You have to help me. I'm sorry to impose, but there's just too much fuck in my head. I tried to get it out with a puppy, a chick, and a basket of bunnies, but the fuck just said that huge grin is big enough to eat those bunnies in one bite and it only looks like a smile because we're backwards monkeys that think baring teeth is a nice thing as long as the corners of your mouth are turned up and then I had to go away before it happened. I'm sorry. I don't want to infect you with the fuck.
They think it's in the water, but it's not. The fuck is a word and it's a word you don't know because they never taught us but we talk around it all the time, spinning huge narratives of garbage trying to get to the word and it's not just bad because grapes can go bad and grapes can't be fuck. The fuck gets caught in your throat and claws out a hole in your rib cage and makes you feel like you're going to vomit but nothing happens because that's how the fuck is. The fuck is nothing happening. The fuck is the itch you can't scratch, laughing at you. The fuck eats all the things you do and everyone you love and leaves them yellow deflated husks. The fuck nailed up all the fire exits.
The fuck got in and its claws are down in my muscles and its teeth are in my eye sockets and I can't get it out and it keeps getting bigger and I'm afraid my head will split like Zeus and out will pop a fully grown fuck and I don't know what it will do but it can't be anything good and I need to get this fuck out of me before it eats me like it eats everyone else and I knew this was going to happen, that's why I wanted to finish things when I was young and thought that the fuck was a thing you could fight or reason with and make it go away but that's not what the fuck is, the fuck is bigger than all the gods and demons and it likes it when we make imaginary friends to fight it because it distracts us while the fuck gets to dig its claws in deeper and it's already in me and I tried, I really tried to get rid of the fuck but here it is. And I shouldn't be talking to you because you might get the fuck too.
Of course, you probably already have.
Oh, I like this.
29 has been a bad fucking year. I'm looking forward to 30.
I've had the fuck for years. It crawled up inside me in some funny little country whose name I can't even pronounce properly. Actually, that's just an assumption. It MIGHT have been there all along. But anyway, one day I woke up and all the windows had been painted black, and They knock on my door day and night, screaming about the debt and the North Koreans and the drugs. The drugs They told me to take! You know, not the BAD drugs, just the little pills that keep things more or less between the navigational beacons.
I asked Navvie about it, and she told me it was carving big ruts in my brain. I asked Nigel about it, and she said to stop worrying or else. I asked Hirley0 about it and he told me to vRead Downv but there wasn't anything underneath. I asked LMNO about it, and he told me to shut up and "just dance". Then I asked Nurse Enabler and she smacked my bitch up. Again.
So there's no point asking me, because I don't know. I used to know, back before things got all complicated, but that was a long time ago, and the information wouldn't be relevant, even if I could remember more than Buck Owen slapping his knee and Aw-Shucksing on fucking Hee Haw.
So you'll have to figure it out on your own.
I had some fuck this morning, but then Lilly didn't accept the explanation that the kiln will fire up differently (and slightly worse) each time because the insulation between the refractory and the shell degrades each time. This is apparently inconvenient, and if we in maintenance just understood the urgency of the situation, it would all straighten out.
So all my fuck went away, and I went outside and had a smoke, while the rest of the management team yelled rotten shit at me over the push-to-talk feature of my crackberry. Mortal fools! One day RUIN SHALL RAIN DOWN ON THEM. They will scream for maintenance from beneath their desks; but we shall not come.
IN ADDITION, I seem to have become part of the furniture around here. Perhaps I have been around so long, I don't even get noticed unless I'm writing something like LOBB or Nessies or some shit. I have become a cut-rate human Kindle.
I DON'T KNOW what to do about that. I'd like to say "Hey, you know, I'm a person, I kind of like when people say 'hello' and shit once in a while", but it won't do any good. People will say WHY they never say hello - or anything else - and they'll talk for a minute or two, but then I'm back to talking to myself in a vacuum, and then people have the absolute, unmitigated GALL to complain when I post in the DRUGS DRUGS DRUGS thread because that's the only fucking place in which people will acknowledge my fucking existence...So bitching about it won't do any good.
NO, I'M REASONABLY CERTAIN that there's nothing to be done, so there is no reason to give any fucks about it.
Why the fuck am I even here?
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 10:33:45 PM
I had some fuck this morning, but then Lilly didn't accept the explanation that the kiln will fire up differently (and slightly worse) each time because the insulation between the refractory and the shell degrades each time. This is apparently inconvenient, and if we in maintenance just understood the urgency of the situation, it would all straighten out.
So all my fuck went away, and I went outside and had a smoke, while the rest of the management team yelled rotten shit at me over the push-to-talk feature of my crackberry. Mortal fools! One day RUIN SHALL RAIN DOWN ON THEM. They will scream for maintenance from beneath their desks; but we shall not come.
AND THERE SHALL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 10:50:12 PM
IN ADDITION, I seem to have become part of the furniture around here. Perhaps I have been around so long, I don't even get noticed unless I'm writing something like LOBB or Nessies or some shit. I have become a cut-rate human Kindle.
I DON'T KNOW what to do about that. I'd like to say "Hey, you know, I'm a person, I kind of like when people say 'hello' and shit once in a while", but it won't do any good. People will say WHY they never say hello - or anything else - and they'll talk for a minute or two, but then I'm back to talking to myself in a vacuum, and then people have the absolute, unmitigated GALL to complain when I post in the DRUGS DRUGS DRUGS thread because that's the only fucking place in which people will acknowledge my fucking existence...So bitching about it won't do any good.
NO, I'M REASONABLY CERTAIN that there's nothing to be done, so there is no reason to give any fucks about it.
Call 'em out. :evil:
Quote from: stelz on April 02, 2013, 11:09:12 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 10:33:45 PM
I had some fuck this morning, but then Lilly didn't accept the explanation that the kiln will fire up differently (and slightly worse) each time because the insulation between the refractory and the shell degrades each time. This is apparently inconvenient, and if we in maintenance just understood the urgency of the situation, it would all straighten out.
So all my fuck went away, and I went outside and had a smoke, while the rest of the management team yelled rotten shit at me over the push-to-talk feature of my crackberry. Mortal fools! One day RUIN SHALL RAIN DOWN ON THEM. They will scream for maintenance from beneath their desks; but we shall not come.
AND THERE SHALL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 10:50:12 PM
IN ADDITION, I seem to have become part of the furniture around here. Perhaps I have been around so long, I don't even get noticed unless I'm writing something like LOBB or Nessies or some shit. I have become a cut-rate human Kindle.
