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Post by moopigsdad on Feb 18, 2014 9:33:24 GMT -5
I think due to the long process in creating the new register that the lack of NORs issued by OPM has started to affect a lot of people on this Board. We are here to freely exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions related to SSA and being an ALJ. We shouldn't be attacking each other over those ideas, thoughts and opinions. I just think the long drawn out process coupled with the really bad Winter has taken a toll on many of us. I know myself, I am somewhat less myself, but some of it could be from the recovery from major surgery, in addition to the long NOR wait and Winter. However, I think we need to be able to freely exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions on this Board for the benefit of all, without some of us feeling the need to attack each other. I still hold to heart sage advice my mother passed on down to me..."if you don't have something good to say about someone, it is best not to say anything at all." I would add just avoid personal attacks on the individual. If you want to attack the idea, thought or opinion have at it, just don't personally attack the person who expressed it. I think if we get the NORs and Winter passes into Spring, we all will feel better. (Now, please don't personally attack me for expressing this opinion.) LOL!  |
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Post by Ace Midnight on Feb 18, 2014 9:36:35 GMT -5
Take your cheery attitude someplace else - "moopigsdad" (if that is, indeed, your "real" name.) Tell your story walking, brother.
LOL
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Post by moopigsdad on Feb 18, 2014 9:50:00 GMT -5
Take your cheery attitude someplace else - "moopigsdad" (if that is, indeed, your "real" name.) Tell your story walking, brother. LOL Thanks ace, indeed my dog's nickname is Moopig and I am her adopted dad. LOL! I just think we all have become so taut on the edge that we have forgotten some of the basics in being a member of this Board. Hence, the reason for my post. |
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Post by crab on Feb 18, 2014 9:53:04 GMT -5
Can anyone but you confirm your dog's name, hmmmm?  Hope you're recovering well, MPD, and always glad to have your cheery attitude around. |
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Post by ginger on Feb 18, 2014 9:55:13 GMT -5
Same here. Hope you are back to chasing moopig around soon.
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Post by southeastalj on Feb 18, 2014 10:51:51 GMT -5
Yes so much so that this will be my last post here. The board simply isn't useful when every thread gets turned into how horrible the agency is by one poster in particular. Given today's memo from OCALJ to the corps concerning telework it's going to be a lot more of the same any minute now and I'm simply tired of having to read it. It's become what the first board was and why it was abandoned in hopes of a fresh start. This board had a good run but it's back to where things were before and why the sitting number of ALJs who post here regularly has dwindled down to no more than a handful. I wish everyone the best if luck in the process, unfortunately at best you've still got many months to go before any offers will be made and for many of you there are still years to go. All I can say is hang in there!
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Post by westernalj on Feb 18, 2014 10:56:02 GMT -5
Before you go, what was the memo?
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Post by ssaogc on Feb 18, 2014 10:58:36 GMT -5
I think due to the long process in creating the new register that the lack of NORs issued by OPM has started to affect a lot of people on this Board. We are here to freely exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions related to SSA and being an ALJ. We shouldn't be attacking each other over those ideas, thoughts and opinions. I just think the long drawn out process coupled with the really bad Winter has taken a toll on many of us. I know myself, I am somewhat less myself, but some of it could be from the recovery from major surgery, in addition to the long NOR wait and Winter. However, I think we need to be able to freely exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions on this Board for the benefit of all, without some of us feeling the need to attack each other. I still hold to heart sage advice my mother passed on down to me..."if you don't have something good to say about someone, it is best not to say anything at all." I would add just avoid personal attacks on the individual. If you want to attack the idea, thought or opinion have at it, just don't personally attack the person who expressed it. I think if we get the NORs and Winter passes into Spring, we all will feel better. (Now, please don't personally attack me for expressing this opinion.) LOL! For the most part with one or two exceptions folks are civil here as they should be--Even when they disagree. There are one or two folks that come on here and think their qualifications are superior to others and feel a need to put folks they disagree with down and start calling people names as if we were in junior high school again. So I agree that even though there are many folks whose nerves are on edge due to the NOR release date that is taking longer than expected there are only one or two folks on here that seem to want to pick fights and then continue the fight via private message when the thread is shut down. We are all beggars looking to get hired in a highly coveted job and still have a LONG way to go to even think we have a good chance at landing one of the few spots. |
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Post by lawbird on Feb 18, 2014 11:09:27 GMT -5
I agree, MPD, and I am not even a real person. The cockatiel is typing this (hunt and peck).
I shall go back to lurking until those darned scores come out.
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davef
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Post by davef on Feb 18, 2014 11:28:20 GMT -5
I'm finally able to break myself from checking the board every hour on the hour and I apparently miss it falling into anarchy and chaos???. Not sure what I missed, but I'm sure we are all a little fried from the wait. Overall, I have been very impressed with how respectful and supportive this board has been. I assume based on SSAOGC'S comment things turned this weekend.
