Re: PsyGuy – An Open Letter to the ISR Admin

[emilysue1212]

As teachers, we (well, most of us) want our students to be critical thinkers able to participate in a democratic forum in a thoughtful and conscientious manner. Part of that privilege is recognizing that not every opinion shared will be one that we agree with. If we do our jobs correctly, our students should be able to read something and not necessarily be seduced by it--that if something seems suspect it probably is, and that online forums allow even the best of people to behave in insulting and even derogatory manners. That is the price of a truly free democracy--having the liberty to say what you feel (as long as it is not infringing on the rights of others to do the same) and the liberty of others to disagree.

Alright--enough with the soap box. The advice I've heard from everyone that has ever been to the ISR website is "take what you read with a grain of salt." As a teacher new to the international scene (my fiance and I will be starting our first international job in Kuwait this August), I have never felt misled or duped by anything I've seen on this website. It's fairly easy to understand that reviews are often written by those who are disgruntled while those who are satisfied with their positions tend more often to keep quiet. The same goes for this forum--even though I'm new to international teaching, I'm not new to the phenomenon of the internet--that there are always people who dominate forums, that (gasp!), they might embellish their credentials, etc. As someone who has been using the internet for the past 20 years, I feel capable of reading something like a post from PsyGuy and reading between the lines.

So--why the need for censorship on this forum? Can't we all just think for ourselves and not lose sleep over who PsyGuy really is, where the recruiter lounge was located at the Sydney fair (it was the first floor! No--it was the second! The first floor IS the second! Pure comic gold I tell ya..) or what anyone says on an online forum? Sheesh.

[tgrear2008]

This thread is absurd. Some of you don't like PsyGuy, but you sure talk about him enough. I don't have a problem with him. If he is an imposter, so what? This is the internet, use good judgement.

Don't censor. Don't limit posts. We want more activity on this site.

Haters gonna hate.

[one2many]

.isr

[TinyGuest]

[quote="Skablictady"](skipping the amusing vignette, though it did make me laugh)

Tinyguest raised a poignant issue of outing PsyGuy as a stunt. Teachers post their years of experience in specific schools and countries. Heaven forbid they say something outrageous that someone would look up their SEARCH profile and threaten to out them on this forum. I am not judging the person who gave clues to PsyGuy's purported real identity either. I don't think he is mean-spirited. PsyGuy simply pushed him over the edge, that PsyGuy's credentials became the blacklisting issue.

Unfortunately, this thread has been misconstrued as a ridiculous Anti-PsyGuy stunt. What is the real intent of this thread?

1] I've been an ISR reader since 2005 and PsyGuy is an internet personality whom I have never met. He has an alter-ego named DAVE and PsyGuy on the Teacher.net Forum. He has pestered and angered a long list of people many times over. There are also those who feel sorry for him. I wouldn't be surprised if he were the exact opposite in real life. For all we know, he could be TinyVisitor, Globetrvlr456, ForeignStella or Holier rolled in one.

4] There's a 3-post maximum per 24 hours for ISR members. This policy needs to be reviewed at the very least. It's not healthy for anyone to monopolise and dominate our discussion. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a “slow dayâ€

[mantissa]

Why attack? Don't read his posts if they bother you. I found the open letter truly troubling. So full of anger!!!! Let him be! Who cares if he has a job or not? It's an open forum. And some people find his advice helpful. What's the point of going after him?

[nancyt]

I don't think this is full of hate and PsyGuy does have general knowledge about international teaching that is useful for a newcomer. It is just when he gets into specifics of a particular job or country or job fair and makes statements that people may take as fact that I have a problem with. Of course, we are all anonymous here, but far more than any other member, it seems, he has posted his location and job title and uses that as evidence he knows what he is talking about. Then we hear contradicting information that he most likely lives in the USA (and this looks to be verified by the timing of his posts - does he really get up in the middle of the night in Europe to answer ISR postings)?

I would appreciate if he just corrects what information he has put out there about himself (of his own volition) so that when I read a post from him I don't doubt his credibility.

[hallier]

Well put Nancyt.

