#1 ·
I’m not looking to complain—honestly, I don't have much to complain about since I usually just browse the expat section every once in a while... but today I saw a post that actually made me want to say a few words.
First off, can we please loosen up the moderation on the expat boards? It feels like the expat section is the only place where you aren't allowed even a tiny bit of casual chat. As soon as a conversation gets even slightly interesting, someone jumps in with a warning to get back to the topic. At the same time, Scott, take this as a friendly heads-up: you don't have any trouble chatting about food in the culinary threads where I see you posting. Personally, I don't mind; feel free to chat away, but the double standard is a bit much for me. Why is side-chatting in the food section totally fine, even when it barely touches the topic? For us expats, who are scattered all over the US by definition, we don't really have a space to talk—to vent about the tax hikes they slapped on us, or ask how things are going in other states, or mention spending all day in an ER and asking if others have had similar experiences, or why Australians can only chat with Australians and Italians with Italians, etc. Why do we have to stick so strictly and blindly to a specific topic without the right to start a thread to continue a conversation? It’s like people think we only know how to talk about politics and old historical grudges. Sure, we used to bicker about those things, but people bicker on other boards too, even on non-political, benign topics, and they don't get treated like a police state the way we do living outside the States.
I also want to appeal to the admins to lift Will's ban from the expat board. I saw his post before it was deleted, and I really don't want to read anyone saying a man is "dying without the diaspora and writing on the expat boards." Let me mention the food thread again, which also has its own regular who spams topics and types even when he has nothing to say, yet he's tolerated because he's older, lonely, and probably out of touch. I know Will is temperamental; sometimes he doesn't know how to control himself because he types before he thinks when he's called out, and he can be unpleasant. But he also gathered info for everyone looking for data on moving to Australia. He always came back to the expat board, whether he was being insulted, whether he was insulting others, or when he decided to leave... he always came back because the forum is his outlet, and it’s certainly more necessary for him than it is for most of us who packed up and moved...
Even in moments when Will didn't hold back his words against me, I never wished a ban on him, let alone a permanent one. He doesn't bother me; he never did. Sure, he occasionally typed like he was vaccinated against humor, and his crusade for "the truth" was sometimes bordering on absurd, but then again, there are enough handles on this forum that they’ll keep typing regardless of their bans.
Try to imagine life far from the country you emigrated from—balancing the books, weighing the pros and cons, dealing with illness, and finding a little distraction and joy in typing on a forum. Are you truly 100% sure the expat board became a better or more pleasant place just because Will isn't here? Do you really not mind reading that a 70-year-old man is dying without his hobby—typing on the expat boards?
Personally, I feel for him and I get it. We are generations apart and geographically distant, but if my father were still alive, he probably wouldn't act much differently from him, or from any of those old regulars in the food threads who simply think they're right because of their age and their lack of experience with new technology.
I remember someone once wrote that you shouldn't advocate for Will, and I accept the possibility of being banned myself... at the end of the day, this forum doesn't mean as much to me as it does to him. And honestly, is it worth being a member of a forum that treats its members living outside the US so rigidly, when all they want is to exchange a few words with people in the same boat, just on a different coast?
Thanks! ☕
First off, can we please loosen up the moderation on the expat boards? It feels like the expat section is the only place where you aren't allowed even a tiny bit of casual chat. As soon as a conversation gets even slightly interesting, someone jumps in with a warning to get back to the topic. At the same time, Scott, take this as a friendly heads-up: you don't have any trouble chatting about food in the culinary threads where I see you posting. Personally, I don't mind; feel free to chat away, but the double standard is a bit much for me. Why is side-chatting in the food section totally fine, even when it barely touches the topic? For us expats, who are scattered all over the US by definition, we don't really have a space to talk—to vent about the tax hikes they slapped on us, or ask how things are going in other states, or mention spending all day in an ER and asking if others have had similar experiences, or why Australians can only chat with Australians and Italians with Italians, etc. Why do we have to stick so strictly and blindly to a specific topic without the right to start a thread to continue a conversation? It’s like people think we only know how to talk about politics and old historical grudges. Sure, we used to bicker about those things, but people bicker on other boards too, even on non-political, benign topics, and they don't get treated like a police state the way we do living outside the States.
I also want to appeal to the admins to lift Will's ban from the expat board. I saw his post before it was deleted, and I really don't want to read anyone saying a man is "dying without the diaspora and writing on the expat boards." Let me mention the food thread again, which also has its own regular who spams topics and types even when he has nothing to say, yet he's tolerated because he's older, lonely, and probably out of touch. I know Will is temperamental; sometimes he doesn't know how to control himself because he types before he thinks when he's called out, and he can be unpleasant. But he also gathered info for everyone looking for data on moving to Australia. He always came back to the expat board, whether he was being insulted, whether he was insulting others, or when he decided to leave... he always came back because the forum is his outlet, and it’s certainly more necessary for him than it is for most of us who packed up and moved...
Even in moments when Will didn't hold back his words against me, I never wished a ban on him, let alone a permanent one. He doesn't bother me; he never did. Sure, he occasionally typed like he was vaccinated against humor, and his crusade for "the truth" was sometimes bordering on absurd, but then again, there are enough handles on this forum that they’ll keep typing regardless of their bans.
Try to imagine life far from the country you emigrated from—balancing the books, weighing the pros and cons, dealing with illness, and finding a little distraction and joy in typing on a forum. Are you truly 100% sure the expat board became a better or more pleasant place just because Will isn't here? Do you really not mind reading that a 70-year-old man is dying without his hobby—typing on the expat boards?
Personally, I feel for him and I get it. We are generations apart and geographically distant, but if my father were still alive, he probably wouldn't act much differently from him, or from any of those old regulars in the food threads who simply think they're right because of their age and their lack of experience with new technology.
I remember someone once wrote that you shouldn't advocate for Will, and I accept the possibility of being banned myself... at the end of the day, this forum doesn't mean as much to me as it does to him. And honestly, is it worth being a member of a forum that treats its members living outside the US so rigidly, when all they want is to exchange a few words with people in the same boat, just on a different coast?
Thanks! ☕