I would just echo MPD's comments. This board has been extremely helpful to me throughout this process. It would be ashame to have people turned off from it now, both applicants and ALJ's.
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Post by moopigsdad on Feb 18, 2014 11:36:36 GMT -5
I just think sometimes some of us post without thinking the ramifications of his or her post. I am sorry you have decided to stop participating southeastalj because you let a few bad apples spoil the entire process. I wish you would reconsider and bring your continued sage wisdom and knowledge to the Board. I know I appreciate your posts. |
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Post by moopigsdad on Feb 18, 2014 11:40:20 GMT -5
I'm finally able to break myself from checking the board every hour on the hour and I apparently miss it falling into anarchy and chaos???. Not sure what I missed, but I'm sure we are all a little fried from the wait. Overall, I have been very impressed with how respectful and supportive this board has been. I assume based on SSAOGC'S comment things turned this weekend. I would just echo MPD's comments. This board has been extremely helpful to me throughout this process. It would be ashame to have people turned off from it now, both applicants and ALJ's. Davef go and read the locked thread "Are there more National Hearing Centers in the hopper?" and you will understand the reason for my new thread here. I like you have tried to stay away from the Board a little to avoid frustration with the slowness of this process. However, I still occasionally check it, but not as often. |
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Post by funkyodar on Feb 18, 2014 12:03:59 GMT -5
Considering this board is populated by attorneys, a group generally known to be egotistical and argumentative, I have found it to be remarkably civil. Add in the fact that opm's focus on litigation experience has ensured only the most egotistical and argumentative attorneys (ie litigators as opposed to real estate title examiners) are what is left....well, full on virtual free for alls ought to be the norm, not the exception.
In an evironment with those players, in a competitive situation, under the additional stress of ignorance of the process/time frame, I think folks have been extraordinarily friendly.
People react to stress differently. I generally try to combat it with humor. Occasionally though, I admit to lashing out when the best course is to refrain. Last nights brouhaha was one such instance. Thus, I apologize for allowing the offense I took to one's statements to devolve into verbal barbs. I will endeavor to hold my tongue, or typing fingers, more judiciously in the future.
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Post by Ace Midnight on Feb 18, 2014 12:12:11 GMT -5
Davef go and read the locked thread "Are there more National Hearing Centers in the hopper?" and you will understand the reason for my new thread here. I like you have tried to stay away from the Board a little to avoid frustration with the slowness of this process. However, I still occasionally check it, but not as often. While that thread was bizarrely negative, I think it is atypical for this board. I've certainly had the occasional disagreement, but most people on here are civil, rational and logical. We've been educated, trained and encouraged to make arguments based on facts and reasonable assumptions. But that thread kind of went off the rails on a crazy train, if quoting Ozzy Osbourne is acceptable in this forum. |
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davef
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Post by davef on Feb 18, 2014 12:26:09 GMT -5
I'm finally able to break myself from checking the board every hour on the hour and I apparently miss it falling into anarchy and chaos???. Not sure what I missed, but I'm sure we are all a little fried from the wait. Overall, I have been very impressed with how respectful and supportive this board has been. I assume based on SSAOGC'S comment things turned this weekend. I would just echo MPD's comments. This board has been extremely helpful to me throughout this process. It would be ashame to have people turned off from it now, both applicants and ALJ's. Davef go and read the locked thread "Are there more National Hearing Centers in the hopper?" and you will understand the reason for my new thread here. I like you have tried to stay away from the Board a little to avoid frustration with the slowness of this process. However, I still occasionally check it, but not as often. Thanks MPD, though now I wish I never even read that thread. I haven't paid much attention to the thread because the title was about as harmless as, "are puppies cute?" Waiting for results is tense, we all handle it differently. While disagreement should be expected, I think we all need to maintain a certain level of civility for the board to continue to be the resource that it is. I'm glad the moderator shut the thread down before it turned into challenges of Greco Roman wrestling in the parking lot. The question I use to filter is, "will this post be thrown in my face at some point in the future." I did not however ask myself this question when I picked the Bengals to go to the Superbowl. |
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Post by 71stretch on Feb 18, 2014 12:26:20 GMT -5
Davef go and read the locked thread "Are there more National Hearing Centers in the hopper?" and you will understand the reason for my new thread here. I like you have tried to stay away from the Board a little to avoid frustration with the slowness of this process. However, I still occasionally check it, but not as often. While that thread was bizarrely negative, I think it is atypical for this board. I've certainly had the occasional disagreement, but most people on here are civil, rational and logical. We've been educated, trained and encouraged to make arguments based on facts and reasonable assumptions. But that thread kind of went off the rails on a crazy train, if quoting Ozzy Osbourne is acceptable in this forum. The Ozzy quote works. We've had a few of those threads over the past many many months, and have had them once in awhile before that. For me, I use one of the same rules of thumb that I use in a large internet forum I help moderate. Discuss the topic, not the posters. It's when these threads go off on personal attacks that we get closures like that one, and sometimes, threads like this in response. |
