A-FUCKING-MEN, Alpha!!!
That’s an oddly dismissive, not to mention contemptuous, assessment of a lively, bright, and rapidly expanding population of posters, Opal. If that’s your opinion of the site and its posters I’m suprised you choose to be associated with it, no matter how unofficially.
Close down the SD message boards? Don’t count on it. See, the overall site is nationally recognized. That and word of mouth have attracted a heady bunch of interesting people who enjoy participating on the boards. That’s great; it’s growth. But it also strains resources. Equating success with rampant uselessness is slightly mind-boggling.
Is there some fluffiness and general socializing? Yep, you bet. Always has been. Applying some reasonable limits doesn’t translate into fascist oppression, though. Let’s NOT beat around the bush, Duke: posting in codes, Finno-Ugric etc. may be fun and swell little games but they’re obvious wastes of resources. Just one of those resources is moderator time. Several mods gave perfectly honest, straight-up answers on that. There have also been courteous, respectful requests for poster restraint to help ease the load on the server.
Some boards move at the approproximate pace of the spread of Dutch elm disease. Ours don’t. GQ and MPSIMS alone can turn over the front page in a few hours. The issue isn’t capablity decoding, translating, etc. The issue is the unnecessary load dinking around with them.
Veb
I think one of the main points that gets swept aside in these questions/complaints is that the SDMB is quite a bit larger (more posters) now than it was when alot of us remember “the good ol’ days”.
See, back before we had a zillion active posters, it probably wasn’t too terribly taxing for Mods to go through and maybe have to translate the content of a post or two every now and then. Sure, they were probably irritated to have to do it but it might not have been closed. However, now there are almost too many new threads and posts to keep up with, especially in MPSIMS, never mind having to translate them first. True, it wasn’t a particularly insidious thread idea but now we all know that it isn’t a particularly welcome one.
Come on, guys, we have to adapt to the changing board. I said it once and I’ll say it again–we just cannot do some of the things we used to be able to do and that’s that. That’s just the way things go. It isn’t a Fascist conspiracy to ruin fun threads and enjoyment on the SDMB–it’s just a reasonable expectation for us to not cause more work for the Administration and Mods than necessary.
I mean, we got over the loss of “image” tags, we got over the loss of HTML, we adapted to having to check the box for sig instead of having it be automatic (some people adapted too well…) and we adapted to having an additional forum. This is just another facet of what’s happening with the board.
Veb, consider the source.
You know, if I was a mod here, I’d edit the couple messages here in morse code to say:
[Morse code deleted because it is banned. Banned, I say! Bwahahahaha!]
But, with an attitude like that, it’s probably not terribly surprising no one’s begging me to be a moderator.
Krispy Original said:
You post all the telepathic messages you want. It will literally take no time at all to read 'em.
I’m not usually a purist about these things, but on behalf of us old-timers out here who have actually used Morse Code professionally in real life, I would just like to point out that the use of WRITTEN Morse Code is an abomination.
Morse Code is the opposite of children: It is meant to be HEARD, not seen. Each letter has a distinctive SOUND. For example, the letter V is the start of Beethoven’s Fifth Concerto: “di-di-di-DAH.” The letter Y is a fashionable “Lah-dee-dah-dah.” Certain words become songs as a result of their cadence and rhythm. And the faster you listen to it, the more musical it becomes. Morse Code, when transmitted quickly, is not a string of dits and dahs. It’s music that talks to you.
Morse Code is something you LISTEN to, not something you read. If you want to properly transcribe it to the written page, then you write out the dits and dahs. The word “you” is transcribed as: Da-di-da-dah, da-da-dah, di-di-dah. It’s painful for any actual Morse Code operator to read dashes and dots on a page. You have to convert them to sounds in your head before they make any sense.
Conversely, if you want to communicate by written symbols on a page, then use conventional symbols for writing–in other words, use letters.
Yes, I’m being a purist here. But you have to remember the purpose of Morse Code in Real Life. Using WRITTEN Morse Code to communicate back and forth is like trying to use words to relay music (Hey, do you all remember that guitar break in Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” that goes “dee dee dah dee dee dah dum-diddly-dum”?)
If you just want to use a written code for the sake of coding something, then break out your Cap’n Crunch secret decoder rings and work out a code where A=B, B=C and so on. Leave Morse Code alone. It has a noble legacy and real-life applications, and it’s a little frustrating to see it misused by kiddies who have stumbled across an Internet conversion software and think it makes a fun little secret code, roughly equivalent to Pig Latin.
Yes, I’m being a purist. But what the heck. Morse Code is NOT a string of dashes and dots on paper. A string of dashes and dots on paper is children pretending to play at Morse Code.
(Sorry, folks. Just had to vent about this particular pet peeve of mine.)
God! You’re really OLD!
::d&r::
I have to support Euty and the rest of the moderators on this one. I’d elaborate, but I think its been well covered here already, and I wouldn’t want to waste anyone’s time.
It’s…
What if someone starts a thread legitimately asking a question on Morse Code? What if it eventually turns into a discussion on the conventions of it, the uses of it, examples, etc.? Would that be the same as not being able to promote racist websites, but if they serve an educational purpose we can link to them?
