TWOP Howard strikes again!

[muffynbear]

Twop Howard is indeed a man. Here is his pic: http://www.world-tour-orion7.com/images ... 2006_b.JPG

ETA: Twop Howard's real name is Gary, btw.

[apple1]

Disclaimer: I never was on TWOP; it's not my style.

Question: Actually, how is TWOP anyone's style? Who would put up with this crap?

[contrary]

it used to be worth it for quality snark and really hysterical reviews (i LOVED the early Friday Night Light reviews, with in depth discussions on Coach's Hair and the Guitars of Impending Doom).

i rarely go over there now, except in cases of extreme boredom at work, and never post.

[lilwriter85]

Part of the reason I put up with TWOP rules, is because some threads are enjoyable to read and post on. A couple of the threads I post on aren't really moderated that much.

[snarkykitty]

Why are people not allowed to post while watching the show?

Edited to add: I used to moderate a board and a scheduled chat (for people with a specific medical condition) on iVillage years ago (before their boards and chats became specialized channels; there used to be a General Chat room where people could talk about anything, and they closed it up after a few years). Anyway, as an iVillage moderator, we were hands-on only when trouble showed up (trolls, spammers, way off topic posts). Also during the scheduled chats, I kept the room going by asking topic-related questions, but leaving the general chit-chat to the participants.

On the message board, a "kinda" off-topic was okay as long as you said how it was related to having the medical condition.

For example, if someone posted something like: "My day sucked and I hate people!", I encourage them to share how it connected to the medical condition. Usually, they would post with an explanation like: "My day sucked because my doctor was two hours late thanks to a bunch of people who showed up late to their appointments, which also meant that there was no parking, which meant I had to walk three blocks in the cold air, aggravating my asthma!"

Moderators' jobs are to guide, not monopolize. It seems that TWOP is more of a police state. At iVillage, we didn't get paid, but we took it all very seriously, as this was a service that served many members of their audience. When we trained, we had a seasoned moderator in the chat room just to observe and let me know how I could do things better. On the message board, I was trained invisibly. I had to really earn those jobs, and prove that I was serious, that I knew my topic, and that I knew how to speak (write) in a personable but authoritative way, to be respectful, and to send a problem up the chain if need be.

Sigh...I miss those days!

[alphaeta08]

Twop Howard is indeed a man. Here is his pic: http://www.world-tour-orion7.com/images ... 2006_b.JPG

ETA: Twop Howard's real name is Gary, btw.

Wow, whenever I did imagine him as a man, that's pretty much exactly how I pictured him! :lol:

[lilwriter85]

Now that it has been confirmed that Howard is a man. I'm curious why some believe Howard was a woman.

[StarrieEyedKat]

Now that it has been confirmed that Howard is a man. I'm curious why some believe Howard was a woman.

If I'm remembering correctly (which I'm probably not) Howard/Orion7 said somewhere that they were female.

[Lillybee]

Now that it has been confirmed that Howard is a man. I'm curious why some believe Howard was a woman.

I think it was because his mod's name is Howard after the Kate Howard character on Homicide. There are a few mods named after Homicide characters.

[contrary]

i used to love ivillage chat!

[StarrieEyedKat]

The new sticky on the Sister Wives thread, posted by Howard, of course:

Please keep in mind that the thread is here so that you can discuss the show about the family, not the family itself. When you start bringing in information about what their houses rent for, and who is related to whom by what degree, you’re fixating on the family rather than on the show. It also comes across as stalker-y to a degree which I won’t allow in the thread. There are plenty of gossip sites online, but this isn’t one. The focus of your posts needs to be the TV show. If your post was deleted, that was why.

[Sinister Rouge]

So, I've never done the whole TWOP thing, but... uhhhh, how are you supposed to discuss a show about a family without focusing on the family? "Oh, the polygamist husband just had another baby with one of his wives. And did anyone see that commercial for TJ MAXX?!"

[lilwriter85]

So, I've never done the whole TWOP thing, but... uhhhh, how are you supposed to discuss a show about a family without focusing on the family? "Oh, the polygamist husband just had another baby with one of his wives. And did anyone see that commercial for TJ MAXX?!"

Based on the sticky about Sister Wives, it seems the mods just want the discussion of Sister Wives to be about what happens on the show and they don't want discussion about things that Browns do that aren't shown on camera.

[Lillybee]

It seems that the mods have backslid on the Duggar thread lately. There has been quite a bit of talk about the Bates family and other off topic things.

[demgirl]

This is why I gave up on TWoP. I got banned for something really idiotic, and never bothered to re-register. It was crazy strict back in the Wing Chung/Sars days, but not like this. They've basically given the site to TWoP Howard to run and between "Boards on Boards" and "Just the Show, even if it's a Reality Show", you can't have a real discussion. I know the site got crazy amounts of traffic back in the day, but I'd be shocked if it hasn't gone way down in recent years. Also, the quality of the posters has really deteriorated -- I think the smart, articulate and interesting posters were simply able to find new places to hang out on the web.

