I don't understand the "This is the thread where I say..." threads.

xpost: Huck is more of a 5cm virgin, but yeah.

Apparently.

Some have complained of there being a clique around this thread series, when there really isn't. I think we TITTWISers can all safely say that we encourage more people to come into the TITTWIS fray and never wish to become some sort of closed-door club, exclusive to all but a few. Really, anyone who is willing to participate in a thread that doesn't seek to prove anything or impart any sort of advanced cultural knowledge is welcome.

You know, the thread isn't even geographically specific. The "mongrels sheepfuxors" thread is a perfectly fine one because obv the Oceania contingency here have the right to communicate in a way the residents of those two countries would be able to understand, with all the regional lingo and references and all, but sometimes various bits of this forum get incredibly geographically specific to the point where if you don't live in a specific part of the U.S. or UK, you can't see how in the world you can work yourself into the thread. The TITTWIS threads transcend that.

I love TITTWIS, even when I can't find the time to keep up with it the way I'd like to. I welcome as many people as possible to it.

(xpost) Chris -- yeah, he does. Yay for Ned the Flexible!

(Oh wait. That doesn't mean... that.)

Barbies?

you certainly couldn't include "Try Glasgow More" in this group.

Here are a few (but not the only) threads on the New Answers page at the moment which I regard as 'my type' of ilx thread:

I don't understand the "This is the thread where I say..." threads. (obviously)
ZORK
Beyond cheap
KNowing you've done something wrong, and waiting to be dealt with...
Why don't you do drugs?
Michael Douglas:The Angriest White Man?
Hatred of Itunes
Go!!
What is the single greatest compliment you've ever recieved?

As you can probably see from that list, I'm not much into the conversational or cliquey threads. I guess I get enough "hey how you doin'? that's nice" and real-life drama stuff in my life offline.

My only problem with those threads (which I don't read at all) is that some of the people who do participate in them always have to critique the rest of ILE as some big-bad scary place that they need to protect themselves from or something.

OTM.

And yes, some people do sometimes give off a "youre not doing it right" vibe that might engender the creation of threads like these - some comments on this thread are perhaps a good example of that.

Vive la difference! Different threads for different freds.

I suppose it's fine just as long as that mentality stays within those type of threads. I guess I should consider it a good thing that these threads exist for people that feel the urge to post anything for the sake of posting (note I'm not condemning this).

(wow, i hope those scary guys have gone)

But that's all of us on every thread! (Well, sorta.)

The best threads I've read on ILX have been populated heavily by people who have an active interest in participating in a thoughtful discussion of an interesting topic.

xpost

xpost

If light banter don't float yr boat, then fine. Just dont piss in the pool if we're happy paddling in it, k?

I thought the "haha look at this silly bad code!" thread was impenetrable boring twaddle. I didnt get it. You dont see me whining about it though - it isnt for me, is it?

Would you fucks stop jumping on the defensive tip. I've gone to great pains in my posts on this thread to state that I'm perfectly fine with the existence of the TITTWIS, Mongrels, etc threads.

Seriously, Trayce, what the fuck?!

Actually Andrew, the sheepfuxors thread formed out of a Pseudo Echo thread, funnily enough.

Didnt mean to sound defensive (even if I was being). Im just not sure the point of asking "but why do this?" if you dont care why. And it seemed a little like you didnt, really (again, perhaps misreading).

I dont know. I'm flat out working, I shouldnt be flinging me orb about.

Somehow it morphed.

sherry, Pleasant?

This isn't one of these things where people *hugs TigerHand* and LOL ROTF, is it?

Chris, thank you for better explaining what it was that I meant by my original post. "Well, also 'cleverer than thou'. I mean, nothing against the electoral threads, of course, but I believe there's an element of 'knowing your shit' in those threads, and that doesn't exist in the 'lounge' threads." -- exactly.

Spencer -- maybe it's because you're more well versed in many of the topics that get frequently discussed. I can and do find myself at times unable to contribute a single thing anywhere aside from the "chatty" threads and during those times I become all too aware of how ignorant and out of touch I believe myself to be. And when I'm surrounded by all of these individuals who not only know all this stuff but who are also involved in lives I find to be quite glamorous, it gets to be a bit intimidating.

Andrew, FWIW, I think you're doing an admirable job of explaining that these threads aren't exactly your cup of tea, but that you don't wish to express complete and total disapproval of them. Thanks for that. As the music mole said, "different threads for different freds".

sundar, my memory is complete shit, so I totally didn't remember that it was you who posted the lyrics to "Joey"! Don't worry about doing that, BTW. You did well and it WAS on topic as people WERE discussing the actual song itself and what its possible meaning was. It was a fine contribution. Now please feel free to contribute more to the TITTWIS series!

Pleasant Plains, we won't *hug* you or offer you popcorn or anything like that if you don't want that sort of thing. Deal?

xpost

I do appreciate the sentiment, i suppose.