I DON'T KNOW what to do about that. I'd like to say "Hey, you know, I'm a person, I kind of like when people say 'hello' and shit once in a while", but it won't do any good. People will say WHY they never say hello - or anything else - and they'll talk for a minute or two, but then I'm back to talking to myself in a vacuum, and then people have the absolute, unmitigated GALL to complain when I post in the DRUGS DRUGS DRUGS thread because that's the only fucking place in which people will acknowledge my fucking existence...So bitching about it won't do any good.
NO, I'M REASONABLY CERTAIN that there's nothing to be done, so there is no reason to give any fucks about it.
Call 'em out. :evil:
It's easier to name the people that DO acknowledge my existence. You, Nigel, LMNO when he isn't too busy, and RWHN. I disagree with him on many things, and I call him all manner of shit (and he is happy to reciprocate), but I give him this: He doesn't treat other people as articles of furniture that will always be around, nor does he try to keep anyone else from having their say.
I can't count the number of times I've been talked around completely in conversation here, most especially recently. RWHN has never done that to me. He's never acted like I was a child interrupting the adults, to be pointedly ignored.
This has been up my ass for a while now. It's sort of a festering fucking boil of resentment, and it gets worse every fucking day. I don't want people to fucking drop everything and cater to me or any shit like that, just maybe an acknowledgement that I'm fucking HERE.
And THAT is the fuck that is in my head.
So I guess I don't want to call them out on it. I think instead I want to simmer in hate. Gonna keep writing, because it's what I love, and it loves me back. Excepting for the people named above, and I ought to toss Cain in there. He doesn't seem to like me much, but he'll talk to me.
People think they've seen malice? Think they've seen Roger at his finest? Ho ho HO!
Festering boils tend to pop eventually.
And when it happens, they SPEW.
Quote from: stelz on April 02, 2013, 11:20:00 PM
Festering boils tend to pop eventually.
And when it happens, they SPEW.
Or not. Sometimes they just stop giving a fuck. They might use the board for a scratchpad (LOBB, rants, etc), and stop giving a bleeding shit about the vast majority of the people that wander through.
I didn't notice so much when LMNO, you, and Nigel were around more often. Now that the three of you have gotten busy with things, I NOTICE when people blow right past my posts in any given debate.
It inspires a pretty deep loathing, I can tell you that much. And I think I've sort of reached the point where I don't feel like being talked past. There's two ways to deal with that, and the second way is just to pack up and go, in any capacity other than the above-named scratchpad. I think most people would prefer that (shut up and write), anyway.
So the fuck in my head tells me to stop thinking of many of these people as "friends", and instead think of them as "random rude strangers that I no longer WANT to talk to."
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 11:13:56 PM
Quote from: stelz on April 02, 2013, 11:09:12 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 10:33:45 PM
I had some fuck this morning, but then Lilly didn't accept the explanation that the kiln will fire up differently (and slightly worse) each time because the insulation between the refractory and the shell degrades each time. This is apparently inconvenient, and if we in maintenance just understood the urgency of the situation, it would all straighten out.
So all my fuck went away, and I went outside and had a smoke, while the rest of the management team yelled rotten shit at me over the push-to-talk feature of my crackberry. Mortal fools! One day RUIN SHALL RAIN DOWN ON THEM. They will scream for maintenance from beneath their desks; but we shall not come.
AND THERE SHALL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 10:50:12 PM
IN ADDITION, I seem to have become part of the furniture around here. Perhaps I have been around so long, I don't even get noticed unless I'm writing something like LOBB or Nessies or some shit. I have become a cut-rate human Kindle.
I DON'T KNOW what to do about that. I'd like to say "Hey, you know, I'm a person, I kind of like when people say 'hello' and shit once in a while", but it won't do any good. People will say WHY they never say hello - or anything else - and they'll talk for a minute or two, but then I'm back to talking to myself in a vacuum, and then people have the absolute, unmitigated GALL to complain when I post in the DRUGS DRUGS DRUGS thread because that's the only fucking place in which people will acknowledge my fucking existence...So bitching about it won't do any good.
NO, I'M REASONABLY CERTAIN that there's nothing to be done, so there is no reason to give any fucks about it.
Call 'em out. >:D
It's easier to name the people that DO acknowledge my existence. You, Nigel, LMNO when he isn't too busy, and RWHN. I disagree with him on many things, and I call him all manner of shit (and he is happy to reciprocate), but I give him this: He doesn't treat other people as articles of furniture that will always be around, nor does he try to keep anyone else from having their say.
I can't count the number of times I've been talked around completely in conversation here, most especially recently. RWHN has never done that to me. He's never acted like I was a child interrupting the adults, to be pointedly ignored.
This has been up my ass for a while now. It's sort of a festering fucking boil of resentment, and it gets worse every fucking day. I don't want people to fucking drop everything and cater to me or any shit like that, just maybe an acknowledgement that I'm fucking HERE.
And THAT is the fuck that is in my head.
I get pretty passionate about that topic. But as much as I can I do try to acknowledge everyone's opinions and questions, even if I think they are completely wrong. And I do know I can get a bit harsh and add some extra commentary to posts. But everyone has a voice and that should definitely be recognized. (even if you are dead wrong ;) )
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 11:26:33 PM
Quote from: stelz on April 02, 2013, 11:20:00 PM
Festering boils tend to pop eventually.
And when it happens, they SPEW.
Or not. Sometimes they just stop giving a fuck. They might use the board for a scratchpad (LOBB, rants, etc), and stop giving a bleeding shit about the vast majority of the people that wander through.
I didn't notice so much when LMNO, you, and Nigel were around more often. Now that the three of you have gotten busy with things, I NOTICE when people blow right past my posts in any given debate.
It inspires a pretty deep loathing, I can tell you that much. And I think I've sort of reached the point where I don't feel like being talked past. There's two ways to deal with that, and the second way is just to pack up and go, in any capacity other than the above-named scratchpad. I think most people would prefer that (shut up and write), anyway.
So the fuck in my head tells me to stop thinking of many of these people as "friends", and instead think of them as "random rude strangers that I no longer WANT to talk to."
That might not be fuck.
I mean, there's fuckons of people in this world that I only give a fuck about in an impersonal, "I'd stop and try to render assistance if something horrible was happening" kind of way, but that's it.
When reading my comments, Stelz, it's important to consider the thread title.
Everyone's gotta vent sometime.
Not that I don't actually seethe, or anything.
Quote from: Six Feet of Sole on April 02, 2013, 11:28:48 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 11:13:56 PM
Quote from: stelz on April 02, 2013, 11:09:12 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 10:33:45 PM
I had some fuck this morning, but then Lilly didn't accept the explanation that the kiln will fire up differently (and slightly worse) each time because the insulation between the refractory and the shell degrades each time. This is apparently inconvenient, and if we in maintenance just understood the urgency of the situation, it would all straighten out.
