The Straight Dope:
Today the Net, Tomorrow the Jungles of Guyana

Being the sad and pathetic saga of "ignorance fighters" on the Straight Dope Message Board*leaping to the defense of Pat Robertson's ailing gland, their gleeful Doper FlameTrooper blitzkrieg that goes terribly awry like shooting roman candles from the Hindenburg while smoking a cigarette standing ankle deep in gasoline, then segues into bizarre accusations of sock puppetry and web site spoofing, ranging over moderators who graduated from the Bull Connor school of conflict resolution leading to the inevitable flashover, which is then doused in a sarcastic brine and offered hot and steaming in eleven tasty courses. Plus, some bonus reports from Blogistan and gratuitous litigious copyright bullshitting!

Part 1: Obligatory Sociological Posturing You Can Probably Skip

Part 2: Dopes Against Ignorance or Fighting Fire with Gasoline

Part 3: Where You Humble Narrator Wishes Cancer on Pat Robertson and Gets Malignancy

Part 4: I'm A Tool and Other Revealing Freudian Dick References

Part 5: Working as a Fifth Columnist for Shari Lewis

Part 6: Backstory: Orson Welles in Charge of the Twinkies

Part 7: Moderation in Everything Except Moderation

Part 8: No MP3, No Empathy

Part 9: Divine Wind

Part 10: A Confederacy of Whores

Epilogue: Rules? We Don't Need No Stinking Rules

 

Bonus: Letters from Dopes and to Dopes

03/13/2003--Always Nice to Hear from the SDMB
TubaDiva shows some classic "ignorance fighting" with the stunningly original idea of misusing copyright protection and ignoring Fair Use to stifle criticism.

03/14/2003--SDMB Request: No. Thanks for Playing
A pre-emptive letter to SDMB higher ups in order to appeal to their sense of decency, fair play and self-preservation while they can still hobble off on one foot without a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

03/23/2003--Straight Dope Follow Up
Just in case the "ignorance fighters" have totally punked out.

*The Straight Dope is a syndicated column carried in over twenty-five newspapers nationwide, which means it's carried in just over 1% of newspapers, most of these being the sort of free weeklies you find littering coffee houses.