If you don't like my parodies, don't read them

TwistofFate from here. (Hint to Twist: that’s a link. If you hover your mousepointer over it and click, it will open the relevant thread.)

Ah, but it is for the minority that I labor. Those who know what a link is and how to recognize parallel composition.

Kal knew. CJ knew. Homebrew knew. Giraffe knew. Larry Mudd knew. Ferrous knew. Probably others knew. You think these people are nobody?

Taran wrote: “Very clever, Libertarian, and very amusing.”

What the hell are you, a wind-up toy? Did someone point you at my thread and leave you to stumble into it? Did you think it was written FOR you?

Why do you insist on pointing out my grammatical errors when you quote me? Does it make you feel superior?

Yes, I have terrible grammar. I know that. But it does not make the quality of your points any better by displaying superficial errors in mine?

why do I open your threads? because very often they make alot of sense and inspire good debate.

Your parody threads don’t. They are simply point stretching excercises.

You make the assumption that the majority will know what you are talking about.

As a reader of the SDMB I would assume that what you post to it was written for me. If you want to regulate who it is written for, send it by e-mail. Maybe just type it up and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

I very rarely, if ever, get your parodies. And when I do I don’t find them particularly funny. They’re often self-involved, obscure and long-winded. I suspect I’m in the majority. But I also suspect you don’t care.

Then again, if you’re writing for the minority that appreciates them, why do you care if Twisty doesn’t like them? You didn’t write it for him, after all.

Oh, and well done for making a point to put [sic] in Twisty’s quotes. Because pointing out other people’s grammatical errors is a sure way to look good.

FWIW, Lib the first half-dozen parody threads of yours were extremely amusing. I laughed, I cried, that whole deal.

Lately, though, it seems almost as if you say to yourself “I haven’t posted a parody thread in a while. I really ought to.” It seems as if you’re forcing the post because you feel it is required that you parody people.

OTOH, if you feel some muse working hard inside you to churn these babies out one a week or whatever it’s gotten to now (there’ve been a couple times when Lib had multiple parody threads alive in the pit, IIRC), and it’s keeping you from blowing a gasket in GD, just know that the threads aren’t going to be universally received with adulation toward you and scorn to whomever is the target:)

An artist is often never truly appreciated in his lifetime Lib. When you are dead these parodies will be collected in a single volume and revered as masterworks. Yes, you heard me right, masterworks! This will all come to pass once you have shuffled off the mortal coil so just be patient. Watch the seconds ticking by, turning to hours, then days and weeks as the seasons change and your time trickles slowly out, like sand through the hourglass, these are the days of your life.

I knew, before I’d opened either thread.

I figured it was the usual heavyhanded crap, and I was right.

Although the mislabeling of the link back to the original thread (“Would you support jackbooted thugs beating down your doors and setting your homes on fire?”} was a particularly disarming touch. Ditto the claim that it related back to a thread about mandatory restaurant inspections.

You see, while links are a necessity, if you purport to tell your audience what it is that you’re linking back to, they have every right to rely on that description, unless they decide they want to know more.

If people took you at your word, and were confused as a result, that’s your fault.

Funny thing, Lib, was that I’d taken your advice before you gave it - I figured I knew what was coming, so I didn’t need to read it because I could write it ahead of time. Kinda like a Cal Thomas column.

And if, here, you’d just left it at a general warning, I still would have stayed out. But I had to see whether your anti-Twisty rant was justified, or was as asinine as your parody promised to be. This is how it works: if you Pit a particular poster, people are going to go to the original thread and see if they think it was justified.

Anyhow, if you’re going to name names, as some sort of indication that Twisty was wrong: Eve and Revtim seemed to take you seriously. Waverly and jarbaby took you seriously about the restaurant inspections. Jack Batty, PhiloVance, and peepthis thought you were the One-Trick Parody Pony**. And Maeglin, lieu, and anya marie, whether they ‘got it’ or not, had the following to say, respectively: “This has got to be an all-time low.” “Dude, this is pretty rough.” “I think this is an awkward and bloodyminded topic for a parody thread. And the thought of people entering my home like that invites nightmares and advanced weaponry.”

Like I said, Lib, I’ve quit reading your parody threads, except when you attract extra attention to them, like here. Including a rant at a specific poster, referencing back to the parody thread, was not a way to get people to avoid the thread, but rather a way to get more people to read it.

So AFAICT, this thread itself is a parody of its stated purpose. I don’t know whether others will ‘get the joke’ or not, but as usual, people will be confused, and opinion will be divided. But suffice it to say that if you meant the thread title seriously rather than humorously (admittedly, I don’t believe it), you undermined your own message.

Leave the parody threads to Fenris.

Just to clarify, I got it; I just felt it was over the top. No offense to Lib. I enjoy the fact that I find him alternately maddening and insightful.