So all my fuck went away, and I went outside and had a smoke, while the rest of the management team yelled rotten shit at me over the push-to-talk feature of my crackberry. Mortal fools! One day RUIN SHALL RAIN DOWN ON THEM. They will scream for maintenance from beneath their desks; but we shall not come.
AND THERE SHALL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 02, 2013, 10:50:12 PM
IN ADDITION, I seem to have become part of the furniture around here. Perhaps I have been around so long, I don't even get noticed unless I'm writing something like LOBB or Nessies or some shit. I have become a cut-rate human Kindle.
I DON'T KNOW what to do about that. I'd like to say "Hey, you know, I'm a person, I kind of like when people say 'hello' and shit once in a while", but it won't do any good. People will say WHY they never say hello - or anything else - and they'll talk for a minute or two, but then I'm back to talking to myself in a vacuum, and then people have the absolute, unmitigated GALL to complain when I post in the DRUGS DRUGS DRUGS thread because that's the only fucking place in which people will acknowledge my fucking existence...So bitching about it won't do any good.
NO, I'M REASONABLY CERTAIN that there's nothing to be done, so there is no reason to give any fucks about it.
Call 'em out. >:D
It's easier to name the people that DO acknowledge my existence. You, Nigel, LMNO when he isn't too busy, and RWHN. I disagree with him on many things, and I call him all manner of shit (and he is happy to reciprocate), but I give him this: He doesn't treat other people as articles of furniture that will always be around, nor does he try to keep anyone else from having their say.
I can't count the number of times I've been talked around completely in conversation here, most especially recently. RWHN has never done that to me. He's never acted like I was a child interrupting the adults, to be pointedly ignored.
This has been up my ass for a while now. It's sort of a festering fucking boil of resentment, and it gets worse every fucking day. I don't want people to fucking drop everything and cater to me or any shit like that, just maybe an acknowledgement that I'm fucking HERE.
And THAT is the fuck that is in my head.
I get pretty passionate about that topic. But as much as I can I do try to acknowledge everyone's opinions and questions, even if I think they are completely wrong. And I do know I can get a bit harsh and add some extra commentary to posts. But everyone has a voice and that should definitely be recognized. (even if you are dead wrong ;) )
1. Yep.
2. I am not wrong, as I am a Holy Man™. If I appear to be wrong, it's because you're in the wrong universe.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 12:17:48 AM
When reading my comments, Stelz, it's important to consider the thread title.
Everyone's gotta vent sometime.
Not that I don't actually seethe, or anything.
OK.
Still here, Rog.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 03, 2013, 03:56:43 AM
Still here, Rog.
Oh, I know. I have limited my paranoid ravings to this thread for a reason.
It's, you know, the appropriate place.
Each time the brain flukes stop by, a few more stick around. There's nothing to be gained by taking this self-indulgent whining seriously.
Excellent OP, I missed it the first side around.
Also, Roger, maybe you should reassure Lilly that now that physics fully understand the severity of the situation, they will change for her.
This is the sort of bullshit I get up to when I'm too lazy to write a 4th chapter to LOBB on any given day.
I sit in my office and look out at the desert, and that's not a good habit.
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on April 03, 2013, 04:32:11 AM
Excellent OP, I missed it the first side around.
Also, Roger, maybe you should reassure Lilly that now that physics fully understand the severity of the situation, they will change for her.
I'm trying to plan a gag based entirely on that idea. I did something similar in the army.
I'm sorry if I don't talk to you much, but I'm scared. All the time. The fuck in my head sees the things that you write and it thinks it has a friend and then it gets all excited and tries to claw my skin off again even though I told it not to and I wake up with these fingernail dents in my hand and they don't go away for hours and sometimes they're not shaped like fingernails at all and I have to pretend that the fuck isn't getting out when I'm asleep and I'm sleeping so much now because being awake is hard and I just don't want to listen to it all but I can't let the fuck out and it's no good. The fuck wants to eat me and when it's done it will get out because someone will hear what happened and the fuck will get in the cracks like a shitty pop song hook and you can't stop it or even slow it down you just have to pretend it's not there or it'll eat you alive. And every time someone talks about it, it gets stronger.
And I'm there at the funeral and he's crying like the night he was crying drunk and it was too much and I let something else do my talking for me because I just couldn't couldn't stand the thing he turned into and something else hauled him up and made him be a person again instead of a thing and now here we are again and we haven't even fucked in five years I don't even remember what he looks like or how it felt and he's crying at me at the funeral and I can't take it but this time when I start yelling it's the fuck that gets out. And the fuck says at least he got ten extra fucking years after the first operation, and he was a fucking drunk and a smoker and after the surgery - when the doctor said he had to quit smoking or he wouldn't do the surgery - and he went outside to smoke and you and your mom just sat there making concerned faces at each other and not doing anything and I had to be the one to go out there and yell at him and he still lived fucking ten years. And when the first cancer showed up and you called and I said if he could take a partial I would take the fucking test just to see but he was too sick even for that and he needed a whole liver and he fucking got it and it didn't even matter and she didn't even have a liver it was just tumor by the time she got to the hospital and that's why she couldn't eat anything and they fucking bought a case of ensure instead of taking her to a doctor and nobody told me and she wouldn't have even had insurance if my sister didn't call about the lump she found and mom said it was no big deal and not to worry and none of them had insurance and I had to yell and make them do it and two days later dad's carrying her to the car because she can't walk and they call me it was two years two years she was sick and she never fucking told us and who the fuck has a jewelry drawer full of pink fucking ribbons and doesn't get a mammogram she was 49 you shit and your dad still outlived her she didn't smoke went to the gym ate healthy and tried to be a good person and your fucking alcoholic dickhole father outlived her. FUCK.
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 05:17:59 AM
I'm sorry if I don't talk to you much, but I'm scared. All the time. The fuck in my head sees the things that you write and it thinks it has a friend and then it gets all excited and tries to claw my skin off again even though I told it not to and I wake up with these fingernail dents in my hand and they don't go away for hours and sometimes they're not shaped like fingernails at all and I have to pretend that the fuck isn't getting out when I'm asleep and I'm sleeping so much now because being awake is hard and I just don't want to listen to it all but I can't let the fuck out and it's no good. The fuck wants to eat me and when it's done it will get out because someone will hear what happened and the fuck will get in the cracks like a shitty pop song hook and you can't stop it or even slow it down you just have to pretend it's not there or it'll eat you alive. And every time someone talks about it, it gets stronger.
You need a desert. These days, I can spend HOURS looking out into it. It smells like mesquite and creaosote, so it's obviously the
wrong desert, so pretty soon the rattle of small arms fire and the hammering of the gun and crump of mortars fades away, back to 22+ years ago, where it belongs.
