I WAS a DISboard Moderator

The DISboards were once a great bulletin board service in which one can post one's travel plans, ask dining questions, learn about the various resorts, make friends and simply hang around and chat with others with a similar love of Disney parks. When I first joined, I had thought I was one of just a small few that actually truly loved going to Disney World. I had thought my interest was rather strange and never really went beyond the confines of my immediate family. I had assumed it was just us that love Mickey, the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, the water parks, Pleasure Island, the Marketplace, turkey legs and pressed pennies. After joining the DIS, I quickly learned that there were many, MANY others like me, who had that same love.

I had assumed that we all would get along in some pixie dust filled sense of camaraderie and good fellowship. Boy and howdy, was I proven wrong… and naïve… and just plain stupid.

I was sadly mistaken. Things very slowly but very, very surely started to turn ugly. It was clear that so many members looked down their noses at others who were not at minimum, middle class. Black members? Very few and far between. And if they dared pipe up and state their opinion on the Community Board section of the DIS, it was instantly inferred that they were white-hating racists. Women who stayed home to take care of their children were considered lazy, bon-bon popping second class citizens by those women who chose to work. But don't feel bad. Those SAHM's were just as judgmental of those other mothers who dared to leave their children alone with sexually abusive, baby shaking strangers while they went off to work each day, living the yuppie professional woman’s every fantasy.

And don't you dare bring up food stamps. Seems so many have seen every single welfare recipient in the whole of the United States use and obviously abuse their food stamps. Apparently every single one of them only buys cigarettes, booze and junk food at the local A&P. And because it’s that obvious, then they must be using their money for other things… like drugs maybe? I mean, clearly all welfare recipient are drug abusers. Right?

How about credit cards. We all have them, right? Any some of us have more than one. God forbid you use it for anything but essential goods, otherwise you are personally responsible for the economic downfall of these grand old United States. Don’t believe me? It’s true! Go check out the Budget Board. Some will dare to book their vacation to Disney World, all up in arms with finger trembling, teary eyed excitement. They dared to book a week long stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort, with free dining. It’s 180 days out and they wanted to ask about which restaurants they should book to get the most for their money. They know the dining plan promotion is free for nothin’, but just sayin’. And they were also asking if the Caribbean Beach blahbiddy blah blah still has the refillable mugs because they had hoped to pack mugs from a previous trip from five years ago. (Who keeps plastic ugly mugs that long anyway? But I digress.)

So, did you read the above paragraph? What did I just do that made you think all was not fine in Pixie Friggin’ Land? And that’s a real land in the Magic Kingdom by the way. It’s between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, just behind Mindyourowndamnedbusiness Land. Again, I digress. Let me point out the many issues in the above that will cause a huge amount of ire on the DIS. At least to those that seem to live a life where absolutely everything around them effects them personally and is clearly their business. So here you go, in bullet point fashion even:

• You used a credit card. You must be broke apparently, so you are not entitled to go on vacation, let alone to Disney World. You need to cut that card up, save your money, because some guy named Dave has demanded it.

• You stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort. There are two things wrong with that:

1. You are staying at a moderate resort using your credit card. If you have to rely on credit to go on vacation (see above point), and you can't pay in cash, then you should stay at Pop Century. Better yet, you should stay at the All Stars because clearly you are white trash.
2. You are staying at the Caribbean Beach and not at MY damned favorite resort. What the hell is wrong with you? Everyone knows that (insert resort name here) is so much better than your choice, so you must be stupid beyond belief. No wonder you’re broke and white trash.

• You are staying for a week. You can’t afford it. If you decide you really deserve this Disney trip, and you are clearly broke, you really only should stay for as long as you can afford it. So you should only stay for three days. If you want to stay longer, then you really should go off property and stay where the white trash belongs.

• How dare you ask for advice for restaurants when it’s free dining. Be grateful that Disney is deigning to give you anything for free. So just be happy and gracious, after all, you can't afford to pay for the food otherwise. Because you're white trash.

• Reusable mugs. World.War.THREE. It’s true. And you should be tarred and feathered for bringing this up you poor, ungrateful disgusting wretch. Be gone before you sully our doorway again. We have no place for white trash.

Don’t think this is possible, let alone true? Ok, ok. I am exaggerating. They don’t actually tar and feather you. But you will be yelled at and denigrated three ways ‘till Sunday for bringing up just about everything I described. And they won’t stop until you report them, cry or join another bulletin board just so you can bitch, piss and moan about them.

