Discordia isn't dying, of course...Let's just be clear about that. No, it's going through one of the phases that make up the whole, one of those phases that nobody particularly likes. It's like when you eat a 9 course meal, and they bring out that fucking cold potato soup that the French have foisted off as "food" as a joke. Some people grit their teeth and hang around, some leave for a while, and some start gnawing on their neighbors in an attempt to get the France out of their mouths.
This too, shall pass.
Some users have indeed fucked off more or less permanently. Remington, who claims to have business in "real life", Dr James Semaj, whom I suspect has met with misfortune of one kind or another, Charley, who left for reasons that seemed to include "YARGANARG!", etc.
Some users, on the other hand, seem to be hiding from February. February has come early this year, as anyone can see. Endless bickering, personal misfortune, low-quality trolls, and mostly just the fact that nobody admits to having anything to say.
Well, I DO have something to say, so open your pance and get your spittle-rags ready.
We've lost our weird. Plain and simple. Something must be done. Of course, before we can do anything, we have to analyze the problem...Define what "weird" is and what it isn't. I'd like to make a few suggestions about that definition.
• Flirting isn't weird. Sorry. It's painful. It's one reason we have PMs.
• Stating what a badass you are isn't weird, even if done by inference. There is nothing weird about your alleged mastery of edged weapons, or what you or your friends do to people that annoy you.
• Kai is weird, in all the right ways, even if he's lost some of his Slack™. He posts about shit that I've never heard about, geeks out like a champ, and still has time – occasionally – to get his monkey on in strange, somewhat self-destructive ways.
• LMNO is mostly weird, in his insistence of being up for any program. Unfortunately, he only posts once or twice a day now.
• Richter is a fucking freak. I think everyone can agree on that. He is a stone weirdo that would, in any civilized society, be bastinadoed for his own good. However, we do not live in a civilized society, and he is therefore free to run amok. Unfortunately, he never does it here, anymore.
• Responding to weak-ass trolls is not weird. I myself am guilty of this, though I plead the mitigating circumstances of boredom. We really have to stop this, folks.
• Posting threads from the "verboten list" is not weird. It's been done.
• Constant in-fighting is not weird, it's the whole fucking internet. I am therefore discontinuing all current fights/drama. If it's someone I can't stand, I'll just ignore them completely. February is coming, but I don't have to be responsible for it.
• Creative shit is almost always weird, whether that be rants, video, music, flyers, etc. We used to do this shit all the time. Now we just wait for everyone else to do it. And then we wonder where some of our regulars have fucked off to.
In the last 6 months, this place has turned into Facebook for not-so-weirdos. I'm not going to go into the various shit that makes me say that...The guilty parties know who they are. What we NEED to do is set aside our petty grievances and start creating again. There's nothing stopping you but ancient butthurt and excuses.
Or Kill Me.
Awesome post, and true.
I am hoping that my impending transition into studenthood will help kick-start my writing again.
Maybe February will bring positive changes, this year.
Say what you want Roger, vichyssoise is certainly weird. Especially when it gets on your taint.
LMNO
-spent WEEKS cleaning that up.
PS - I found a particularly difficult roadblock in the "Handcuffs" thread. Which means I have to do a lot more thinking before I can post again. Although, maybe a general spew of horror might clear out the pipes.
I have lots to say (lots to say = lots to write = lots of time needed), and my life is awesome.
In fact, the worst thing that has happened to me all week is that I accidentally had caps locks on when I started this post, and that when I tried to play Mass Effect 2 on Insanity mode, I got my ass kicked by the computer AI and I cried like a little bitch.
That said, a lot of what goes on here seems to be "I exist, does anyone else exist?" and, well lame flirting and sub-par trolling, right now.
I have some ideas and thoughts, but when I write them down they look like shit to me. Maybe it's time to let them flow without really thinking too much about it.
I also got some writing going on, but I am not ready to share it here. It's way too stupid; it looks life the work of an extreme RAW fan who decided to drop more than 1200 micrograms of acid, and then play kiddie video games while listening to Shpongle.
