Fenris, help straighten me out here.

The BBQ Pit
1

Fenris, buddy, pal.

I love ya’, I love most of your posts. I like the twisted way your mind sometimes works. But I gotta ask:

Do you see any contradiction between your posts in Lib’s APAS thread here:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=99389

and your actions and posts in the Prom King/Queen/Class Clowns threads in IMHO here:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=99677???

Just my thought that playing along in a “I wanna be Mr. Popular” in the Prom King thread and your comments in Lib’s thread kinda don’t mesh. You can write it off as the humorous overtones in the Prom King thread aren’t quite the same as the allegedly “seriousness” in Libs threads. I’d probably buy that. But I just want to hear it from your mouth.

I really don’t want this to turn into a “Fenris is a hypocritical dumbass so fuck him” thread, mainly because I don’t think that’s deserved. However, something there bugs me.

Thanks in advance.

2

So, you’re looking for consistency. Nobody can have a change of mind, or just want to have fun. Can’t toss out comments to bait others. SDMB…a beacon of truth and the moral highroad. (giggle):smiley:

3

Oh, yeah? Well…Fenris IS a hypocritical dumbass so fuck him!!

[sub]there, now, we got THAT out of the way, maybe we can get on with the discussion[/sub]

:smiley:

Hmm…

Thread #1. Fenris says "“No awards for writing, please. I have my reward in all your happy smiling faces.” He sounds serious.

Thread #2. Fenris happily goes to the Prom, stands against the wall with a toothpick in his mouth, looks pleased as punch to be considered for both Prom King and Class Clown. He sounds serious.

So, I’m sorry, but I don’t see any hypocrisy here. Who wouldn’t rather be elected Prom King than winner of this year’s National Book Award? Dull, dull, dull. Prom Kings get much more nookie than geeky writer-types, for one thing, and even the Class Clown appeals to a “certain type” of fun-loving girl.

But, hey, any flimsy excuse to start a Pit thread, eh, Hamlet? And see your name in lights up there at the top of the Forum?

[sigh] Is it some kind of virus? First me, then Vanilla, then Fenris, all of us meriting Pit threads this week? Is it-- :eek: --the dreaded Alien Turd Virus?

4

And, er, anybody who thinks that I really think Fenris is a dumbass, hypocritical or not, is probably suffering from the dreaded Brazilian Brain Virus…

5

Lots o’ viruses (virusi?) in your world DDG?

Oh and hey, look my name at the top of the Forum.

Oh joy, oh happy day!

My life is so meaningless, I’d start a thread just for that reason.

Thanks DDG for your little contribution for keeping it up there.

Oops, I just bumped it up again.

Oh my God, I just may explode with joy.

:rolleyes:

6

And I don’t want this to turn into a “Fenris is a hypocritical dumbass so fuck him” thread either, so we’ve got some common ground! :smiley:

The way I saw Lib’s thread, every, single post would have been…scrutinized (my word/feeling) for consideration for judging. That made me uncomfortable in the extreme. I don’t want to be “judged” for a contest on every single word I write (note that one of the things that was proposed was “Best Poster”) for the Board.

I have no problem being in some contests: witness my participation in SDMB Iron Chef matches (there was a “bad writing” thread a while back that I participated in too). Same with Prom King/Class Clown. But in the other thread,

  1. Unless I opted-out I was “drafted” into Lib’s contest by default along with the rest of the Board. Had I ignored the Prom King thing, nothing would have come of it.

  2. Like I said, I tend to take contests seriously (probably more than I should). I rewrite my Iron Chef entries a half-dozen times before submitting. I don’t want to do that for every post and the way I saw Lib’s panel, I would’ve felt like I needed to. One of the most enjoyable threads I’ve ever participated in was here. SexyWriter and I were having a blast. But there are “continuity” errors (Drummer/Private) and so on. I don’t think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much if I had been concerned with someone catching my mistakes.