Coopers Trayce?

I've wondered, however, if it isn't an idea whose time has come... and gone.

I wasn't aware that the threads themselves were associated with you. I was more interested in having a meta-discussion of an ilx phenomena.

Also, I find them excruciating to read doesn't sound terribly tolerant to me, but I hope if this thread was educational, this'll be the _last_ time this old topic is dredged up again...(search for, ahem "banal" in last year's archives)

See upthread for my clarification to this.

Andrew, you may have just started this thread for purely good-natured, investigative reasons, but could you see how you came across a bit brash and condescending? It always makes me chuckle when someone says "why the fuck are you being defensive?" right after they've attacked something.

I don't post to TITTWIS mostly because I have no particular relationship with most of the people posting there - also there are enough ILX things draining my time as it is.

Are you worrying that threads like this that you don't understand are spoiling the purity of ILX?

Also, that's N.'s job.

I wasn't trying to insult anybody or anything. I just quite honestly and frankly stated my opinions and perceptions. I think some people's interpretations of my postings say more about those people than me or my intentions.

I thought I was pretty clear from the start, but evidently not. In any case, I hope I've now clarified my perspective on things.

At no point have I even considered suggesting that threads should be censored based on topic or content. The only level of discrimination I've levelled in this thread has been stating what is "my type of thread", and what is "not for me". Note that I'm very obviously and deliberately speaking for myself here.

Get off your fucking high horse. It's pathetic.

So we're the baddies now? Because you started a thread calling other's postings "excruciating"?? You're just digging deeper.

I wasn't aware that there were 'baddies' in this situation. I'm not interested in creating drama or a system of competing factions within ilx. Part of the reason I posted this thread was for that exact reason; I wanted to understand what drew so many regular posters to these threads that I found so hard to comprehend.

I see that posting this thread was a mistake now. Or at least I should've posted it in a less inflammatory way. I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I hope that anyone who was/is offended can read through this whole thread to get a better understanding of my perspective on these things. I'm actually surprised I hadn't explicity apologised before.

I guess I think it's a little odd that some people - like gaz for example - were able to grasp pretty-much where I was coming from, while others were insulted or at least determined to find me insulting.

(thanks Porkpie)

But if you can't see it yourself, ironically _you_ do seem to be the most reactionary and defensive poster on this thread, every time one questioned your reasons for starting it. Or perhaps your _wording_ of things. Contemptuous wording, i'd say or at least the connotations imply such: "excrucriating," "mentality" "those type of threads" - etc - and as soon as Trayce brought this up in a civil manner you outbursted again to call her/whoever a defensive fuck, etc. Why ?

We're going in circles here. You didn't get Ned's point when he said But that's all of us on every thread! in reference to "posting for the sake of posting" - jesus that's about half of ILX history right there, what with the thread derailments. And TITTWIS threads aren't just for that sake anyway - they're actually there to help close friends keep in touch with one another, a point you might've observed if you read them closely. Which kind of makes your "distinction" here sound meaningless too - all of this can apply to a TITTWIS too..... get it yet ?
The best threads I've read on ILX have been populated heavily by people who have an active interest in participating in a thoughtful discussion of an interesting topic.

I'm not having a go at Andrew, I can see where he's coming from, but then I find huge swathes of ILX excruciating to read, including my old posts, so probably wouldn't single out any one type of thread.

Untimately I make decisions regarding ILX, but generally I choose not to. Zac and Alan pretty much take care of the codebase, and I don't even know who's handling the whole moderation thing at the moment. (I just don't have enough time in my life at present to justly preside over such things.)

I don't really think of myself as having any power or control over what people say or do on ILX, short of acting as a custodian in the sense that I'll always act against people deliberately attacking or sabotaging ilx. I guess that's why I didn't consider myself in that capacity whilst posting this thread. I regret that.

I don't know how productive it is to discriminate between "interesting" or not threads in public in the first place

I thought I was pretty clear that I was just stating what interested me personally. I don't know how I could've been more clear than "I'm not condemning this".

But yeah, just remember that "bitchy button" from last year, and how the TITTWIS (i swear, i get such a kick out of writing that acronym, its DIRRTY) issue is very close to it. Threadrankinglistmaking as well. Of course it's "subjective," but who's doing it counts - and hey, you're special

Yeah, well you would see it that way, RJG.

Exactly.

The very lack of that is what got me into ILX in the first place.

Not after I read this:
they're actually there to help close friends keep in touch with one another
Surely that's a definition of cliquey?
I have no "close friends" on TITTWISTs.

(xposts'r'us)

It can be. Maybe the change from greenspun and the subsequent changes to the design of it made more of these conversational type threads possible.

I can and do find myself at times unable to contribute a single thing anywhere aside from the "chatty" threads and during those times I become all too aware of how ignorant and out of touch I believe myself to be.