Oh, there is more. For a daily dose of “Are You Friggin’ Kiddin’ Me?”, just consider the following topics that will explode into a ‘roid rage fueled backyard smack down of a brawl. The following really, really push the busybodies over the edge into the realms of Insanityland:

• Strollers and the inconsiderate people that use them as battling rams in a medieval movie.
• Those obnoxious people that so very clearly rent the wheel chairs to get to the front of the line. I just know it. I saw them earlier and they were running a marathon while doing the lindyhop. I swear it.
• Republicans
• The rude people with such a sense of entitlement that they will DARE swim in my pool when it’s clear they aren’t guests here. I can tell.
• The self centered people who will save a table while their family is buying dinner when I was kind enough to pay for my food like everyone else… but HER.
• Overweight people in ECV’s that are obviously only overweight because they live in ECV’s
• Anyone who might have gotten hurt while doing anything at Disney. Note to self: It is always, always, ALWAYS your fault; never Disney’s.
• If you DID get hurt at Disney, you are entitled to a buh-zillion dollars. And a free fast pass.
• Democrats
• Christians who feel that everyone else is going to go to Hell. Because the Bible was written by God Himself and I can’t wait until you find out when you die and you are surrounded by big scary demons with pitch forks and not angels who handle snakes. Niener niener niener.
• Gay people. Just because… well, they’re gay. Duh. And they should be banned from Disney all the time. And from the mall. And from my town. And from everywhere because… well, duh… we have to protect the children.
• Kids. They are more evil than Democrats and Republicans combined apparently and should never be allowed at Disney World
• Kids on wheelies. Worse then “Reusable Mugs”

I kid you not. There are people on this planet that will loudly and proudly proclaim their hatred of everything above. Why? Because they can do it in complete anonymity through a bulletin board on the internet.

So you would wonder, “Where are the mods?” You thought the moderators were supposed to control everything that was said and protect the fine DIS citizenry. I mean, they should, right? Guess what, I’m a mod. We have rules. We actually have more rules than you do, and personally, it drives me a little bug shit. There, I said it. First and foremost, as a moderator, we only have control over those boards we have been assigned. Por ejemplo, if I am the mod of the Restaurant Board, then I can only give points to those that post on the Restaurant Board. I can’t go crazy and give out points all over Hell and gone to anyone that posts on the… say… the Community Board. That’s not my assignment.

Aside: And damn would I love to be a mod on THAT board for just a couple of hours. I wouldn’t bother with giving out points. I’d ban so many ignorant, self righteous, pompous pieces of crap that it would make your head spin. Yep. Buh-bye to Teresa, Laurie, Steve, Joe, Dawn, Sherri, John and quite a few others. You guys are just too stupid for words, it’s impossible to describe. How you actually function in every day life without alienating yourselves from your spouses, children, neighbors, friends and co-workers is a miracle.

Moving right along, all mods have been given passive aggressive wrist slaps to not give out points too frequently. If we do, we get looked at very poorly by the powers that be. And who are the “powers that be” you ask? Why, they are the Web Masters. And who are they? You know, I haven’t a clue. I do know a couple through the DIS and they seem to be perfectly nice. But the majority really don’t do much at all except make the moderators present them with a situation and then we have to wait forever until they come back with their judgment. And that is if they come back to us with anything at all. So yeah, as a mod, they frustrate the crap out of us too at times.

Just know that the majority of mods are pretty great folks who truly enjoy what they do on the DIS. Unfortunately, at times, our hands are tied with respect to our abilities. We've become the fall guys in many instances.

And finally, the Grand Poobah himself. Pete. I was always completely ambivalent about the guy. I did think he was a bit like the Great and Powerful Oz in that he would more often than not hide behind his curtain, while the Masters did his bidding like little crazed Munchkins on Ritalin. But he made a social faux pas that moved my ambivalence about him from a “meh” attitude to “holy crap, you’re a racist dick”. During a well known podcast in which the speakers were talking about so many new American citizens standing proudly before Cinderella Castle, someone made reference to the many hispanics and let slip a comment about new “mousekeepers” (resort house keepers to the uninitiated). Were you sitting next to me at the time, you’d have seen my jaw slam to the floor, only for me to pick it up and gingerly place it back, to slam back down again. And the joking went on and on.

What made matters worse was that Pete and those others involved were called on their insensitive and very racist comments and not a single one of them came forward to apologize. Rather, they deleted the threads, pretending the podcast didn't exist and went on their merry way. And what made things even worse than that was so many DIS’ers defended them. They took it as a joke and chastised anyone else for thinking differently. Apparently, Pete can do no wrong and would never say something so heinous.

