i feel gross.

Either explain, or don't mention it.

a. these things happen in cycles to all internet communities

and

b. ilx is still better than most (or all)

but

a. this has been a long ass cycle

b. i'm not so sure anymore

c. tom isn't even around anymore* (and he made the damn place.)

*yes i know technically he's on a trip right now.

no way.

I want this on a t-shirt, or at least a wacky oversized coffee mug.

sometimes it really does feel like anyone who makes it through a year of posting to ilx is like one of those red-eyed drunks at the end of the bar who have resigned themselves to the fact that they will be there until they die.)

and yeah sinker's still around sortakinda but not really, and I'm not sure if it's just because he's busy (most likely) or he doesn't feel he has anything interesting to add to the nine million threads about various trolls (whether they started out about them or not), the value of big titties vis a vis music, or rape fer laffs.

who wants to join me in "i love conkers"?

do you want a cookie for leaving or something?

anyway there have been great discussions lately too and there are huuuuuge amounts of poss. interesting threads to deal with, devote time to, etc. JB has been sinking so much time, effort, swan pix, etc. into the trollish threads that its no surprise the forest is getting lost for the ugly dead tree or two.

(Don't read that wrong, I'm not saying "you losers, accept it, it happens." I'm just struck by the parallels and trying to figure out if I can take anything useful from them. I mean, I left nearly all of those communities, for exactly the reasons being brought up re: ILX.)

Part of what I'm trying to figure out, reading these threads, is whether the complaint is only that ILX isn't as good as it used to be, or if when it's good, it isn't good in the same way. I don't have the same investment others do in preserving a specific model of ILX -- I can't, in part because I haven't lived the model, and in part because in some small way I'm part of the problem.

(why arent i in bed?)

(I don't make gumbo with okra, though, just roux. But it's still gumbo.)

No it's not. Don't fuck with a Cajun on this point. Just trust me.

Anyway, it's because I can't get fresh local okra year-round, and I don't want to fall back on the canned stuff. If I'm making gumbo for visitors to be all like, "You will have the New Orleans experience and you will LIKE it!", I use okra. (And oysters and tasso and smoked sausage).

I mean, honestly, do you really want me to start posting the big metaphysical and psychological discussion that HSA and I had about love and relationships and sex last night?

But the increased mentalism count is worrying - I'm really not sure what people should do about rape fantasies etc. Is banning the posters a necessary deterrant or encouragement?

(I think a B*cky L*c*s-esque "please do not respond" message up at the top for [xxxxx] and friends would be timely though).

that thread was started by anthony and hijacked by momus. two of the 'regulars'. John, another regular. got mad and started the geir vs momus thread no?

I don't get quite why ppl are offended by calum or geir (I'm serious). and there have always been flame wars/fights and you'll keep getting those.

also aim has had an effect (jess pointed this out when we chatted a few days ago). sinker is on there (he hasn't left ILX or anything, he still starts the odd thread). so is tom from time to time.

and there are some interesting 'new-ish' posters on ILM for instance (roger adultery, mr. diamond and amateurist, for instance).

I don't see what the problem is.

(as far as 'rape fantasies' go you'll always get cranks)

and no banning. that will kill this place.

i have been superbusy fr abt 6 weeks and am actually genuinely intending to devote more time soon to one of my 24786589761928 unfinished yet commissioned book projects, which means i will be spending more time in ilm archives than at the front end

i think we are being unrealistic abt the degree to which ilx can successfully quarantine itself from events in the outside world: "divisive" was mandated from above, i'm afraid, and i put a lot of the recent weirdness and weariness down to Coping Strategy.

(matt i x-ed out part of yr b*cky l*cas suggestion)

certainly in one case I agree with you... the hostility that Geir provokes is out of all proportion to the eccentricity of his opinions, and a lot his Hataz should remember the old adage about people in glasshouses.

Calum's posts suggest that he is a sexist cockfarmer, but he does have a certain entertainment value.

This shit happens every now and again, luckily I missed it this time around...

We can all learn a lot from that.

The word 'hijacked' implies that a thread should have its flightpath very carefully logged and programmed while still on the ground and then, after routine checks, should 'get to its destination' -- the answer! -- with minimal fuss. I know some people post in this 'flight captain' sort of way (Ned springs to mind, always reasonable, conciliatory and mild), but some of us have read and rather enjoyed 'Tristram Shandy' and like diversion. (Or intellectual 'fun'.) What strikes me is just how interesting a thread's destination can become, after a pretty trivial, hasty question. It's like boarding a paper dart and riding warm thermals all the way to a desert island.

I really like ILTWEE stuff. EVen when other people are making fun of tweedom, I enjoy their ironic picture posts. And I like the resurgence of monkey admiration.

Well, I have my moments. ;-) But the observation is sound. I do like the play of observations and approaches, that's the whole point of ILX -- sometimes Dave Q's roundabout answer to a point will say far more than the question asked for and in a much more intriguing way that a direct question on those other subjects might have framed it, for example. But I am also aware of my own comfort level, and when I feel discussion of a subject takes on an extremely ill-judged or disturbing slant, I will avoid posting on it or maybe make a quiet comment on it at most, thus what happened to the 'rape/murder' thread, which I found extremely unsettling.

In practice, re recent events? My feelings are: Geir goes untouched. I've seen him do nothing wrong. Narrow-minded musically, of course, but constantly polite. No cause to delete anything (but I don't read most of ILM, so there may be stuff I've missed).

Calum wouldn't get that much deleted, either. He starts childishly sexist threads, people call him childishly sexist. I like changing the objectionable titles, because I don't want to put people off ILX, and it distances us from the views expressed. But there aren't so many posts that have gone beyond the line I'd draw. Certainly the attempts to link people's names with child porn are monstrous, and have to be stampted on instantly - and I'd tell him that if he persists in that, he would find himself banned. Most of his attempts at insults are hilariously misdirected (see his "You don't go out much, do you Ronan" gem).

EM@IL hasn't published a word worth keeping, but he's also laughably unnoticed - a desperate troll who only manages to be the mildest of nuisances. I feel sorry for him, really. It doesn't much matter whether we throw his stuff out or not.

I've not seen this rape fantasy. Has someone deleted it? If so, good. Anything threatening or stalkerish, we need to keep records. If it crosses the line, we need to look at the IP and let their ISP know about it.

These are NOT the plans of a moderator, they are some ideas set out as markers. Which are good, which bad? Which will do more harm than good?

then again, what's paradoxically great of course is how interesting/funny bits can appear in the most unlikely places. this is also frustrating.

there needs to be a little flashing thing "hotspot occurring here".

Most of his attempts at insults are hilariously misdirected (see his "You don't go out much, do you Ronan" gem).

Haha - where is that one?!

;_;

the crazies, on the other hand

are creeping Kenan out

and there are some interesting 'new-ish' posters on ILM for instance (roger adultery for instance).

-- Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 28 April 2003 09:38 (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

Whenever people bitch about how ILX sucks now, I feel the slightest twinge of shame, justified or not. "Is it me?"

HA, definitely not. There's an 'ILX HAS GONE TO THE SHIT' thread almost every other month, from the day it started.

i just feel somewhat...wary about contributing these days. for any number of reasons.

^^^