This is more or less the answer: some people bring a lot of knowledge to ILX, some people are happy to read way more than they post, and these threads are for the people who don't fit into either group. It's the taking part that's important. Humans in "liking to fit in" shocker. Also: fitting in in "helping humans contribute" shocker.

And when I'm surrounded by all of these individuals who not only know all this stuff but who are also involved in lives I find to be quite glamorous, it gets to be a bit intimidating.

"glamorous" ("lives"). You need to meet more ILXors to get past this.

Hahaha OTM

I read them because they include some people I care about, so hearing what they're up to and how they're doing is of interest. I post sometimes because I think that some of them might feel the same about me. I guess there is a core of regulars there, and if you don't care what they're doing, there is no great point in reading them. It's just a friendly chat area, influenced by its most regular participants. A lot of such friendly chat can be described as banal, if you aren't pals with the posters, but banality isn't a terribly bad thing unless it takes over and dominates, for me, and that can't happen when they are confined to one thread at any one time, out of the hundred or so threads active on any given day.

Fin.

I must admit, I do find This is the Thread... to be a safe haven of sorts, but mostly only because it seems a little more laid back though also, to many, boring. It's not for everyone.

(* NOTE: I realize this statement is lame because hardly any threads are able to avoid derailment. TITTWIS just seems like a constant derailment)

Dee and Sarah have made good posts about why they like it though, though I will say to Dee that you really shouldn't think that way, about people being more "glamorous" all over the board.

Andrew is a very nice person and Vic, you're coming across like a huge asshole. You ARE twisting his words and his position, and I mean seriously, hands up who thought Andrew was implying in any way that these threads should be done away with? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Etc?

The original TITTWIS thread was started 16 months ago (!) with more or less exactly the same group of 20 or so people posting - think how far the nascent ILE had come as a community in that timespace. How is that not a real community (or as real as you can get on the internet, and by extension was ILE ever a community, even when it was much smaller)?

For me, the entire Net is a fake community. It makes me scratch my head that all you folks are getting so bent out of shape over ANY social bullshitting thread. Do you *honestly* give a shit? Gah.

I don't get why this is such an issue - I didn't think Andrew was being an asshole - you want to know, you want to know. End of story. I am not intimidated by much of anything, and certainly nothing on ILx. I guess, in the end, all it is is a thread about nothing...like many, many others around. It just happens to be an ONGOING thread about nothing. Boring if you aren't into it? Sure. Hell, it's bored me sometimes, but I started it, so I keep up with it. It's not for everyone, and it's okay if you think it's excruciating to read, banal, or just plain fucking dumb. It isn't for you. No harm, no foul.

Andrew asked, I think he's explained himself and everyone else has explained themselves, too, so really, can't we file this under 'asked and answered' and get on with it?

I get a vibe, sometimes, that certain communities are encouraged on ILX, and others not, but I'm not really seeing any patterns, annoyingly. Like, every Sinist*r thread seems to attract outside attack, but perhaps that's because Sinist*r is a big enough part of ILX for outsiders to feel actually threatened? Whereas you list the Go thread (thanks for the big-up!), where it's pretty much just six-or-so people posting back and forth (new people come come come session tonight, though) as one you like. And a similar thing kinda happens with the occasional freakouts abt SECRET AIM CLIQUES, like on the Boarish thread.

I am so not a fan of CLIQUEFEAR. Yir ontae plums wi' that.

I would assert that the safeness, cosiness, tweeness or whatever of it makes it *more* real in some ways - it may be emo and moany but fuck, that's because it's what the posters are really like. It's a place to express what you're thinking whether it's funny, banal, angry, upset or just to pass the time - and because everyone there is so comfortable with each other, it's necessarily less try-hard than a lot of other threads.

That doesn't mean it's better, though - there isn't a qualititative comparison to be made. I love Ally but I wouldn't want her on the thread - it's clear she doesn't feel anything in common with the vibe there. Which is great - I get my Ally fix elsewhere.

I've been here for two and a half years, and been meeting people for over two, and I've not seen any significant sign of cliques. There are groups of close friends, who like each other's company best, but that's absolutely inevitable and universal within any larger group, and I've never had the sense of their wanting to exclude anyone.

-real life (i know nothing about this)
-ilx and other message boards
-things where people pretend to pass each other beers and give them hugs
-mud's and chatrooms

haha but then you wouldn't get the chance to bitch about it over and over and over.

I needed this, 'coz you're my raison d'etre for first staying and now I know none other will do as it's over and I should no longer pretend. Regardless, after remembering this MAYBE the Madonna fight was as good a thread. But they're kind of like the pantheon of thread excellence I am proud to have contributed to something worthwhile! I miss Alfonso (but not Jefireeze). Maybe I'll make your list someday, even if it's not the very nice people one.

The check is in the mail - goodnite poochums!