  3. It wasn’t a contest I was comfortable with for a number of reasons, in part because of the serious overtones (as you suggested) and also because it was so wide-ranging: it proposed to consider every post on the board. The Prom King/Class Clown is neither serious nor wide-ranging.

That help explain?

Fenris

7

I guess…

You don’t like being judged/scrutinized unless you have put yourself in that position by choice. i/e Iron Chef (by the way, I think I woulda liked the Clam Vanderbilt, very rich) or the Prom King/Queen/Clown. But you don’t mind if you get positive feedback about any particular post at the time of posting. Hey, if your uncomfortable being judged and it makes the board less fun, I got no problem with that. Hell, that’s what makes this MB so great is that it is a ton of fun. And reading your posts, I think you should have no problem being judged, you do a great job here most of the time.

As for the differences of seriousness of the Libbies and the Prom King/Queen/Clown, I can deal with that too. I saw them both as the typical “popularity contest threads” (Jodi’s term in Lib’s thread), with you playing along with the “Pick Me, Pick Me” in one, but the “I don’t want to be judged” in the other. But I can definately see a little more seriousness in Lib’s thread and the other being just for fun.

If I can beg your indulgence for one more question: Do you think I was way off-line asking the question in the first place? Just wondering.

[sub]Besides, I woulda voted for you for King anyway.[/sub]

8

DDG, I don’t want to be confrontational, but I think that it’s pretty unfair to jump on Hamlet for starting this thread. I especially think it’s a bit knee-jerk for you to give him the exact same response that you gave to Lucki Charms in the Vanilla thread. In that thread, you also told LC:

Worded exactly the same as in your post in this thread. Hamlet’s post didn’t warrant that. He wasn’t being confrontational, like LC, and made it quite clear in the Pit thread that he liked Fenris, and just wanted something cleared up.
I love ya lots, DDG, but you’re coming across as a little too harsh for the situation. (Of course, the Alien Poop article was one of the funnier things I’ve read in awhile).

9

I think the Pit is the place for flaming, reaming, and hanging-draw-and-quartering total assholes, not for idle chitchat and friendly critique of other posters’ posts. We have a forum for idle chitchat and friendly critique of other posters’ posts–MPSIMS. I am automatically suspicious of any Pit thread that starts out with, “I have a lot of respect for you, but…” or “You’re my friend, but…” and then seems to be perfectly friendly, because 99% of the time, after about 10 posts, it suddenly takes a sharp left turn into madness and jumps up and bites the referenced poster. And suddenly it isn’t a friendly critique anymore, it’s an all-stops-out pileon.

There’s a reason for starting threads in the Pit–it’s so you can call someone an asshole without being called on it by the mods. So I tend to assume that anyone who starts anything other than one of the obviously joking “Why do ya have to be so fucking nice all the time?” Pit threads has the intention of seeing the referenced poster eventually flamed, if not by the OP, then by someone else coming into the thread. Sooner or later the people who genuinely dislike the referenced poster will show up and start flaming.

As for “kneejerk” response, um, no, Jester, that actually had some thought put into it. That’s my standard response to people, whether posted in the thread or merely “thought real loud” here at home, who IMO start threads for no particular reason, especially Pit threads in which the OP seems particularly pointless, or otherwise non-Pit-worthy. It seems to me that that could be the only possible motivation for starting a pointless Pit thread, to see “your name in lights up at the top of the forum”. There is a certain segment of the Doper population that does get quite a rush out of that, if past performance is anything to go by (naming no names).

So Hamlet, if that wasn’t what was going through your head, then I do most sincerely apologize. :slight_smile:

And, if it truly wasn’t your intention to flame Fenris, or to see him flamed by someone else, then I suggest that the next time you wanna give him some friendly feedback, or discuss his posts in a nice way, you either take it to e-mail, or to MPSIMS.

