many of the same reasons. At the risk of being considered a troublemaker, I’ve seen things here at fluther that I don’t agree with, but as you said, it’s not my baby. If I don’t like it, I guess I could always just leave. But leaving would be hard, I like this place for the most part.

I’d just hate to see it turn into another Askville, with all the cliques and popularity contests. Some people think it couldn’t happen, but it could do so, pretty easily, I think. If all jellies can’t be equal under the sea, then what’s the fucking point?

Glad you’re back, you were missed, obviously.

YOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Come stay, stick around! You saw you’re sorely missed!!!

Welcome, new daloon. Same as the old daloon, I hope.

HURRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!

Daloon,
you are not silly.
your are not petty.
your absence has affected me in ways that i wouldn’t have imagined.
You are…as i hope this thread shows (and others) an integral part of the community here. I actually think the majority of people really have missed you.

You have no idea how wonderful it is to have you back…I was about to go on a man hunt.(with my posse ^^^^) Thank goodness my friend has returned home xxx

fwiw I’m going to continue asking questions that I think are interesting without even bothering to think about whether they are ‘acceptable’.... if they get pulled then hey ho…will have to re-word them in a clever and cunning fashion!

@daloonagain: Excellent. Now you look like your old self.

Fluther on my friend.

@daloon – glad you found a way to see the good again. Don’t let the little things weigh you down. Next time, and there may very well be a next time, that you get modded just remember that 99.99% of the contributions you have made to this community have been accepted and welcomed.

Good to see you back!

@daloonagain. Very nice to see you back and hopefully it is permanent. Fluther is a nicer place with you in it. Don’t ever forget that okay?

@daloonagain, Welcome back!

@daloonagain I’m glad that you are back and I hope you decide to stay. I really look forward to your questions. I’m a great listener, if you ever need to vent!

@daloonagain all I have to say to you is stay please, please, please stay!!!!

That and thank you for taking the time to give us an explanation.

Hey! Now I can lurve @daloonagain and have it count! :)

@laureth oh yay! i forgot about that!

Hi people. As some of you figured out, I am an alter-ego of daloon. I am a burnt part of him. I have experienced a lot of (fictional) things people shouldn’t experience. I have travelled to many strange places, some of them off-planet, which may or may not be a metaphor, depending on how delusional I (rancid) am on that day. Daloon will be using me, from time to time, to say things he doesn’t feel comfortable saying as himself, or when he just wants a break and an excuse to be very curmudgeonly. Also, he doesn’t know much about me, and can only find out by being me. I don’t know if this makes sense, but that’s the plan.

Daloon really does not like being daloonagain, so he hopes Andrew will put him back to being daloon. We were told this can happen, so he has asked. We do not know when it will happen.

Some of you know that this is who Daloon became when he came back as not-himself. As some have pointed out, he has a history of doing this when he gets upset, and he feels bad about that. He knows it seems like he flipped out over a little thing, but for him, it seemed terribly important. His sense of being wronged, whether justifiable or not, was overwhelming. He does not have the objectivity to know if he is right or not, but we think that right or wrong doesn’t matter. So he felt wronged, and departed, and we are sorry to have worried many of you. As you can guess, he never would have expected that.

Anyway, I did not want to be secretive about who I (rancid) am. I don’t want to lie to people. Neither do I want to lie as daloon. From now on, I will go back to being only rancid, although I will change my profile to say who I am.

very understandable @rancid welcome to Fluther x and enjoy x

Okay. Are we all done now?

@AstroChuck: I sure hope so, ‘cuz this whole thing just took a turn for the weird.

@daloon, daloonagain & rancid Welcome, welcome, welcome. You are welcome here in any incarnation. I have been thinking a lot about the issues raised in the last few days. Here are some of them:

It is an absolute truth that life is not fair. I want it to be, I sometimes desperately wish that it were, but it is not. I have stubbed my feelings and my self on that truth over and over again in my life until I have finally landed in some sort of acceptance.

Moderating is not perfect. Moderating is difficult. All the Fluther moderators are good and thoughtful people who love Fluther and the community.They do the best they can at the time. There is really no way to make it perfect. All that we can do as site users is to recognize those first three things.

It seems to me that your questions have always come from deep within you, that you send them out as little extensions of yourself. Once they are posted, though, they are just questions. They are not part of you. If it is possible to separate yourself from your questions, it might help you see that being modded is not about you or a reflection on you. Everyone has been modded or will be modded.

The community that you are missing is the people here. It is not the questions. It is not the Guidelines. It is not the moderating. It is the people. It is so real and warm. Please stay and warm yourself in the glow of the community.

@all One final thought. I was never a part of askville. I sort of resent the assumption of ex-askvillians that Fluther is on a slippery slope to askville. I do not think that is true. I do not like having this site and this community examined through the lens of another. Now that you are here, please be here all the way.