In their place, I see Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr and I remember what they said, that violence or war kills everyone, even the winners. That brutality cuts both ways. You can see this also in the accusatory glare in the eyes of Malcolm X.
The desert is empty, and so am I. Not in some emo way, just the sort of empty you try to fill up with bad coffee and cigarettes. So, while I appear "on" all the time, it's just an attempt to shake myself out of the bad noir film that I have somehow gotten stuck in.
And when I reach this state, I can pull the fuck apart and diagnose it. And yesterday, I almost had it, but Al, my chief electrician, slapped me and told me to stop looking out there, because the desert will eat you if you let it. What he doesn't know is that it already had, two decades and 10,000 miles away.
So, I'll try again today.
More to follow. Pointless meeting and coffee to be dealt with.
And now we're back at the old house in the kitchen that's smaller than a closet and my brother's there with his wife and he just got all his shit broken into by Russian hackers and he's yelling at me because he's got the fuck to and it makes him think that this shit is my fault because I don't have the patience to try to work inside the fucking system and it's not my fault and I don't even know what he's talking about or why he thinks it's related to anything I've ever done or said or thought but that's what happens when you go in there they cut off your hair and put the fuck in there and you turn hard instead of squishy and his wife is trying to be reasonable because she's always reasonable and and there's an old bear of his he gets off the shelf and he just rips its head off because none of this old shit matters and I start crying and it's a stupid thing and it shouldn't matter but he didn't need to do that and then I know he knows what's happening to me and I go over and I punch him in the arm as hard as I can which doesn't do much because his arm's all made of meat now that they got him but I do it anyway and he punches me back and it hurts and we just keep doing it and she's yelling at us to stop but she doesn't understand because she doesn't have the fuck in her head but he does and he knows and he's helping the only way he knows how because we both need to get the fuck out and this is the only way to make it happen and this sound comes out of me this fucking wail and it doesn't stop and I can't breathe and it doesn't sound human or even animal it's not any of those things it's not a thing vocal chords can do and I don't know if he's wailing, too.
So, it's quiet in the desert. You can think. Things just sort of fall into place, things that would have been friggin' obvious to anyone who DID have time to think. It's not prophecy, it's looking at things with all the pieces in the right place.
And it occurs to me that I'm not entirely certain that I made it out of that other desert, because when I left, the world made some sort of sense. When I came back, there was shit like "derivatives", which nobody completely understands and which doesn't seem completely real. In addition, there will most likely be another serious war in Europe fairly soon, and when I went, that would have been nothing short of hilarious.
After all, the Europeans are the people that we like to behave around (with the exception of GWB, of course), that we put on our Sunday best for, that we try very hard not to embarrass ourselves in front of, even if our pants ARE around our ankles and our crazy is stapled to the underwear we have on our heads.
No, Europe is class. And now even THEY are ramping up for another world war.
So, yeah, I'm not entirely certain that I wasn't killed or something, and all this garbage isn't some awful Jacob's Ladder rip off. There's supposed to be a medical term for people who think they're dead, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. I just think I came home to the wrong universe. My universe made sense; this one is goofier than a waltzing mouse.
I'm gonna think about that today, when I walk out back and look around for a while. For when you gaze too long into the desert, the desert looks empty. Empty as a politician's heart, empty as the inside of my skull.
And that beats drugs all to hell and gone.
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 06:21:49 AM
and they fucking bought a case of ensure instead of taking her to a doctor and nobody told me and she wouldn't have even had insurance if my sister didn't call about the lump she found and mom said it was no big deal and not to worry and none of them had insurance and I had to yell and make them do it and two days later dad's carrying her to the car because she can't walk and they call me it was two years two years she was sick and she never fucking told us and who the fuck has a jewelry drawer full of pink fucking ribbons and doesn't get a mammogram she was 49 you shit and your dad still outlived her she didn't smoke went to the gym ate healthy and tried to be a good person and your fucking alcoholic dickhole father outlived her. FUCK.
There is, and has never been, anything resembling justice. There are, however, basic standards of human behavior, and buying someone who has a lump on their breast a case of Ensure doesn't make the standard.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 04:59:30 PM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 06:21:49 AM
and they fucking bought a case of ensure instead of taking her to a doctor and nobody told me and she wouldn't have even had insurance if my sister didn't call about the lump she found and mom said it was no big deal and not to worry and none of them had insurance and I had to yell and make them do it and two days later dad's carrying her to the car because she can't walk and they call me it was two years two years she was sick and she never fucking told us and who the fuck has a jewelry drawer full of pink fucking ribbons and doesn't get a mammogram she was 49 you shit and your dad still outlived her she didn't smoke went to the gym ate healthy and tried to be a good person and your fucking alcoholic dickhole father outlived her. FUCK.
There is, and has never been, anything resembling justice. There are, however, basic standards of human behavior, and buying someone who has a lump on their breast a case of Ensure doesn't make the standard.
My sister found a lump which turned out to be nothing important. My mom, who actually had breast cancer for two fucking years before she died and no one knew, was the one who told her it was nothing. The pronouns got kinda cluttered in there. It is a giant pile of fuck.
Summer is back in Tucson, as of today. The sun came roaring up at a ridiculous hour, and it has once again taken on the mantle of "Angry God". I like the summer here. There's not of this "beauty of spring", because NOTHING CHANGES. Except the sun.
Oh, and the lizards come out more often. Millions and millions of the little bastards, vacuuming up all animal life smaller than themselves. Which strikes me as very American.
I have patriotic lizards.
My Blackberry buzzes at me no matter what's on the way in. And you have to wait for the buzzing to end before you can tell if it's an email or text you can address later, or a phone call, which will enrage you right now.
That sort of stressor had to be planned.
This Blackberry is going to come to an awful end in the shop later today, I think.
Nobody's actually out there. I see that, now.
If you can't beat them, join them.
TGRR,
Off to look at unread topics for the next few days or so.
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 05:17:59 AM
I'm sorry if I don't talk to you much, but I'm scared. All the time. The fuck in my head sees the things that you write and it thinks it has a friend and then it gets all excited and tries to claw my skin off again even though I told it not to
Well, we can't have that.
I think I'm tired of
blogging, which this has sort of turned into for me.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 08:01:23 PM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 05:17:59 AM
I'm sorry if I don't talk to you much, but I'm scared. All the time. The fuck in my head sees the things that you write and it thinks it has a friend and then it gets all excited and tries to claw my skin off again even though I told it not to
Well, we can't have that.
I think I'm tired of blogging, which this has sort of turned into for me.
That's too bad. I'm playing a game right now called "leave half-finished responses open for an hour because of self-conscious second guessing."
