Markadelphia is currently doing his thing in the comments to So Detroit Files for Bankruptcy, having veered off into a non sequitur thread about Trayvon Martin and race relations in the U.S. Current comment count as I write this is 91.
I will admit that through the years (going on seven now), Markadelphia has inspired some pretty good posts (see the left sidebar) and a LOT of outstanding commentary (inspired, not generated). And I will admit to “hunting over bait” to draw him and his special brand of Leftist brain-damage out from time to time, but as the GeekWitha.45 (among others) has noted more than once, what Markadelphia does in general is well described as comment shitting. Great for traffic, but the signal-to-noise ratio drops right the hell off when he starts up.
I, your “Cult Grand Wizard” have said that I will never ban him from this site, but he left once previously voluntarily when he believed he had been “voted off the island” by my readers. I pointed out to him the “vote” was 2-2, which is known in my world as “a tie.” So he came back.
So let’s do this for real. Leave a comment below: Should Markadelphia be voted off the island, Yes or No?
UPDATE: Regardless of the vote, I’m not going to ban-hammer Markadelphia. I’m going to let his conscience be his guide (I can’t believe I actually wrote that.) Voting concludes Monday at midnight, MST.
As of 4PM MST 7/20/13: Yes – 4, No – 9
As of 9:30PM 7/20/13: Yes – 5, No – 11
As of 7:50AM 7/21/13: Yes – 5, No – 16
5:05PM 7/21/13: Yes – 10, No – 13, Abstaining – 3
I just rechecked the comment thread and also my email. Sixty-two comments, 23 votes. A couple of people have changed their votes, I’ve gotten one “Yes” vote via email because Disqus refuses to work for them, and I think I might have double-counted one “No” vote on the last round. Somebody check my work.
07:28 7/22/13: OK, with Unix having now weighed in, the vote stands at: Yes: 12 13, No: 14 (two “Yes” votes via email) and Abstaining: 2. Voting continues until midnight tonight. Anything timestamped after that will be ignored. Honestly, it’s closer than I thought it would be.
I changed the “Yes” count to 13. I’m tired of him, too. I’d have been happy if he hadn’t gotten progressively (and I use that word deliberately) worse over the last six years, but his complete wharrgarbl of late has prompted me into it (and this post). I still won’t ban him, but I am tired of him and would not be disappointed if he took his navel lint and went home.
12:32 7/22/13: TIE! Yes – 14, No – 14, Abstaining – 2. Less than twelve hours left.
14:03 7/22/13: Another vote change. Yes – 15, No – 13, Abstaining – 2.
18:40 7/22/13: Yes – 16, No – 16, Abstaining – 2. Yup. We’re a monolithic cult here marching in mindless lockstep. What kind of “Cult Grand Wizard” am I?
UPDATE — FINAL TALLY:
| YES | NO | ABSTAIN |
| DJ | juris imprudent | Lyle |
| Toastrider | Helen Thomas | Perlhaqr |
| Peter G. (email) | Grumpy Old Fart | |
| Merchant O’Death (email) | GuardDuck | |
| Phil B | RandyGC | |
| Andrew P | Robert Frampton | |
| QuadGMoto | Frognot | |
| Mark Dietzler | John Pryce | |
| GeekWithA.45 | Ragin’ Dave | |
| Pascal | MiddleAgeKen | |
| DC | Jeffro | |
| Unix-Jedi | John Hardin | |
| Mark D | Steve | |
| John Hardin | 6Kings | |
| Will | Haplo9 | |
| Dixie | MrBill | |
| JustSomeGuy | ||
| Peter Barrett |
One late vote from pedeim was excluded. “Yes” – 18, “No” – 16, Abstain – 2. I left my vote off because it didn’t matter. The People Have Spoken.
UPDATE 4:07 MST 7/23/13 – Now that we’re done with this, I’m going to lock this thread in a little bit. If you have something you want to say, please get it off your chest, but leave comments specifically about Markadelphia out of it. We’ve voted, it’s done.