<shrugs> meh

my children require enough of my attention

Oh geesh.

Yay! Let me add my voice to those welcoming you back. It would be nice to have some clarification from the mods on the new rule.

Welcome back, daloon! You are well-loved here and I hope you decide to stay. :o)

@daloonagain I’m just glad you’re back, no matter what form you’re in. Threads don’t look nearly as interesting without someone’s bare behind staring you in the face. :).

so is @rancid the venom or carnage incarnation of daloon? or is he more a “dark phoenix” variant of him? i’m not following…

@eponymoushipster you sound like you’re asking about a videogame or sci fi show, lol!

@La_chica_gomela that’s what @rancid ‘s comment seemed like it was hinting at!

So, a word from a friend, @daloon/@rancid/@daloonagain: could we extract a promise from you, please?

Next time you feel like exploding or vaporizing or stamping your foot and opening a crack in the earth, would you just please pause long enough first to PM one of the members whom you know as a friend? Someone you trust a little, someone who would listen to your side of it, someone who would care how you were feeling and worry if you were gone. Just allow that much extra time: time for two-way contact. Please could you do that?

I would ask the same of anyone who feels on the verge of saying “f*** it” to all of Fluther. I know it’s not nearly as gratifying as shafting everyone at once and going off to wallow—an overpowering urge that I understand, believe me—but if you can think of even one person that you really and truly don’t want to slap in the face and turn your back on, stop and contact that person, ok?

That would let us all breathe a little easier. Or, just speaking for myself, it would let me breathe a little easier.

Thanks, pal.

@daloon / @rancid / @daloonagain – What she said ^^^^

Ditto.

YAY DALOON!!! :D I knew you’d come back

@Jeruba: I will try. You know me, I never believe anyone else cares that much. Honestly, I don’t know why I felt so angry, and I didn’t take a more mature approach to the problem. I worried that maybe I was getting manic (I’m still watching myself on that one). It seems silly to take it so far, even if I did feel very wronged. Maybe it was because no one agreed with me, and it just seemed like I didn’t belong, any more. When it was suggested that if I didn’t like it, I could leave, that fit my anger to throw a tantrum, and do that.

I don’t know, really. I don’t know how to make sense of it. Of course, isn’t it always easier to see what’s wrong with someone else, than to see it in yourself?

@daloon – “Of course, isn’t it always easier to see what’s wrong with someone else, than to see it in yourself?”

Precisely why venting to friends is a good way to work through your frustration.

If necessary we could set up a buddy system for you volatile types. You have to stay together. I won’t make you hold hands as long as you stay together. But everytime I blow the whistle, I want to see you and your buddy with your hands together in the air. And remember, you and your buddy are to look out for each other so no one gets lost, and if anyone’s in trouble, there’s always someone there to go for help.

@Jeruba I think i’m one of those types that may need a buddy. I’ll be listening for the whistle blow!

@adreamofautumn, first you have to have a buddy. Do you want to pick one, or do you need one assigned?

I’ll be everybody’s buddy, if they like. :)

@Jeruba I don’t like choosing one of my friends over another. I might need one assigned!

Well, then, @adreamofautumn, I’m going to assign you to Daloon. You two keep an eye on each other now, ok?

>>> Tweee <<<

@augustlan, you are everybody’s buddy.

Everybody hold hands with augustlan now!

>>holds Augustlan’s hand<< we’re here!

and Yay Daloon! hehe. :)

I WANT A FLUTHER BUDDY!

Ok, who wants to be buddy for TM here?

Oh, lord… all of the men want that assignment! and lots of us women, too ;-)

Remember holding hands with your friends when you were little? It’s so sweet. We should be able to do that when we’re grown-ups, too dammit. That’s it. I’m holding everybody’s hand from now on!

I will also be needing a buddy. We’ve all seen what happens when I get riled up.

Good thing I’m a jelly, with tentacles for everyone. Hang on tight, guys. :)

Ok, @TitsMcGhee, you’re essieness’s buddy. @essieness, grab her hand.

@Jeruba: Ok, so I have three more spots available for holding :D

I need a buddy too…pick me pick me pick me we all know how whacked out i can get! lol

@lynneblundell Hey, Daloon changed back to his old avatar, where is yours missy?

Also, grab a tentacle!

oh yes…good point!...will change it…

Good. I was missing it!

<<<oh…that’s not as effective as it is full size… will have to draw something different for my fellow flutherites to look at… will work on it later today…. (this was supposed to be a picture of what a kiss felt like which you can’t really appreciate this small but i thought it looked a bit like a jelly on contemplation…) anyway…will change it back…..

@augustlan: he changed his avatar back right after I told him he was looking half assed

I hope he found humor in that

augustlan only has two hands, so I’ll hold on to another part of her body.

