11.9.02 and Poly

[Rasbelin]

SEPTEMBER 11TH OBSERVANCE
(10 September 2002, 10:26 | About) September 11th, 2001: We Remember In honour of the men and women who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11th, 2001, there will no news, database or other updates on Apolyton in observance of the solemn occasion tomorrow, Wednesday, September 11th, 2002.

Regular updates will resume on Thursday, September 12th, 2002. - DanQ

No, this not spam or a repost of that news item. I do have several questions about this to the admins/mods.

1. First of all, will this affect any of the services in a visible way, except that there's no new news reports?

2. Is there going to be a reduced level of mod/admin presence? I don't ask this because of the fact that wannabe Coracles and Soviet Beasts might want to take the advantage to spam on Poly, but in the case we need assistance.

3. Third question. Are we expected to be the same ol' bastards like before or should we behave very gently and in a sensitive way, i.e. no "I hate USA" styled threads"?

4. Could we have a sticky and special memorial thread in the OTF for memorial posts and messages of condolence? Or perhaps we could have one memorial thread and one general talk thread? Otherwise we're going to have gazillions of 9/11 threads. I'm just trying to suggest something for making it easier for the mods and I would have easier to find the posts.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Rasbelin
2. Is there going to be a reduced level mod/admin presence? I don't ask this because of the fact that wannabe Coracles and Soviet Beasts might want to take the advantage to spam on Poly, but in the case we need assistance.

No... we will be paying VERY close attention to the forums on that day.

3. Third question. Are we expected to be the same ol' bastards like before or should we behave very gently and in a sensitive way, i.e. no "I hate USA" styled threads"?

As always, people are welcome to their opinions and can discuss them in a reasonable way. However, I will be quick with ban button on people who demonstrate hate/flaming or other forms of bashing.

Also, I will be limiting the number of threads on the topic.
While we always do that... as with any important event to the posters, we usually allow multiple threads if the idea or thread topic are unique and not just a repeat of other threads.

[Pavlov]

2. I agree with Rasby, I wouldn't be surprised of some idiots took the oppurtunity.

3. I hope there's no official policy on that one. We'll just have to use our common sense.

4. Agree. Good idea.

Nice that you're asking this.

[Rasbelin]

First of all, thanks, Ming, for clearing up that you're going to be monitoring closely as there's a real risk that Apolytoners wan't to have cheap fun by creating a DL and bashing all Americans with it; no matter what their real opinion is.

Originally posted by Pavlov
2. I agree with Rasby, I wouldn't be surprised of some idiots took the oppurtunity.

There's always those opportunists that try whenever there's a possibility, because I was getting abit concerned because it almost looked like there would be a very low level mod/admin presence.

3. I hope there's no official policy on that one. We'll just have to use our common sense.

That's what I actually meant too.

Nice that you're asking this.

I just noticed the news bulletin by Dan and I was just writing a small note to FACF about 11.9. The real source must have been the fact that many game ladders are having a vacation this week due to 11.9.

As USA prepares for the memorial events on 11th September (tomorrow, GMT), I want to urge you to behave very respectful on the BBS tomorrow, due to the fact that it's a national day of mourning in USA. This means I hope you'll use your wits and post solely in accordance to the FACF rules and your personal understanding of the realities.

Any questions can be asked by e-mail or PM.

Thanks for your attention and co-operation!

Rasbey

[rah]

Yes, Hopefully people will follow common sense. I remember last year when it happened, I saw it here first, and thought it was a euro prank. It wasn't until I tried to verify it and couldn't connect to any news sites that it dawned on me that it was real. People were very respectful that day, and I expect the same for tomorrow.

RAH

[MarkG]

1. the site will be fully functional

the rest have been answered, but here's the short answer again: CIVilized behaviour, common sense

thank you

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by rah
I remember last year when it happened, I saw it here first, and thought it was a euro prank.

You really think we could sink that low for a troll.

[rah]

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin
You really think we could sink that low for a troll.

I had been at work for an hour or so, so had not heard any outside news. I had a few minutes break and checked out Apolyton and saw the top thread in the OT was Plane crashes into WTC. It was so unbelievable at the time that I assumed it was just another Onion article or other prank story that were very prevelant back then. That's why I immediately looked for verification. I wanted to decry the originator as a lowlife scum for such a tasteless troll. When every news web site was unreachable, the truth slowly creaped into my brain. For the next few hours, I had the most up to date information thanks to all the posters at Apolyton. Until they rolled in the TVs onto the floor, I had info before anybody else.

RAH

[Rasbelin]

Interesting, rah. Anyway, I'm going to compile a summary of the most interesting threads from that day, 11.9.01 (or as in US: 9.11.01). I'm still abit unsure if any Apolytoners were hurt or even dead in those 3 attacks. So I'll try to focus on that too.

[MarkG]

Rasbelin, i'm afraid we dont have the OT threads of that period

[Rasbelin]

Oh, well, just my bad luck as usual. True, the OT archive starts at 14.11.2001. I guess I just have to leave that idea then.

