Amen, brother.
Yeah I’d meet with Rand Rover, but my condition is that he come to New York, or at least pay for my fare to get to Chicago. I have friends in Chicago. 
Having had people crashing wall to wall on the floor of my apartment for a dopefest has killed the novelty for me.
People getting smashed and pretending that they are old friends with a stilted camaraderie for two or three days. People fucking in your shower then lying to you about it.
Yeah, good times, good times.
I endorse this message. Anarchists are much more likely to be hot and go skinny dipping with you.
Throw in the plane ticket too, and I’m in.
Hello, I’m Eleanor-- 
Heffalump: you are truly fortunate. Lemme introduce you to my SIL’s husband sometime. He makes RR look like Mr Rogers.
Ok, that was amusing. I’d have a drink with you. I’m nowhere near Chicago, and don’t plan to be in the forseeable future, but I think I understand where you’re coming from. Life isn’t worth living if everyone around you holds all the same opinions and shares most of the same experiences. Being pushed out of your comfort zone is how you grow.
Enjoy,
Steven
Aw, you’re just sore 'cause nobody even pretends to wanna meet you.
The other night I was watching the original Airplane! and had forgotten about the media reaction montage. When the “Counterpoint” guy came on and said "Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash. ", I immediately thought of Rand Rover and laughed out loud in my empty house.
I would buy him a drink for this alone.
They never lied to me.
You’re not so sure? Really? I mean, really? She didn’t even come close. So good of you to admit grudgingly what is reasonably obvious. But hey, it’s progress I guess.
If you guys do meet up at a Dopefest can I come and watch? Hell, I could sell tickets!
I don’t really get this. It’s like saying someone’s phone personality is different from their real-life self. Whether you’re communicating by ones and zeroes, ink on a page, vibrated air molecules, or Morse Code, you are who you are.
And for my money, the kind of real-life person who would just pretend to be an asshole on the Internet is, in real life, an asshole. Pretending to be an asshole is an asshole move.
I’ve seen people use this excuse before, as if somehow it means they’re not a dick in real life. If you’re a dick on the Internet, you’re a dick. Just like if you’re a dick on the airwaves, or you’re a dick in face-to-face meetings, you’re a dick.
Maybe you’re right, but I was kind of referring to people whom undoubtedly adopt “alter-ego” personas for anonymous use on the internet as a means of venting, relieving stress, etc. While this may be a “dick move” or have less than honest intentions, the actual person in real life may be the antithesis of the person they portray anonymously on the intertubez.
As in, if you didn’t know Person X was playing at Rand Rover by night because they don’t act that way at all in real life when you met them.
I see your point though. I generally try to conduct myself pretty much the same way on a messageboard as I do were I talking to someone in person, but I am sure that some people do as I described above.
It appears to be mostly about RR now, or at least not as much about me. I guess I win at the interwebz then :dubious:
While I appreciate your, um, support, I’ve posted to some 100 threads and I think only one made it to 40 pages. And I certainly cannot take all the credit for that one…
I don’t have a quarrel with any of your general principles. I agree people are who they are and the idea that we should overlook acts of assholery just because they’re perpetrated in a specific medium is dubious at best. On the other hand, I’d add the caveat that message board interactions provide a very limited view of a person and we owe it to ourselves, if we wish to claim we are open minded and accepting people, to give that person a chance in other mediums. It distresses me to say this, but I have to caveat my caveat and say it is clear we should not use this principle to do something stupid like show up somewhere to meet someone who has threatened us online. I may be accepting and tolerant, but I’m not stupid.
On basis of the flawed medium in which we communicate through message boards, I’m inclined to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to in-face meetings. On the other hand, certain interactions make me eager for such a meeting, and others make me reluctant for such, and this is completely rational to me. Being told I should discount this judgment because “it’s just words on a screen” seems ludicrous.
Enjoy,
Steven
What if they are a dick in the Pit, but not IMHO? Being a dick is part of the ethos in the Pit.
It seems a little overstated to say that if I am a dick on the SDMB, I must be a dick IRL. I’m not even a dick on the SDMB. At least, not all the time.
Regards,
Shodan
LOL, well they didn’t lie to me in that their lie was entirely transparent.
I hope they take a camera. But a wide angle lens is required if you want to get his head in it.