Ironically, the mislabeled link happened to be the only part of the parody that brought a trace of a smile to my face.

It was so absurd, how could you NOT get it? I got a kick out of it!

So, I shouldn’t read and comment upon threads I don’t like?

Well, OK. But I really wish we had some kind of forum where I could do that.

OK, um… I don’t want to offend Lib because I find him personable and interesting, but the parody wasn’t terribly good, and is surely open to criticism by dint of being published on a public message board.

Every artiste has their off day. You have to roll with the punches. Critics, eh! What do they know? They’re only bitter because they can’t. Don’t worry, lovey, today’s critique is just tomorrow’s fish & chip wrapper…

I think the Parody is over used on these boards. I don’t find Fenris’ parodies particularly funny either. Mostly because I don’t know enough show tunes to know the original song, but that is my lack of knowledge rather than a lack of talent. Others I just think it is parody for parodys sake.

It gets tired.

I think it’s funny that Libertarian put in all these [sic]s after starting a thread called “Would you support manditory [sic] home hymen inspections for all spinsters?”

With Libertarian here. Can’t say the thread was the funniest thread in the world, but it was at least somewhat amusing - certainly funnier than a lot of other threads that try to be.

I think part of the problem may be that people read too much of the SDMB. I only read a small percentage of the threads that are out there - possibly people who read most of the threads have seen this before and are tired of it. OTOH, there are a lot of themes that I find tiring - I don’t think these parody threads even approach those levels.

Bottom line is - as always - that if you don’t like it, don’t read the thread. Some people enjoy it - let them enjoy it. If it should come to the point where no one enjoys them, no one will repond, and Lib will cease to put them out.

Posting to a thread for the sole purpose of saying that you don’t think it is funny is obnoxious behaviour, IMHO.

so the dissenting view should never be posted?

Well, like Anahita, I immediately assumed that the thread was a parody of Cessandra’s “Should we have parental home inspections?” and I was annoyed on her behalf, before I saw that someone was pointing out that it was actually a parody of some other “inspection” thread.

I think that if you’re going to continue doing parodies, the thread being parodied needs to be made much clearer. Like, instead of putting just a link to “this”, put a link to “So-and-so’s restaurant inspection thread here”.

Maybe in tiny print at the bottom?

FTR, I like Pit Parodies, some of them are a real hoot, as long as it’s clear they’re parodies, but it isn’t always clear–there have been other offenders, too. Somebody starts a Pit thread that doesn’t make any sense, and the first four or five posters go, “Huh?” until finally somebody comes in with a link and says, “I think it’s a parody of this thread.” And then everybody goes, “Oh.”

Disagree strongly. Otherwise, the whole thread would be just a back-slapping “You rock!” exercise and not the brisk exchange of differing ideas that we all know and love at the Straight Dope Message Board. There needs to be at least one person who doesn’t think it’s funny, the way you need one bay leaf in the stew.

I should also add that they is probably a difference in perspective between those who read first the thread being parodied and those who read the parody first and worked their way backwards. (I am in the former group in this case). The latter group will generally find the parody more confusing and less meaningful or entertaining. This will be true of any parody.

If the “dissenting view” is basically nothing more than “I don’t think this is funny”, no. Although if you do have constructive criticism along these lines it might be offered up if it could be done in a less offensive manner. Not as was done here.

But what use would little tiny print at the bottom of the parody actually do? Lib posted a huge link in the first paragraph and it was missed.

Like DDG, I also strongly disagree that those who don’t find it funny shouldn’t post. I damn well despise ‘You rock!’ threads.

Kal knows all.

Sometimes he forgets stuff though

Actually I’m not in favor of posting to a thread for the sole purpose of saying “you rock” (or some equivalent) either. While this may be nice to the person being complimented, other readers can find it tedious. Substance, substance.

I don’t consider “I don’t think this is funny” to be a “brisk exchange of differing ideas”. YMMV.

I don’t know. You’re with a group of people IRL, and one tells a joke. Couple of guys think it is funny, but you don’t. Do you announce that you don’t think it is funny? No, you politely ignore it. And if the same guy keeps making unfunny jokes, you learn to avoid his company. Same here.

Here’s my final thought, and it’s brief:

I was wooshed by a very obtuse and murky parody OP which had a misleading thread link and then was taken further off the path by bringing up restaurant inspections.

INSTEAD OF SAYING “it’s a parody of (THIS) thread” and moving on, Lib chose to make those in the dark look progressively more and more stupid by cleverly saying “I left you a map” (chortle) and then out and out LYING that he posted this in response to MANDITORY RESTAURANT INSPECTIONS instead of the TRUTH which was mandatory home inspections.

Final theory: Lib likes to make people look stupid.