Ask drash

Hi drash!

I enjoy reading your posts very much. What is your favorite thing about ilx? What is your least favorite?

Hi drash!

What took you so long?

dear (girls & boys of) ilx,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UvV7j1SYe0

let me think/ drink/ sleep on questions. i’m an awful procrastinator but get around to things eventually

treeship, am so honored, bow deeply

these are difficult to answer! and am so not epigrammatic/ witty. well guess it’s my thread & i’ll be windy if i want to (have to). may or may not post drunk to this thread, but i’ll post (and should be read) as if i was drunk:

nb i’m tipsy rn

What is your favorite thing about ilx? What is your least favorite?

it’s complicated, to start with bc i’m a fledgling poster, far more ilx time lurking (well over decade, with years-long gaps— kept coming back)

overlapping but different pleasures to being a lurker (reader) vs. poster. tbh sometimes catch myself wanting to say things from a “lurker’s perspective” but that seems inevitably corny/ creepy— might as well get that perspective out of the way:

love ilx as a longform tapestry, all its contrapuntal complexity— motifs, dramas, conversations, jokes, characters over the years. there’s great aesthetic/ literary/ hermeneutic pleasure to reading ilx, but the fact that these (we) are all “real” “lives” gives it this deep poignance too. e.g., at least one of my fave ilx posters has died

the site’s structure allows for this amazing play on temporality. there’s a definite sense of chronology (finitude) yet old threads are continuously revived, so there’s always this simultaneity & dialogue with the past: all posters in the same room, all at once alive & ghosts (ghosts of others & ghosts of one’s selves past), past present future

ok answered question 1.1.1 (fave thing about ilx from lurker’s perspective), to be continued

1.1.2 fave thing about ilx from poster's perspective

won’t answer this directly. bit like being asked re new friend(s) what you like most about them

would rather express ongoing appreciation through posting (but reserve right to go meta on this thread)

had not lurked for years before i checked back in & started posting in earnest, so it’s felt more like walking into a party of relative strangers & gradually getting to know them (with more natural opacity). when you post, every other poster is a “you” (a second, not just third person)

may answer this indirectly re my “least favorite” & “what took so long”

(oh god, i know this thread will be exhibit #1 of me = unbearable, but at least it's contained here)

this thread will be exhibit #1 of me = unbearable

Choosing to post instead of lurk is choosing to reveal yourself as present. Continuing to post means choosing to reveal yourself in depth. That decision entails serially revealing all one's flaws and crochets and it can be a bit daunting, but we who post are all in the same boat with you, so you may as well toss caution to the wind and enjoy being part of the conversation.

btw, welcome.

i was a lurker before posting too and i agree it was weird entering into conversations with all these familiar users, like i was crashing my favorite reality show. you've done a good job being interesting and pleasant from the start though -- i sort of crashed the party and was like, spewing half baked opinions all over every thread

that's still my style, honestly.

have you ever been part of an online community before or do you have interest in doing so? or does ilx remind you of anywhere or does it seem sur generis to you?

we were all pretty annoyed when treeship crashed our half baked opinion party w his half baked opinions.

i'd found drash so cogent i'd assumed he was an old poster renamed. exceptionalism.

(+ sexism!)

yeah she's great

i'd found drash so cogent i'd assumed he was an old poster renamed. exceptionalism.

Me too

Choosing to post instead of lurk is choosing to reveal yourself as present. Continuing to post means choosing to reveal yourself in depth. That decision entails serially revealing all one's flaws and crochets and it can be a bit daunting, but we who post are all in the same boat with you, so you may as well toss caution to the wind and enjoy being part of the conversation.

btw, welcome.

thanks aimless! yes, we’re all in same boat & have made fools of ourselves (in good way); that’s one of the (scary) pleasures of the thing. fact that one can’t delete/ edit posts entails attitude of ah fuck it, let (it) go

but i can see ongoing struggle/ debate with myself over how much to reveal of "rl" me. i’m off the grid socialmediawise, by choice.

like i was crashing my favorite reality show

haha, yes, that’s exactly what it’s like

have you ever been part of an online community before or do you have interest in doing so? or does ilx remind you of anywhere or does it seem sur generis to you?

