Lib, may I offer the humble observation that you identify with Jesus just a leetle too much. This martyring shtick is getting old. You still don’t have the right perspective. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t necessarily mean he’s evil.
Apparently we are suffering from some sort of social disease, or something.
Here’s what I don’t get.
I’ve been posting here for several years. I’ve been involved in every forum, in many discussion, and with tons of different people.
I have never:
Gotten in a flame-war with another poster. (arguments, yes, but never been “called out”)
Been warned, spoken to, or otherwise diciplined by a mod.
Had my feelings crushed by not being included in the elusive “cliques” (unless I’m part of one already- who knows?)
This stuff is getting so old already. It’s like some of you have never left high school. If people come here to participate and be good board citizens, they will make out fine, newbie or not. If they come here and act like assholes, they will not make out fine. What part of that is so difficult to understand?
Let it go.
Zette
Well, there’s Fathom, there’s a board on Snopes, there’s the Pizza Parlor, and there’s one other I can’t remember right now…
You know what-I’ve never had a Pit thread in my name. sniff
Well, Crafter Man started a thread saying I posted way too much, but it turned into a We Love Guin party.
No one hates me…no fair!
It’s okay Guin, I hate you.
[sub]I don’t really. I just wanted to make you feel better.[/sub]
There’s also http://www.infidels.org and http://www.randi.org
Both are extremely awesome places to hang out.
I’ve got plenty of posts, and I’m definitely not a member of any cliques. Hell, I don’t think anyone even likes me (I’m not complaining, though!).
But, see, that’s not a clique. A clique is a group who excludes others. You are talking about posters who are exceptionally smart/witty/cool/good with circus animals/friendly to old people/well-endowed/whatever and as a result, you, as a newbie, will associate that name with a personality and likely come to admire them. And then, lo, many other posters will admire them to and they will become “popular”. That does not mean that Scylla is the football hero with one hand up the cheerleader’s skirt, scowling at you as you walk down the hall. Jarbabyj will not beat your ass and give you a swirly after class. Esprix is not and never will be homecoming queen. This is a group that ANYONE CAN JOIN.
Well, I read anything that looks interesting regardless of who posts it. And I do remember enough about you to know that you some species of teenage boy. You know what? I don’t think anyone hear has any clue who I am. (Despite the fact that I have been favorably acknowledged by a handful of people here, thanks for making a newbie feel welcome.) There are people who joined after me that seem to be already known by the majority. Well, weeeee weeeee weeeee weeeee. I am not being excluded because I don’t dress well or because dalovindj’s daddy has a swimming pool and mine doesn’t. It’s just that most of my posts, I admit, are the visual equivalent of white noise. If I stay around, hopefully I will be able evolve into a better poster, others will recognize me, and, (dream of dreams! :D) maybe one day I will have my own pit thread!I am not being oppressed. There are no cliques.
If there are any newbies/lurkers reading this, come join us! If you have something to offer you will be noticed! Even if you are not noticed, you still get to read the great stuff that other people post! This is a good place, really. THERE ARE NO FUCKING CLIQUES.
(red_dragon60, please note that this post is not a critcism of you. A lot of it is directed toward anyone who may have what I feel is a wrong impression of this place. Here’s a kiss, baby…MMMMMMMMWWWWWWAAAAAAH!)
I love happy endings. 
Yeah, well, that’s the downside of not engaging in flirt threads.
Huh?
Er…nevermind. I’ll just be over here.
LIB –
A. It is not “our” Board, any more than if we were invited to hang out at a really cool cafe, it would become “our” cafe. The proprietors and managers continue to get to say what is okay in their (not our) establishment.
B. There is nothing wrong with the Board, no apocalyptic “bug,” no disease of its heart, no cyber equivalent of emotional anthrax. The Board is fine. You apparently have a problem.
C. If there is a “clique” around here, it is a shadowy, Illuminate-type one – almost glimpsed out of the corner of the eye, seen by the friend of a friend. In other words, the idea is just so much bullshit. Everyone can post here – provided they can follow the rules. Everyone gets equal time – provided they can follow the rules.
I’m sure it’s much more romantic to theorize a conspiracy to silence those brave freedom fighters who defy the nefarious Straight Dope Cabal, but the truth is that if you follow the rules you can stay, but if you can’t you go. And it is the ones who run the Board who decide what the rules are, and how to enforce them. This isn’t a democracy. If you don’t like how the Board is run, vote with your feet.
Lib, I’ve only been around here for six months, but I honestly can’t see any evidence of a rotten core to the board, sure, there are assholes, and there probably always will be, but being here has certainly opened my eyes on quite a range of topics; you yourself have been instrumental in this in more than a few cases.
Of course there’s a community mentality here, that much is inevitable, but I really don’t think it goes much further than the general skeptical tone of the board as a gestalt entity, but maybe I’ve just missed something through not visiting the same threads as you.
it does look as though you’re using the SDMB as a club to beat yourself up, what do you suggest that we (reasonably and practically) do to fix (what you percieve to be) the problem?
We are having a “debate” without defining our original suppositions.
Is membership in the clique defined by time on the boards or number of posts?
Is it defined by a propensity to agree with/defend other members of said clique?
Is it defined by meetings IRL? How far you travel for such meetings?
IOW, what the hell are we talking about?
Sua
First, Mangetout:
You can find my continuing discussion of the matter in Arturo’s thread. Thanks for your genuineness and good nature.
Now, Jodi:
[…sigh…]
I had hoped to drop this thread after Arturo started his. And frankly, I would ask that it be closed, except that I’m still waiting for another thread to be closed that I had requested to be closed. So requesting closing doesn’t work when I do it. But I will try again, giving the benefit of the doubt that it was simply overlooked.
At any rate, you should know that I, more than anyone here, understand the nature of rights with respect to this board. In fact, you’re doing a good job of (finally) defining rights the way they ought to be defined. The rights go to the owners, and to their authorized representatives. It’s up to them what rules they make and which of those they follow themselves and how they interpret them once they’re made. I have no problem with any of that.
If that is in some way supposed to preclude me from caring about the boards and wanting to improve their quality, then you’ve failed to show it.
Would a mod please close this thread?
I just wannna know why Exprix can’t be Homecoming Queen?
In fact, I hereby nominate Esprix for Straight Dope Homecoming Queen!
Sometimes you have to take a stand, dammit!
Tris
“Cabbage: A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man’s head.” ~ Ambrose Bierce ~
Thank you, Tris. Edlyn will be as delighted as I to have heard from you. I submitted my meatloaf recipe to Euty. Hope you’re well.
Actually, it was more an attempt to get you to see that repeatedly complaining about how things are run around here is the equivalent of repeatedly complaining about how bad the food is in a particular restaurant, but continuing to go. It gets tiresome, and it annoys the other diners. If you don’t like it, leave. It’s not incumbent upon you to “improve the quality” of the Board, though why you think vague and inarticulate kvetching would contribute to its improvement, I can’t imagine.
At request of the OP, this thread is being closed.
Lib- e-mail me a link for the other thread, and I’ll close that one.