The (Un)Official Whipping Thread

[Linna Heartbooger]

The above post would be a lot more effective were your avatar still Eastwood and not a lion in a bowler hat....

I don't think you're the guy to issue effective avatar advice, Mr. Nerdatar.

"avatar advice" - lol! I think some days, you just have to ask, "Am I dealing with the right question, here?"

[dANdeLION]

Unlike an anthropomorphic cross between Mufasa and Charlie Chaplin, talking like Dirty Harry. That's just confusing.

Oh. So sorry. Me try dum it down for yoo sake then.

[Cambo]

Unlike an anthropomorphic cross between Mufasa and Charlie Chaplin, talking like Dirty Harry. That's just confusing.

Oh. So sorry. Me try dum it down for yoo sake then.

Much obliged. And at the pretense of staying on topic:

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

Large thanks to everyone for your posts Sorry for not posting a reply for so long. Thought a quick reply could make me much more sorry later, so decided to take time to wait cool down and lend most of my fangs to friends and relatives.

I do hope it was a rare issue and because of my posting really, for I wouldn't like to think that's normal treatment for everyone new and unaquinted (or just not deeply and personally aqainted) with the specific customs even here, on the forum dedicated to Stephen Donaldson's books, and that no new members will get something like this.

I even thought of going into hiding again first - at least for a while. I've been lurking here without registering for a few years. I generally don't tend to join any online communities for several reasons, and far not the last one is that I'm not really eager to be where I'm unwelcome, and such communities often welcome new members like they're all a big bowl of oatmeal - fine for health, but as appealing. The Kevin's Watch impressed me in many ways and one of the first was that no one pressed the issue of me or anyone else joining just recently or being not well-versed in local habits.

As you probably could guess out of the above, I'm quite long aware of THOOOTP and other organizations here, I've even made a user item for OPAL, it's just not in the shop yet. Strangely enough, I'd think a THOOOTP member, the high priest moreover, is more likely to take the off-topic sign as a compliment. In fact, calling the Pope "a Catholic guy" is more or less correct, and language used usually depends on the situation and the one speaking. The off-topic smilie I used is the only one in that direction available, and the "off-topic" comment is the usual one on message boards, it not only didn't mean insult, it wasn't a "run of the mill off-topic poster" as well, simply what was available at hand to remind there was some topic to the thread.

And, if "a Catholic guy" style is so unacceptable, from now on I may use some different phrasing, something like "the high priest of The Holy Order Of Off-Topic Posters performed forwarding of the Order's principles"

As for the name - I more or less explained it already in the name thread. Pronounciation is quite irrelevant, I don't care much about that, Ef or some other shortening suffices.

About avatars. Cambo, I like yours a lot - it's very unusual to see one like this. The watchers, as I see for now, tend to have good avatars - memorable and showing there's a personality behind

And the smilie, for the sake of it

[Linna Heartbooger]

so decided to take time to wait cool down and lend most of my fangs to friends and relatives.

Okay, this is the one I'll use the emoticon(s) in order to nominally be on-topic:

RL friends and relatives are real... we're just text.
(oh wait; that's a diff online community - a text-based mud.)

I even thought of going into hiding again first - at least for a while.

I'm sorry. I identify: I've been there, done that. Right here on the Watch. Twice. For periods of about 6 to 18 months.

These days, if I start a thread that falls flat, or make a post that shares something important to me, but gets no response, I don't take it as personally. I don't think "this is the wrong group." I think: this is wrong time, or the wrong context, or the wrong way of bringing this up. It's a learning process.

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

"lend most of my fangs to friends and relatives" was simply a metaphor.

It wasn't that a thread has fallen flat or no response. It was half in another thread kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19522&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=160. Shortly, I posted the off-topic smilie and received a response.

And, certainly, I'm far from blaming the group - quite the opposite, I decided to stay because of it. The thought of leaving was there for merely a moment, I mentioned it to explain the point - that people can take uneasily something like what dANdeLION wrote, and I hope not to see the like directed at someone else new. I understand he hardly meant it like this, but at first it felt like quite a bucket of icy cold water.

Oh, and I'm keeping the topic

[Cambo]

The thought of leaving was there for merely a moment, I mentioned it to explain the point - that people can take uneasily something like what dANdeLION wrote, and I hope not to see the like directed at someone else new. I understand he hardly meant it like this, but at first it felt like quite a bucket of icy cold water.

Heh, I think every discussion board needs an "ice water" member- keeps everyone fresh and on their toes. Sorry you felt that way, though.

The Kevin's Watch impressed me in many ways and one of the first was that no one pressed the issue of me or anyone else joining just recently or being not well-versed in local habits.

Yeah, that's how I felt when I joined too. It's probably telling I've been here a really short amount of time compared to some of the Old Guard (no offense to our senior members ), but the Watch has felt like home for a long time .

