what set me off :rolleyes:
–sublight.
I originally wrote:
Funny that I can write a statement dripping in irony and have it restated for me in a way that drives the point home better than I could have ever wished. This entire thread is based on subjectivity, regardless of how you interpret it’s original intent.
FTR, I don’t really assess one’s character based on anything that is posted in the Pit. I apologize for any confusion that results from my sardonic attempts to enlighten. I will attach warning labels in the future.
Reading your OP, with its numerous quotes of Farmer Oak talking smack about various SDMB members, I concluded that you were either (a) dripping in sarcasm or (b) sincere in your praise because you are a complete misanthrope. If there’s an option ©, please describe what that option is and how we were supposed to divine that intent from your OP.
Especially in light of the following quote, which followed immediately upon my questioning of your motives:
So he’s as bad or worse than any number of people who’ve been banned, but that’s really just another good reason to start a praise-a-thon?
Again, for the record, I am really not here to say bad things about Farmer Oak. He’s been an s.o.b. too often in such a short time, but I’m not that worried about because he’s also made some good contributions to the boards. If he keeps it up, or one of the targets of his ire takes offense, then maybe a Pit thread will be in order. For now, I’ll happily reserve judgment and ask him to lighten up on the personal attacks.
all quoted by Attrayant in the OP. and I thought sarcastically. I don’t understand how these could be seriously quoted as demonstrating wit, but I guess I’m just demonstrating how out-of-touch I am.
I see these boards as a place where people meet for civilised interactions. Sometimes it gets silly, and sometimes mean and sometimes absurdly impassioned. (I’ve never experienced it as quite so confusing before, that’s certain.)
But when a slick, smart-alecky, one-upmanship becomes the predominant flavour of a poster I’m not entirely happy. Not worried, just not too happy.
When I get worried is when others praise them for it.
My reference earlier to Drew Barrymore was along those lines, to indicate how it astounds me when people buy into the Tom Green “sure I’m offensive but I made you laugh, didn’t I?” rationale.
minty green and Coldfire seem to have got it, so I don’t feel too alone.
interesting stuff, now I’m leaving this thread, thanks and 'bye
Redboss
I’ll state it again, before I come back later to re-read and respond to the stuff that got posted while I was at the baseball game:
ALL of those quotes were taken out of context. If I have to repost the ENTIRE quotes, IN context, I will. But if you haven’t read them IN context yet, you have no idea what they mean. Each is followed by an unambiguous (AND self-deprecating) rant which is clearly meant to make a humorous point. Taking ONE sentence out of a dozen does NOT give a clear indication of the meaning or of the intent of a given post.
And I find this subject extremely fascinating, so please, don’t hesitate to speak your mind.
Keep trying. I don’t understand your humor. Maybe it works in person, but when read on the Internet it comes across as… not so funny. I personally thought Attrayant was being sarcastic in the OP.
I think Oak comes across as a holier than thou dickhead just looking to score points with the SDMB “clique” as it were.
Flame away…I don’t give a flying fuck! 
Attrayant has spoken. He was sincere, for which I am thankful.
Ipso facto, anyone who believes he was being snarky and INsincere must therefore believe that he was being so unconciously or that he is lying. Take your pick. I’m interested to hear which one you think it is. The only other option that I can see is that you are reading way too much into his OP.
That was the same reasoning that ScOo_gUy used to explain away the denials of synchronization by the members of Pink Floyd in the thread that I am NOT going to link to - that they were lying, or doing it unconciously. Are we going to buy it here, when we didn’t buy it there (or anywhere else?)
Am I abrasive? You bet. Cutting? Yes, absolutely. Do I suffer fools gladly? Hell, I don’t suffer them at ALL. Arrogant? I’ll answer to that.
But I’m also smart. REALLY smart. And I don’t think it’s a crime for me to say that. I reference my personal library (several thousand volumes) for many of my replies. I reference the internet for others. I cite facts, and my opinions are the informed opinions of a dedicated polymath. When I am wrong, I readily admit it, and I am happy to have learned something, as that was my goal in coming here in the FIRST place.
Am I funny? Well, that’s awfully subjective. I know I crack myself up…
[Arthur]
Sometimes I just THINK funny things!
[/Arthur]
… and a few people here seem to appreciate my sense of humor. I’ll bet a dollar that the people who don’t get my sense of humor will pick Leno over Letterman five nights out of five. That’s cool, there’s plenty of flavors in the world for everybody. But when you don’t get a joke, there IS a possibility that it says more about you than it does about the joke. Or the joker…
Incidentally, my style as a “slick, smart-alecky, one-upmanship” poster is not so different from that of the Perfect Master. I checked the FAQ; he doesn’t have a copyright on snarkiness. Admittedly, I’m not as good at it as he is, but most aren’t as good at it as I am.
Am I an s.o.b., as minty states? Well, that’s subjective too, isn’t it? I’m sure that minty didn’t mean to impugn my mother… that’s what context is all about. So I won’t ask him to lighten up on the personal attacks, or the indirect insults of my dear, departed Mommy. It’s context, I tell ya…
Medea’s Child is a hella-Wench.
To address the Drama Queen post for (hopefully) the last time: Not only am I not the only person who posted that sort of dissent in the thread, but all the mail I received as a result of that post was in agreement with my post. Not one person wrote to tell me that I was wrong. Several Dopers wrote to say that they agreed with me, but were afraid of getting flamed; others, that the thread was closed before they could respond. But you should know that I was not the only person who felt that this was operatic. I was, however, one of the few willing to dissent publicly, and in time. I fear no flames or Pit Threads, so you needn’t obliquely refer to them, minty. Farmer is a big boy.
