Plutarch just sent me PM saying he is leaving the board because we were disagreeable to him. We have lost too many valuable contributors this way.
Please, if you don't enjoy a thread, just choose a different one. And instead of bitching, think up a thread we all can enjoy.
As Thumper's daddy said to him: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."
huh? I have seen some teasing and word play.. but i didn't see any rudeness or Flaming!.
Please send plutarch a PM back, and tell him its all in good fun! (or is he really just upset because we wouldn't let him have both the first word--(ie, starting a thread) and the last? or for that matter we wouldn't stay on topic.. if that the case, there is no hope. i don't think you have to be thick skinned to last here, but you will not last if you are thin skinned..
And I thought we were having a period of Pax Awada. Does he cite any specific instances?
P.S. you don't want us to eat any Irish babies, do you?
thin skinned
Perhaps we were too honest in our opinions of his blovian metaphor. And they say honesty is the best policy.
Make mine barbecued (love them baby back ribs)
Apparently he and wordminstrel were singled out for criticism, as having each made 15 posts. I had eleven, but did not get scolded.
Please,please, let us be extra tactful when suggesting new members are letting their enthusiasm cause them to make chat-type posts.
I am guilty of it too often to throw any stone, and have needled only oldtimers capable of needling me back.
And tactful critcism by Private Message would be less humiliating.
I suspect wordminstrel may also have had hurt feelings. I sent PM to plutarch, and will send one to wordminstrel. Though they may not bother to open them.
it kind of strange.. they each seemed to want to have the last word, and to end the thread. i have posted stuff, and had it sit there, with no one posting afterwards.. i've ended threads.
to me, its horrible.. i feel abandoned, shut out. as if i have made some awful faux pas, posted somthing so bad, so horrific, that no one is even going to comment on it. if you want ever get rid of me, ignore my post, stop teasing me when i make horrid typo's, don't get mad when i threaten a food fight (even if i haven't actually engaged in one) lately, just the thought of it, gets everyone back to words..
the nicest thing that happened when i first started here, was everyone, (collectively, but as i recall, Maverick lead the way) took off the gloves, and started to pick on me, and tease me, and made me feel like an insider.
maybe plutarch was an only child, and doesn't realize how brothers and sister get along.. but everyone here feels like family.. (and when you get as far away as third cousin, twice removed.. well, you're far enough removed to be marrying material!) No, everyone isn't sacharin all the time, but we are not cruel, either. (well, that's almost not true, but we don't make it a habit to be cruel!)
everyone ... took off the gloves, and started to pick on me, and tease me, and made me feel like an insider.
Emphasis mine.
I don't remember being picked on so much* as having some of my obscure references understood in a way that rarely happens with me. I, too, have ended threads or had posts ignored. I'm normally hoping for some kind of response but I don't feel slighted if I don't get it and, while I make take some perverse pleasure in ending threads, I don't treat it as a goal. I had a brief PM exchange with Yoda (who seems to have had a brief, one week, exchange with all of us) in which he said he came for the good-natured banter and he enjoyed what he had seen so far. Whether he was a flash in the pan remains to be seen. I reviewed the entirety of the Omegatist thread and can see nothing there that anyone with a modicum of sense should have taken amiss. I can only assume that plutarch/wordminstrel didn't find what they were looking for here.
*Well, there was that droit de seigneur sub-thread.
unfortunately, in print one man's good-natured banter becomes to the recipient an ill-natured ban.
This thread expresses views which, however much they may apply to the plutarch/word~ case, would IMHO be quite dangerous if applied to the full extent expressed here. That is, I can agree with the result suggested for this case, while disagreeing with the principles as expressed to reach that particular result.
To separate the discussion of the general priniciples from discussion of the specific case, I am starting a companion thread to deal with the former.
Plutarch-Wordwind?
Methinks he meant wordwhistl...umm wordwizar...umm, no, wordweepl...no. Dang!
Wordmistra...minstrel
Phewww!
maybe plutarch was an only child, and doesn't realize how brothers and sister get along.. but everyone here feels like family...
Question : Has anyone ever been to a family gathering where everything went perfectly?
Where nobody's feelings got hurt?
Where nobody felt left out of the inside jokes?
Where nothing anybody said was taken the wrong way?
Where a bit of teasing was misconstrued as a "dig?"
Speaking for myself, the answer is "no."
And here we meet almost daily, not just the three or four times a year.
Things may go awry once in awhile despite our best efforts.
I confess my feeling have been hurt once or twice. But in the great scheme of things it was a pinprick - soon forgiven and forgotten. That's what you do in a family!
I just licked the wound and - as you can see - I'm still joining the party!
As some wise person once said : "If you truly forgive, there is no need to forget."
Out of 2750-odd "members" only about 50 or so seem to be regular posters at any one time. A lot of people probably treat this board the way I treat a number of others - dip in, have a look, move on. Others will have registered then never quite got around to doing anything further.
A few will join in, then realise it's not for them for one reason or another, and go elsewhere.
That's no one's "fault". I cannot see how Plutarch could believe he was being picked on, but that's his affair and he's decided to go. So be it. He's not alone. Probably 2,600 of the registered members see things pretty much the same way if for different reasons.
So what? Move on. Enough self-evisceration, already!