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I was recently @notified by the user formerly known as Bill D.

He said he is leaving.

Bill, I am experiencing true sorrow at your decision to leave, but will respect your decision and not try to change your mind.

@Everyone else: from my limited understanding, this seems to be the result of personal and political conflict. I don't want to see the moderator chat logs; I don't care whose fault "it" was/is.

No issue is worth such a loss. Sure, I know we're just talking about online entities - and some of them can be rude, stubborn, belligerent, etc - but we have lost a sense of humanity in the short time I've been coming around. How many times to we have to bump Eric's meta comments about treating newbies with respect? How many major contributors will we lose as a result of some interpersonal [expletive deleted]?

So yes, this is a rant. There is no question. I want us all to start treating each other like people again. And I will start.

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Chaz 2.0, Congratulations on your recent upgrade. Was it free? – cardinal Dec 13 '12 at 3:32
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Know that feel, bro. – Peter Tamaroff Dec 13 '12 at 3:41
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Over the last couple of years, I have probably seen Gone comment a half dozen times that he is likely to leave due to the way the site is run. Once he did leave for a while (sort of), but returned. Maybe it isn't as much as it seems. – Jonas Meyer Dec 13 '12 at 3:53
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@QiaochuYuan, the Chaz, I'm clearing these. The post was about civility, and expressly avoided looking back at blame. – Jaydles♦ Dec 13 '12 at 3:58
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@TheChaz2.0, no problem. Setting aside how we got here, I think your call for treating people online like real people is a great step in the right direction. – Jaydles♦ Dec 13 '12 at 4:04
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Well, maybe math.stackexchange.com/users/23500/math-gems will become active again. – Andres Caicedo Dec 13 '12 at 4:04
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@gone, you are more than welcome to criticize our privacy policy again. But you may not incorrectly assert that another user violated it. – Jaydles♦ Dec 13 '12 at 4:38
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@Jaydles Good point, one cannot violate a "privacy policy" that is so poorly specified that, for all practical purposes, it does not exist. So I rephrase: what was surreptitiously done by Q certainly violates what I consider to be a reasonable privacy policy, as well as most folks I know and trust. – Gone Dec 13 '12 at 4:46
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I voted to close not because I think Bill wasn't contributing to the site (at least mathematically, he did have a good impact). But rather because it exacerbate the drama. I think we had enough for the time being, and I'm certain there is more around the corner. – Asaf Karagila Dec 13 '12 at 7:23
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I vote to close because I certainly don't come to math.SE for my daily drama dose. – Steve D Dec 13 '12 at 7:40
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Bill is a magician. He is both Gone yet also here at the same time. Any way, I think Bill contributed a huge amount mathematically. He also contributed a lot of downvotes (some more famous than others). data.stackexchange.com/mathematics/query/edit/88811 I think – Graphth Dec 13 '12 at 17:45
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I have voted to close. This was an easy choice, as the OP says "So yes, this is a rant. There is no question." I also find No issue is worth such a loss to be overblown. No one has died or lost their (paid!) job or anything similarly dire. This is a website. The activity of most users (certainly including me) waxes and wanes over time, and many very active users (probably including me one day) eventually decide that they have contributed enough. It is also hard to get in the spirit of a wake held for someone who is clearly still active on the site. – Pete L. Clark Dec 13 '12 at 19:48
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@PeteL.Clark "No one has died or lost their (paid!) job or anything similarly dire." It does not follow that the loss is negligible. – Makoto Kato Dec 13 '12 at 22:35
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I learned pretty quickly that the departed knows his stuff and was a valuable asset to the site. I also felt picked on by some of his comments to one of my first answers on the site. I'm definitely on board with treating each other both like fellow humans and like fellow mathematicians. It's not a race or a game of king of the hill. We should be helping each other learn and understand, and we all started with a rep of 0. – Todd Wilcox Dec 14 '12 at 0:21
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+1 It is really unfortunate that Bill decided to leave this community. It is even more unfortunate that his account has been temporarily suspended. Though I accept that Bill's behavior is a bit of a problem, his contribution to math stack-exchange cannot be underestimated. It is important for all of us to keep aside personality clashes and just look at the mathematical aspect of the problem posted. – user17762 Dec 14 '12 at 3:44
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closed as not a real question by Pete L. Clark, Noah Snyder, BenjaLim, Michael Greinecker♦, Austin Mohr Dec 14 '12 at 2:01

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

up vote 11 down vote

"....but we have lost a sense of humanity in the short time I've been coming around. How many times to we have to bump Eric's meta comments about treating newbies with respect? How many major contributors will we lose as a result of some interpersonal rubbish?..." [boldface mine].

I couldn't put it any better, @The Chaz 2.0!

Just wanna add: "Can we please leave the sarcasm at the door," before "entering" each of math.se, and meta.math.se.?!

@Gone: (formerly Bill): I hate to see you leave! I am truly bewildered!

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No offense to Chaz, but I'm sure you could have put it better. I'm also sure that if you were the one writing it originally, there wouldn't be any need for someone to edit "bullsh*t" out of the original post. :-) – Asaf Karagila Dec 13 '12 at 12:12
@Asaf Thanks! ;-) – amWhy Dec 13 '12 at 14:01
@Asaf: sometimes strong language needs to be used. But I won't enter into an edit war (again!), especially with someone who doesn't appear to be a native speaker (see the revision history). – The Chaz 2.0 Dec 13 '12 at 17:57
@amWhy: Can we at least keep our Pulp Fiction quotes when we enter the site? – Asaf Karagila Dec 13 '12 at 18:08
@Asaf: I am embarrassed to admit I have not yet seen Pulp Fiction. Did I inadvertently use a Pulp Fiction quote? – amWhy Dec 13 '12 at 18:11
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No, but I did. I made three references to Samuel L. Jackson's character from that movie in my reply to Chaz. – Asaf Karagila Dec 13 '12 at 18:17
@Asaf: Yes, you can keep your pulp fiction quotes when you enter the site! – amWhy Dec 13 '12 at 18:19
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@Asaf: some things I cannot let stand: it's Marsellus Wallace, not "Marcello Wallace". – Pete L. Clark Dec 13 '12 at 19:52
@Pete: D'oh!!!! – Asaf Karagila Dec 13 '12 at 19:54
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+1 It is really unfortunate that Bill decided to leave this community. It is even more unfortunate that his account has been temporarily suspended. Though I accept that Bill's behavior is a bit of a problem, his contribution to math stack-exchange cannot be underestimated. It is important for all of us to keep aside personality clashes and just look at the mathematical aspect of the problem posted. – user17762 Dec 14 '12 at 3:44
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@Marvis: Looking only at the mathematical aspect of the problem posted would be great if there was only the mathematical aspect.... – Hurkyl Dec 14 '12 at 17:14

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