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Post by Ace Midnight on Feb 18, 2014 12:41:48 GMT -5
Waiting for results is tense, we all handle it differently. While disagreement should be expected, I think we all need to maintain a certain level of civility for the board to continue to be the resource that it is. I'm glad the moderator shut the thread down before it turned into challenges of Greco Roman wrestling in the parking lot. The question I use to filter is, "will this post be thrown in my face at some point in the future." It's not even so much that - I've sometimes said things in anger that I wish I could have massaged, a bit. However, I usually say what I think. Hopefully, I do so while respecting the other person, even if I do not respect their opinion or point of view very much. And as for the stress, I subscribe to the school of thought that says that wealth and stress act in similar ways on people - they do not change people (at least not dramatically, perhaps over time), but, rather, unmask them and reveal the people they really are. Fortunately, we do not have huge numbers of forum members at each others' throats. After all, those of us still in the running could easily be at odds, as we are all competing for the same, scant number of available jobs over the next 2 to 3 years. This appears to have been an isolated incident, thankfully, of which there have been few - at least since I've been active on this board. |
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Post by sandiferhands (old) on Feb 18, 2014 13:43:14 GMT -5
That was a bizarre thread. It was very unusual for this board, IMHO. I've enjoyed the discourse here and learned A LOT, and hope to learn the real identity of my fellow posters in Falls Church in the near future. |
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Post by privateatty on Feb 18, 2014 15:37:19 GMT -5
I have a much different take on the locked thread. The last board (which gave rise to this one in 2007) was from what I could gather alot of SSA attorneys very, very frustrated and being a bit snarky and troll like. Some if it had to be how hard it is to get the job. But there clearly were other frustrations as well. Now in all fairness there could have been private attorneys and ALJs who were acting like that but that is what comes to mind. Rarely, if ever, do you see ODAR attorneys bad-mouthing other ODAR attorneys or ALJs bashing ALJs. In the wild '08s and '09s, we had some dustups between those of us in the hunt over issues of potential boredom and bad-mouthing SSA as a place to work and we have had aljfaq touch some nerves in that regard, mine included. But there is this core frustration that ODAR attorneys have with their ALJs that I have heard many many times. And I think that ODAR's chief failure in this regard is not listening to it and addressing it. I don't work at ODAR so I have no standing nor knowledge base to offer ideas other than to say it needs a forum.
But this Board is NOTHING like it was three or four years ago and you can see that ALJD is determined to keep it that way. I think he errs on the side of being overly protctive, but he has done the work and I can't fault him. That having been said, alot of folks read this Board and don't post. I say if you have some constructive ideas on how to improve the relationships that y'all labor under, post 'em! Sticks and stones may break bones, but they also build houses.
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Post by moopigsdad on Feb 18, 2014 15:49:21 GMT -5
I have a much different take on the locked thread. The last board (which gave rise to this one in 2007) was from what I could gather alot of SSA attorneys very, very frustrated and being a bit snarky and troll like. Some if it had to be how hard it is to get the job. But there clearly were other frustrations as well. Now in all fairness there could have been private attorneys and ALJs who were acting like that but that is what comes to mind. Rarely, if ever, do you see ODAR attorneys bad-mouthing other ODAR attorneys or ALJs bashing ALJs. In the wild '08s and '09s, we had some dustups between those of us in the hunt over issues of potential boredom and bad-mouthing SSA as a place to work and we have had aljfaq touch some nerves in that regard, mine included. But there is this core frustration that ODAR attorneys have with their ALJs that I have heard many many times. And I think that ODAR's chief failure in this regard is not listening to it and addressing it. I don't work at ODAR so I have no standing nor knowledge base to offer ideas other than to say it needs a forum. But this Board is NOTHING like it was three or four years ago and you can see that ALJD is determined to keep it that way. I think he errs on the side of being overly protctive, but he has done the work and I can't fault him. That having been said, alot of folks read this Board and don't post. I say if you have some constructive ideas on how to improve the relationships that y'all labor under, post 'em! Sticks and stones may break bones, but they also build houses. A couple of points privateatty. ALJD I believe is a she and not a he. Also, I don't believe resorting to personal attacks solves anything, but add more animosity to the Board. Attack the idea, thought or opinion, but not the person who expressed it. I may not agree with your idea, thought or opinion, but it accomplishes little to personally attack you. It is better that I explain why I disagree with your idea, thought or opinion, while expressing my own. To call you or "your Momma" out adds nothing to the discourse at all IMHO. |
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