In closing, let me state that I like it here. I think I’ll stick around. I hope to hoist a beer with a few of you on Friday. You’ll find that this is who I am - I don’t adopt a persona for the board. I am a big, brassy, loud, funny, vulgar, intelligent guy, who ridicules pretense at every opportunity and helps people and solves problems for a living.
Oops… lost the simulpost battle while my damn DSL was down.
I, personally, am not going to flame you, Klaatu, and I’d be disappointed if anyone did on my account.
But I am curious… who are the SDMB “clique”, as it were? I want to know because I avoid cliques at every opportunity. You see, I’m a uniter…
You appear to have misspelled “nutter” there, Farmer.
Oh hell - I’ll go on record as finding him funny. People sometimes take themselves way too seriously on these boards. It can only be good to have someone who lends them a little perspective.
That being taken into account, I do think that Redboss is right on - smart-alek one-upmanship is tedious and devisive. And he’s very perceptive to notice that admiration of such in others is the truly worrying scenario. But I don’t think that we can accuse Oaky here of that quite yet.
pan
That would be me, and several of my minion who, naturally, wish to remain nameless.
Co-opting the Teeming Millions? Incipient revolution? Disloyalty?
I’m gonna tell Unca Cece.
I’ve already tried to describe the context in which my OP was supposed to be taken. Wait- don’t scroll up! Here I’ll say it again: I was going for a “celebrity roast” atmosphere where the emcee takes a few odd pot-shots at the guest of honour but generally (and as evidenced by the opening & closing statements) seeks to pay tribute. If there was still any doubt left, then for chrissakes look at the thread title & look at what forum I posted in! With over two thousand posts & more than two years posting here, you’d think maybe by now I know which forum to rip somebody apart in (although that would be totally out of character for me- which is something else I think most people who’ve been here a while know about me).
::Deep, cleansing breaths::
Look, proir to that I had already stated that I failed to locate the ugly ATMB thread, so it therefore follows that I started the “praise-a-thon” without knowledge of the offending thread. That alone should re-enforce the idea that I started it with good intentions.
I’d be interested as well, but I suspect most will respond by saying that they think neither one is the case. They’ll probably say something like the OP was just too easy to read the wrong way.
I don’t know. Most people got it, some didn’t. So let’s call it nothing more that that: some people just didn’t get it.
And it’s been a looong time since I did get it…
Oops, love, you know what? I didn’t even mean to be referring to your post–I meant that some people were debating what the OP meant, and some people were debating whether FarmerOak was good/bad. I used “poster” instead of FarmerOak which made it seem that I meant some people (well, namely you, since you’re the one who brought that point up) were assessing the authors of individual posts. It would have been a good addition to my convoluted post, but I didn’t think to include it at the time. I didn’t mean to reference you, but my poor choice of wording certainly made it seem so. In other words, don’t give me credit for restating it… I wasn’t that clever, alas!
I’m trying to get around to the point that I thought your post was excellent. While you’re right in the precautionary statement about reading too much into someone from a Pit post, people’s conduct towards one another in any forum usually goes a long way towards informing my impressions of them. I got what you meant.
There was a thread about the “SDMB cliche” that would have answered your question, but apparently that one got pruned.
Ouch. Head hurts. Never really noticed this Farmer Oak guy.
Could somebody just tell me whether I’m supposed to hate him or like him?
I think it all depends on whether you’re a member of the SDMB clique or the SDMB cliche.
You know what? I followed Attrayant’s intent, and got that the point was a lighthearted jab meant in fun. And I was totally confused by everyone who seemed to think it was meant as an insult.
The quotes chosen, when out of context as they are, lose meaning. I sure didn’t know where they were posted or in reference to what, but just took it to mean those lines struck Attrayant’s fancy.
As for being banned being a compliment, it was humor. I took it as a joke. “He’s so good, he’ll either be a moderator or be banned. Maybe even both.” Which, come to think of it, has happened before (not to FarmerOak).
Originally posted by Attrayant:
minty green’s reply:
No, he didn’t say FarmerOak was as bad as the people who were banned. He was referencing events surrounding Melin, who is the person I reference above that was a moderator and then later was banned. At the time of Melin’s departure, there was a huge, overblown knockdown drag out flame war between numerous “respectable” posters and the moderators, including the highly dramatic departure of some well-known posters. These people were not banned themselves, they just chose to leave. Well several people who are still members made similar comments about the situation at that time. FarmerOak was being compared to those people, not any trolls who were banned. Attrayant merely qualified the difference between the situations with the final summary that he thought FarmerOak was wrong in assessment.
Sorry, not a big slam on FarmerOak, just a caveat that the intended praise has a small blemish.
As for my attitude on FarmerOak, I generally think he’s pretty good, but does come on strong sometimes. For instance, the blow up with Scoo-guy I noticed was flamed by FarmerOak. Sure, Scooey made dumb unsupported comments about sychronicity and Pink Floyd, and making the popular “gay = stupid” statement, but he didn’t get vicious until responding to FarmerOak’s lead. That’s my review of the events, anyway.
I think a lot of people didn’t see the OP until it was moved to the Pit, causing the confusion. You don’t praise in the Pit. That’s just silly.