SPOOFE used to be “SPOOFE Bo Diddly,” until he had his “Bo Diddly” surgically removed* sometime around May 2001. Check out the last line of the first post in this thread.
*If you ask him nicely, he’ll show you his scar.
Um…OK… And this pissed off the moderators how?
psst. bnorton it’s a joke.
There’s an art to it, I think. Most piss-off-the-mods types will go for the shortsighted flash-in-the-pan sort of pissing-off. And that’s okay, not everyone has the same capabilities, and in many of those cases, there’s a urgency because of deadlines–school starting up again next year or after Labor Day or whatnot.
The really artistic ones will build up quite a few posts over a long period. During that time, they’ll also establish themselves as a member that many others view as providing extremely positive contributions to the boards. There’s a variety of roads for that–have in-depth knowledge of a field and be articulate in sharing it; be particularly witty and humorous, and so forth.
That’s only a necessary foundation, mind you. Once that “valuable to the boards” foundation is firmly set, you can begin the true art of your intent. Everyone knows the prime rule of “don’t be a jerk.” Where the line of what qualifies for jerk status is, and is not, is not dogmatically nailed down; it is a shifting, hazy boundary based on judgment calls, benefits-of-the-doubt, and so forth.
That makes the act of dancing along that line all the more challenging. Too little, and no one notices; push the dance too far the other way, and it ends with the BANNED stamp–ultimately, it’s almost always going to, just a matter of time, but that’s a lot like life. The end’s certain, it’s how you get there that counts.
To really piss off the moderators effectively this way, you need to dance that jerkline well. You have to feel the pulse of the board, the rhythm of the ebbs and flows of the currents in the Pit. Learn to read the high water marks of the times of live-and-let-live, the dry flood plains of Snark Seasons, the sudden vicious undertows of the rarer (but still cyclic) Meltdown Months. If you read these signs correctly, they will lead you to the balance you will need to dance the jerkline.
The dance will be a matter of personal improvisation; there’s no set form, only recognized good performances and recognized poor attempts. Smugness and snarkiness in GD is a time-honored one; dancing with it will involve sneaking personal attacks in with them, or–this is the best–working turns of phrase that could be seen as personal attacks, but have just enough interpretive uncertainty to them that your poster defenders (see below) will angrily berate the reading comprehension of your poster critics (also below).
When danced well, you will gather moderator and administrative warnings from time to time–do not get exicted about these, they are merely an indicator, and if you allow them to throw you off your balance, the dance is lost. These official warnings should follow a shifting lower-to-higher ratio of the times when mere posters will Pit you. Your poster-Pittings will also be a sign for you to read; there should be a relative balance in the stridencies of the sides that both hate you and support you–and stridency is more important than simple numbers, mind you. If 90% of the posters in a thread condemn, but seem rather shrugging about it, that’s far outweighed by 10% raving that you’re the bestest thing since popcorn and if you go, they go, hell no, fight the power.
If you have the personal talent and ambition and stick-to-it-iveness for the art of the Jerkline Dance, you can sow seeds of discontent, despair, hate, factional loyalties, both on-Board and off, and–the grail–almost assuredly piss off the moderators far far more than a short-duration acting out, trolling, or similar whatnot.
There are downsides to making a career of the Jerkline Dance, sure, but chickens and eggs and omelettes.
This is so cool and kickin’ and awesome and I love this thread and shut up.