Judy, I think we have covered all this before. It's not necessary to
respond to Barry every time he posts something like this, with the same
response. Maybe we should review a few basic standard internet protocols
for posting replies to messages on discussion groups:
1. Try to avoid redundancy in your messages.
2. Try to avoid getting personal with other informants.
3. Try to avoid obsessing on subscribers you don't like.
4. Try to avoid being too bossy and telling others what to do.
On 12/20/2013 1:08 PM, authfri...@yahoo.com wrote:
*Barry postured:*
*/
/*
*/The problem is not anonymous posting; the problem is using this
place as a forum for ego-wars and petty squabbles, and mistaking them
for intelligent conversation. 825 posts since midnight Friday, and
over half of them fall into the above category, posted by only a
handful of people. This handful have by now established enough of a
"track record" that I feel safe in ignoring anything they have to say
for the rest of the incarnation. /*
*/
/*
*He won't, any more than he has any of the other umpty times he's said
he was going to over the years. But wouldn't it be nice if he did?
(And how hilarious is it that he obviously excludes his own posts from
the "ego-wars and petty squabbles" category?)
/The old posting limits may have been a pain for you, Alex, but they
kept this place *somewhat* readable and worth visiting. I have to say
it's gone past that point now. I scan the list of posts and the only
names I'm even tempted to click on are anartaxius and s3raphita and
Bhairitu and merudanda and steve.sundur and occasionally emptybill and
cardemaister. /
/Doc occasionally posts something interesting and non-"Look At Me"
these days but it's difficult to tell from the first few words in
Message View so I usually give his posts a pass just to be sure. Share
seems to have two qualities her tormentors do not -- range and an
ability to feel positive emotion/*
*/
/*
*Or at least the ability to fake positive emotion, but not really well
enough to escape detection. As to "range," not even Barry believes that.*
*
*
*/ -- but to be honest most of the things she's interested in I'm not,
so I often skip her posts, too. MichaelJ and Edg are occasionally
funny, so I sometimes give their posts a shot. /*
*
*
*I think Barry has forgotten quite a few people whose posts he often
reads and comments on, as well as quite a few interesting threads he's
ignored that had nothing to do with "ego wars" or "petty squabbles."
/I *understand* that the old posting limits were a pain for you, Alex,
and I don't blame you in the least for wanting them gone. But I DO
have to point out that what many warned of as the consequence of
getting rid of them seems to have come to pass, in spades./*
*
*
*Actually, two things that nobody warned of that could not have been
anticipated have done the real damage: Neo, and one poster who has
gone completely out of control. We never really had a chance to see
how lifting the posting limits would have functioned otherwise.
There's no hope of changing the former, and the latter would have to
change himself, which seems unlikely.*
*
*
*Most of the posters who have left have done so because they couldn't
cope with Neo. For those of us who stuck around and made the best of
it, the out-of-control poster is now making FFL increasingly
unpleasant even if they don't interact with him. One begins to suspect
that he is intentionally doing his best to destroy the forum (possibly
out of resentment that he was never able to attract the attention he
craved while the posting limits were in effect).*
*
*
*The fact is that before the posting limits were imposed years ago,
the situation here was very different from what it had become by the
time they were lifted (pre-Neo and pre-poster going out of control).
There was an excellent chance that we could have done fine if it
hadn't been for the two complicating factors.*
*
*
*We still might have a chance if that one poster's influence could
somehow be neutralized. Share's phoniness and excessive mindless
posting will always be an irritant, but if she could restrain her
bitter resentment of the more intelligent posters and stop stupidly
egging on the out-of-control poster, the damage she does would be
reduced to a tolerable level.*
*
*
*On the other hand, it's almost tempting to let the forum become so
impossibly boring that Barry finally gives up on it. What a blessed
relief it would be to see the last of his sadistic viciousness and
gross dishonesty. If he were no longer around to stir up animosity, we
might be able to rebuild. *
