I am reposting JazzOctopus' post separately as it seemed to important to me to be buried at the bottom of the old "Graduations Part2" thread.

JazzO said:
http://www.wwwthreads.com, the company that markets lovely discussion boards like these. I went nosing around this site and decided to take a look at . . . what they offer for the board services. Either this isn't the newest version of the board, or Anu just decided not to use most of the features, because there are a lot of other things that they offer . . . One of the things I noted was that the board administrator (Anu, in our case) is able to customize the titles that are determined by ones number of posts. I took a look around the sample discussion board that they have on their website and lo and behold, it's the same titles as we have here. I've concluded that we've been spending a great deal of time talking about titles that aren't even our own.

Thank you, Jazz. I decided to have a look at the site after reading your post, and the feature that really caught my eye was the ability the board administrator has to set up the bopard so that each user sees he time of posts displayed in the user's local time This would be very useful, I think. I have asked Anu for help on a couple of points before, and have never received any reply, so I thought that I might post this to see if perhaps someone that Anu is willing to talk to might be able to ask him to consider implementing some of the additional capabilities the board's software offers. I also agree with you Jazz on the matter of titles. It does seem a little deflating to think that the descriptions which have provoked so much discussion here are simply the generic, out-of-the-box variety.

If you want to ask the board's administrator a question, why not do so directly? I'm sure there will be an email address somewhere for people to use to contact the webmaster, or whoever it is that runs this board.

to set up the bopard

Half ox and half leopard? What a heraldic beast.

In reply to:

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to set up the bopard

Half ox and half leopard? What a heraldic beast.

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Well spotted.

Max says: "I think I have asked Anu for help on a couple of points before, and have never received any reply, so I thought that I might post this to see if perhaps someone that Anu is willing to talk to might be able to ask him to consider implementing some of the additional capabilities the board's software offers."

Here is either (a) further proof that there is no Anu or (b) the beginnings of a kind of high priesthood which distinguishes between those to whom the fictituious Anu listens and speaks and those lesser beings to whom he does not.

further proof that there is no Anu or (b)..
Those conclusions appear overly hasty to me. It could be that Anu, stoical in the face of changing fashions, just wants to keep the frame fixed considering the wild variations of the picture it encloses.
Indicating the local time of each contribution would make it next to impossible to follow an exchange chronologically.

wsieber confused me with Indicating the local time of each contribution would make it next to impossible to follow an exchange chronologically.

Whu?! I'm sorry, but that comment makes no sense to my poor stunted synapses. As I understood the comment at www.threads' homepage, the board could be configured so that each user sees all times displayed in their local time zone, in much the same way that email clients, and Usenet newsreader software does. I spend waaay too much time on Usenet, and all the posts I see are shown in my local time, irregardless of the time zone of the sender. This makes it supremely easy to follow threads chronologically. I see a post displayed in my time zone, and if I reply, the original poster will see my reply displayed in his or her time zone. This is what I thought the makers of this board software were saying their product could do for boards like this one.

it seems that we may have been customized somewhat after all; here is the documented standard set (or this may use an updated standard):

0 messages ----- Stranger
5 messages ----- Newbie
20 messages --- Member
50 messages --- Enthusiast
200 messages - Addict
500 messages - Veteran

Mad Max says: "...all the posts I see are shown in my local time, irregardless of the time zone of the sender."

You KNOW you are going to catch hell for using "irregardless."

Father Steve warned You KNOW you are going to catch hell for using "irregardless."

But of course. Why else the wink?

Emoticon misconstrued. Thought you had something in your eye.

>something in your eye

I, regardless of everything said heretofore, have ignored this particular instance (up to this point), based on the aforementioned wink -- futhermoreover, and in the second place, I don't like to be repetitive and overly verbose regarding these egregious usage errors.

-joe (sergeant of the word police) friday

I, regardless of everything said heretofore, have ignored this particular instance (up to this point), based on the aforementioned wink -- futhermoreover, and in the second place, I don't like to be repetitive and overly verbose regarding these egregious usage errors.

This message has been referred to the Department of Redundancy Department.

Inability to accept this very useful (when used properly) word is usually symptomatic of a generic inability to fully comprehend the important difference (properly understood in most, if not all, Indo-European languages) between the logical and emphatic multiple negatives.

>when used properly

okay... I'll bite. what is the proper usage for a word that in all probability is a careless blend of regardless and irrespective? (irrespective of "intensifiers")

Hey tsuwm...you're a veteran. Have our board adjectives changed or is this the official 1200 post level marker?

I liked old hand. It sounds experienced. Veteran is usually reserved for those who are out of the fight and out of the game. NOT applicable in your case I hope.

The newly crowned veteran asks: okay... I'll bite. what is the proper usage for a word that in all probability is a careless blend of regardless and irrespective? (irrespective of "intensifiers")

From Merriam-Webster on-line:
.......usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

From AHD4 (2000):
USAGE NOTES:
.......Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

From Humpty-Dumpty:
......."The question is, which is to be master -- that's all."

Irrespective of the word's provenance and regardless of whether or not it is acceptable to use it, great stir, Max!

"A word means precisely what I want it to mean, nothing more, nothing less". I forget where this quote came from, but I suspect Charles Dodgson again.

You'll be moving to a VA hospital somewhere near your home, I suspect, tsuwm. Congratulations - something back for all those taxes over the years at last!

...how appropriate that it should come in this thread and for this logomachy. (finally, at long last, I can apply for membership in the VFW ;)

to the question of proper usage, Faldage replies by quoting the usage panels...

the OED, our arbiter of the queen's english, makes short shrift of irregardless: "Chiefly N. Amer... In non-standard or humorous use" [which is why Max got away with it ]

Kiwi, capital fellow that he is, complimented me with great stir, Max

Thank you, it's a gift! As a gesture of appreciation, here's the passage to which you referred:

To be sure I was!' Humpty Dumpty said gaily as she turned it round for him. `I thought it looked a little queer. As I was saying, that seems to be done right -- though I haven't time to look it over thoroughly just now -- and that shows that there are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents --'

`Certainly,' said Alice.

`And only one for birthday presents, you know. There's glory for you!'

`I don't know what you mean by "glory",' Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don't -- till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'

`But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument",' Alice objected.

`When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'

`The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

`The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master -- that's all.'

Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. `They've a temper, some of them -- particularly verbs: they're the proudest -- adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs -- however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!'

Max, quoting from Dodgson, said: As a gesture of appreciation, here's the passage to which you referred: ... and [snip].

Thanks Max. It must be 30 years since I read it. Some things just "stick", don't they? I always liked that passage since I could use it to explain away my mondegreens and malapropisms with gay abandon.