have been, sorta, twice, but they were much more narrow in focus (e.g. one was devoted to discussing a tv show). so at least in principle, they engaged/ manifested more delimited aspect(s) of personality. still, over time one gets glimpse of prismatic selves behind posts, one gradually bonds with “real” human beings— guess that’s what makes it feel like community

guarded my anonymity/ privacy there too, though did once attend the equivalent of a fap

in my experience, ilx is sui generis

What is your least favorite?

going to be philosophical & say my “least favorite” things are necessary part of the whole i love

tbh can’t think of anything. like, zings not really my thing, but zing culture at ilx overall good (and source of lols). imo it’s tempered, checked & balanced by overriding affection & compassion

ilx sometimes subjects to new users to kind of mild hazing, but usually this is less cruelty & more useful initiation— one has to learn ilx language-games to become reg poster here

(i’ve found being zung by ilxors reassuring somehow, though so far lucky that zings have been mild)

yes there’s cruelty & contempt & clusterfuckery, but imo ilx dialogic community overall has strong sense of ethics and is responsive to ilxor “injustice”

sometimes wish ilx was a little more heterogeneous politically, for sake of discussion took less things for granted. but maybe that keeps political arguments here from getting toxic. in any case ilx is great forum for political discussion & it’s always available & up to individual posters to test or contest consensus (treeship, mordy, dr morbius among others great at that)

treeship, mordy, dr morbius among others great at that

and contenderizer, darraghmac, nakh, etc

ps to clarify, “cruelty & contempt & clusterfuckery” exist here as they do anywhere humans congregate; what i’m trying to say is, imo ilx is an oasis of kindness & intelligence

the zinging itself is often ethical (enforcing certain standards expected of other posters, of ethics civility etc)

What took you so long?

dunno. maybe bc

during years of lurkdom was posting elsewhere (& tend to be monogamous poster)

ilx is intimidating, not bc unfriendly but has complex language-games & history. this makes it “esoteric” but (in addition to expert modding) is what maintains integrity of the garden

why dive in when i did?

prob some to do with particular life & psyche situation (will just say ilx has been good for me). also maybe for some reason(s) current generation ilxor community was especially appealing?

iirc it was conversation at I Love Photography in particular that spurred me to (re)register. lol i love photography & wanted to “photobreeze”

made number of ugh cringe posts last year; embarrassed by my own posts withdrew again (though ilxors were friendly & welcoming)

poked head back in this year. think specific event that hooked me is i risked some drunkposts, awoke anxious i’d fucked up, expressed this & ilxors put me at ease. sounds silly, but that was kind of psychological breakthrough for me

btw would love to hear from others, how ilx pulled you in

googled for opinions about blur

wasn't sure what order albums by bands should be placed in

lol

How ilx pulled me in (edited for maximum impact):

At the moment, Aimless is the funniest person in the world.
― Dan Perry, Sunday, July 21, 2002 5:00 PM (12 years ago)

Yay for Aimless!
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, July 21, 2002 5:00 PM (12 years ago)

It was my one brief shining moment. I shall treasure it always.

love bombing

been a lot of falling off since then

do you have, or have you had a dog?

^this

at least be emphatic about it

do not have dog at present

have had close relationships with dogs, but have not had dog of my very own

deems's favourite footballer will also have &c

fortunately i don't read the sports threads so ignore your allusion

have you never cared for sport

That is fortunate! Xp

i have some detached interest/ fascination (you recently linked yr gf's football commentary, which i enjoyed & relate to)

i was once an equestrienne

or was it football? lol i don't even know

she is charlton's most aesthetically minded fan since italo svevo

pineapple on pizza? mayonnaise on anything? best way to eat an egg? how much are you willing to spend on pasta?

she's achieving minor fame on the charlton athletic blogging circuit by now

equestrianism is sport of a kind i suppose - dressage or jumping, or both?