[PsyGuy]

When your reading the forum your seeing post times reflected based on your own time zone. I'm 5/6 hours ahead of the east coast (depending on DST). So what looks like 1am to you is already morning for me.

[wrldtrvlr123]

[quote="PsyGuy"]When your reading the forum your seeing post times reflected based on your own time zone. I'm 5/6 hours ahead of the east coast (depending on DST). So what looks like 1am to you is already morning for me.[/quote]
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8:18 PM Beijing, China

TESTING TESTING TESTING

[stellalocal]

[quote="wrldtrvlr123"][quote="PsyGuy"]When your reading the forum your seeing post times reflected based on your own time zone. I'm 5/6 hours ahead of the east coast (depending on DST). So what looks like 1am to you is already morning for me.[/quote]
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8:18 PM Beijing, China

TESTING TESTING TESTING[/quote]

haha, it depends which time zone you've selected on your profile page, I think. It doesn't change as you move around to different locations, well mine doesn't. Actually, don't see how that would work, the times don't change when I'm not logged in. Weird! Not sure how it decides on the time zone now.

[wrldtrvlr123]

[quote="wrldtrvlr123"][quote="PsyGuy"]When your reading the forum your seeing post times reflected based on your own time zone. I'm 5/6 hours ahead of the east coast (depending on DST). So what looks like 1am to you is already morning for me.[/quote]
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8:18 PM Beijing, China

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Interesting. So the Forum time is set to GMT +4? Why? Is admin hiding out in Baku, or Moscow?

And at least one incriminating piece of evidence againt Psyguy deflected, if not deflated.

I suppose he could still be somewhere, writing his overseas teaching fantasies by the light of bare bulb in a basement apartment in Texas.

[stellalocal]

[quote="wrldtrvlr123"][quote="wrldtrvlr123"][quote="PsyGuy"]When your reading the forum your seeing post times reflected based on your own time zone. I'm 5/6 hours ahead of the east coast (depending on DST). So what looks like 1am to you is already morning for me.[/quote]
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8:18 PM Beijing, China

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Interesting. So the Forum time is set to GMT +4? Why? Is admin hiding out in Baku, or Moscow?

And at least one incriminating piece of evidence againt Psyguy deflected, if not deflated.

I suppose he could still be somewhere, writing his overseas teaching fantasies by the light of bare bulb in a basement apartment in Texas.[/quote]

No idea how it decides on timezone now. I'm always GMT. As for the times of psyguy's posts, I was assuming people were taking timezones into consideration, I can't be bothered to check though.

[PsyGuy]

When Im not logged in the time is set to GMT (I dont know what the "default" time is if your in the USA?), once I log in it switches to my time zone which is GMT+2.

[wrldtrvlr123]

[quote="stellalocal"][quote="wrldtrvlr123"][quote="wrldtrvlr123"][quote="PsyGuy"]When your reading the forum your seeing post times reflected based on your own time zone. I'm 5/6 hours ahead of the east coast (depending on DST). So what looks like 1am to you is already morning for me.[/quote]
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8:18 PM Beijing, China

TESTING TESTING TESTING[/quote]

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Interesting. So the Forum time is set to GMT +4? Why? Is admin hiding out in Baku, or Moscow?

And at least one incriminating piece of evidence againt Psyguy deflected, if not deflated.

I suppose he could still be somewhere, writing his overseas teaching fantasies by the light of bare bulb in a basement apartment in Texas.[/quote]

No idea how it decides on timezone now. I'm always GMT. As for the times of psyguy's posts, I was assuming people were taking timezones into consideration, I can't be bothered to check though.[/quote]
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Actually, I have never checked either, so he could still be posting at 4:00AM wherever he is and that still wouldn't completely shock me, I guess. So I guess it doesn't mean much either way.

And it is really GMT time to me (8 hours behind...I plead fatigue from the flu or whatever has been kicking my @rse for the last couple of days) which would be London. Better hideout than Baku.

[seinfeld]

Stupid thread, waste of internet bandwidth.

I used to come here a lot a few years ago, it was dead. Very dead. No questions got answered.

Now it's a bit more alive and that's down to more questions being answered.