[Hueij]

Yes, Hopefully people will follow common sense. I remember last year when it happened, I saw it here first...

I was at work at the time (about 3pm over here) when someone who was browsing the news said that a plane crashed into the WTC. We immediately started to browse for more news (CNN, NYT) but everything was down. Apolyton was our main source for about two hours with people posting pictures and things... Big up Apolyton

[DanQ]

Originally posted by Rasbelin

No, this not spam or a repost of that news item. I do have several questions about this to the admins/mods.

1. First of all, will this affect any of the services in a visible way, except that there's no new news reports?

2. Is there going to be a reduced level of mod/admin presence? I don't ask this because of the fact that wannabe Coracles and Soviet Beasts might want to take the advantage to spam on Poly, but in the case we need assistance.

3. Third question. Are we expected to be the same ol' bastards like before or should we behave very gently and in a sensitive way, i.e. no "I hate USA" styled threads"?

4. Could we have a sticky and special memorial thread in the OTF for memorial posts and messages of condolence? Or perhaps we could have one memorial thread and one general talk thread? Otherwise we're going to have gazillions of 9/11 threads. I'm just trying to suggest something for making it easier for the mods and I would have easier to find the posts.

re: #1 -- only news and related items (e.g. database updates) are affected.

--------------
Dan; Apolyton CS

[moomin]

Amazing tidbit of useless 'Poly lore. I changed my flag to the American one for tomorrow (since I don't plan to participate in the OT love-in, I felt it'd be a nice gesture). Anyway, guess what come poppin' up before you can say "dibertesque"? Yup - you guessed it: the murricans-only pop-up offer! So, fellow Euro's, if you've been dying to find out what you're missing, swap your flag!

[DarkCloud]

9-11-01 was what got me to use an avatar... my old WTC one... and then this one later

I checked apolyton the day after the attacks (on a remote computer )to check on my net-friends and am glad that all were safe...

Apolyton always was quick.

Rasbelin- UberKrux's dad died in the attacks.
As for the others... I only know of one other NewYorker- "New Yorker" and he stopped posting a few months before the troubles.

[DarkCloud]

Hmm... Rasbelin, here's an old file or two from that era:

I'd have to dig deeper to find older :

ON 9/26/01

THE ANDY_MAN Posted the following:

"War With Afghanistan a Waste of Time, money and lives.

Why is America so willing to goto war with Afghanistan (using British troops!).

Firstly, airstrikes will do little (much as they have done in Iraq). This is because most of the troops will be hidden in the mountains.

Secondly, this war would just be a repeat of Vietnam and The Russian Afghan war. Many Troops (non American, as it will be NATO ground forces (namely the British SAS) that the US will send in) will be slaughtered fighting an enemy that has the benifit of defensive terrain, knowlage of the terrain and SAS trainig. (Because when Russian was fighting America and Maggie Thatcher thought it a good idea to set up the Taliban to oppose Russia, and so had them SAS trained!).

There is also the problem of the worlds weakening economy. Even before the attack on the WTC, world economy was declining (it has now sped up). A long lasting war would be expensive and would most l;ikely cause a world recesiion on the magnetude of 1929.

Afghanistan (and Bin Laden) have been inteligent enough to call this a holy war, so most of the islamic world will rise in arms against the American 'devil'. And in Pakistan, there is massive anti American movements, so although the Govt. has said they may station troops there, the people will most likely raid the american bases and revolt against the govt.


Let us also remember that due to the withdrawal of UN Aid, over 5million Afghans will die of hunger before christmas.


The way i see it, in 2 years time we will have this situation:

USA, UK & India vs Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq (plus other Sympathisers).

I also see the western 'demorcracies' having their arse kiked around the middle eaast like a football
"

MING's response

Ahhhh... just another troll without a clue...

The Emperor Fabulous-

Wait...haven't I seen a post like this...about every ten minutes?

DarkCloud-

So? In a war anyone and anything is volatile.

I consider citizens of a country- regardless of their stance, just as guilty as the government if they cannot change the government.

At worst, the killing of the citizens will make all Afganies hate America and most of the world condemn the troops and other countries who make sanctions against Afghanistan.

The andy man

America claims to be fighting for democracy - the 5million people that will die have never even heard of the WTC, are defensless against the taliban regeim (set up by US), and are inoccent of any crimes, not to mention it wasnt even afghanistan that attacked america (it was a terrorist attack).

And Ming, stop being an arsewhole and tell me why i am a troll.

Ming

Because all you are trying to do is get the americans to respond, and you have absolutely no clue what you are talking about.

So you are a troll without a clue... it's that simple. Now go away and do some research about the facts before you continue to make an even bigger fool of yourself...

And so on... for 3 pages Thread started the 25th- up to 3 pages by the 26th

----
10-7-01 by Stefan Hartel-

Once a single civilian is killed...