The "Stick to the SHow not Life" thing also bothers me for reality shows. If you want that as a rule, don't have reality show discussion boards. It's ridiculous to not be able to discuss the gossip about what happens behind the scenes and what happens between "seasons".

Also, I might be crazy, but I know I've heard others comment similarly, that there is a strange undercurrent of misogyny that popped up on the site (both posters and mods) a few years ago. I should stop now, because if I get started on real TWoP rant, it could go on for a while.

ETA: In reference to why bother w/ TWoP, TWoP used to be worth it to me because there were a lot of really quality posters that would often cause me to laugh hysterically or think about television in different ways. Also, because some of the recappers were seriously the funniest people on earth. The recap for the last episode of 7th Heaven (a show I only watched about one season, off and on, at the beginning) was one of the funniest things I've read in my entire life. The recapper who documented the last season of Dawson's Creek perfectly documented her (and all other fans) slow descent into insanity with the show. Also, they use to have fun, cute things like poster-made banners and "Guess the New Seasons' Recapped Shows" and silly stuff like that. It's a very different site now than it was five years ago.

[Vex]

Ugh, I hate him. He gave me an official warning for accidentally not closing a quote tag.

I love snarking on Toddlers and Tiaras, and it's the only site with a decent dedicated thread about it, but it took me a few months to summon the willpower to post there again.

[lilwriter85]

It seems that the mods have backslid on the Duggar thread lately. There has been quite a bit of talk about the Bates family and other off topic things.

I read the Duggar thread yesterday and I noticed the off topic posts about the Bateses. I also saw discussion about the Jeubs and Gothard was mentioned in several posts.

[lilwriter85]

Ugh, I hate him. He gave me an official warning for accidentally not closing a quote tag.

I love snarking on Toddlers and Tiaras, and it's the only site with a decent dedicated thread about it, but it took me a few months to summon the willpower to post there again.

I think that is a ridiculous reason to give a warning. I have seen a few posts with unclosed quote tags, I guess Howard gave those posters warnings.

[contrary]

omg, those 7th heaven recaps were comedy GOLD! i never even watched the show, but i loved the recaps. the Campound!

[deborahlynn1979]

I hate TWOP Howard. He closed The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills thread AGAIN last night, claiming there were lots of off-topic posts, although I've read them all and don't see any. He's a tool on a MAJOR powertrip.

I’m closing the thread until I have time to deal with all of the off-topic posts. I have no idea when that will be.

Found this online: http://twophowardisadouchewaffle.blogspot.com/

[lilwriter85]

I hate TWOP Howard. He closed The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills thread AGAIN last night, claiming there were lots of off-topic posts, although I've read them all and don't see any. He's a tool on a MAJOR powertrip.

Found this online: http://twophowardisadouchewaffle.blogspot.com/

I loved reading those comments on TWIT Howard. The below one is my favorite.

I bet TWiTH was "that kid" in school... the hall monitor or the Nellie Olsen or Judy Hensler of the class. That was TWiTH as a kid, and every class had one.

[formergothardite]

omg, those 7th heaven recaps were comedy GOLD! i never even watched the show, but i loved the recaps. the Campound!

I never watched the show either. But the recaps were amazing. They were so funny!

[deborahlynn1979]

Douchenozzle reopened the Real Housewives of BH thread just now, but couldn't keep himself from smacking everyone on the hand:

Okay, back open, with a couple of reminders.

If you want to discuss Watch What’s Happening: Live, you need to do so in the thread for that show. Different shows, different threads is the rule here. I was allowing a brief mention of WWHL in the past, but after last night, that isn’t going to happen any more. If you bring up that show up in this thread you’re going off-topic.

Likewise, anything mentioned in that show which hasn’t happened on this show is off-topic. That means Taylor’s book and Kim’s rehab, to mention the most prominent ways in which people went off-topic yesterday. Arbitrary and artificial rules? Yes, but if you want this thread to be kept open as a place to talk about the events you saw on RHoBH, those are the rules. If sticking to talking about the show and only the show is too boring or restrictive for you, then don’t post. You’ll only contribute to getting the thread closed down and unfairly punishing people who managed to follow the rules.

So, as the pinned post says, if you didn’t see it on an episode of this show, you shouldn’t be talking about it in the thread for this show. You can either pay attention and keep the thread open for everyone, or you can selfishly keep pushing the envelope because you think it’s fun or because you think you’re above the rules and get the thread closed and yourself warned or worse. Your choice.

[Vex]

I think that is a ridiculous reason to give a warning. I have seen a few posts with unclosed quote tags, I guess Howard gave those posters warnings.

He seems to be very inconsistant with his warnings and notes. I'm sure he has given other people warnings for what I did, but just like his other warnings he seems to dole them out at random. It makes it seem like he's a douchbag on a power trip rather than a strict moderator.

I'm going to read that blog right now! I agree that the 7th Heaven recaps were always hilarious.

[PennySycamore]

Marmalade,

I know who Pauline Fowler is! My daughter and I love to watch Eastenders on North Carolina public TV.

It's weird, but modding on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills forum was very lax last season. Pretty much anything was allowed. I can remember only one instance where a mod called people out about stuff.