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 08:28:50 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 08:01:23 PM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 05:17:59 AM
I'm sorry if I don't talk to you much, but I'm scared. All the time. The fuck in my head sees the things that you write and it thinks it has a friend and then it gets all excited and tries to claw my skin off again even though I told it not to
Well, we can't have that.
I think I'm tired of blogging, which this has sort of turned into for me.
That's too bad. I'm playing a game right now called "leave half-finished responses open for an hour because of self-conscious second guessing."
Wasn't talking about the thread, QG, I was talking about PD in general.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 08:30:45 PM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 08:28:50 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 08:01:23 PM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 05:17:59 AM
I'm sorry if I don't talk to you much, but I'm scared. All the time. The fuck in my head sees the things that you write and it thinks it has a friend and then it gets all excited and tries to claw my skin off again even though I told it not to
Well, we can't have that.
I think I'm tired of blogging, which this has sort of turned into for me.
That's too bad. I'm playing a game right now called "leave half-finished responses open for an hour because of self-conscious second guessing."
Wasn't talking about the thread, QG, I was talking about PD in general.
It's just hard going, because I'm still not sure exactly
what PD is, and whenever the fuck gets bad I can't see any generic complaints without assuming IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT FEEL BAD NOW. Which, you know, helpful. I am so looking forward to getting a goddamn shrink.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 07:22:52 PM
Nobody's actually out there. I see that, now.
Beans were starting to boil over.
As far as the Blackberry goes, I've found in recent years that cheap, shitty faux Blackberries are actually better than real ones because they have a lot fewer FEATURES
(TM).
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 08:34:47 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 08:30:45 PM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 08:28:50 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 08:01:23 PM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on April 03, 2013, 05:17:59 AM
I'm sorry if I don't talk to you much, but I'm scared. All the time. The fuck in my head sees the things that you write and it thinks it has a friend and then it gets all excited and tries to claw my skin off again even though I told it not to
Well, we can't have that.
I think I'm tired of blogging, which this has sort of turned into for me.
That's too bad. I'm playing a game right now called "leave half-finished responses open for an hour because of self-conscious second guessing."
Wasn't talking about the thread, QG, I was talking about PD in general.
It's just hard going, because I'm still not sure exactly what PD is, and whenever the fuck gets bad I can't see any generic complaints without assuming IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT FEEL BAD NOW. Which, you know, helpful. I am so looking forward to getting a goddamn shrink.
It's not your fault. It's not anybody's fault.
I think it's just that the day of the .com forums is done, just like usenet died when the .coms came along.
Facebook is where 90% of our user base went...Because it's easier to post, because the format basically discourages actual writing, and encourages you to use features to express yourself, rather than typing actual thoughts.
It's the dumbing down of the virtual community, and it works like a charm.
You can't fight progress.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 08:41:29 PM
You can't fight progress.
I was trying to google image search an old painting of some Indians sabotaging train tracks, but I can't find it.
You can't STOP it, but sometimes you can say "HEY, FUCK YOU".
Quote from: stelz on April 03, 2013, 09:03:36 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 08:41:29 PM
You can't fight progress.
I was trying to google image search an old painting of some Indians sabotaging train tracks, but I can't find it.
You can't STOP it, but sometimes you can say "HEY, FUCK YOU".
Well, that's my plan. I shall stand on the side of the interbutts superhighway, with my underwear on my head, screaming "FUCK YOU! At all the members of the post-Facebook 5-character-limit future that drive by.
And though my pants will be around my ankles, those pants will have BUTTONS, not those newfangled ZIPPERS.
I'd like to also state that it isn't PD. No, every .com forum I know of is as dead as Snooki's career.
And my guess is, Facebook will follow within a few years, when even THAT much concentration becomes a burden. GEORGE ORWELL WAS SUCH A KIDDER! It won't be "Good" and "Ungood", the entire human language will consist of "LIKE" and UNLIKE", as we scan the latest TRENDING shit on the inside of our left eyelid.
And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the FUCK THAT IS IN MY HEAD.
Also, I hear it all the time: "Roger, quite griping! I'm sick of your shit."
Well, I'll have you all know that my shit is prized as a valuable defense commodity. Sprayed over a tank, it makes the vehicle both shell-proof and immune to infantry assaults. When applied to infantrymen, it protects them from IEDs.
In some cultures, my shit is collected and kept in special huts. The tribe possessing the biggest pile of my excrement is the object of every other tribe's envy, and they laugh at the other tribes' puny piles. Rumors have it that the least of my butt nuggets can be used to dowry off three ugly daughters.
Also, the last time I was constipated was November of 2008, and the economy is still, well, in the crapper. I have heard that there is a movement - if you'll pardon the expression - to take America off of fiat currency, and put it on the poop standard.
So I trust we'll hear no more complaints when I befoul your toilet to such an extent that the house takes serious structural damage. Just think of your bathroom as sitting on a gold mine. And you can always get more cats.
Nobody is sick of my shit.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 10:25:13 PM
I'd like to also state that it isn't PD. No, every .com forum I know of is as dead as Snooki's career.
And my guess is, Facebook will follow within a few years, when even THAT much concentration becomes a burden. GEORGE ORWELL WAS SUCH A KIDDER! It won't be "Good" and "Ungood", the entire human language will consist of "LIKE" and UNLIKE", as we scan the latest TRENDING shit on the inside of our left eyelid.
And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the FUCK THAT IS IN MY HEAD.
True story.
The world is, little by little, SHUTTING UP™.
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on April 05, 2013, 05:45:31 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 03, 2013, 10:25:13 PM
I'd like to also state that it isn't PD. No, every .com forum I know of is as dead as Snooki's career.
And my guess is, Facebook will follow within a few years, when even THAT much concentration becomes a burden. GEORGE ORWELL WAS SUCH A KIDDER! It won't be "Good" and "Ungood", the entire human language will consist of "LIKE" and UNLIKE", as we scan the latest TRENDING shit on the inside of our left eyelid.
And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the FUCK THAT IS IN MY HEAD.
True story.
The world is, little by little, SHUTTING UP™.
Twitter wouldn't have lasted 10 seconds in a sane world.
But in THIS world, it's the cat's ass for people who can't handle those windy bastards at Facebook.
Twitter is great for two things: sharing links and on-site picture updates. For those two things, it's amazing.
The problem is, it's marketed as a social network. Because everything has to have Web 2.0 functionality, which means highlighting how you can talk to your friends about your life. And unfortunately, what that means is that it inevitably devolves into "highschool" territory, among people who probably should know better, but seem intent on proving otherwise. I've seen more journalists and academics calling in the troops over personal butthurt and social commitments than actually, you know, reporting on the news or talking about research.
And since social networking is the "big thing" on the internet for the last few years, it's lead to an increasingly socialised (in the bad sense of the word) web.