Isabel Quigly, who translated Livia Veneziani Svevo's memoir of her husband, was approached by a passer-by who asked "What's going on here?" She replied that a plaque in honour of a famous Italian writer was to be unveiled. The man snorted with disgust: "I hate the bloody Italians. They were on the wrong side in the last war." He did not join the small crowd of admirers and members of the Charlton Society who had gathered on the pavement.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arts-the-comic-genius-at-number-67-1121408.html

conscience of a charlton fan

that livia veneziani svevo is charming by the way, recommended to all thread participants

no pineapple, yes anchovies

no mayonnaise, yes mustard

i like eggs all ways, of late favor poached

i have on occasion splurged on pasta, too much to admit

jumping

Drash I have precisely zero influence in these things but I would recommend to you the hidden borad 77 (and vice versa), among other things it provides useful context for some of the more opaque ilx memes

otoh there's an argument to be made that as soon as you understand what is meant by the phrase "has sriracha baconed" you are lost forever

have wondered when might be appropriate time to ask to join 77 (& if i should, at all)

among other considerations, not sure if i’ve been a regular long enough

as for lost, prob too far gone already

will think about it. with recommendation from upstanding citizen such as yourself, may obtain pass

they must be very careful to keep TMZ and their coworker Darren off 77

?

anyway, you may recall, i fear gawker more than tmz, so 77 security is already compromised :)

apologies in advance for breaking 77 protocol

[77 content deleted]

oh no 77 ruined drash

haha just find it funny that this is one of 2 posts she has made since getting in

prob shouldn't have posted that whole thing tho, excuse me

it's a shia labeouf thread, ppl. what cld be more appropriate?

aimless, we could do without your inflammatory comments

honor the flame, wins

https://pedclerk.bsd.uchicago.edu/sites/pedclerk.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/Inflammatory-Bowel-Diseases_0.jpg

[77 content deleted]

lol

what dastardly misdeeds have you been up to

while i was on a bathroom break

all I can tell you is that it was one of your 77 posts

i know, the one where i lament my inveterate acedia

you don't need 77 to know what 'has sriracha baconed yet' means. i just verified this by asking the person next to me

^ agree, it was patent to me (but allowed it might have some esoteric 77 significance)

(and of course it does)

(kachina)

drash, what is your favourite situation comedy?

http://pics.imcdb.org/0is354/selwynjustcause2is3.8742.jpg

Haha would you recommend that tom?

I don't know much about it, other than the title tbh.

Wikipedia is very informative on it though!

exclamation mark to reassure you that they are taking their duties seriously

xps how'd you guess?

not much of a sitcom watcher tbh

suppose freaks & geeks doesn't count as one

off the top of my head,
maybe newsradio
or
party down

Dece answer, I know 0 about any of those

what is your favorite

?

anyway, you may recall, i fear gawker more than tmz, so 77 security is already compromised :)

― drash, Monday, May 4, 2015 11:10 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lol

Idk what is my favourite kind of rude to ask, but

(This is potentially lame answer)

(Also bear in mind that nakh set precedent by saying "the first two episodes of the thick of it" or w/e)

I'd say the bits of Alan partridge the character that I like minus the bits I don't

kind of rude to ask

ur right, apologies

Never heard of any drash's :( Lol Britishes

Freaks+geeks is apatow, party down has a thread

Not seen em tho

Freaks+geeks is apatow

Hmmmmm. Actually, I have seen this advertised on Britishes TV.

<3 freaks & geeks
identify v much w/ linda cardellini character, v reminiscent of my own high school experience
(except i never left math team and i became pothead, lol)

freaks & geeks is great but i feel like sitcoms have to be 30min or shorter

Freaks and Geeks is excellent would recommend highly but agree that it's not so much a sitcom.

Party Down v v good too.

i agree
freaks & geeks no more a sitcom than buffy the vampire slayer
(another of my favorite shows)

iyo have yr political views remained consistent, synchronically & diachronically?

have you ever felt politically conflicted, confused, uncertain; have yr political views undergone some significant reconsideration/ revision/ refinement/ complication/ alteration?

(btw wd not be offended if you skip this q)

― drash, Wednesday, 10 June 2015 02:57 (2 months ago)

may i unfacetiously and reciprocally ask the same?

hi drash will u give me a hi 5?

http://ed101.bu.edu/StudentDoc/Archives/ED101fa10/mfischer/Images/bear%20high%20five.jpg

xps turnabout’s fair play, tho tbh wish you hadn’t
this is knotted q for me & may take long while to ponder & wrestle with

aw that was sad bear hi 5 wasn’t it
once more with feeling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euS9RdeDfwQ
chócala, stevie
<3

Drash, can you please come back?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4txiIY8EFA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pbiYI5o11k