It was recently announced that admins would be less inhibited by community desires when making decisions about how to handle content that violates the posting guidelines. For long-time users of ESR, violently vocal disagreement with the administration is not new. The site has been targeted by disenfranchised users many times in the past, myself included. Tyryl, SiT, myself, and some others have exploited and defaced the site, sometimes excusing our behavior by referencing our disapproval of administrative behavior, other times just being destructive for entertainment and education.

I'm disappointed by my stupidity. Though I still feel as strongly about administrative abuse, my approach to preventing it has become much more practical. Attacking the site has never worked in the past, and has ultimately resulted in a less enjoyable experience for new users. Because of previous exploits, the site now has a premoderation system to combat potential spam and vulgar content. This premoderation inhibits the registration and participation of new users. The entire site suffers for the actions of a few.

So in what way will users suffer in the future because of these new attacks? Will ESR disappear completely, and all my effort to reverse modifications to the site due to past harm be rendered wasted effort? Another failure due to my lack of foresight that I must ignore and forget in order to move on with my life in some new direction?

How could I have ever justified attacking this site in the past, if not by being deluded enough by my own self-importance to grant myself the capacity to dehumanize everybody using the site? The web is a vastly different place now than it was 8 years ago. There are real consequences for such decisions now. The internet has become a vital aspect of nearly every person on this entire planet's life.

Criticism and vocalization of dissatisfaction are to be expected in any system, and the capacity to make these things public should be defended. Such vocalization can cause negative public perception, but this is an issue that any authority must endure, especially when challenging the status quo. Attacking the site is the easiest and laziest way to satisfy a desire for gratification. Any user can hunt for ways to damage the site, cause problems, and then slink away without facing any consequences, but it requires true dedication to be a user on probation trying to convey a message, or an administrator working to improve a unsatisfactory system. I may not agree with some users or admins, but I respect any of them who still possess a desire to express their opinions without resorting to the infantile fulfillment that comes from abusing and attacking users and the site, and I am happy to continue to try to understand the way all these interactions between different people work so that I may collaborate with others to develop a more satisfying system.