I think that its a lot more complicated than 'people have no attention span'. On a site like this 99% of the users are users. They can interact, they can post, but its not 'theirs', they have no 'control'. On Facebook, they have a much stronger illusion of control. They can decide who can and can't see what they say, they decide who can and can't speak to them. They can create a group and control it. It is an extremely dynamic environment. Forums, in comparison are static.
Additionally, facebook provides heavy aggregation. You can hang out in one spot and interact with a pineal discordian group, a BiP Discordian group, a private discordian group, your family, other friends, people interested in some hobby, funny images and have chat/video chat capabilities with all of them in a single, one-stop shop kinda place.
It also provides an escape from interacting with people you don't like. Purpleris left most of the Facebook Discordian sites because she thought they were a waste of time. She didn't want to interact with the idiots, so she dumped them. On a forum like this, you can't do that. If someone doesn't like me, they can't escape me by going to a different thread. On FB, they can block me, or start another group and not invite me.
Is that good for examining your own beliefs in the light of people that may disagree with you? Maybe, maybe not. Some FB groups seem to be capable of debate without resorting to screaming, imagebombs etc. For the people that like that sort of environment, thats just the sort of environment they like. Other Facebook groups may encourage more direct assults and for the people that like that, well they'll like it. On a forum, you have one community, one culture, one tribe.
Twitter, quite possibly is the most sincere form of social media. It's just long enough to say "I'm here, are you there?" which a lot of social interaction can be boiled down to. It's not a place for grand debate... its a place for people to feel connected to other people. I don't see anything wrong with that (I don't really use it, can't remember the last time I even logged into it)... but for people that want that kind of connection, well they can have it.
I think that its easy to think that the Internet is for X kind of communication (debate, discussion of Big Topics, 70 page DRUGS threads and other improtant things). But, for most of the people I know... thats not what they want to use the Internet for. They want to play games, interact with friends, communicate in some way with the world and get on with their lives. i think the slow drain from forums, has a lot more to do with people finding a tool that better fits what they WANT to experience, rather than dealing with an experience that doesn't quite fit with what they want.
I hate Facebook. It's slow, bloated, stupid, drama-filled, and low-content.
I think .com forums have an identity crisis they need to address in the current online landscape. They're not ideal for hanging out with people you like and chatting about fluff, that's what you have fb and twitter for. They're not ideal places to find news and comment on it, that's what every news blog ever is for. And PD in particular sometimes thinks of itself as a content farm, but then it starts to have the problem Roger's brought up a lot of times, where it feels like you're vomiting into an empty space for no reason. And me? I show up and vomit here because therapy's expensive and I still haven't sorted out my insurance and it's better to vomit where at least someone can see it and say "yeah, I get the fucks sometimes, too." Which isn't really a great way to build community or anything, but no one's banned me yet.
I like forums. The format is really good for idea-building.
I only like this place, I enjoy it. I never enjoy other forums, and I certainly do not enjoy FB. I do my best to spread my lack of enjoyment there as much as possible, but I'm only human.
At any rate, I'll be here until it is a smoking crater, .com slump or no.
I agree, Nigel. Forums are fantastic for debate, idea building, interacting at a deep level with a group of people. Really though, how many humans want to do that in their spare time? Probably, relatively few of us. (I also agree that Facebook is bloated and prone to crazy drama, but then newsgroups and forums have been prone to crazy drama too. I think that a more human interaction thing than a fault of the software).
A forum as a content farm, has its share of problems... the feeling that you're puking into the void (I think thats a Kabbalistic ritual) and the ease at which good stuff can get buried under tons of random chatter.
In my opinion, forums need to evolve. I've worked with some companies that are building private communities for various business/school/etc purposes. They are tending toward a dynamic community site, which includes a tightly integrated forum, but also includes wiki style tools, chat/group chat/video chat tools, publishing tools (blog or site content). One that I was really impressed with had 'content' where the comments were actually forum threads whch could be viewed at the bottom of the article AND from the forum view. Individuals can create groups within the community which are private. In the example I saw, this meant that a small group could get together, hash out some piece of content and then submit the final product as site content, which once published had a public forum thread where people could discuss the final product.
So the community site becomes whatever the user wants, based on how they choose to interact with it. A forum, a content site, a reference tool, a place where you can hang out with private groups or the whole community, or a chat room/IM tool. I think the .coms that continue to have success with forums will have it because they've evolved in that kind of direction.
Of course, there's the question of 'focus'. If you want to get down and dirty debating Discordianism, then the PD forum is the place to be. I just think maybe, many Discordians prefer to live their life in whatever 'Discordian' way they think is good for them and don't really care for the deep debate. In fact, I think that is the biggest difference between the Discordians I interact with here, and the ones I know in real life. The Discordians I know IRL, tend to be whatever it is they interpret as Discordian and they don't really debate about it. When Discordian forums were the only way to hang out with Discordians, then maybe people suffered through debate. Now, maybe more of them would just prefer to post jokes, pictures etc, because debating the philosophy of a system thought up by a couple hippies on acid isn't their trip ;-)
All in all, I think thats a good thing. 10 people that want to interact at PD in the PD style, is probably better than 100 people, where 90 of them wish they didn't have to wade through pages of drugs, anarchism or debates about the lameness of pineal jokes... they just wanted to chill on the roof at the pool with some hoopy froods and giggle. I don't think thats necessarily a wrong/bad/not really Discordian view, but its probably not a view that will fit in well here. It is a view that Facebook will support very well (at least until they get trolled by PD ;-) ).
I think its a false dichotomy to think one tool is superior to the other... they're just different tools for different people who want different things.
Um, Rat...We have an ignore function now.
Just saying.
And I don't want forums to evolve. The evolution you propose means they become Facebook, and Facebook is like allowing 20,000,000 deranged & atavistic family members out of the attic and into your living room while you have guests.
Facebook doesn't support shit, except the ability to launch a page without knowing how to use BBS software. And while that has its advantages, it also means anything worth seeing is drowned in a sea of racist pictures and unsolicited personal advice.
I never had a conversation of any kind on twitter, not even a stupid facebook Discordian level one.
If I see a link to something interesting, or if I happen to notice a friend promoting something, I'll retweet it. That's the whole extent of my twitter activity. Sometimes I don't even check twitter for months.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 05, 2013, 06:42:40 PM
And I don't want forums to evolve. The evolution you propose means they become Facebook, and Facebook is like allowing 20,000,000 deranged & atavistic family members out of the attic and into your living room while you have guests.
Facebook doesn't support shit, except the ability to launch a page without knowing how to use BBS software. And while that has its advantages, it also means anything worth seeing is drowned in a sea of racist pictures and unsolicited personal advice.