[dANdeLION]

The thought of leaving was there for merely a moment, I mentioned it to explain the point - that people can take uneasily something like what dANdeLION wrote, and I hope not to see the like directed at someone else new.

So let me get this straight. I read null's post about his co-workers not showing up, and I made a comment that it wasn't because of him they weren't there. I know null; he's not necessarily normal, but he's a positive guy, and has always been nice to me. I'm not always positive, but I try to be nice to him anyway. Then you post your 'off-topic' comment. A comment you did not have to post, by the way. Then I responded, saying null's a nice guy and you should get over yourself.

Now you are afraid I might offend some other 'new' person, when you yourself are not new here. Now you're saying you took some time to 'cool off', and decided against leaving the Watch, even though I made you want to. Am I getting this right so far? Am I to understand that you're allowed to make little snide comments to me, when I wasn't saying or doing anything at all to you, but I'm not allowed to make any myself, because you might get offended?

You really DO need to get over yourself.

[Avatar]

Easy on guys. Let's not get annoyed by little things. I'm sure it wasn't intended to be offensive.

--A

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

The thought of leaving was there for merely a moment, I mentioned it to explain the point - that people can take uneasily something like what dANdeLION wrote, and I hope not to see the like directed at someone else new.

So let me get this straight. I read null's post about his co-workers not showing up, and I made a comment that it wasn't because of him they weren't there. I know null; he's not necessarily normal, but he's a positive guy, and has always been nice to me. I'm not always positive, but I try to be nice to him anyway. Then you post your 'off-topic' comment. A comment you did not have to post, by the way. Then I responded, saying null's a nice guy and you should get over yourself.

Now you are afraid I might offend some other 'new' person, when you yourself are not new here. Now you're saying you took some time to 'cool off', and decided against leaving the Watch, even though I made you want to. Am I getting this right so far? Am I to understand that you're allowed to make little snide comments to me, when I wasn't saying or doing anything at all to you, but I'm not allowed to make any myself, because you might get offended?

You really DO need to get over yourself.

Thank you for this post, I only just finally understood what this was about.

I've always seen off-topic signs and removals on that reason by mooderators didn't have anything to do with the content of the posts - off-topic is off-topic, whatever about, and haven't even thought of a possibility you were referring to that content. My message could be equally read as "Don't forget about the smilies mentioned in the 1st post". So, the only conclusion I could see was that an old community member thinks that noobs don't have a right to tell the old-timers they're off-topic. Hence all the reaction afterwards. Good to see it was a misunderstanding.

And thank you for trying to be nice with Sarge. With all the impression above went also that I understood out of the impression that got formed, that you were sarcastic in that first comment to him - about not wanting to work with him, which made the whole picture worse furtherly. Now I see that was genuinely sympathetic. Sorry for my conclusions and remarks, they were built on a wrong first misunderstanding. And also thank you for helping with finally sorting this out.

Edit - oh, off-topic myself

[High Lord Tolkien]

I know null. [snip] I'm not always positive, but I try to be nice to him anyway.

Wait...........what?

[aliantha]

Eff: all you have to know about dAN is that he's almost always kidding. And yeah, no need for hard feelings around here -- especially about going off-topic at the Watch, and especially here in GenDisc. Going off-topic is what we *do*.

(Man, I'm glad I haven't been to any of the forums you're talking about. Mods getting draconian about off-topic posts? I wouldn't last ten minutes...)

[Avatar]

Yeah...here, the mods are the worst offenders.



--A

[Holsety]

(There's a reason why I put this in the whipping post, LOL. TEAR IT TO SHREDS. Or not. The choice is yours. In the words of some western gunslinger, go ahead, make my day! Well, actually, I'm not entirely sure I'm going to be READING the responses, and suffice to say I'm fully booked for the rest of my life.)

Today,
I was at one of the most famous museums of art today with my family, and I had a really interesting experience. I, a 22 year old economics student, seemed to find more joy and understanding in the museum than any other human being, yes, a modern art museum. Why?

Really, this story is TRUE FACTS. No. Seriously. Don't believe me? Visit the museum. It's possible they took the exhibit down, but it's also quite possible they left it up. Either way, let my description of it stand as a testament to its eternal beauty (yes, that's right. Someday, you should read The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, a japanese novel).

In the third floor of the museum, there is a white curtain designed to look like a wall. Behind the curtain is a series of rooms in which are stacked rows of chairs. Tape is on the ground, I think...well, tape seems to be on the ground in a lot of places these days, so what does it matter.

The art contained inside I destroyed before I took anyone else within. I then took my parents, and then 3 new yorkers (who, by the way, thinking themselves on the cutting edge, approached modern art with so much fear that they ). I cannot say whether any of them had any more or less fun in said exhibit than I. It is my single greatest secret, besides all the others in the universe, all of which are readily at my fingertips. I never kiss and tell, NEVER, that being said you will find it hard to steal from my lips a single kiss, unless you use force, to which I will submit utterly in all ways but intellectually. But, consider the force of my intellect before using force of any other kind.

If you ever do meet me in person, though, I've been told I give the best hugs, but only by some. Hugs are as much a matter of taste as art, what indeed is the difference? So, what I'm saying is, don't spend your life trying to get a hug from me.

Now, let me tell you something. For my money, while I'm first and foremost an American who knows NYC as well as I do any city, Paris is the best city in the world. Why? Buy tickets to Midnight in Paris and find out. Hint: It's got something to do with Edna St Vincent Millay, the woman to whom I dedicate my eternal, unrequited love.

Why is all this? My best interpretation of my earliest memory connects me, lying in the crib, with Japanese nuked in Hiroshima. For 22 years old, I studied as carefully as I could every actor in the world. I just graduated college. Now, I'm attempting as best I can to mimic all of them at once. Try it with me sometime, even if you're the oldest person on the planet. Well, ok, I know very well we've already been dancing to a very elegant tune, but I'm going to be writing some of my own now. Believe me, you will find them VERY BORING.

Consider this. All the worlds a stage, the people on it merely players. I am acting, as best I can, as the happiest man alive. Maybe you've read Barthes, who said that the author was dead, and that therefore written works cannot be trusted. Go ahead and trust me anyway, because I hold an unequalled mastery of every one of the greatest thinkers alive. No matter how hold you are, exhibit unrestrained joy, to everyone else in the world, your joy at being alive, and search for that joy in the eyes of all other humans.

Oh. You may well think that today marks a particularly interesting moment in my life. No, not really - I chose it, essentially, some years ago, because I realized at that time that I was losing my edge in life, and at some point I would have to start solidifying.

Welcome to the world of Matthew Aaron Vomacka, born 3/29/89, first and foremost an American. If you're really having fun, declare yourself an American too, or whatever other country you feel like. Together, you and I, we'll conquer the world. If you let me, I will recast the entire world in my own image, each and every human being, first and foremost, an American. Do I claim to be a God in form of man? No, if I succeed I'll have been about as effective as a dog pissing on a bush.

You cannot know the dancer from the dance. You may think I am referring to myself. If you're a very good dancer, you'll realize I refer yourself to you. Or, more likely, you'll realize something else entirely, your own little grain of sand which I can never hope to describe if I pour my effort fully into everything.

BTW, unemployed and not job seeking. Like I said, first and foremost, an American. After an entire life spent compromising it in the search for something better, never again will I compromise it. Does that sound like a contradiction to how I've summarized being an American in the past? Well, consider that, whatever you think you are best at, I am in fact better, and that I am in fact, indisputably, the best in the world.

Again, it's in the whipping post for a reason - I'd like to teach you to dance. In the words of a toy from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, "COMMENCE THE JIGGLING."

Proper response: go read your script. I tore up my copy before I came out of my mom's womb.

If we were to discuss genres, my favorite of all genres is science fiction. The big bang represented in human form? Or was the big bang a representation of humanity?

Who, really, is at fault for this? Anyone who, at any point, tried to censor me. But my gratitude, before anything else, lies at the altar OF AMERICA.

[sgt.null]

I know null. [snip] I'm not always positive, but I try to be nice to him anyway.

Wait...........what?

i am rarely offended by dAN.

he is a nice guy and gives me much leeway in his forums.

more than i likely deserve at times...

on topic always seems like such a bother.

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

Holsety, that's it:

I know null. [snip] I'm not always positive, but I try to be nice to him anyway.

Wait...........what?

i am rarely offended by dAN.

he is a nice guy and gives me much leeway in his forums.

more than i likely deserve at times...

on topic always seems like such a bother.

Thanks, good to get a confirmation you're fine with him.

Back to the topic at last

[sgt.null]

a fine whipping to whatever idiots fail to realize i paid for the movie ticket because i want to experience the movie - not your dumb ass and whatever dumbass thing you are talking about. if it be with friends there or your cellphone.

[Holsety]

Oh. I couldn't find this post. I thought it had been deleted after my post, I was really hoping the response to the whipping I tried to give was a deletion.

Too bad!

[sgt.null]

a whipping goes out to idiot bosses everywhere. in their hearts they know how useless they are.

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

Sarge,

Holsety,

(There's a reason why I put this in the whipping post, LOL. TEAR IT TO SHREDS. Or not. The choice is yours. In the words of some western gunslinger, go ahead, make my day! Well, actually, I'm not entirely sure I'm going to be READING the responses, and suffice to say I'm fully booked for the rest of my life.)

Oh. I couldn't find this post. I thought it had been deleted after my post, I was really hoping the response to the whipping I tried to give was a deletion.

Too bad!

Well, you said, "The choice is yours"

Do you know the joke that is said to be Marquis de Sade's favourite?

Masochist: Please, please torture me!
Sadist: Then I won't.

You can think you've got the harshest response now

Oh, and the smilie I like, don't worry, it's not for you