Post anyway. Even if it looks like shit we can riff off of it.
I missed this. I agree with most of it.
It would be really nice to see the constant bickering stop. Not because it's upsetting me and I'm about to "throw a Paes" or something, but because it's really just not interesting.
Surely we're all clever enough to handle conflict in a manner which is conductive to continued conversation?
I'll get to thinking on ways to get content pumping again. I've got a bunch of half-done pieces I'll be sharing, but in developing them I'm doing a lot of reading old threads for inspiration to provide useful metaphors to use, which ends up being much the same as constantly hitting refresh.
Quote from: Beardman Meow on December 28, 2011, 08:33:53 AM
I missed this. I agree with most of it.
It would be really nice to see the constant bickering stop. Not because it's upsetting me and I'm about to "throw a Paes" or something, but because it's really just not interesting.
Surely we're all clever enough to handle conflict in a manner which is conductive to continued conversation?
I'll get to thinking on ways to get content pumping again. I've got a bunch of half-done pieces I'll be sharing, but in developing them I'm doing a lot of reading old threads for inspiration to provide useful metaphors to use, which ends up being much the same as constantly hitting refresh.
The secret to the bickering is easy, and comes right from the book.
"Oh, then stop."
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 28, 2011, 03:14:23 PM
Quote from: Beardman Meow on December 28, 2011, 08:33:53 AM
I missed this. I agree with most of it.
It would be really nice to see the constant bickering stop. Not because it's upsetting me and I'm about to "throw a Paes" or something, but because it's really just not interesting.
Surely we're all clever enough to handle conflict in a manner which is conductive to continued conversation?
I'll get to thinking on ways to get content pumping again. I've got a bunch of half-done pieces I'll be sharing, but in developing them I'm doing a lot of reading old threads for inspiration to provide useful metaphors to use, which ends up being much the same as constantly hitting refresh.
The secret to the bickering is easy, and comes right from the book.
"Oh, then stop."
If only it worked that way...... :|
Unfortunately it takes more than one person saying stop and that never seems to happen.
Don't rise to the bait, Khara. I personally find it much funnier to watch someone freak out because I'm ignoring them than to get into a stupid fight over something retarded.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 27, 2011, 05:29:07 PM
• Richter is a fucking freak. I think everyone can agree on that. He is a stone weirdo that would, in any civilized society, be bastinadoed for his own good. However, we do not live in a civilized society, and he is therefore free to run amok. Unfortunately, he never does it here, anymore.
Roger spoke truth.
This society lacks the balls to bastinado anyone on grounds of being made uncomfortable. Ironically, this also keeps me free of any reasonable cause to put my detractors to the knife.
Oh, they're threatened.
Management sent out the company wide notice about the new whipping post in the middle of the call center floor. The HR people came to my desk, and in very REASONABLE tones, explained what they wanted to do, how it wold help overall discipline, and why I should really go along with it.
I just smiled.
You see, they'd broken the surface tension first. They had decided that medieval brutality was the new thing, but didn't have the sand to follow it up with force, horror, and steel. I offered to show them how it ought to be done, but they just sort of melted away. They would have gotten me too, if one or two didn't mind the sort of wrassling where you realize to late that the guy has a knife. (serves them right for not wearing chainmail.)
"Thieves World" really should be required reading.
SO there's the "Badass" post, but what of the board? I wish I could be here more. REally need to send myself home more stuff to post. PD needs ideas. The kind of ideas that the corporate email police will skin you for thinking or looking up. The kind that get you on "lists" for quick roundup to a camp, or beating with big fucking saps when things get to the wall.
Where ARE your ideas?
Quote from: Richter on December 29, 2011, 01:17:18 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 27, 2011, 05:29:07 PM
• Richter is a fucking freak. I think everyone can agree on that. He is a stone weirdo that would, in any civilized society, be bastinadoed for his own good. However, we do not live in a civilized society, and he is therefore free to run amok. Unfortunately, he never does it here, anymore.
