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Folks, this board has undergone changes since its inception months ago. No news there. It seems to me that it has undergone two fairly major changes over time. The first one was when there got to be so many postings that a lot of us began having great difficulty in even keeping up the reading, let alone anything more than that.
The second one has come about recently. I am referring to the fact that so many posts, even whole threads, have gotten so far away from being focused on language. Now, in one sense, this is not a complaint: most are pretty interesting. But in another sense, it is a complaint: a little part of me is protesting, "But this is not what I signed up for".
It does not fall to one person, excepting Anu, to give directives to the entire group, and that is not what I'm trying to do. If people want to continue so much chat about non-language things, they can certainly do that. But I think I and some others may have to start weighing whether reading through posts for an hour to find a few sentences about language is worth the time it takes.
My personal preference would be to keep things mainly
language-focused, with only occasional multi-post driftings-away into other things. As I said when I was the
pretend guest, one of the things I love best about this place are the aside tidbits that reveal something of who we really are. It seems to me that lately, the former asides are becoming more and more the main discussions, but.
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[quote]My personal preference would be to keep things mainly language-focused, with only occasional multi-post driftings-away into other things. As I said when I was the pretend guest, one of the things I love best about this place are the aside tidbits that reveal something of who we really are. It seems to me that lately, the former asides are becoming more and more the main discussions, but. [/but] You may have a point, Jackie. On the psotive side of the ledger, the last couple of days have seen several word-related threads, on regional pronunciation, and variant names, typos, and, of course, the discussions on the Weekly Themes. Several of those who have just joined us have also helped by asking old questions anew, and occasionally reviving old threads. Given the fact that we are a garrulous lot, perhaps the best that can be hoped for is that the occasional reminder such s this, even dropped right into a meandering thread, will help us regain the stern discipline, and ruthless singularity of focus which attracted us here to begin with.  I hope that we can find a happybalance, keeping a primary focus on the words, rather than the stories, but the stories often involve such interesting words. As one of the naughtiest natterers, I pledge that I will try much harder to behave, at the very least for the duration of William Jefferson Clinton's term of office.
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I pledge that I will try much harder to behave, at the very least for the duration of William Jefferson Clinton's term of office
Me too, max
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, Jackie.
wow
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It just occurred to me that perhaps if we used private messages more ... surely it would be appropriate in some instances. OK now I will go away and behave myself.
wow
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I have to agree (and I "never" feel like I have to agree with "anyone" ) with everyone (no I am not a politician). I believe there are plenty comments that belong in personal messaging, even though I enjoy some of those, who am I to say which ones are "inappropriate" (I will forward a list on request  ). There are some new folk (and peoples) with specific personalitiy traits (youth, etc...(to mention one)) that even "the others' advocate" I love to be cannot follow. I would hate to loose the ocassional tiff between ______ and _______ (fill in the blanks), even if it means a tangent that brings us into talking about talking about it. It is indeed the third layer of "talking about it" that takes it into personal space (or at least invades this one). I tried getting the daily archive, and reading just that, but that is too far removed from context, and end up reading them twice.  I think JazzO has an excellent platform for strangers and newbies alike to dive from.... Could we "shy away" from signature files? (That's all I really wanted to say) 
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It's a case of which category, to my way of thinking. I love the by-play that goes on, even when I'm simply observing it. The current thread on what members from various parts of the US are prepared to do to raise their cholesterol levels is keeping me smiling, for instance. I'd agree with Jackie that Q&A about Words should pretty much be just that. Info and Announcements tends to be used for just that. But the other two main sections are pretty much open slather as far as I can tell. The wandering aimlessness of some of the threads is one of the charms of the Board - that and the fact that most of us are pretty civilised towards each other and disagreements are kept polite. I wish I could remember the URL for a political board I stumbled across the other day - it looked interesting (to a confirmed political junkie like myself anyway), but the third post I read, which was nominally about Dubya's stated policies, contained pretty explicit personal abuse of the previous poster's ancestry, sexual practices and ability to think. There was nothing in the previous post to warrant even so much as a raised eyebrow - it was being mildly critical of GWB's stance on education. Not for me thank you. That kind of thing on this Board would send me fleeing for other pastures. There's a hint in there somewhere, I guess! One thing that does puzzle me, however, is the number of people who join the board but who never participate. I agree that some of what is said could well be expressed in private messages, but the messaging system has one major flaw - it doesn't accumulate the messages, so you either have to copy the message to another file and keep it before you send it, or hope that the other party cuts and pastes it. This is frustrating.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Rather than quote in its entirety, I'll say this is a post about Jackie's note that started this thread. Yes, it gets out of hand sometimes. Yes, we talk about things other than language. Yes, it takes a long time and great effort to get caught up if you aren't super diligent. But it reminds me a bit of Dulcinea's questioning Sancho Panza about Don Quixote and why Sancho puts up with him. His reply: "I like him, I really like him." Well that's the way I am about this board. I LIKE it. I really like it. And while I sometimes skim or ignore whole threads and I sometimes make very light of what's being said by throwing in an occasional pun, I don't want to see the board change other than naturally. Which it will. New people will come in. Old ones will drop out entirely or will shift their focuses. There was a point there a few weeks ago when I remarked privately to Jackie that I despaired because I couldn't keep up. But I persevered because, dammit, you people are my friends! Even if some of you do question my sanity. And we have to devote energy to our friends, accept their foibles, and require of them that they accept ours. Let's not try to change, let's accept what happens naturally.
TEd
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But I persevered because, dammit, you people are my friends! Even if some of you do question my sanity. And we have to devote energy to our friends, accept their foibles, and require of them that they accept ours.Dearest Ted, thank you, my friend. My feelings exactly. I shall tentatively offer a clarification. I most definitely do not object to asides as comebacks--that utterly charms me. I was starting to get concerned that new threads completely unrelated to language were being proferred. Again, I am in no position to say "no-no". 'Twas more intended as food for thought. As has been said before, anyone is free to read or not read, post or not post. But--there are people here I would hate to lose, and if putting my head on the chopping block is what it takes to keep them, why, I decided to do it, that's all. 'Tis my opinions, but the post was prompted by a message--and not from the first person, either--that indicated a level of frustration high enough to give consideration to leaving. Oh, and Ted, dear, funny Ted: I don't think any of us question whether you are sane!
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The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Right on, as usual, Jackie.
I myself (to coin a well-worn phrase) have had more than a few problems keeping up lately, and my solution has been perforce simply to ignore threads that have outgrown their usefulness as far as I am concerned. And also to limit my attention to threads with less than 99 replies (the maximum that can be fitted on one page, and I am simply too impatient to wait for more than one page to load, even though it takes only about 10 seconds extra!) Too much to do, too little time! And, alas, I will never know what I am missing by doing these things!
Fair enough, there is quite a bit of waffle going on here from time to time, but as Ted sed (I think, without going back to look), hell, one can put up with quite a bit of that stuff because we are all friends here. The private messages suggestion is, I think, a good one. There certainly is a good deal of extraneous stuff I find myself having to wade through which could perhaps have better been the subject of private exchanges. And even if, as somebody (CapitalK?) pointed out, the private messages are not saved herein, so what? There is nothing stopping a fruitful exchange of views, comments, asides, etc. completely external to this board. So yes, let's get back to basics with AWADtalk—words, language and the rest of the business.
Good grief! lusy hasn't said this much in all of her previous postings put together (and could she be in the grip of the grape yet again?). But seriously folks, the problem of simply keeping up is a genuine and important one, and must surely be discouraging to many of our visitors and potential contributors.
lusy
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