Special PS:
I’m not really worried about starting a flame war with even the worst you have to offer. This is the internet, remember? If somebody toasts the shit out of me, the worst that is going to happen is I’ll reply “Shit, that was a nice flame,” and concede defeat.
And if all I have to worry about is “Go jerk off to Britney Porn”, then I don’t even have to bring my sunblock.
thanks, spectre :). that’s very gracious of you and shows more restraint than some of our members.
Itchy whoever the fuck you are? Read the messages in this thread to SpankyMalone. Trolling at other boards makes the baby Jesus mad.
OK, you’ve got my welcome. But seriously, lurk a bit: It helps.
As usual, I think andros has the right take on this. I don’t want them over here if they are here to troll, but if they want to come and play nice and contribute, the more the merrier.
So, assuming your intentions here are good, grim, I also say welcome.
naw, that’s an incredibly bad flame. you need to see Jarbabyj in action. she has true powers of invective. do you know what “Felching” is? you don’t want to know.
anyway, browse the boards here, and be welcome. it’s a nice place, with mush faster flow than a more focused board. it can easily be described as a true “global village”, and another mind will always be welcome in this village.
ps, don’t worry. whoever was trolling on your board will most assuredly be severly reprimanded, and possibly banned, depending on who it is and if we can even find out who it is.
Aw hell, we’ve already seen Esprix at work here. Can we see Fenris give it a go now? Pretty please?
And on another note, do you guys prefer our :rolleyes: smiley, or the(ir) animated one? Still trying to figure this out for my message boards…
I like our :eek: smiley best. I stole it for my MB.
The problem with devastatingly witty replies is that one frequently must be intelligent in order to understand them. You’re not going to walk into a crowd of semiliterate teenagers and impress them with your grammar skillz and vocabulary. It’s like Vietnam, dude. There are two different wars being fought. Yours may be the shinier, smarter war, but you’re vastly outnumbered in a territory full of determined enemies with time on their hands and a density approaching that of uranium. No matter what you say or what you do, they will cheer for their own. You cannot win such a battle. Why fight it?
Errr . . . Daowajan, I suspect that admission might have been ill-advised. It’s not generally safe kosher take files without permission, and it’s borderline foolish to admit to it in front of the proper owners (The Chi. Reader, for example).
I have been making the stupidest posts these last few days. What the hell is wrong with me?
Trucido: Winning or Losing is hardly the point of internet flames, is it? I can’t speak for the rest of you flamers but for me, arguing on the internet is merely a technological version of the old African-American game “the dozens”. I try to come up with insults, while the other person does the same. Obviously, Esprix and I have different “styles”, perhaps because they are specifically tailored to the two different message boards we frequent.
Unfortunately, this situation wasn’t really ideal as we were both competing on each others “turf”. The point of “the dozens” is to win the support of the crowd, something that is next to impossible when the crowd consists of your enemies allies.
Re: Smilies
I prefer making the sarcasm either so obvious that it needs no pictoral representation, or making sarcasm so subtle that it is mistaken for sincerity. You guys didn’t really think I was trying to hurt feelings with a “Yo Mama” joke, did you?
Heh. We generally don’t do the “dozens” in here, but dig through the Pit’s backlog, and you’ll find some real beauts.
For a board dedicated to fighting ignorance, we get more than our fair share of ignorance in here. Most either wise up, leave or get banned. A few are made of sterner stuff, and hang on, sometimes for years. Those posters are to be feared, for they’ve stood up to nuclear flames, napalm, and sadistic guys with rusty tweezers. They’re tougher than mutant roaches.
A literate, factual, and scathing flame is what gets the crowd going, but having the crowd on your side isn’t actually all that important, if you play be the Rules. The Rules are important. Sarcasm is good, but irony is better. Most of us are quite good with go-for-the-throat disections, but a significant number of us have raised flaming to High Art.
You’ve not seen Exprix in full cry yet, but trust me, deadly with a phrase is Esprix. And he’s not even close to being our all-star flamewarrior.
Dig in! You’re in for a treat, believe me.
Perhaps support of the crowd was the wrong term.
What is obvious to me now and should have been before is that under the “Rules” of the Straight Dope board, Esprix won that exchange. To a someone used to the flames of the Sinfest board, I did.
At the SDMB, copying and pasting a definition from the dictionary is obviously considered a successful flame, and, as esprix himself put it, a show of “wit”. Back on the Sinfest board, a successful flame is completely different, and usually includes the phrase “assclown”.
Man, I’ve never even been to another message board other than when trying to find technical information. I came here because I always loved the books and enjoyed the outtakes copied from this board. Then I took the plunge and posted, gave a rant so ignorant that I am utterly embarrased to re-read it. And then the flames came and they came HARD. They were so fucking intellectual that I realized very quickly that I was way out of my element. Guin posted a reply to the effect of “Anyone want to place bets on how long this guy lasts?” As strange as it sounds, this is the precise moment that I realized that this was a place that I really wanted to be at, not because I wanted to “win the crowd over” but because I respected the hell out the caliber of people here.
I have sometimes wondered if other boards were similar. The link **Esprix ** posted really brought it home that there is no place like this. Thanks Esprix! And that was a noble effort on that other board. Too bad nobody will even realize over there how outgunned they were. But we do. You have my utmost respect for your restraint over there and everything I have ever seen you post here.
As far as grimspectre goes. Welcome to the SDMB. Catch on to the way things work here and above all else, show respect, not ignorance, and I guarantee you will enjoy the hell out of this place.
Lynn, it followed me home - can I keep it?
You do seem to have some semblance of intelligence, so why resort to calling an artist you don’t like “a big fatso?” That’s what I took umbrage with - it’s just… well, so third grade. As I said, you seem to have a brain - it just seems like such a waste.
Esprix
Do a post search for a poster named “hardygrrl” and the word “assclown”. I think you and her will get along just fine.
Posted by hardygrrl in this thread:
grimspectreoflongusernames - welcome. I for one have found your posts to this thread to be witty, wry and erudite. Different people are inspired by different topics, so I’ve no idea if you’ll ultimately find conversation here to be to your taste. However, if you do I think you’ll find some of the most intelligent, knowledgable and downright funny folks here you’ll ever come across. I hope you don’t judge us by your rocky beginning.
pan
It’s okay, Dao, nobody expects much from us creative writing majors. On the plus side, they don’t expect us to have any money, so they’re not terribly likely to sue us either. (Um, not to The Powers That Be, I’m using the editorial ‘us’ - I have jacked nothing.)
On a sidenote, it’s probably the developers of vBulletin that’ll come after your ass, rather than the staff of the Reader. But for the record, if you stole the Wally[sup]TM[/sup] smiley, keep quiet about it! :wally
welcome grimspectreguy.
I gotta say, when you first showed up I thought to myself, “Oh shit! we’re about to be invaded by a whole bunch of trolls starting a juvenile flame war. Our long-suffering moderators are gonna be working overtime.”
When you said that you weren’t bringing anybody else with you, I was relieved. And you caught on real fast that our board is a lot different than keenspot.
Enjoy the SDMB.