I lurve the buddy system. Count me in!

who’s my buddy again?... cause i think that might be a bit too much pressure for you Augustlan!

You can be jonsblonde’s buddy, lynneblundell.

Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba ya…

Ahhh. Kumbayah pancakes! With maple syrup, no less!

@lynneblundell We’re buddies! I’ll make sure that you don’t invite anymore strange men into your house. :)

YAY!!! I’m safe at last x

Thanks for stepping in @fireside. I had to go to bed. That’s exactly what I would have done, too. Simple but effective.

Oh good, I so wanted Tits as my buddy :) Reel me in girl, reel me in. Thanks for playing mom Jeruba! We lurve you so much!

I agree with @essieness we Lurve you! And I don’t know what @essieness or what @TitsMcGhee look like in real life, but I have this mental image of the 2 of them as 7 year olds holding hands, with pigtails, basically being adorable. Haha.

@adreamofautumn Kinda like this?

@essieness I think that’s exactly it! Haha.

Aw, this is all so cute!

I want a buddy too!

@mangeons: I’ll be your buddy!

YAY!!! I HAVE A BUDDY NOW!!! ((huggles buddy))

@mangeons You’re so stinkin cute I can’t stand it!!

this whole thing is giving me a cavity.

Hrm.. is this a good thing that you think I’m cute? ;)

It’s okay, mangeons, I’ll protect you from unwanted cutitude.

@eponymoushipster – Oh, g’wan, you lurve it. :)

Just coating a very heavy issue with honey to make it seem a little lighter.

Which is sometimes exactly what the world needs.

lurve, sweet lurve

As a diabetic, I think I’m gonna have to leave now.

it’s sugarless honey, @cprevite. You don’t have to worry. ;-)

night night all… i need some sleep…lurve you all…and still so pleased daloon is here x

@daloonagain: You’re my other buddy :)

Daloon is EVERYBUDDY’S buddy! Get it? xD

@mangeons: Wait, no, I think I missed that one. :P

EveryBUDDY’s buddy. Get it NOW Tits? xD

@mangeons: Hmm… still not picking up on it ;)

lol tee hee hee

God damn it, Tits! How many times do I have to tell you? I AM YOUR FLUTHER BUDDY.

Now, let’s go make some sparkles.

@asmonet: SPAAAAAAARKLES!

lol4rl.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

[mod says] Ahem. Let’s get back to the topic, folks.

Where do we think Daloon has gone?

Nowhere.

Fine. grumble, grumble.

WB, Daloon.

Mods. Hmmpf.

May I offer you some pancakes?

[Member says] Ahem. Let’s stay topic, folks.

;)

I’ll have an order of daloon with pancakes on the side to go, please.

i want a fluther buddy. preferably 5’4“ish, (strawberry) blonde, easy like sunday morning. female.

@eponymoushipster Sounds like you have someone very specific in mind.

@chyna knowing what you want is phase 1.

@eponymoushipster pssh, what’s wrong with tall girls? you a shortie or something?! haha ;)

@casheroo 6’, about that tall too. <wink>

@eponymoushipster what is phase 2?

@chyna feeling each other up on the couch.

@eponymoushipster omg. lol

@eponymoushipster ok, I’m officially speechless

@chyna phase 3 complete.

@eponymoushipster and phase 3 is….

@chyna leaving them speechless.

@eponymoushipster why oh why did I ask?
hugs.

@eponymoushipster: I’m 5’7” and blonde, and my sundays are pretty damn easy. I don’t have a couch, but…

@TitsMcGhee please PM photos and a punch list of your skill set. thank you.

Too bad for us redheads. ;)

@asmonet i’ll allow it.

blondes may be more fun, but you won’t regret a brunette the next morning ;)

I smell someone making fun of blondes. Essieness, shame on you!

@asmonet do you think people still think of redheads as witches in some form? There’s still a lot of prejudice about them here in the UK – I don’t know about the US…maybe I should ask a separate question huh?

Nobody gets called a ginger freak in the US, hell, I wish we had the redheaded population you all do.

All this sweetness may send me to the dentist. Does daloon have red hair?

You think the discrimination toward redheads in the UK has something to do with English/Irish politics?

Queen Elizabeth the First had red hair. So does Prince Harry.

@fireside the Irish as redheads is fairly stereotypical, they’re actually aren’t that many redheads in Ireland (at least not as we assume there are), more in Scotland I think actually. That noted…that’s still probably where it originated haha.

@gailcalled- All I know is that he has a red ass.

Sorry for swearing in front of a lady.

@jonsblond I’m just trying to get in on the action with @eponymoushipster… ;)

From what I understand the English problem with red hair is because so many Scots have red hair, and the Scots and the English have been at odds for centuries.

They may not remember the reason but they do remember the prejudice.

