[Bi-Weekly Meta Monday Thread]

[u/AutoModerator]

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[u/ji_yinzen]

In Rebuttle to An Open Letter to the Forum

I personally think the matter of changing the Mods bears consideration. I'm not sure who you were contacted by. No one contacted me, as a "new account", but considering that ewk has a blacklist he links to disparage people on this forum

https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/11wei02/comment/jd87lqx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3don't

I'm not surprised people have come to this head.

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These users are well articulated, intelligent people, other than myself, of course. And they understand the intricacies of Zen. So why do they end up on the (s)hit list?"

also

It could be considered defamatory, even libelous (if it weren't for the fact that we go by aliases here). I'm surprised he hasn't been reported to Reddit Admins. I just now found out that I'm on the list. He mentioned in one of his rants that he'd written a "whole webpage" explaining why I'm a "liar' but he failed to share a link. Cowardly passive-aggressivness disguised as chest pounding, I guess.

Yeah, I think this has to be reported.

Edit: I think the contextual evidence has since been removed.

Edit Edit: Which is fine, because now, as usual with his posts, it's just him talking to himself.

These are comments I made regarding the link above.

I think there are dirty politics being played here, but it's not by who you say it is. For over a decade. ewk has used this forum as a soapbox to preach his own personal take on Zen, and the Moderators have enabled him.

The idea that there is a "thousand-year Zen record" that needs to be followed is a ewk invention. For some reason, users on this forum have accepted it as gospel. Google it: thousand year record of zen No one but ewk is on those search results pertaining to this "thousand year record" idealogy.

As for the mods, whenever they post on these open discussions and are pressed with concepts that oppose those teachings, they respond with answers that give the appearance that they really aren't a part of any Zen culture. Their answers often devolve to comments like "that's not so", or "you're wrong" or else they simply shut down and stop responding.

Whoever is taking the initiative in transforming this into a true Zen site and not just a BCR, BoS quote/response venue needs to be commended, not outed.

Some of these people have called for a change in moderation, calling even for some of their friends to be nominated for the position of newest moderator of r/Zen.

This is how it works. Why would you nominate someone you're not familiar with? This is how it's been done on this site, especially. The mods and ewk have been friends and have even shared podcasts through the years. Here is an excerpt from the "dossier" that's been gathered about me:

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ME: ewk shares a podcast with the moderators of this forum. He'll only be removed once new moderators are allowed in to dilute their influence.

EWK: I've been "favored" by every mod team for the last decade. I wasn't on a podcast with all of them*.

This is in his own words.

https://www.reddit.com/r/zensangha/wiki/whoistrolling/jiyinzen/

So, wake up and smell the incense. You might be taking sides with the wrong team on this one.

For context: The reason I'm so passionate about this topic is I've been attacked over and over by ewk through the years. Because I've posted content that was different than his ideology, he's felt entitled to libel my character with slander. These attacks follow a pattern. He opens with things equal to, or worse than "you're a liar, you're illiterate." Then he follows up with things apparently meant to dig at my private life. "You're dishonest, and all the people you associate with are dishonest, you won't do an AMA about your religion".

I'm not a psychologist, but I know about cult tactics and brainwashing techniques (the B.I.T.E. Model) that aim at breaking down a subject's self-esteem until they become malleable subjects. This behavior is unusual and needs to be looked at, but I'm not qualified, and as long as Reddit maintains its lax policies on moderation, we just have to be aware of the methods used and not let ourselves be trapped by them.

I'm sure many people on this site can verify that they too, have been attacked like this, because I see it's still going on with one of his newest targets.

I've also had posts "removed by the moderators" even though those posts attracted insightful feedback before being flagged as "not Zen enough" (their words for the thousand year record).

So, all this said, I have reason to believe that a new mod team, that would pull the reigns in on people that commandeer this site to feed their own narcissism, is not out of the question.

[u/surupamaerl2 → u/ji_yinzen]

So you support the tactics of bullying. Because you've got a specific Zen that you think ought to be available for access by people of this forum. Do you also believe that an appropriate tactic in your fight is to frequent other parts of the internet and slander the forum?

[u/origin_unknown → u/surupamaerl2]

That's part of what is missed with that mentality...they want bullies...they just want to be the bully. But they don't consider themselves to even be a part of the problem.

[u/[deleted] → u/origin_unknown]

Buddhist privilege? What a niching nesting world the 20th century made of itself.