Numb

I think it's pretty clear that I love Disney. There's Mickey shaped DNA in my body (along with all that weird stuff). A fellow coworker, when I started working for the Disney Stores, suggested that I join the DISboards. As I'd been pretty active in some other Disney fan sites, I didn't follow her lead for a couple of years.

In 2002, I finally jumped in. I started hanging out on the Cast Member board, because DUH, I was a Cast Member. I found the DISabilities board, which made sense for my medical woes and Gameboy's newly diagnosed issues. The Budget Board was great for information on saving money for those twice a year treks to the House of Mouse.

One day at work, sometime in 2003, a fellow CM and I were working in the store one night when she came to me and excitedly said "Those two ladies are DISers!". Beth and Von were regulars of a 'clique thread' and had chosen our store to meet face to face while Von was visiting Northern Virginia. They'd asked the other CM to take their picture, and we all started talking about the DIS.

We were invited to come meet up with them on that thread (which wasn't cliquish at all). The other CM popped in and said hi-I stuck around. In the five or so years, those women (and a few guys) became my family in the computer. I've met several, had an online baby shower for one, been consoled by them when Mom and Nancy passed and just had a big happy family to talk to about everything and nothing.

Along the way, the information I gained, the friendships I made and the pixie dust shared was immeasurable. Ed can attest that there have been very few days where I didn't spend some of my time on 'the DIS'.

At some point, I got a link to a site that was dubbed "the UnDIS", a site where you could speak a little more freely. When I first got there, instead of talking about 'pixie dust', it was 'pixie poop' and 'freakin fizzies'. To a NYer like me, it was as real as it could get.

I appreciated the candor and honesty on the UnDIS, but wasn't as big a poster as on the DIS. The DIS would coddle some weird/stupid/crazy people, but the UnDIS would not suffer the fools. It was the place to go to get the poop on what dumb thing was going on at the DIS.

Well, in a stunning display of brilliance a couple of days ago, the powers that be at the DISboards decided that they'd ban hyperlinks that came from Yuku pages (the UnDIS's host). Then, today, someone registered as a new member at the DIS to question WHY they did it. I cut and pasted it at the UnDIS, because one thing was certain-it'd be deleted (or 'poofed') at the DIS. Posts that did not agree with the owner's views tended to disappear, and those who did the posting got banned, too.

I went to work, I came home and went to the UnDIS, as is my habit. There were over 1000 users on there! The normal compliment is about 15-20, with it spiking to 100 whenever something interesting was going on. Apparently, the Webmaster inadvertently goofed and redirected people over to the UnDIS. We found it funny, and the owner of the UnDIS found the membership drive great. She thanked them for it in a sticky post.

Then the word started coming in...people who posted on the UnDIS were getting banned. At first, it looked like it was if they'd gone to the DIS from the UnDIS. Then, those who hadn't were getting banned, too. Next thing I know, I went to the DIS and found that I'd been banned.

I'm a call it as I see it person, but its rare that I'm mean-and honestly, I've never bashed the powers that be at the DIS. I was banned merely because I participate in frank and honest discussion on the UnDIS.

The hard part for me will be that I won't be hanging out with my sisters and 'bothers' anymore. I think that several members of the group are probably banned, too. All because we believe that sometimes, you've got to have a laugh and let off steam.

Guess I've got more time for blogging, since I won't be back at the DISboards. (and I'll be going over to InterCOT, Laughing Place, Mouseplanet, and about a half dozen other sites that provide the same camraderie for Disney fans.)