@Darwin oooh do you think??? hmmmm… i really thought it was just a “difference” issue… maybe you are right though

Mmm, ginger Scots. Yes, please!

@lynneblundell – Another possibility is that supposedly in the middle ages red hair and green eyes was thought to be either a sign of an immoral temperament, or a sign that some one was a werewolf.

In any case, Scotland has the highest percent of red heads in their population at 13%, with 40% carrying one recessive gene for it. The Scots were long considered an uncouth and barbarian horde – a combination of fighting naked and playing bagpipes seems to be the root of that. They also had frequent alliances with France, beginning with the Auld Alliance, dating back to 1295, which was built upon Scotland and France’s shared interests in controlling England’s aggressive expansion plans, and then against England during Elizabethan times (Mary, Queen of Scots was actually half French by birth and her first marriage was to Francis, the heir to the throne of France). The original alliance that granted dual citizenship in both countries was eventually revoked by the French government in 1903.

There is a discussion of red hair prejudice at http://www.americasdebate.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15280 that you might find interesting.

arh thanks Darwin…you’re a sweetie… will have a look at that! mwah ! x

What’s happened to this thread? Is this now the fluther community buzz thread?

i think so…but don’t tell…..“them”

shusshhhh

I like that this thread is so…organic. It just keeps changing and morphing. It’s pretty cool to watch.

Agreed. ^

Personally, I can’t even believe it’s still here!

De gustibus…

I kinda like this “omni-thread” and so should daloon. I mean we’re heading toward some kind of posting record on a thread where he’s the topic.

Daloon loves attention.

I like how daloon temporarily left because of some mod-ing issues, and off topic posts usually get modded, and this thread has a lot of off topic posts…

Where has he gone this time?

@petethepothead I considered making a question about it…I noticed he’s been gone all day. Maybe it’s personal life this time…a lot of his questions lately were quite personal about current events.

Yesterday someone posted a question about his profile being deleted. It seemed to have just happened. There were two or three responses, voicing concern but not adding any information, and then the question was pulled.

He has disabled his account, with no reasons given to the mods. He does seem to have been not quite himself lately. I hope he’s ok!

seriously….again? :-(

I don’t think it’s Fluther related this time.

Oh, goodness. I hope he’s OK. :/

Oh no… again? I hope he’s alright. ):

He DID just ask a question along the lines of “How long before someone notices you’re gone”

What is the pupose of diablong one’s account anyway? I can only thing of two. One: Someone has hacked into your account. And Two: To cause speculation as to why your account has been disabled.

@AstroChuck: Is diablong a relative of_ jonsblond_?

Well, I’ve just tried emailing him personally and the address is no longer available either.

I see your point @AstroChuck but if it is Two then it sounds like a cry for help/ attention and we all need some attention right? especially if there is something wrong with us…or we are depressed or suffering in some way? If we just ignore it because we might think someone is feeling sorry for themselves and shouldn’t then I think we’re a bit heartless aren’t we?

I only say this because I know that I get like this myself, like I wonder how long it would take people to notice my absence or disappearance… I often think it would take a while…or that people wouldn’t be bothered… some indeed are not when I go into my cave… (in real life and on here) but the people that do… well, they make the difference… they stop me from doing something stupid, they force me to see the good things about myself and they pull me out of any downer that I might be going through…. people do matter and they make a difference when they care….

if nobody did care…who knows what would happen to me and others like me that need the support of other people, people like… Daloon, Loser, Dibley… to name just a few….

I sincerely hope he’s ok x

I hope so as well. I’m just don’t know what I’d be able to do about it. It’s not as if I could PM him. I also can’t contact him via FB as he’s removed himself as a Facebook friend.

He has also deleted his Facebook account.

I hope he is all right.

Maybe he decided he wanted to live life and not have an online life anymore?

Still, I don’t see why he left without telling anyone where he’s gone. ):

Daloon disappeared? Aw crap..

In one of his last messages, Daloon did say that he was in and out of bed a dozen times during the course of a night in order to check the computer. Perhaps, he needs a vacation from cyberworld in order to enjoy realworld more. I am speculating here, but he was a heavy user and consistently introspective.

He indicated also that he used other online forums. I too hope he is feeling more cheerful. He seemed to be dragging more than his share of baggage.

Is anyone watching the new users’ names for one that sounds like a mask for daloon?

no but will be now…

He’s here. I forget who he is now though.

@Dutchess_III One day I outta ;)

….shit. Are you Daloon? I think..I remember now. But I associate @SpatzieLover with a girl, and Dalloon with a guy with a bare butt!

No…I was giving you a big clue. Read that phrase & you’ll know his “new” @name here in Flutherland ;)

…at a time

OH YEAH!!!!!! I remember now!! Thanks @SpatzieLover!

Silly ass. But we lurve him.

Blast from the Past. Glad he came back and glad we got the Social Section.