Hell with Giving It a Title -- Just Open the Damn Thread

The BBQ Pit
1

WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH EVERYONE THESE DAYS?

Am I in the twilight zone? What the fuck is going on? Am I the only person who notices that suddenly NEARLY EVERY BOARDMEMBER is on the RAG???

We have dunderheads crawling out of the frickin’ woodwork, (and don’t think I’m limiting this reference only to Brithy, Kryptonite and Palidrone), which has laid the foundation for some sort of ridiculous BBQ sorority house, and EVERYTIME I CHECK IN, SOMEONE’S CHALLENGING SOMEONE ELSE!!!

I think I’ve always tried to keep the peace, and so, I hereby declare this the “Inflammable Flaming Thread”

Someone’s ego has inflated itself to unprecedented proportions. I take partial blame. I wish I’d never posted to that damn thread.

Another person has made me cringe since DAY FUCKING ONE… yet most everyone seems to like this person… I don’t get it. I’ve never addressed her, impolitely or otherwise. I just wish that (blank) would shut the hell up…

“FemaleNearWater” (name has been changed to protect the innocent): You have no sense of humour, but for some reason, he likes you anyway. We get the fucking picture: He’s yours… stop being a wallflower and join the party already.

“Girl” and “Boy” (again, names have been changed to protect the innocent): Peekaboo! I see you! Why don’t you quit beating around the bush and just confess? It’s not that difficult to see… at least not to me.

Those are just my rants… well, the only ones that I’m willing to spout off about.

What the fuck is everyone else’s problem?

Chris,
who is slightly shaken from
having just posted
her very first tirade… ~~~
(Take a cleansing breath, Chris… count to ten…)

Veni, Vidi, Visa … I came, I saw, I bought.

2

It’s a good thing you’re a gal.

If you were male, I would have said, “Hey, I’m not on my period…I’m completely right & and I’m NOT HORMONAL !!!”

Since your female, I’ll say, “Hey, but why did, they wait till I’m on the rag and really grumpy to become complete idiots and get on my nerves…And how do you know I’m on the rag? I’ve been completely rational. Got any tampons?”

Sorry…

3

Gee Chris…if I have offended you, I apologize.
If I havnt, then I will sound incredibly pompous replying to a flame not directed at me…shit.

4

Hey, could ya help a newbie out? I haven’t been here long enough to really know who you’re refering to…can we get some details? Come on, throw me a bone over here. :wink:

Seriously, While I’ve always subscribed to the belief that any public forum will have a few schmucks, I have to agree with you that the pit has started to resemble a time-delayed chat session in a teen room.

I am a newbie, but it seems to me that a few feuds have caused the bitchyness factor of the pit to worsen.

It’s only human nature to want to get the last word in.

Of course, if I’m one of the targets of this flame, then I’m gonna be really embarrased.

You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.

5

You’re not supposed to know who it’s directed to… I just wanted to bitch, not get into a fight about it.

I’ll be nice and say that, thus far, none of the people I ranted about have posted. It’s not going to be a guessing game, though.

My point was to find out whether or not I was the only person who’s starting to feel like we’re in the girl’s locker room. (For you guys, it isn’t as pleasant as you think.)

If I was bitch enough, I would scream the names of the people mentioned in the OP. Would it solve anything? Probably not. I’m far more comfortable having done it this way.

Veni, Vidi, Visa … I came, I saw, I bought.

6

Chris, you freakin’ scared the shit out of “her!” She shan’t be posting here anytime soon (The flames be warm and GBS fears they’d be directed towards her). But she appreciated my volunteering to step down. But the response you and others posted helped her realize that there can be another purpose to this board besides flirting.

As to all the hate mongering, gang flaming, troll outing and other activities perpetuated here by me and others, Pth-th-th-th.

And now you can proudly say that you are no longer a “tirade virgin.”

We’ll work next week on your becoming a “flame whore.”

