Are we in polite company?

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there's some saying about the things you shouldn't talk about in polite company: sex, death, religion, politics and comics. (I made that last one up)

We do a lot of all of those round here but nobody ever really gets a good spiteful argument going. Come on. Could try harder.

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i'm not looking for a fight (again) really -- just some new answers. maybe we'll conclude polite company != friends and that ILE is a lovely friendly fluffy bunny-tabbit sort of a place.

Or will we...

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Um Alan there have been a couple of very very vicious threads on ILE. One legendary one which you can't access any more and a couple of the free speech ones got quite heated. I personally prefer the polite sniping that does go on here to all-out war, anyway, admittedly too many lovey-dovey threads can get a bit much.

― Tom, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What do you want to argue about Alan?...I can't necessarily say that I'll oblige...

― james, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I wanna hear about this legend. "In a world torn apart by a vicious thread, one moderator stood out, a leader, his courage would change the world." or something

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Fascinating: the occasional *proper* spat seems to finish and then people are fine with eachother again, without threaded apologies or online reconciliation it seems. People just magically get on with it (or is everyone else communicating offline to smooth the paths?)

Threads often seem to go quite close to the bone, without crossing certain lines - like the least-like thread currently mooching along, where hardly anyone's actually named people they don't like. Or asking if someone's paid for sex, which got loads of replies, telling odd stories but no-one actually had (or admitted it).

― chris, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The thread that got deleted was deleted for a reason, Alan - sorry! Summaries would be a bit counter the point.

― Tom, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

oh, OK. it'll be nice to let it slowly slide from legend into semi- mythic status.

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If it makes you feel better, I only have a vague idea of what he's talking about.

Everyone gets on with it cos it just ain't that important, I suppose.

― Ally, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tom - is it the one where people had to write posts 'in the style of'...? Was that deleted?

― Dr. C, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

if it makes you feel better, you're all chuckleheads!!!

nope, can't do it :)

― katie, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'in the style of' is undeleted

― mark s, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i think it is the mark of the well educated that often violent debate about lit or politics can be viewed as as an excercise and not ad homienem. (cf Jane Austen, who sucks BTW)

― anthony, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

nice try anthony but you're not going to bait me, you fluffy little ball of absurdly good-looking loveliness you.

― katie, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

alright katie. i still like you

― anthony, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i'm afraid we're disappointing alan though...

― katie, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

but do we really want to get into a nasy fight about such a pointless thing? BTW i am going to read Mansfield Park . It is Fourth on my two read shelf.

― anthony, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

out of all of them that's the one i like least. lots of really horrible social snobbery and a hugely pointless bit about acting a play. and the lead character is called Fanny, smirk smirk. i quite like P&P cos of the romance, and Northanger Abbey is a nice parody of gothic novels, if you like that sort of thing. i'm reading her bio at the moment, and she doesn't semm like such a bad old stick!

― katie, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

disappointing me. not until you mentioned Northanger bloody Abbey. (school reading -- the class mutinied as one after two chapters)

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

jane austen sucks so badly her teeth are caught up in a giraffe's asshole.

― Geoff, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

which is the one who had sex with her sister cassandra?

― mark s, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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