Lord-a-mercy,Sampiro gave me a nice nod, and, well, that’s enough, really. Blushing…We catch the same flow from the Flannery O’Connor gestalt. Best being:
“Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one. To be able to recognize a freak, you have to have some conception of the whole man, and in the South the general conception of man is still, in the main, theological.”
In the original spirit of the OP, I’d shout out to monstro and her Sin Twister you with the face. They always put what I think in much better words.
Two that are prolly A-listers, but always make me laugh due to excellent turn of phrase in a stealth sense: elucidator, and Cervaise.
For all around fella who is like minded and so adept and sharp in debate; Left Hand of Dorkness. Love the fact that he’s working his sharp mind in my home state, too.
Whew- there are too many here for me to be fair to everyone- from people I find to be debating allies to worthy opponents to fine entertainers to endearing folk to fonts of information.
But I think one person who hasn’t been named needs to be recognized…
the raindog, the bravest Doper on the SDMB.
Why do I call him this?
A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS ON THE STRAIGHT DOPE! Ordinarily, one would think that would be like wearing a giant target at the shooting range.
And I got a mention too - how shocked was I??? Thanks brujaja
For myself I nominate:
Revenant Threshold - I always sit up and take notice when I see his name, especially in GD. It galls me a little that he’s about seven years younger than me and yet writes more cogently and constructs better arguments than I can (hmph). I just hope one of these days he’ll come to a London Dopefest so I can meet him in person.
siam sam always has something interesting to say and I like that he gives us information about a part of the world I’m not so familiar with (his recent pitting really was the worst evarr).
eleanorigby is a fun poster and I see as a friendly, calming influence on threads she participates in.
Der Trihs whilst sometimes seeming to win the “poster who gets the most shit” award (whether or not you think he deserves that) at least has the courage to stand by his convictions, even if I don’t agree with some of what he says.
jay jay, Antinor1 and Matt_Mcl get mentions for being part of the extended rainbow dope family. I know there’s not exactly a shortage of us gaymos around but it’s still nice to know a few prominent ones.
Marley23 - I like the way he balances being a mod whilst also being an active poster, and he’s frequently amusing (just look at the banning thread he started in MPSIMS recently!).
Argent Towers definitely isn’t backwards in coming forwards, and I have to say I like that in a guy
Finally, I agree that LOUNE is one funny poster and I’m just sorry I’m never likely to meet him in person, living in a different timezone as I do.
I’ve been a fan of chowder since I started to read the boards. He’s funny, acidic and moving in turns and he writes exactly like an old friend of mine talks. I’m also reminded of Terry Bisson’s short stories for some reason.
Scylla, Sauron, and Sampiro always keep me in fits of laughter; Anaamika is a certifiable babe, Sunspace is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, Noone Special is a great friend, and I would totally vote for matt_mcl if I had the chance.
But honestly, everyone here rocks–how could I choose?
And she’s an incredibly gracious host! I would have given you the shout out sooner, QT, but I was trying to avoid the ‘‘praise only the Dopers I know in real life’’ thing. It’s just that you’re all so awesome, I can’t help myself.
Honestly, I’d have trouble naming just a few posters, since I’ve learned a lot from a very large number of you. That’s the thing that keeps bringing me back here–the depth and breadth of knowledge one finds here–plus some of the GD and Pit threads are just really hilarious to watch.
I do have to add my support of QtM to the rest of y’all.
I have several favorites: eleanorrigby, Harriet the Spry, Annie X-mas to name a few. When I’m glancing through a thread that otherwise wouldn’t interest me, if I see their “nom de dopes”, I stop & read what they have to say. I don’t know how old they are, but they have a lot of “elder wisdom” (meant in a good way) to me.
I also rarely fail to get a laugh out of SSG Schwartz. A while back he started a thread by saying he’d had a few beers & was on duty, so…
I realize that I’m far from the brightest bulb in the chandoleer (can’t spell, either), so I stand in awe of you dopers, as well as the mods. You guys, as the kids say, rock!