And I’d still love to see some sort of ownership to those comments and a public apology made to some extent. And I’d like to see a herd of miniature unicorns come flying out of my backside but that aint happening any time soon. Nevertheless, there's a better chance of that then there is for a full and honest explanation of all the mass bannings that were made last year. Quite a few of my DIS friends were caught up in that. I’d say about 95% of those banned should never have been banned to begin with. Pete and Alex, you only just opened the doors for some closer public scrutiny and the results aint lookin’ pretty. That “other board” (insert doom filled death dirge here) was enraged, sure. I was enraged. What you did was just stupid. But all those folks you banned? They’re still there out. And now the very few nasty people on that board have been joined by some really nice, very caring, very open, yet very honest people. And yes, guys, if you had just taken the time to really look at that “other board” (death dirge, blah blah), you’d have realized that there were only a very, very small handful of big mouth trouble making pot stirrers. You guys couldn’t handle about six or seven potty mouths with your 204,000 members? Seriously? Weak willed much? Might I remind you how many DIS’ers are pot stirrers that clearly do their best to piss off as many people as possible with their hate filled, nonsensical rants? But you hold those beloved DIS’ers in your warm embrace. I don’t get it. Many don’t get it.

Finally, in light of what has recently transpired regarding the DIS coming down with legal action against another site with a slightly similar domain name. Are you kidding me? Pete, my man, do you realize that by using such measures, you are damaging the reputation you are working so hard to protect? Has that occurred to you? You fought against the Undis (oops, I named the Site That Cannot Be Named, cue music) and frankly, you lost. Quite badly in fact. Now you are moving to halt another site that was never associated with the DIS. In fact, I'm a mod on the DIS and I never heard of that other damned site until you did this. Excellent move on your part dude. Not.

Finally, now let’s talk about you, the DIS member. Not all of you, mind you. Not even most of you. Just some of you. Sometimes you say something wrong. Own up to it and apologize. Sometimes you say something stupid. Acknowledge it and move on. Sometimes yes, you are racist or sexist or homophobic or elitist. Stop hiding behind the DIS. Either change your attitude or own up to your opinion. Perhaps you’ll get some respect. And yes, folks, some of you are just plain jerks. No one can help you there. You know who you are. You are the reason why I stuck around for as long as I have simply because I find your opinions and thoughts so misguided and ridiculous, so intensely ignorant, hateful, intentionally hurtful and quite honestly, stupid beyond belief, that I felt I had to stick it out as long as possible in order to at least try to get you to see things another way. Or at minimum, to at least put a counterpoint to your blather. I wanted to at least be a voice of dissent. Nope. Didn't work. You would just succeed in pissing people off and in the process, get others so worked up, they were the ones who ended up with points or worse yet, banned. All because they responded in not-so-pixie-dust-like ways, thus breaking a DIS board guideline. Yet you would get nothing in the process. Well... except self satisfaction. Game well played. You're nothing better than that kid in class who would poke and poke and poke until they've had enough and lashed out at you. You cry and scream in bewilderment, running to the teacher with tear filled eyes, pointing fingers and grunting accusations through your snotty nose like the true pig you are. And because I am a mod, there's not a damned thing I can do about it but keep my mouth shut. After all, you stayed within the confines of the DISboard guidelines. The frustration is no longer worth it.

I can't and won't forget the cool DIS'ers, the nice ones, the easy going ones, the reasonable ones. Thankfully, you are the majority. It's your kindness, respect for others and yourselves, your common sense and your ability to carry a civil debate without intentionally lobbing hateful barbs, it's your jokes and your sense of fun that have made being a mod truly worth it. Sadly, I'm not so certain that's enough any longer. And I've come to understand and am fully aware that I am as guilty as anyone for some of the things that truly tick me off. The DIS, supposedly a happy, magical place to post your thoughts, hopes and dreams about the best Disney World vacation, really brought out the ugly in me. I've seen a side of myself that I can't look back on with pride. I made mistakes and will continue to do so, but I will do so in the real world and not in a false one with loose guidelines and a false sense of security. I haven't left yet, but it won't take too much time for folks to figure out who I am and as a result, I am fairly confident my screen name will die a very fast and very sure DIS death, to disappear into the internet ether. But I'm good with that, because my own sense of dignity and self respect are much more important to me.

Just know that a large number of you will be missed.

So there you have it. My own side of the story of the mods, the Masters and Pete, and yes, you dear DIS'er.