Bush's speech on the attack on Afghanistan was nice, less patriotic than I had expected. I can only agree with what he said about the goals of this strike.
But I hope the Americans are careful with what they do. The destruction of power plants in Kabul and Kandahar would already be critical if the vast majority of Afghans would rely on electricity (which they don't). As long as the war is kept on an entirely military stage, as long as the targets are militaristic and governmental, it is allright, it is backened by a number of good reasons, arguments, viewpoints, etc.
But the entire thing will go into the plain unacceptable as soon as one civilian Afghan, be it of any cause, loses his or her life in result of these military strikes. It doesen't matter wether he becomes victim of a misguided missile or bomb or whatever (I have no idea what 'inventions' the US are using, and I don't really care either), starves to death due to the destruction of his only possible source of food or whatever.
As soon as one civilian dies, it is not vengeance against the terrorists, or the regime that backens then, but on an innocent people, and for this, it may righteously be called an "unprovoked attack".
I do believe Bush's words that the US are a friend to the Afghan people, as long as this people is spared.
If an Afghan civilian is killed in response to the people killed during the events of September 11th, it is vendetta, and this is unacceptable for a state and society such as the American, which considers itself the most advanced and modern in the world, and is considered at least a highly advanced one by others.
Aside from that it is entirely against the goals and ideals the US lay into this themselves.
There is no kill by accident. There just isn't. A lot of consideration must be layed into one thing before one can surely say that nobody is harmed or killed. If someone gets killed even though this consideration has been made, it's not an accident.
I hope the US army, air force, government, whatever, thinks about such things as well.
I couldn't change it, no matter what I did. Those who live in illusions may call that what I do 'praying'.

etc.

I can dig up more if you like

[Rasbelin]

Just a small sidenote. Isn't that off-topic?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Just to let people know (since I'm the meanest SOB mod when I'm on a roll - I singlehandedly improved Ming's image), I will be watching tomorrow, and will have no patience or tolerance for games.

Trolling, personal attacks, etc. will be handled in my own special fashion.

[Hydey]

I will be doing my usual thing tonight.

darts at the Dava

[Ming]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
Just to let people know (since I'm the meanest SOB mod when I'm on a roll - I singlehandedly improved Ming's image), I will be watching tomorrow, and will have no patience or tolerance for games.

Trolling, personal attacks, etc. will be handled in my own special fashion.

While I know you have been very busy with you business... It will be GREAT to have you around on 9/11.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by moomin
Amazing tidbit of useless 'Poly lore. I changed my flag to the American one for tomorrow (since I don't plan to participate in the OT love-in, I felt it'd be a nice gesture). Anyway, guess what come poppin' up before you can say "dibertesque"? Yup - you guessed it: the murricans-only pop-up offer! So, fellow Euro's, if you've been dying to find out what you're missing, swap your flag!

I swapped my flag yesterday (10th), in anticipation.

I didn't get any offers.

[Straybow]

Just be sure to watch out for those wackos who insist on calling it "11.9" instead of "9/11." It's an American thing, ya know.

[Robert Plomp]

oh, on our place it/s 11-9 tomorrow.
be honest, d - m - y makes much more sence than m - d- y

it's not minute:second:hour either, is it?

You know what, I'll change my flag into the USA flag for today.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Straybow
Just be sure to watch out for those wackos who insist on calling it "11.9" instead of "9/11." It's an American thing, ya know.

I call it 9/11 because that is its "name".

I would still say 9/11 happened on 11/9 though.

[Rasbelin]

I suspect a threadjack of my question thread.

BTW, I typed 11.9.02 because that's how dates are written in Finland. And I also wanted to make a clear difference from the fact that this thread isn't about the 9.11 incidents.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by CyberShy
it's not minute:second:hour either, is it?

No, but it's not second:minute:hour either, or 'centimeter, meter, kilometer'. All physical quantities are ordered from large to small, so the only 'proper' way to order dates is year/month/day, which would make today 02/9/11 and the event we're remembering 01/9/11...

Of course, only truely enlightened peolpe realize this Our goal is now to convince the other 99.99% of the world's population

[moomin]

I hate to bust yer bubble, Loc, but Sweden's date format has been YYMMDD for decades. So it's actually only 99,95% of the worlds population that needs to relearn dates.

[Chris 62]

Even though there are two topped threads, I added my own.

You can do what you like with it.

[Robert Plomp]

No, but it's not second:minute:hour either, or 'centimeter, meter, kilometer'. All physical quantities are ordered from large to small

I don't care if it's ascending or descending, as long as it makes sence. small-medium-large is fine with me as is large-medium-small.

Moomin, I hope Sweden doesn't still use the YYMMDD format after the Y2K crisis. It would be better if they used YYYYMMDD

[moomin]

We had no crisis. Standard around here interpreted YY >= 50 as 1900-something and YY < 50 as 2000 something. Made the whole millenium thing even more of a non-event then it turned out to be in the rest of the world.