When we have shuffled off this mortal coil

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make....

This seems to fit as a tribute to Muad Dib. Let me add Techman, Sokar and Dkehler. And I have to say that each was unique. They were quite memorable characters. They made an impression here.

But as we get new members not many stand out. Sorry to say it but...new knuckleheads we don't need. But you newbies keep at it. We will learn to love and hate you but you will have friends here.

I know some of these mugs for over 10 yrs. Dang!!

Now you may all have an

FTFY.

I don't know what he may have been like in real life, but Sokar was a fucking asshole here and contributed absolutely nothing to the board. I won't put on some false pretense that everything was okay just because he's dead. The board immediately improved after his departure.

(We could start a whole new thread about why humans in general mysteriously forgive a lot of bullshit and bad behaviour just because someone's lying with the worms.)

Anyway... Muad Dib, Techman and dkehler all contributed something to this board. They may have been ornery at times (mostly Dib and Techman) but that was part of their charm. They will be missed.

Yeah, I'm gonna be unpopular here and agree with this. Sokar was a fucking douchebag.

Actually, it wasn't that unpopular even in his memorial thread.

What's funny is that in some ways, I still consider myself one of the newbs even though I've been here for what, 4 years? and am admin now, because there haven't been many after me to join WF.

Sokar and Muad Dib were two of the best men any of you could have ever hoped to know.

I don't think that's an unpopular or uncommon position. Remember his memorial thread? It wasn't quite dancing on the grave, but he was not well liked, and remains not missed by the vast majority. I hope his behavior here was an act, because if that was really him, then he deserved that painful death, and then some.

Uh. You're gay.

I've been here for ten, and I still don't feel like I know anybody.

I'm glad we can have these threads as a reminder for people we've lost--and I'm more glad that anyone can go back and re-read posts from those who have moved on. Except for prolific writers and journal-keepers, I'd argue that forums like WF are one of the best places to capture aspects* of a real person, and to preserve that. @Muad Dib posted over 50,000 times in ten years--if that isn't a slice of life preserved in text, I don't know what is.


*I know, Castle. I said aspects, okay?

Assuming it wasn't an act, what did he do on here that warranted a painful death?

I was friends with him on FB and he never struck me as being particularly arsehole-ish IRL. But, the question is still valid. If it was his real persona, did he really do anything that bad?

He relentlessly attacked people with the goal of driving them off the board. He was a bully, plain and simple.

Yes, but is that worthy of a painful death? Hardly Pol Pot was he?

Where did I say he deserved it for how he posted her? Take another look at what I wrote.

Yeah. It's not like he's Tamar.

Well what you said was...

"I hope his behavior here was an act, because if that was really him, then he deserved that painful death, and then some."

Now, that didn't say "he's an evil bully". That could equally mean that he was just a hyperbolic troll.

So what you're saying is that bullies should die a painful death? Bullying is relative. There are plenty in this world that would call you a bully, especially if you are in any way similar off board as you are on it. Would you feel it acceptable if someone said that about you? What if, for instance, people under you at work think you're a bully, but you don't. How valid would their wish be? Yes, Sokar acted the cunt and he's not particularly missed. But I wonder whether or not assessments of him as a bullying is based on one's own parameters of what is acceptable trolling online and what isn't. Eye of the beholder and all that. There are people here who manipulate and abuse personal information to try and force behaviour from members. There are people who have gone after others off board. Those things to me are worse than anything Sokar ever had to offer, which was mostly hot air and silly rep wars. Should those people also face a painful death?

You seem to be ignoring the conditional part of my statement.

Bull. I even quoted it and asked you specifically what sort of bully deserves a painful death.

If I could have been arsed to find it, I would have.

To Mewa's point, all posts after it confirms it, Sokar was definitely unique and memorable even if he is not remembered well.

I can't help you if you missed the obvious:

Maybe you need to brush up on the meaning of the if... then construction.

It seems more like he has accepted your if then statement and took it a little further. By asking how much of a bully would he have had to of been in order to deserve such a death as you described? Or maybe why should a bully get such a punishment?

That's exactly what I'm asking.

http://wordforge.net/index.php?threads/rest-in-peace-sokar.98774/

Ah, well in that case: if that was really him, then he deserved that painful death, and then some. If that isn't clear enough, I'll restate: if he actually stalked people in real life with the goal of making their existence feel completely miserable, then he deserved that painful death. And to fill out the whole conditional thing: if he was a nice guy in real life, then it's too bad he had to go the way he did, but I won't miss him her on Wordforge.

I suppose that then raises the question of how much online behaviour is or is not "real life". Cyber-bullying campaigners argue that there is no difference.

I'm not sure that's the case. Some people cyber bully believing it is a safe outlet for anger or other issues, and would not let that side of themselves out in real life. The bigger question regards whether cyber bullying is as harmful as the less virtual version. Clearly we have observed instances of kids driven to harmful behavior, even suicide, as a result of such interactions. I don't think Sokar caused anybody to off himself, but perhaps in a different forum he could have pushed somebody's buttons just the right way.

to all of them. Yes, even Sokar. He may have been an asshole, but he was still our asshole, IMO.

All of them went far too soon

I wasn't a fan of Sokar, I had him on ignore so I didn't even see his final thread, but it is an over simplification to say he did nothing positive or didn't have an impact here. I still don't like him but give credit for a bit where it is due. Even his haters, myself included, posted a hell of a lot more just to refute his latest nonsense.

No dispute that he was a douchebag I'm just saying there were some positive aspects even if those were unintentional.

This.