Celph Titled said:
Interesting response. A few points:
1) Chalking up as many TO's and aliai as possible isn't interesting to me. I think the sheer absurdity of it used to be amusing, but I see some posters who are continuously getting banned, and it's generally for stupid and/or uninteresting comments. I think I've been given a short timeout either once or twice this year. Although my history is fairly checkered, my current ban-rate is level with other humorous non-choirboys. In that regard, I think the "tool factor", as you put it, has been turned down.
2) Sometimes it's funny to be clever and clean, sometimes it's funny to be absurd/blatant/dirty (see: Bob Sacamano's kamikaze mission earlier this week). I try to reserve comments/topics in the latter for other forums (see: Homer's iCarly thread), and the times when I've blatantly line-stepped over here are fairly few and far-between.
3) All that said, it's hard for me to believe that **** jokes are "destroying" FBG's. I'm not that powerful, nor are **** jokes. On the "ability to destroy FBG's" scale, I think **** jokes are far behind the ideologically-blind political posters, the bigots, and the women. Similarly, it's hard for me to believe that asking Smoo about his smoo'ing someone is contributing to the demise of said forum.
Dear Bovine Encephalitis,I think you've gone through some interesting phases in your time here. Back in the day of !, you were probably targeted unfairly after a few incidents. You got a target on your back, it became personal, and you were iced, bro. In the time since, you have line-stepped a fair amount, but I do agree that your taunting has largely died down. I think the tool factor is at about a 4/10 which is pretty mild.
I agree with you that many of the groups you mentioned are more guilty of "ruining" this place than those who post with an "edgy" style. Werewolf participants were pretty guilty, and fortunately they opted for self-exile. I think the change has been refreshing and noticeable. This makes me wonder about the self-moderated idea mentioned above, and which groups would be voted off the island more quickly. It would be an interesting experiment. I think the white noise generators would probably get the hook pretty quickly, and that would be a good thing.
As to Smoo, he did some Grade A smooing at one point in the past, but I don't think that's been a problem for a while now. Smoomendous Smooside is much more likely to smoo your league than Smoo himself. I think he rightly deserves ire. Actually, I think anyone who pilfers funds or is really slow to pay is worthy of mockery. Smoo is no exception. You do
seem to be forgetting that Smoo is an irascible fellow. It doesn't take much to set him off.
All in all, I think you're headed in the right direction. I'd like to see some people get their old names back as I think the practice of banning people and allowing new names is a buncha nonsense. I was pretty partial to Truck IV: A New Hope, though. Maybe you'd be happy with that one?
Hurry in to your Bay Area Buick dealer, because this 0% APR offer won't last long,
MP
for these two lines in your answer to YSR. You have my vote for this post alone.
this.