7

ChrisCTP:

I think that if you look a bit more closely you will find that “nearly every boardmember” (even or especially) in caps, is a bit of an exaggeration. In fact, there are very few board veterans who have been joining in these little rant fests. I think it’s a bit of a sophomore (not sophomoric) issue. Folks show up, find that its a pretty neat place, then come face to face with the intermittent but steady stream of trolls and twits that come through. They are outraged at the effrontery of these disrupters and immediately begin hurling flames all over the site. In the midst of all this anger, of course, some folks will get flamed as trolls who are merely awkward (or who post something outside of the accepted views of the flame-mongers). Those who arrived with serious (if clumsy) attempts to participate and are flamed will, of course, flame back. Then we get to watch several days (sometimes weeks) of flame wars where no one can even remember why they are fighting.

In a while, some flamers will get bored, some enemies will post similar thoughts on a serious discussion and decide that they don’t need to hate each other any more, and eventually the flames will die down. Then a new group will show up, find that its a pretty neat place, then come face to face . . . .

Those of us who have been here a long time (some of us going back to AOL) have already watched this scenario repeat a number of times. That is why you won’t find many of us joining in the roasts. We generally limit our heat to one or two specific threads and try not to spend hours on-line congratulating each other for what a wonderful job we are doing flaming people.

Two mild observations I will lay out:
-The worst trolls thrive on flames. They love the attention. You may drive away one or two frail trolls with flames, but the truly serious trolls love the heat. You’re much better off ignoring trolls. The frail ones will leave out of boredom, the fire-eaters will leave from starvation. If you enjoy feeding them, feel free, but you won’t chase the horrible ones away.
-S&G flames are a waste of time. There are a lot of people who truly have a difficult time composing wonderful English. Some of these people are the result of the less than perfect U.S. educational system; some of them are speakers of English as a second language. Unless the post is undecipherable due to unintelligible spelling or horribly convoluted syntax, just answer the question (or ignore the post). There seems to be a law of Nature that anyone who posts to correct a spelling error will have a typographical error in their post. Why set yourself up for return flak? (A typo or S&G error that comically corrupts a post is always fair game for a witty response, but S&G flames are simply silly, leading to needless hard feelings.)

Tom~

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I agree with tomndeb. I think you’re exaggerating the problem. You’re not in the twilight zone - you’re looking for a fight. And I might add (as a female) “on the rag” is an offensive remark. No, they’re not on the rag – they just get off on rattling people’s cages. If I come across a thread where this is going on, I just exit and move on. I’ve been tempted a couple times to respond, but don’t want to get into a mud-slinging contest. Don’t have the time for it – I have to be very selective about the topics I visit (that’s why I wish some would be more specific in they’re topic titles so I can avoid 'em without getting into the thread.)

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I have a comment:
If you’re not in the pit, why not lay off the insults? I hate when I’m in a regular topic (GQ or MPSIMS) and someone makes a regular comment or answers a question, suddenly, the post police are all over it- throwing insults and rude comments. If you don’t like the person, keep it in the pit.
If you don’t have something to contribute to a thread, leave it alone or write a post that says “see my response in the Pit”. Isn’t that what it’s for?
If you don’t like someone, just ignore them. Or take your crusade to the pit. Do people really think that they can get someone to stop provoking them by “poking them with a stick”?
If you enjoy playing with trolls, do it in the pit. To continue answering them in the regular threads only makes them post more often. They love the attention. Stop giving it to them.
Why not try a “troll free week”. If you see someone who’s obviously trolling, practice the art of ignoring them. Let’s see how many are still bothering to post after a week of talking to themselves.
Of course this won’t work because a lot of the people who claim to hate the trolls actually love reading their dribble and showing off their own intellectual superiority. Don’t bother. It’s like having a battle of wits with an unarmed person. Hardly very uplifting or sporting.

Run for the hills, folks! Or you’ll be up to your armpits in martians!

10

I don’t have anything to add to the debate, but I just had to pop in and opine that you have written the best thread title ever.

Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine

11

I have stumbled upon an interesting phenomenon in shutting-up the Troll Flamers[sup]1[/sup]: ask them to go get the perpetrators of loverock. They suddenly go quiet. Almost as if a friend or theirs – or maybe they themselves – had a hand in it.

If this truly be the case, they’re goddamned hypocrites.

[sup]1[/sup]This is opposed to the Troll Police who can spot and call a Troll for who they are. It’s the Troll Flamers who think their flames don’t stink that piss me off. Call a Troll for what it is and then leave it be. Flaming them with strings of vulgarity, no matter how cleverly worded, is the height of immaturity and just another form of Trolling.