Facebook supports the idea/perception/illusion of control for each user. Thats what most people seem to want. Believe me, I've sat through so many discussions, reviews, customers that have researched this shit... and it always boils down to dynamic control.
I disagree that it means they become Facebook. They become a dynamic site... you lose nothing from the forum world, you just have lots of new ways of accessing the information, displaying the information and interacting with the other site members. Several months ago when I put together the simple aggregator, I was thinking it would add the visibility for content, without a major overhaul.
Think about it this way.
www.principiadiscordia.com/zine becomes a online content site, maybe it looks like a magazine, maybe it looks like a blog, whatever... its a place where anyone can go read finalized content. If they comment, the comment is posted in a forum thread. other users can respond via the comment tool, or within the forum.
Within the forum, if a couple people want to collaborate, they create a private group, do the collaboration and their final product gets published on the zine, and (simoultaniously) a forum discussion around the content. Next the embedded wiki... any words or concepts that are unique to PD.com... stuff n00bs wouldn't understand (BiP, Barstool, The Machine, etc) become links to a wiki page tha describes the concept.
There's nothing Facebooky about it. You could interact with PD exactly the same way you do today. It doesn't allow everyone to post anything as front end content, unless thats what you want the site to do.
Today, if some random person wanders in, they can start reading threads... maybe catch on, maybe miss some of the awesome content thats buried and may have no idea what the hell we're talking about when we use terms unique to our community.
Technology is moving is some seriously crazy directions... like NoSQL and HADOOP... everyone is trying to figure out how to interact with information while no longer being constrained to relational databases and static interfaces. This will trickle down to everything... just like Forums are 'better' than Usenet, the next generation will be better still, without falling into a Facebook like hole of little Signal and Big Noise.
Quote from: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on April 05, 2013, 05:56:47 PM
I agree, Nigel. Forums are fantastic for debate, idea building, interacting at a deep level with a group of people. Really though, how many humans want to do that in their spare time? Probably, relatively few of us.
Yes. The ones I want to spend my time with. The rest of them can have Facebook.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 05, 2013, 06:42:40 PM
And I don't want forums to evolve. The evolution you propose means they become Facebook, and Facebook is like allowing 20,000,000 deranged & atavistic family members out of the attic and into your living room while you have guests.
Facebook doesn't support shit, except the ability to launch a page without knowing how to use BBS software. And while that has its advantages, it also means anything worth seeing is drowned in a sea of racist pictures and unsolicited personal advice.
And this. Exactly this.
I don't WANT to hang out with those people. That's why they're THERE and I'm HERE. I check Facebook once every other day or so to see if I got any messages or have any upcoming events I need to attend, or sometimes to troll if I'm done with my homework, but otherwise it's a sea of useless boring fuckers who think they're all on Yahoo Answers whether you asked a question or not.
Except that one guy. I wish that one guy would come here, he seems smart and insightful and like he might enjoy some of the deeper conversations we have here. David Beasley. He's a smart one and I like him.
I use Facebook for the games and the endless random pictures that come across my feed. Oh, and keeping in touch with a couple family members.
Occasionally there is some (mostly gaming) news that slips in.
For anything else, though, forums are best. Especially if you aren't able to check for a few days, you (likely) won't miss anything important.
Also, the idea that forums are "better" than Usenet is 100% complete bullshit. The ONLY thing that forums do better than old Usenet is allowing pictures, including emotes, to be posted inline. Usenet was in almost every single way, including ease of use, superior to webforum software in terms of conversation flow and searchability. I would give my fucking eyeteeth for something like Usenet to exist in a readily accessible format. FUCK all of the ISPs for dumping Usenet access, the fuckers.
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on April 07, 2013, 07:29:36 AM
Also, the idea that forums are "better" than Usenet is 100% complete bullshit. The ONLY thing that forums do better than old Usenet is allowing pictures, including emotes, to be posted inline. Usenet was in almost every single way, including ease of use, superior to webforum software in terms of conversation flow and searchability. I would give my fucking eyeteeth for something like Usenet to exist in a readily accessible format. FUCK all of the ISPs for dumping Usenet access, the fuckers.
The biggest problem with Usenet was that ISP's had to invest server resources and disk resources that they didn't make any money off of. Usage outpaced funding.
Quote from: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on April 06, 2013, 10:56:34 AM
Facebook supports the idea/perception/illusion of control for each user. Thats what most people seem to want. Believe me, I've sat through so many discussions, reviews, customers that have researched this shit... and it always boils down to dynamic control.
I disagree that it means they become Facebook. They become a dynamic site...
What the hell does that even MEAN?
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on April 07, 2013, 07:29:36 AM
Also, the idea that forums are "better" than Usenet is 100% complete bullshit. The ONLY thing that forums do better than old Usenet is allowing pictures, including emotes, to be posted inline. Usenet was in almost every single way, including ease of use, superior to webforum software in terms of conversation flow and searchability. I would give my fucking eyeteeth for something like Usenet to exist in a readily accessible format. FUCK all of the ISPs for dumping Usenet access, the fuckers.
Usenet's still there, and there's still some diehards on it...And everywhere else, there's crashing waves of spambots.
I like the forum format. If I had to chose between facebook and usenet, though, I'd take usenet.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 07, 2013, 08:20:38 AM
Quote from: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on April 06, 2013, 10:56:34 AM
Facebook supports the idea/perception/illusion of control for each user. Thats what most people seem to want. Believe me, I've sat through so many discussions, reviews, customers that have researched this shit... and it always boils down to dynamic control.
I disagree that it means they become Facebook. They become a dynamic site...
What the hell does that even MEAN?
In a traditional web application we have three layers. Data, Application and Presentation. In the case of this forum, we have a database, we have the SMF application which interacts with the database and we have the presentation layer of SMF which gives us this forum format (as interpreted by your theme).
If we think of a more dynamic application, we would still have three layers, the data layer would be the same, the application layer would be more intelligent and the presentation layer becomes multiple alternative interfaes. In the example of a forum, we still have our MySQL back-end, still storing data in the same way. the appliation layer, however, instead of only knowing how to interat with data for a forum interface, could interact with the data for any number of interfaces. So you could have a 'magazine' interface, a forum interface, an email/newsgroup stlye interface, a wiki interface, a mobile app interface etc etc etc.
So you don't lose the forum, you just gain more ways of interacting with the information. If you like a UseNet style, there ould be a UseNet style interface, while Cain might prefer the Forum style and some person who has no idea what the hell is going on, might enjoy reading content in a 'zine style. Nigel might use a mobile app while at school and if a n00b doesn't understand what a BiP is, the word would be highlighted and if they clik on it, it would show them a wiki style explaination with links to content discussing the BiP.