Roger spoke truth.
This society lacks the balls to bastinado anyone on grounds of being made uncomfortable. Ironically, this also keeps me free of any reasonable cause to put my detractors to the knife.
Oh, they're threatened.
Management sent out the company wide notice about the new whipping post in the middle of the call center floor. The HR people came to my desk, and in very REASONABLE tones, explained what they wanted to do, how it wold help overall discipline, and why I should really go along with it.
I just smiled.
You see, they'd broken the surface tension first. They had decided that medieval brutality was the new thing, but didn't have the sand to follow it up with force, horror, and steel. I offered to show them how it ought to be done, but they just sort of melted away. They would have gotten me too, if one or two didn't mind the sort of wrassling where you realize to late that the guy has a knife. (serves them right for not wearing chainmail.)
"Thieves World" really should be required reading.
SO there's the "Badass" post, but what of the board? I wish I could be here more. REally need to send myself home more stuff to post. PD needs ideas. The kind of ideas that the corporate email police will skin you for thinking or looking up. The kind that get you on "lists" for quick roundup to a camp, or beating with big fucking saps when things get to the wall.
Where ARE your ideas?
Oh YES!
My ideas sadly cannot pass the KYFMS filter.
My last job wouldn't even let me hang a sword on the wall behind my desk. Hardly fair, I tell ya. MUCH more functional than any motivational poster I've ever seen.
Quote from: Luna on December 29, 2011, 05:56:34 PM
My last job wouldn't even let me hang a sword on the wall behind my desk. Hardly fair, I tell ya. MUCH more functional than any motivational poster I've ever seen.
I can see a Damocles' Sword being motivational.
Quote from: Waffle Iron on December 29, 2011, 06:26:29 PM
Quote from: Luna on December 29, 2011, 05:56:34 PM
My last job wouldn't even let me hang a sword on the wall behind my desk. Hardly fair, I tell ya. MUCH more functional than any motivational poster I've ever seen.
I can see a Damocles' Sword being motivational.
I was thinking more of the, "keep standing there asking me stupid questions while I'm trying to work and I'll part your hair clean to your navel" use, but I suppose that would work, too...
Quote from: Luna on December 29, 2011, 06:40:10 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on December 29, 2011, 06:26:29 PM
Quote from: Luna on December 29, 2011, 05:56:34 PM
My last job wouldn't even let me hang a sword on the wall behind my desk. Hardly fair, I tell ya. MUCH more functional than any motivational poster I've ever seen.
I can see a Damocles' Sword being motivational.
I was thinking more of the, "keep standing there asking me stupid questions while I'm trying to work and I'll part your hair clean to your navel" use, but I suppose that would work, too...
I'd do both.
Quote from: Waffle Iron on December 29, 2011, 06:26:29 PM
Quote from: Luna on December 29, 2011, 05:56:34 PM
My last job wouldn't even let me hang a sword on the wall behind my desk. Hardly fair, I tell ya. MUCH more functional than any motivational poster I've ever seen.
I can see a Damocles' Sword being motivational.
Shanananana, ain't no crime?
This thread has turned from a complaint into the kind of stuff it was complaining about in the space of 17 posts.
But I understand. Being critical is hard, engaging fingers in writing bullshit to avoid having to think, on the other hand, is easy.
Discordianism may not be dead, but this place sure as fuck is.
Quote from: Luna on December 29, 2011, 06:40:10 PM
Quote from: Waffle Iron on December 29, 2011, 06:26:29 PM
Quote from: Luna on December 29, 2011, 05:56:34 PM
My last job wouldn't even let me hang a sword on the wall behind my desk. Hardly fair, I tell ya. MUCH more functional than any motivational poster I've ever seen.
I can see a Damocles' Sword being motivational.
I was thinking more of the, "keep standing there asking me stupid questions while I'm trying to work and I'll part your hair clean to your navel" use, but I suppose that would work, too...
