1115.org

If you’ve been around here for a while, you no doubt remember JimC as the most prolific commentor in 1115 history. If you’re fairly new, you’re probably wondering why, if he’s so prolific, you’ve never heard of him. JimC was banned several months ago, one of only two people (the other being General Fluffer) ever to achieve that dubious distinction. Why? I’ll let him tell you in his own words (with permission):

I admit that many of my arguments were quick, emotionally based, and often not coherent enough to get my point across. It frustrated me that the points I was trying to make were often drowned out by my lack of attention to how I presented them. I admit that I said some (if not many) off base inflammatory things meant to invoke a certain kind of response (with the intent to spark the debate but it often had the wrong effect) and that clearly was not the right way to attempt to get my opinion heard.

I realize that the comment section is not meant to be a open forum for flaming the authors and I really should think through my responses even if it takes days to do so. I think one of my problems was that I felt like I had to fight the “establishment” if you will, and in order to do so, fire the salvos of criticisms early and as fast as I could.

This is a pretty fair assessment of the circumstances that caused us to ban JimC in July of last year. I wasn’t happy about having to do it, and hesitated many times before deciding, but in the end, it had long before turned to farce.

Now, it’s possible that I’m the world champion of holding a grudge, but let it never be said that I can’t assess new information and come to a different conclusion:

1115.org is your house and I if you let me into your house, I must respect the rules and the owner of the house. This is the mindset I want to have going forward. I realize that the way I treated you before in your “house”, I would not have appreciated the same in kind in my own “house”. Call it a maturation within the realm of online community involvement.

I’ve decided that in light of JimC’s apology and his pledge to respect the house we’ve built here over the last three-and-a-half years, he’s earned the benefit of the doubt, and another chance. So as of today, we welcome back JimC. Here’s to honest conversations and civil disagreements.