'Cause the minute something appears in the Pit, it’s like an invitation to the Dark Side. The Pit’s not a non-confrontational tea party, nor IMO should it ever be. All hail the Pit. :smiley:

BTW, I don’t much care for the “pretend flame” threads, either.

10

I agree that the Pit isn’t for friendly conversation, but I definitely think that there are different “levels” of intensity for threads. Conciously giving the same response to Hamlet that you gave to LC (which I guess I got a bit whooshed on) didn’t seem very fair, because while LC’s post was a full-fledged rail against Vanilla, Hamlet’s post seemed to be on a much lower level, more around the area of a cool, level-headed question.
He saw what he viewed as an inconsistency in Fenris’ posting style, and decided to ask about it. I think we can both agree that such a conversation couldn’t really fit in any of the forums, since it’s not completely friendly, but it’s also not an attack. Note that he didn’t even really call Fenris out in the OP, instead just kind of asked about it. He even said:

Showing that he wasn’t going to launch into troll-territory or anything of the sort. Admittedly, Pit threads about popular posters can go downhill fast, but if that had happened, I get the idea that Hamlet would be on our side, telling any trolls with agendas to shut up already.

Further evidences of Hamlet’s intent can be found in his second post, where instead of going off an flaming Fenris for his response to the question in the OP, he quite calmly accepts the answer and moves on.
So, I guess that my biggest reaction was to you putting this thread and LC’s in the same “category” as each other, since they were most definitely on different levels of intensity. “Knee-jerk” probably wasn’t the best word to use, and for that I apologize. But jumping to conclusions like:

is a bit unnecessary, since I think that this thread shows an example of it not being true. (“I really don’t want this to turn into a “Fenris is a hypocritical dumbass so fuck him” thread, mainly because I don’t think that’s deserved. However, something there bugs me.”)

That said, can I offer anyone a cup of tea?:smiley:

11

I have to agree with Jester here DDG. I also find your response to Jester’s post unsatisfactory. If you felt he posted in the wrong forum, perhaps you should have just said that in the first place rather than assuming the worst. I think you were too hard on Hamlet.

12

Sorry, that was supposed to say “couldn’t really fit in any of the other forums.” Stupid typo.

13

To me the difference is in tone and result. “Best Poster” carries much more…weight…than Prom King/Queen. And one is obviously intended for silliness, the other not.

I’d have preferred e-mail, but no, I don’t think it was outta line.

On the other hand, I can see DDG’s point, as each time I look at the thread, I wonder if there’s gonna be flaming or a pile-on. This sort of thread, no matter how benign the intent of the OP often does turn into a pile-on/flamefest.

On the third hand, I see Jester and tevya’s point that there wasn’t flaming (yet), and besides, where else would it have gone?

Overall, I mighta gone for the e-mail option.
Fenris

14

Jump the gun much, DDG? Nice of you to guess what was in my head when I posted. I’m guessing your not REALLY sorry for jumping on my ass, and telling me my thread was pointless, so go jump in a lake. Or since this is THE PIT (insert scary music here) Fuck Off. Of course I will take Fenris’s and your advice and ask in email next time.

Thanks Fenris, you don’t have to Fuck Off.

15

Flame people for apologizing much, Hamlet? Hmm, how does that work out IRL?

“I’m sorry, Hamlet.”
“Oh, yeah, well, FUCK YOU!”

Or is it just here?

16

Thank you for guessing what was in my head when I apologized.

Ass.

17

At least you got my point. If I offended, I sincerely apologize.

18

Apology accepted. :slight_smile:

19

I think you’re all demented sickos. But - I sincerely apologize if anyone’s feelings were hurt. And to anyone else trying to mix in - butt out, jerk! And - I apologize to you too.

A bit dizzying, but I like it.

:slight_smile:

20

Fuck you IzzyR! What the fuck are you trying to say? Sounds like you’re just here to up your post count well this is THE PIT, man, do that somewhere else, you pathetic loser.

Oh, I’m sorry.