Then you can start adding other kinds of tools... group chat, for example, which could be included in search results. Instead of chat being a seperate thing... it generates data, which the application can interact with regardless of the presentation tool.
Its not about losing this interface, or turning into Facebook... its about accessing the data in many different ways (dynamic), rather than only having a single interface with a static way of accessing the data. Next generation applications are starting to move to the concept of 'we don't care how you want to interact with the information".
Most people, I think, will be satisfied with Facebook, Twitter and whatever the hell comes out next. Forums will survive, especially those that move to a more dynamic application layer, because its all about the information and providing access to that information however the user wants. Static forums will eventually be home to a small group of faithful users (like Usenet), but we will continue to see the number of users shrink, because its not the best format for all purposes. For example, I tried to write this response from my smart phone, and not only was it hell to read/see the content window I was typing in, but things like backspace, erased characters on the wrong line. As tools to interact with the web increase, different interfaces will work better on those different tools.
Everything about technology is changingto become more dynamic and less structured... even the concept of a relational database (like MySQL) is begining to change. The new HADOOP project for example, takes multiple small servers and connects them together as one large server, with all hard drives in each server becoming part of a single filesystem. Rather than having a huge database, we can simply pass files into the filesystem, then interact with those files just like they were data in a database. Some newer database solutions no longer deal with structured data in hard coded tables.Oracle has a newish solution that has no database on disk, rather the whole thing exists in memory and things like tables/columns etc can be changed on the fly. Most of these changes are for specific situations... but its causing a complete rethink about how to interact with the data at every level.
ETA: Also, I didn't intend to threadjack this from the original topic, if someone wants to split it, I'm ok with that.
Quote from: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on April 07, 2013, 08:02:50 AM
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on April 07, 2013, 07:29:36 AM
Also, the idea that forums are "better" than Usenet is 100% complete bullshit. The ONLY thing that forums do better than old Usenet is allowing pictures, including emotes, to be posted inline. Usenet was in almost every single way, including ease of use, superior to webforum software in terms of conversation flow and searchability. I would give my fucking eyeteeth for something like Usenet to exist in a readily accessible format. FUCK all of the ISPs for dumping Usenet access, the fuckers.
The biggest problem with Usenet was that ISP's had to invest server resources and disk resources that they didn't make any money off of. Usage outpaced funding.
Yeah. It was a superior format for communication and people flocked to it, but it wasn't profitable so they killed it.
God bless America.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 07, 2013, 08:22:00 AM
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on April 07, 2013, 07:29:36 AM
Also, the idea that forums are "better" than Usenet is 100% complete bullshit. The ONLY thing that forums do better than old Usenet is allowing pictures, including emotes, to be posted inline. Usenet was in almost every single way, including ease of use, superior to webforum software in terms of conversation flow and searchability. I would give my fucking eyeteeth for something like Usenet to exist in a readily accessible format. FUCK all of the ISPs for dumping Usenet access, the fuckers.
Usenet's still there, and there's still some diehards on it...And everywhere else, there's crashing waves of spambots.
I like the forum format. If I had to chose between facebook and usenet, though, I'd take usenet.
Yeah, I peek in at it once in a while. It's pretty much a wasteland now, which makes me sad.
Quote from: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on April 07, 2013, 12:11:11 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 07, 2013, 08:20:38 AM
Quote from: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on April 06, 2013, 10:56:34 AM
Facebook supports the idea/perception/illusion of control for each user. Thats what most people seem to want. Believe me, I've sat through so many discussions, reviews, customers that have researched this shit... and it always boils down to dynamic control.
I disagree that it means they become Facebook. They become a dynamic site...
What the hell does that even MEAN?
In a traditional web application we have three layers. Data, Application and Presentation. In the case of this forum, we have a database, we have the SMF application which interacts with the database and we have the presentation layer of SMF which gives us this forum format (as interpreted by your theme).
If we think of a more dynamic application, we would still have three layers, the data layer would be the same, the application layer would be more intelligent and the presentation layer becomes multiple alternative interfaes. In the example of a forum, we still have our MySQL back-end, still storing data in the same way. the appliation layer, however, instead of only knowing how to interat with data for a forum interface, could interact with the data for any number of interfaces. So you could have a 'magazine' interface, a forum interface, an email/newsgroup stlye interface, a wiki interface, a mobile app interface etc etc etc.
So you don't lose the forum, you just gain more ways of interacting with the information. If you like a UseNet style, there ould be a UseNet style interface, while Cain might prefer the Forum style and some person who has no idea what the hell is going on, might enjoy reading content in a 'zine style. Nigel might use a mobile app while at school and if a n00b doesn't understand what a BiP is, the word would be highlighted and if they clik on it, it would show them a wiki style explaination with links to content discussing the BiP.
Then you can start adding other kinds of tools... group chat, for example, which could be included in search results. Instead of chat being a seperate thing... it generates data, which the application can interact with regardless of the presentation tool.
Its not about losing this interface, or turning into Facebook... its about accessing the data in many different ways (dynamic), rather than only having a single interface with a static way of accessing the data. Next generation applications are starting to move to the concept of 'we don't care how you want to interact with the information".
Most people, I think, will be satisfied with Facebook, Twitter and whatever the hell comes out next. Forums will survive, especially those that move to a more dynamic application layer, because its all about the information and providing access to that information however the user wants. Static forums will eventually be home to a small group of faithful users (like Usenet), but we will continue to see the number of users shrink, because its not the best format for all purposes. For example, I tried to write this response from my smart phone, and not only was it hell to read/see the content window I was typing in, but things like backspace, erased characters on the wrong line. As tools to interact with the web increase, different interfaces will work better on those different tools.
Everything about technology is changingto become more dynamic and less structured... even the concept of a relational database (like MySQL) is begining to change. The new HADOOP project for example, takes multiple small servers and connects them together as one large server, with all hard drives in each server becoming part of a single filesystem. Rather than having a huge database, we can simply pass files into the filesystem, then interact with those files just like they were data in a database. Some newer database solutions no longer deal with structured data in hard coded tables.Oracle has a newish solution that has no database on disk, rather the whole thing exists in memory and things like tables/columns etc can be changed on the fly. Most of these changes are for specific situations... but its causing a complete rethink about how to interact with the data at every level.
ETA: Also, I didn't intend to threadjack this from the original topic, if someone wants to split it, I'm ok with that.
You basically just wrote me in Greek. Just saying.
Facebook is where my nice Xtian family members all hang out.
If I were to get on Facebook and talk to my friends? My family would discover the drug using, whip-wielding, pain-loving, diaper-wearing, knob-gobbling, pill-popping, random-fucking sorts of people I choose to inhabit my life.
...Not thinking that would end well. :eek: