Coming Eventually, the New and "Improved" Super Forum

[panthera]

Chuck,

I am not on meds nor am I mentally ill. This is another one of your (and Rickr) and several others here attempts at attacking me which cause deep distress to the many who actually are coping with various illnesses. Why the hatred?

I deeply resent your threats. I am quite familiar with the idiom, thank you and the intent remains the same. Inexcusable. I have never threatened anyone here verbally, much less physically.
I have never called the FBI on someone here.
I have never called the employer of someone here and had them fired.

This has gone too far.

Robert opened this thread to ask us for our suggestions, not for attacks on various people. Not only have I been attacked, other people here have as well.

That, alone, negates your argument that were Robert to ban me, all would be sweetness and light.

I've made my suggestions to Robert, regardless of his decision(s) I will abide by them and, yes, I would be very happy to pay him a fee for the use of this site.

Sandy, you're absolutely right, time to put a stake through it's heart. I am sorry you and I disagree as to the function of this forum, the more I read here, the more inclined I become to see your point of view.

I'm done with this thread. The hatred being directed towards so many here is truly unfortunate.

 

[perc-o-prince]

The hatred being directed towards so many here is truly unfo

Change HATRED to ANGER, and SO MANY to KEVEN, and I agree completely (new sentence would read, "The anger being directed towards Keven here is truly unfortunate.").

Stick a fork in me, I'm done. No reasoning with the unreasonable, and those who refuse to admit they have a problem will always have it.

Robert, my apologies. I got sucked in to it, but will resist further comment. As far as suggestions for the forum, I stand by my previous ones.

Off to dinner and Karaoke!!!

Chuck

 

[kenb]

Bickering

All of this bickering back and forth is really beyond absurd...this thread has turned into something far more obscene than anything in the topic that started this.

 

[112561]

Mark is right

Without directing this at any one individual, please answer my questions. Does being able to thoroughly slash someones guts out make you a better person? Why is this vitriol (gay word of the month) only directed at people who can't or won't fight back? Or people who are to my way of thinking, marginally obnoxious. Why don't you direct your righteous hatred/fear/distaste/anger at people who REALLY deserve it? Like the mother or father who worked overtime to make you feel like less than dirt, the school bully who felt like it was his-her life calling to make you and others look like fools, the cops who perform phony raids on gay bars, the employer who threw you to the wolves for no good reason, the good preechurs who gleefully tell you you're gonna burn in HELL for bein' a perv, the kids down the block that want to yell and throw things at you because you're a fairy, the doctor that won't treat "those people" etc. I think you get the picture.

You're only denigrating and mocking the genuinely mentally ill and unstable by constantly throwing your righteous acidic diatribes at each other. And you feel it's your God Given Right to smash them because dammit, they're wrong, and they need to DIE!! What we have here is some ten or so people who are right no matter what, and will continue to pound it into each others skulls, because that too, makes you a quality, wonderful, good person and all around nice guy.

Robert, you have a great site. Don't let anyone or anything destroy it. I think the plug needs to be pulled on this thread.

 

[jeffg]

But somehow this whole ruckus reminds me of those Monty Python skits where the guys are all in house dresses swinging big purses at each other.

Here ya go Rich:

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[redcarpetdrew]

Enough >>>IS<<< ENOUGH!!!

This thread was started by Robert to ask us for >>>HELPFULL<<< suggestions on how we can make this site work better for all of us. He COULD have just done whatever he wanted and told us to lump it as is his right. This thread started out pretty well with some really good ideas and rapidly degraded into the very thread that started all this crap. Listen, this bickering will serve >>>ABSOLUTELY NO PURPOSE<<< other than to just ignite and continue some nasty flame war AANNDD it does not speak well of any of us to anyone who is visiting this site and wondering if they'd like to join us. Either help us all out by coming up with some suggestions that Robert was gracious enough to ask for or take your little disagreements to EMAIL!

Look, people, this comes from someone who doesn't really know many of you well (and wishes he did...) but likes pretty much every one of you (even Toggles when he's sick and cranky...) anyway and for some strange reason cares enough about you all that this arguing hurts. Yes, it hurts!

Time to focus, people...

RCD

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Thank you, Jeff...

That video helped...

RCD

 

[earthling177]

Jeff: I don't remember who was the person who posted the link to Dr. Taylor's talk either, but consider the fact that the community here made a space for such a poster to do so. So, I am very grateful both to the poster and the community at large. Also, I hope your SO is better, kidney problems are not fun is what I gather from friends and family who went through similar things. And thank you so much for posting the link to other forums whether or not you were the original poster here, it really does help.

Everyone who corrected me on the Ebay/Craig's List thing. Thank you -- yes, I don't click on the posts, at least I don't click on most of them. I'm glad that it's helpful to people, I had the impression that it was, but now I'm sure. I have never complained about it before, and you can be sure that I won't in the future. My excuse, lame as it is, is that I posted more or less in a "stream of consciousness" style, with very little editing as it's evident by the grammatical and spelling errors. What I meant to say and failed, and you all stress my point for me, is that say I'm annoyed enough by a custom in this forum, like the heads up thing (which admittedly is very mildly annoying to me, I don't much care one way or another, but it was a good example to use and not rile up the entire forum) and somehow suppress it by some fluke and people can't post about it anymore. Then the people who were being helped by it will be missing something. More importantly, the community will change -- in this case not for the better. But anyone can make arguments that sound good/plausible, like "it's taking bandwidth", or "it's annoying to me", or "it offends me", or "I can't believe they aren't already looking there", or "well, they can't look all over the country but they can look at the places that they can truck the thing over for a reasonable price" or any number of other things. Thing is, I'm wrong about it, it helps other people. People I like and care about, so maybe I'm way better off not getting my druthers but getting the community/friends that I enjoy so much. I'll take the quirks the community has because it feels like family to me -- I don't get along with my entire family and friends all the time, but I try to overlook the bad-ish and be thankful for the good. Sometimes I fail, I'd like to think most of the time I succeed.

On the Ms. Manners thing. I like her the best among the etiquette people; she seems to not only accept but advance the idea that times change and we need to adapt. No one needs that extra 3 sets of fork, knife and spoon at a picnic or fast-food joint, even if you may need them at a full banquet. And she's very clear on the fact that no one has a god-given right to never be offended. It will happen sometimes. She's also completely against people who go the extra mile to take offense at things, that is one of the definitions of a rude person, a polite member of society is expected to look the other way on many many things instead of jumping to "I'm offended". It's unfortunately way too common for rude people to see someone's fly is open and "get offended" or, worse yet, "get offended on behalf of others, particularly children" and make a scandal. She's said in as many words that if you see someone whose pants have the fly open, or have a catsup or coffee stain etc, your best move is not to broadcast it to the world -- if there's a reasonable expectation that the person will think no one noticed and not be embarrassed, you're expected to keep your silence; on the other hand, if you are sure that it's very easy to notice, you are expected to quietly and as discreetly as possible to tell the person so they can deal with the situation in a dignified way. But she's not shy about offending people who already caused offense and sometimes deeply humiliating people in front of everybody without actually being accused of ever being rude. And her sarcasm is worth it. A few of her gems:

Dear Ms. Manners: a {black, gay, lesbian, mixed race, foreign} couple just moved across the street from me. What can I do to improve the neighborhood?

Gentle reader: move.

Dear Ms. Manners: what should I say when introduced to a {black, gay, lesbian, mixed race, foreign} couple?

Gentle reader: shake their hands while asking "How do you do? How do you do?"

Dear Ms. Manners: how do I introduce my son and his gay lover?

Gentle reader: "This is my son Jack and his friend Joe" -- it's permissible to pause briefly before the word "friend".

About credit cards as a form of age verification: one can essentially buy "gift cards" that work just like an ordinary credit card at the supermarket nowadays. On the positive side, one can reasonably claim that one made a good faith effort to limit access to adults that way.

Anyhow, in case it's not clear from my comments: I will support whatever Robert decides. My opinions here are just my opinions and they may be wrong, I am not offering them as "this is the right way of doing things" but really way more likely as "this is what's going on in my head". Please take it with a large grain of salt.

Cheers all,
-- Paulo.

 

[jeffg]

Thanks Paulo. Ms. Manners is great, but she may wish to update her advice on the gay lover question. Maybe the "friend" bit was ok in the last century, not in this one. I mean nowadays a gay couple may be spouses! At the very least, "partner" or "significant other" is more appropriate IMO.

God forbid someone introduced me as my partner's "friend", knowing that we've been together 22 years as a monogamous couple, they'd receive an immediate and not-so-subtle correction (from my other half, not me).

 

[earthling177]

Jeff, indeed, those examples were from the early '90s and I'm sure she probably has new advice by now, particularly with so many places offering civil unions/marriages.

 

[danemodsandy]

Miss Manners:

One of her pieces of advice that will never, ever date is this one:

Dear Miss Manners: What is the proper way to walk in high heels?

Gentle Reader: Left, right, left, right.

 

[earthling177]

Sandy: LOL!

 

[andrewinorlando]

Jef, while I agree with you that an open forum is precisely that, open - it does not mean that anyone can just post anything to it that younger eyes can read. And what belongs in an Open Forum is up to the site's moderator, not its members. There is such a thing as social responsibility, discretion and class, and some folks seem to forget this. Personally, as I said before, I could care less what anyone thinks or says or writes....doesn't faze me personally in the least. But I'm not the only reader of this site. If people can't control themselves and some of the language and content they post, and some have very clearly shown that they cannot, for whatever reason does not matter, then they need to be moderated. Some of the posts that have come through here are vulgar, vile, combative (just look at this thread) and unncessary in the "OPEN" forum of an appliance enthusiasts website. And yes, we've got a few kooks onboard, which actually makes things kind of interesting, but that doesn't mean that everyone out there has to be able to read the rantings of a bunch of queens that get their panties in a waad at the drop of a feathered boa. So, what's better? Making an Open forum a closed forum, as Robert is proposing to do? Or banning the three topics that cause 95% of the commotion in the first place? Especially since they've got nothing to do with the art and science of appliances? I don't know, it's a tough call. But whatever the solution, it's just a shame that it has to come to it.

 

[sudsmaster]

Jeff,

Yes, that's it, although I was thinking more of this type of skit:

 

[sudsmaster]

And here it is embedded:

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[sudsmaster]

And now this:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=""></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

[toggleswitch2]

Tacones Altos
Takounia Psila

 

[jeffg]

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(Robert, please forgive us.)

 

[Unimatic1140]

So, what's better? Making an Open forum a closed forum, as Robert is proposing to do? Or banning the three topics that cause 95% of the commotion in the first place? Especially since they've got nothing to do with the art and science of appliances? I don't know, it's a tough call. But whatever the solution, it's just a shame that it has to come to it.
Andrew summed it up beautifully in one paragraph.

So anyways, I do appreciate everyone's input, some of you guys had some wonderful ideas! It gave me a lot to think about and I've decided what I'm going to do, I've made a rough plan of action in my head. It will take quite a bit of time and I'm in no rush as I'm busy with other things. I may take 1 month or I may take 8 months, my prerogative. I'm not going to publicize what I'm going to do and what I've decided to do will not be up for discussion, I've made up my mind. Most likely it will come in phases it will be just easier that way.

For now lets do this, if you guys want to have a political/religion/sexual overtone thread that's fine, but for the time being I do not want MORE THAN ONE OF THOSE THREADS UP ON THE YELLOW SUPER FORUM LIST AT ANY TIME. So if a political thread is up and running and something else happens in Washington or wherever, keep it all in that one thread. If it gets too long we can close it and reopen another. If I catch more than one I will delete it as soon as I find it. I also insist that the title of said thread be tame, I was totally pissed off at the title of thread that Keven created that lead to this post.

I also do not want to receive any complaint emails about anyone's post, if it truly is offensive pull the "report" lever. I will absolutely not respond to anyone's complaint email, I will delete it immediately, I do not in anyway want to hear it.

With that said I'm going to close this thread now. Night all.

ps Jeff that video is hysterical, tears are running down my face from laughing at that video I love silly stuff like that.