Kinda like this comic? http://officeninjacomics.com/?p=589
Quote from: Cain on December 29, 2011, 07:04:13 PM
This thread has turned from a complaint into the kind of stuff it was complaining about in the space of 17 posts.
But I understand. Being critical is hard, engaging fingers in writing bullshit to avoid having to think, on the other hand, is easy.
Discordianism may not be dead, but this place sure as fuck is.
Yep.
I wonder if a Safari might do us some good. I have a community all ready to go, if anyone's interested.
Quote from: Uncle Wallified on December 29, 2011, 08:12:01 PM
I wonder if a Safari might do us some good. I have a community all ready to go, if anyone's interested.
I don't really care anymore, to tell the truth.
Quote from: Nigel on December 29, 2011, 08:15:50 PM
Quote from: Uncle Wallified on December 29, 2011, 08:12:01 PM
I wonder if a Safari might do us some good. I have a community all ready to go, if anyone's interested.
I don't really care anymore, to tell the truth.
Fucking early February. It's getting to all of us.
What we really need is another Nessies thread, I think. I'd start one myself, but I've had writer's block for about 19 years now.
Quote from: Cain on December 29, 2011, 07:04:13 PM
This thread has turned from a complaint into the kind of stuff it was complaining about in the space of 17 posts.
But I understand. Being critical is hard, engaging fingers in writing bullshit to avoid having to think, on the other hand, is easy.
Discordianism may not be dead, but this place sure as fuck is.
Then excuse me for bothering.
Quote from: Richter on December 29, 2011, 08:35:12 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 29, 2011, 07:04:13 PM
This thread has turned from a complaint into the kind of stuff it was complaining about in the space of 17 posts.
But I understand. Being critical is hard, engaging fingers in writing bullshit to avoid having to think, on the other hand, is easy.
Discordianism may not be dead, but this place sure as fuck is.
Then excuse me for bothering.
I don't think he was talking about you. I think he was going on more about the sword of damocles shit.
Quote from: :Regret: on December 29, 2011, 05:18:21 PM
My ideas sadly cannot pass the KYFMS filter.
I'm in the same boat.
I've networked myself into a local group of agitators and had to keep things on the down low.
Several major projects are in the works and progressing steadily. I haven't been so creatively aroused in perhaps a decade.
I'd also be down to make flyers again, but only on the condition that they are released under one of the Creative Commons licenses.
Quote from: Nigel on December 29, 2011, 08:15:50 PM
Quote from: Uncle Wallified on December 29, 2011, 08:12:01 PM
I wonder if a Safari might do us some good. I have a community all ready to go, if anyone's interested.
I don't really care anymore, to tell the truth.
:(
I'm not sure what everyone expected?
I mean if we are still in a slump mid-January then yeah, it might be a cause for concern, but it's the holidays. Hell half my customers are closed for the entire week between xmas and new years. We are closed to business for inventory. Kids out of school needing watching, feeding, entertaining and such.
People are going to complain. The Open Bar thread is closed so it will leak into other places where a spot can be found to put it. It's human nature for many.
If you look around the board you can see that temperments are varied right now, while the actual fighting is down, there is still a lot of the bs that started this whole campaign to get PD back on track.
I for one have no problem admitting I have nothing to say. I've spent a good 10 minutes writing this post and you know, it will, like most everything I post, be ignored. Am I butthurt? Not anymore, I'm just resigned. I've explained why multiple times. It really does no good. We're too busy bitching about each other and everything else to listen to what is being said. Maybe we should ask people specifically what is stopping them personally from contributing as they have in the past, allow them to vent and see if there is something that really does need fixing or if it's just the end of the world monkey behavior.
What a lot don't realize is February came a long time ago for a lot of people. While I admit there was a lot of garbage in the Open Bar thread, it did serve the purpose of keeping the resulting overflow of people's lives from leaking into other threads. If you didn't want to read about someone's plumbing issues, or who they were currently fucking or the rest of all of it, then don't read the thread. Damn near every person on this board has posted information in the Open Bar thread that was just too fucking personal for the consumption of virtual strangers. I've done it and I've bitched about the shit that's been posted as well.