Am I the only one who was waiting for the theme music from “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” to kick in after Peta’s last post?
I have to support Euty and the rest of the moderators on this one. I’d elaborate, but I think it’s been well covered here already, and I wouldn’t want to waste anyone’s time.
Answering legitimate questions is exactly what is board was designed for.
There’s a huge difference between posting a question about morse code and posting in morse code. The topic isn’t forbidden by any means. Just don’t write a post entirely in morse code.
sigh
I’m not “worked up” I simply asked a question.
I don’t give a fuck about morse code, I just didn’t see why it was a big enough deal to merit closing a thread, so I ASKED.
And Anthracite? Don’t flatter yourself by thinking I have an opinion of you at all. Frankly I didn’t even remember that it was you who “chided me” for not answering people, and I’d be hard pressed to remember anything else you’ve ever said either. I responded to you like I do with most of the people here that I don’t know–on a post by post basis.
Which happened where? I ASKED A QUESTION. I didn’t accuse anyone of anything.
TVeblen said:
**That’s an oddly dismissive, not to mention contemptuous, assessment of a lively, bright, and rapidly expanding population of posters, Opal. If that’s your opinion of the site and its posters I’m suprised you choose to be associated with it, no matter how unofficially. **
Oh please, are you really this dense? Someone have the industrial sized “Whoosh” handy? No I don’t think this site is a waste of bandwidth, however if the mods are going to start closing threads on that basis, well really, a good deal of this board would be closed instantly if you wanted to really analyze things.
Meanwhile, Monty blathered:
Veb, consider the source.
Oh for fuck’s sake. It’s been, what… 2 or 3 years since I’ve interatcted with you? You still have your panties in a wad over me?
Anyway, did anyone really think that the existence of one thread in morse code would lead to some sort of huge takeover of Morse as the main form of communication here? I figure that thread had a cap of around 20 posts, potentially, and then everyone would have been tired of it and the cute novelty would have been over.
Again, for the many many of you who seem rather slow to catch on: I am not mad, I am not “worked up” and frankly I don’t really care one way or the other about a morse code thread. I started the thread because I didn’t understand the policy/reasoning behind the thread being closed and I wanted clarification. However, apparently because it’s ME asking, everyone is going to jump to fuck-all conclusions. :rolleyes:
OK missy, have it your way then. The gloves are off now, from now on. How petty and sad of you - OpalCat and her performing ego. Well, please feel flattered that I now have a very special opinion of you, honey-bunch! 
No wonder so many people hate you. And people think I’m mean sometimes. At least I try to treat people like human-fucking-beings most of the time - regardless of post count or newness.
You really are sick, aren’t you? If you didn’t fucking piss me off so much I would pity you.
This also serves as notice to de-register me from your Board. Your community is a very fine one, with a tremendous number of really cool and intelligent and kind people there. And you, of course. :rolleyes: Which is why I won’t be going there again. Buh-Bye!
But I will be seeing you here, though. Oh yes.
Well THAT clears things right up. I think what you were trying to say was the Morse code thing was no more inane than most of what’s posted here. In your (twice-stated) view–if I’m reading your intent correctly–inanity is the rule rather than the exception so why worry with a little more? Hey, you want to diss most of the posters here, your call. Still strikes me as contemptous, not to mention unfair, but whatever pops your corn.
**
Oh, puh-leeeze. Hard as it may be to believe, this isn’t about you, Opal. Your OP questioned why it was so burdensome to translate posts, throwing in a rider that if Euty couldn’t do it faster it was his fault. You were given repeated, reasonable answers why the traffic load at this place makes posts requiring translation an unreasonable burden.
Question, answer. Your not liking the answer isn’t qualifications for martyrdom.
Veb
Oy vey, Opal. This isn’t about you, it’s about the content of your OP. If the name next to the OP was Joe Don Baker, I’d still have the same response.
The line that you quoted from me said that the Euty’s closing of the thread was “followed by accusations”. Your name is not mentioned. If anything I was directing it more at kellibelli’s post which implied that we are getting more strict than we were “a long time ago…”
Perhaps this isn’t true for all posters, but as far as I’m concerned don’t assume that I’m talking specifically about you unless I specifically mention your name.
Maybe it wasn’t your intent, Opal, but the OP seemed to me to be less of a request than a complaint. Which is fine, as either way this is the forum for it, but the gist of the OP, from my perspective, wasn’t “What’s the policy behind Euty’s action?” but “What’s Euty’s problem?”. I consider posting a complaint to be a form of “getting worked up”.
None of the four questions in your OP were a cogent request for moderator policy, IMO. The main thrust appeared to be an implication that Euty was at fault for being annoyed and not taking the time to find a morse code translator. So I responded accordingly.
One last thing:
Seeing as how this thread should be about a moderator’s actions I’d request that requests to be deregistered from boards or any purely personal attacks be done elsewhere, preferrably not in a public forum and especially not in this thread.
Look, i really don’t see what the big deal is (The Rooster crows at midnight, the sheep rejoice at the sound)
Some times you’ve just GOT to use codes (When the mods turn their backs we’ll duct tape them to the nearest tree -possibly naked- and begin The Revolution)
See? Now would’t it have been a much better idea to put that in code?