Just Wondering

I recall posting (in Pet Peeves as I recall) about things it is not OK to call me. That led to a discussion about things it was OK to call me. Ishmael wasn't on the approved list, but motherfucker was.

The qualifier was that the person doing so had to be female, smiling, face down and ass up. So, if you're gonna call me a motherfucker, you had better assume the position.

I also recall saying something to the effect that grandmotherfucker was OK. and although I am Good, please don't call me a great grandmotherfucker.

JW where are the smiling GILFs?

Still searching for the great white whale I see DNLB.

Moby Dick is out there, good hunting

Call me Ishmael....

Lighten up, Bucket ;-)

You realize BT that you just outed Francis yourself.

Oh shit now I've outed Francis too!!

With everyone sheltering in place, the roads are safer...

Wait... before we do that, I’d like to share my favorite “Put in Time Out” story. A Good friend, who no longer posts here, was excommunicated briefly because during a fora sparring match, he chose as his final volley the famed movie quote, Lighten up, Francis!... Come to find out, the other guy’s name was actually Francis, and tight-pantied Francis reported that my friend was trying to out him.

True story. I read it on the interwebs.

Lighten up, Ishmael - might have been safer.

BT

Ok, back to biking the lower 48...

So, let's talk Guinness World Records then...

JW what motivates a 60 YO man to try and set a world record when the rest of the world is sheltering at home.

Caught it on the news last weekend- someone from MN is attempting to set the Guinness World Record for cycling through all of the lower 48 states. 7,100 miles in under 43 days. So far he's cycled 5,400 miles- in 24 days.

"the forums will be dead soon anyhow..."

especially since every. damn. forum. has become a political or covid discussion / argument.

You got suspended when that idiot complained to the site admin that some moron called them an idiot.

You don't need to get reported to get suspended when you call someone a bleeding hemmor...

Nope, not gonna say it. I got suspended for saying it before.

But I think "magnificent penis blister" is OK.

The admins have tried to moderate th fora from tim to time.

It seems to me that they do it when things get really bad, but lack the interest to moderate consistently.

I once did get suspended for calling someone an idiot...

I'm just wondering when it became acceptable to add an insult to literally every single post. It's like watching a Jr. High study hall or something. Does anyone actually think they have credibility by calling others a moron, idiot, brainless, stupid etc. ? Gimme a fucking break.

@Screwyou (chortle)

"Actually, blocking is an idiotic way of doing it -- pretty much everyone is seeing replies to messages they did not see, and it further exacerbates the sniping.
The only thing I've seen that works (to keep up actual discourse) is substantive moderation. E.g.:"

So what do you think a moderator would do with a post calling someone idiotic? No thanks. This sounds a bit too much like the debate a few years back about "trigger warnings" at colleges to protect young people. Being confronted by other ideas, however uncomfortable is what college is about (along with tenure of professors). It's where young people are supposed to go to grow up.

And there just aren't that many people you really need to block. For the longest time I had only 5 people blocked including the obvious suspects: AR, HFT, and Nutcal. What ever happened to the hairy one BTW? I can see the slug tracks of the other ones easily by the flavor and content of people's outraged reactions, and I don't miss their deposits. Some of the rest I've blocked recently have been free members. Others had no redeeming attributes to balance their nastiness.

"JW where his approval rating would be if that guy would have put the country first and treated this like the threat to threat to everyone it is rather than a personal affront to his ego."

I had to go back a few days and about a hundred of your posts, but I found something we can agree on.

the forums will be dead soon anyhow...as the app becomes the de-facto standard for interaction with SLS keep in mind there is no forum tab on the app...

In the physical sense one could just move seats at the lunch counter. In the electronic sense there’s that highly effective scroll wheel. To the best of my knowledge one doesn’t have to read every word everyone types in the forum. Sure it takes a bit of discipline but as always....YMMV

"Sometimes blocking is like limiting the seating at the lunch counter"

If you want to sit at the lunch counter next to the smelly old guy who's off his medications... have at it.

This is the only unmoderated space I've posted in since...2001? I was around for the dawn of widely available internet and multiple forums and it wasn't pretty, especially for women. By those standards - no one has made a hobby of describing in vivid detail how I'll be raped, frex - this place isn't terrible. But I make ample use of the block function to keep it that way, not because I object to opposing views, but because I'm allergic to mean and stupid and see no reason to view the outpourings of those afflicted.

Since it's merely like taking some of the vowels out of words, I am not missing anything of importance.

Rather than block for the previous reasons stated. I have found the scroll wheel while on the desktop or the swipe up while on mobile to be a highly effective tool to quickly move past comments I'm not interested in...at the time. YMMV

For me, it’s not at all about an opposing view. Usually, it’s simply that the person in question suffers from an entanglement of their ocular nerve around their rectum, and that’s exactly what their posts reflect.

BT

Sometimes blocking is like limiting the seating at the lunch counter. Me? I can’t image ever limiting the voices I listen to, read or are exposed to as those who only say what I want to hear. But....that’s just me

Sometimes blocking is less idiotic than responding... just saying.

Actually, blocking is an idiotic way of doing it -- pretty much everyone is seeing replies to messages they did not see, and it further exacerbates the sniping.

The only thing I've seen that works (to keep up actual discourse) is substantive moderation. E.g.:

arstechnica com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1241953

The problem is that by its nature, a forum like that filters out people with utterly morally or intellectually bankrupt views. So first the bigots go, then the conspiracy nuts, then the alt-med and anti-vaxxers, then most of the Christians, then the libertarians, and nowadays, in the unlikely event that all of those earlier categories did not trigger, Trump supporters. And their snowflake whining (in mod fora, etc) gets deafening.

Scene: Acme Political Party Monthly Meeting

Chairman: The meeting will come to order. To review the minutes from last month....

Voice From Audience: I THINK WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT BUTTFUCKING!

C: ...errrr, that falls under New Business. There will be an opportunity to bring up that subject later in the meeting.

VFA: I WANT TO TALK ABOUT BUTTFUCKING NOW NOW NOW! AND DEBATE THE DIALECTIC OF ASTROGLIDE VS COCONUT OIL!

C: Those are certainly important issues, but as I stated, that is New Business and besides, the Q & A panel on National Anal Sex Policy is this Saturday afternoon...

VFA: NO LUBE! NO GREASE! NO LUBE! NO GREASE!

C: groans Budget meetings.... I hate budget meetings.

JW if people would truly prefer a forum sanitized of any content with sociopolitical implications (the two are inextricably linked hence the existence of this word).

Such a forum might be safe for butt fucking bonobos with extremely thin skins but would be just about devoid of content I think (this is in no way intended as a disparagement of my butt fucking bonobo forum friends - just thin skinned BFBFFs) . Except of course for the "how's the weather?" and "what did you eat last?" threads.

I'm fine with most of the content in here that isn't overtly racist, sexist, or completely fabricated bullshit, especially when posted by people whose profiles are not open to be blocked. The latter feature, BTW, is a very simple expedient for sanitizing the forums of people you find, on balance, irremediably offensive, without turning said forums into tasteless bowls of gruel for the rest of us.