There have been a few ideas put forward that while they may not have been the inspiration for world peace, they weren't garbage either. What is happening with those? Nothing really. Why? Do you really have to ask?
There is no one solution and as long as the sniping and sarcasm and shitting on each other continues as it has all along, even if there were a single solution it wouldn't work. If you see someone being an ass to someone for no fucking reason call them on it. It might be the last straw for the person they are being an ass too. If you can't let your personal issue with someone go, ignore them. Let it be. We are adults. Funny thing is, the ones who don't involve themselves, for the most part, in al lthis bullshit, are our younger members.
Or we can continue as we have and this time next year, if we are all still alive and the world hasn't ended, this place will be even more dead because doing nothing solves nothing.
There you go, what has been bugging me for a while now, watered down quite a bit. Ignore it or rip it to shreds as you see fit.
Quote from: Uncle Wallified on December 29, 2011, 08:38:35 PM
Quote from: Richter on December 29, 2011, 08:35:12 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 29, 2011, 07:04:13 PM
This thread has turned from a complaint into the kind of stuff it was complaining about in the space of 17 posts.
But I understand. Being critical is hard, engaging fingers in writing bullshit to avoid having to think, on the other hand, is easy.
Discordianism may not be dead, but this place sure as fuck is.
Then excuse me for bothering.
I don't think he was talking about you. I think he was going on more about the sword of damocles shit.
Fine.
I agree with you khara. Its not going to turn around over night either. As far as finding out what is holding specific people back i think thats a good idea too whether it is done mentally or in some thread for the purpose.
Quote from: Luna on December 29, 2011, 08:57:14 PM
Quote from: Uncle Wallified on December 29, 2011, 08:38:35 PM
Quote from: Richter on December 29, 2011, 08:35:12 PM
Quote from: Cain on December 29, 2011, 07:04:13 PM
This thread has turned from a complaint into the kind of stuff it was complaining about in the space of 17 posts.
But I understand. Being critical is hard, engaging fingers in writing bullshit to avoid having to think, on the other hand, is easy.
Discordianism may not be dead, but this place sure as fuck is.
Then excuse me for bothering.
I don't think he was talking about you. I think he was going on more about the sword of damocles shit.
Fine.
And I don't mean that as a personal dig or anything, it'd be great in any other thread, it's just...
Fuck it, it's an early February.
Quote from: Uncle Wallified on December 29, 2011, 08:32:30 PM
Quote from: Nigel on December 29, 2011, 08:15:50 PM
Quote from: Uncle Wallified on December 29, 2011, 08:12:01 PM
I wonder if a Safari might do us some good. I have a community all ready to go, if anyone's interested.
I don't really care anymore, to tell the truth.
Fucking early February. It's getting to all of us.
What we really need is another Nessies thread, I think. I'd start one myself, but I've had writer's block for about 19 years now.
Nah, it's got nothing to do with February for me. If everything pans out, this February will be better than any month in 2011. I'm shifting gears and I don't think I have much time/energy left for PD projects/games anymore. My rate of posting is unwelcome anyway, and on top of that the site is laggy. So I'll probably just be popping in once or twice a day as I have time, checking out a few threads, and not much else.
It will pass.
Everything works cyclically in the Universe: after the winter comes spring; after the day comes night; after the wave comes a period of refraction; and after the Kali Yuga comes Satya Yuga.
It's a total process of the world, and, as a well known rule claims, "as above so below".
IMO it will pass. Patience and perseverance will do the trick.
Just keep going.
Look folks, I love PD.com. Been here for years. Seen lots of folks come and go and come back and go and go somewhere else and come back and so on and such.
Uh, okay I think I was going to say something pithy here but I lost my train of thought.
Life happens. Life gets in the way of posting on internet message boards, as it should. Life will always take priority. It's the way of things.