There's really not much point to this, anymore.

[LMNO]

So the question arises:  What am I interested in?  What do I want to talk about?

I'm not sure.

Same here.  I have always enjoyed the weird shit (your 30 days of Eris is still the best moment ever on PD, for me), of course.

I need to wrap up formatting that and putting it into the final editing thresher, and get it to fucking print already.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

(Please, no one take this personally, I'm gonna make a couple comments in general... not aimed at ANYONE)

I don't think Facebook stole our posters... I think we've just lost our variety. Even when the Open Bar was Open, we were low on posters and there were lots of comments about how things were headed this way. A long time ago I rarely read the Open Bar because I was too busy reading and replying to so many other threads, eventually I started reading the open bar, because there wasn't much else to read/reply to. When I first came to PD there were serious topics, unserious topics and downright silly topics. Some topics covered things like a stark view of the world around us and some covered a less stark or even hopeful view of the world around us. Politics, philosophy, psychology, projects and a sprinkle of nonsense. These days, it feels like we've sorta lost that wobbly balance. Politics tend to be the same thing I can read on CNN (minus Cain's insights), psych and philosophy aren't often topics and when they are, they seem to be the same arguments by the same people. As for nonsense... I don't recall the last nonsensical thread... not even Enrico shows up to post (so you know it must be bad).

It used to be that there were fights and arguments and yelling at Roger cause he was a meanie... but those have always been around. It all worked because there was enough OTHER stuff that it balanced in a delicious sweet and sour chao. These days its just all bland (not being personal to anyone here, please don't take it that way). Its no wonder we don't have posters and the visitors we have just read a couple threads and wander off.

I can't even remember the last time I cared enough to get in a fight with Roger about being mean to the noobs.  I actually can't remember the last time Roger was actually mean to a noob for that matter...

One thing I've noticed that I think has cut down on some of the creativity and input. When I lurked here (back in the days of the BiP development) and when I started posting here regularly... the focus seemed to be on everyone throwing everything we could against the wall to see what stuck. If someone took something and ran with it, no one cared. More recently however it seems that there's been a lot more focus on who's got the rights to what and if something has been polished enough by the original author for someone else to run with it.  I wonder if that hasn't stifled a lot of the creative processes that used to keep the site running? I definitely think a few of those arguments hit Intermittens pretty hard.

I don't know how or if we can return to the glory days of the past... it would be nice if we could, I love this place like a giant dysfunctional family

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Conversely, I think that a lot of people have stopped posting creatively here because of a few people having a bit of a persistent "what's yours is mine" ethic about it. There was a lot of creative brainstorming, and then at some point a few entrepreneurial people suddenly seemed to realize that hey, some of this shit is marketable... and started to get glad-handy with other people's creative work.

[LMNO]

That my be true, but practically speaking, has anyone made money of off a PD.com project apart from teh Chao te Ching?

[Doktor Howl]

That my be true, but practically speaking, has anyone made money of off a PD.com project apart from teh Chao te Ching?

I'm $3 to the good on the MSY comic.   

[LMNO]

And, if I recall, you were the main driving force behind that. No one took it out of your hands and ran with it.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I can say that the net effect for me, consciously or unconsciously, is that I don't post anything I put heavy effort into here anymore, and my enthusiasm for collaborative writing is greatly dampened, because if something turns out really great I know that it's a matter of time before somebody pops up with the idea to monetize it somehow.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Or, if not to monetize it, to step in, appoint themselves editor, and use it for self-promotion. It's disheartening.

And of course then there's the inevitable shitstorm and they slink away tail-twixt-legs for a while, and everybody else withdraws and nobody posts creative work for a while.

[LMNO]

That latter scenario seem smuch more likely, now that you mention it.

But how do we correct for that behavior?  A "rule" about it would be laughable; and since people are often assholes (even Discordians), then the disheartening conclusion is that such things are inevitable... which means that the current condition of PD.com is terminal.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

That latter scenario seem smuch more likely, now that you mention it.

But how do we correct for that behavior?  A "rule" about it would be laughable; and since people are often assholes (even Discordians), then the disheartening conclusion is that such things are inevitable... which means that the current condition of PD.com is terminal.

I don't think that you can correct it. Merely state that it's not for profit and if you find out that someone is profiting off of it, get the law involved, or conversely do something really horrible to them.

[Scribbly]

That latter scenario seem smuch more likely, now that you mention it.

But how do we correct for that behavior?  A "rule" about it would be laughable; and since people are often assholes (even Discordians), then the disheartening conclusion is that such things are inevitable... which means that the current condition of PD.com is terminal.

I think discordians are especially assholes.

But I think we also tend to have a strong respect for people's creative works. The only person who has ever knowingly violated that respect, that I can think of, is Yatto.

Maybe not a concrete rule, but just acknowledging that it is Not Okay to try and appoint leadership positions carte blanch would be helpful? It hadn't occurred to me that it might be happening, but I hate to think of PD.com as some sort of... commodity

[LMNO]

Let's not point specific fingers if we can right now.  I'd rather focus on the larger issue than personal flame wars.

[hirley0]

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b yound my comprehension.
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07:21:13 AM #37
^read up^

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That latter scenario seem smuch more likely, now that you mention it.

But how do we correct for that behavior?  A "rule" about it would be laughable; and since people are often assholes (even Discordians), then the disheartening conclusion is that such things are inevitable... which means that the current condition of PD.com is terminal.

I think there are two ways to respond to it. One is as we have been, which is to go "GIT YER FECKING PAWS OFF!" and the other way is to let them do it. But something about my creativity being used to promote someone's guru complex/self-promotion machine kind of makes me feel ill. I suspect that in any given project, somebody is going to object when someone tries to compile/edit/reshape it into something it wasn't when it was being written. And we all have a right to control how and where our creative fruits are used.

The downside is that people who are really good at promotion are good at getting people excited and involved. So, it seems like for the whole thing to really work, it's necessary to accept a little bit of... well, of promoter-types.

I don't think there's any rule that could be instituted that would work. Possibly something about not lifting and re-using anyone's work elsewhere without permission, but shit, does that really need to be spelled out?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Let's not point specific fingers if we can right now.  I'd rather focus on the larger issue than personal flame wars.

I can understand the want to not collaborate with others if there's a risk that someone will try and sell it. I'm not sure that I can think of anything that would remedy that feeling. It depends on the disposition of the poster I imagine.

Are there other things going on lately that have worsened this? It seems like there's been a bit of a fall off even recently- some of which seems to have occurred while my internet was out.