Fine, you win. ::shrug:: So much for “fighting ignorance”. Cecil would be ashamed. :rolleyes:
Don’t forget me. I’m a fuck.
Great in theory.
No, he DOES NOT win.
No, he DOES NOT win. Topaz, he is NOT going to foul our little corner of the world.
oops…sorry.
Since this thread is actually serious, I have some serious questions.
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cole burner: you couldn’t have just emailed a mod about this? That’s rhetorical. The real question is: what, exactly did you hope to gain with this thread? To “go on record” in speculating about the mental state of another poster? Is the notary fairy going to give you a kiss? What the fuck?
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cole burner: you said, I don’t like the idea that I have to watch my step around a poster. Because your mature, intelligent posting style is so likely to cause you to hurl terrible insults at people? Yes, it is truly terrible when we cannot verbally assault people. What has the world come to. :rolleyes:
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RoundGuy: You have got to be the lowest class of person I’ve had the displeasure of interacting with here. You pondered, What the hell is a 14-year old doing on the SDMB? and I wonder, what the hell are you doing here? Nice, intelligent people post here, even in the pit. Don’t you feel out of place?
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RoundGuy: you said, Look, you little piece of rat shit, I’ve lived on this earth a score and five years longer than you have. I’ve forgotten more about life than you’ve yet experienced. Is one of the things you’ve forgotten “how to act like a civilized human being”? Because I’ll tell you, we don’t seem to have experienced it here.
If the SDMB is a diversion, please find a new hobby that is less prone to you being an asshole, like torturing kittens or tripping the elderly while they cross the street. Then you can tell the young cop fresh out of the academy how much you’ve forgotten.
I dunno. I’ve always thought that it takes a big man to flame children working through emotional problems. It’s one of the benchmarks of a mature outlook gained through a full life.
Nothing like a bitter man shaking his cane and shouting “Damn kids!”
And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those damned kids!
Ryle Dup and Topaz,
Please accept my sincere and unconditional apology for last night’s comments.
They were ill-conceived, arrogant, and completely uncalled for.
It’s alright, thank you for apologizing.
This thread has gone beyond “trainwreck” to a metaphor for disaster I don’t even want to conceive. If any intelligent dinosaurs had been reading this, they’d have gone extinct from the impact.
First, I do not believe that it is any obligation of any poster to take into account the mental state of any other poster in composing his/her posts. It is a courtesy commonly extended by most of us to most of the rest of us as common members of an online community, in recognition that everyone else is a human being with feelings similar to our own, entitled to respect, dignity, and where possible compassion. That’s not a “religious” position – it’s part of being a human being in a society.
Unfortunately, a few of us tend to sociopathy and cannot extend to others what they expect for themselves. That’s disturbing, but the majority of us manage to work around that.
Now, to substantive points:
No, posting on an Internet message board by itself is inadequate and dysfunctional therapy for a suicidal individual. But nobody said that that is what Ryle Dup was doing.
First, many if not most teenagers suffer through mood swings on a long bungee cord. It’s a part of being a teen; remember? (If you don’t, go get checked for Alzheimer’s – and that’s not a joke.) Some of them, tragically, end up in clinical depression – a very real medical condition, quite different from “adolescent moodiness” or “calling attention to oneself.”
And whether or not a particular individual is clinically depressed or not, dealing with a massive case of depression and despair is something tough to handle. And other people can help, particularly if one’s own resources are at low ebb.
In Ryle’s case, at least two people whom I would trust with my life have to my certain knowledge intervened, and, while I do not know (nor is it any of my business to know) the details, I am confident that whatever help he needs, he has been getting.
As is evidenced by his posts since his suicidal episode.
A part of that solution, valuable in high degree but not by itself adequate, was the amount of loving compassion extended to him, mostly by people he has never met in real life, through this board. Another part was private efforts from people who have been there in walking him through the Valley of Despair and on to the Heights of Hope. (Memo to all compassionate teens here: one element that helped Ryle, I’m told, was some encouraging and friendly posts or IMs from girls of similar age. Never underestimate the ability of the human pair-bonding tendency to help lift one’s spirits. Love, friendship, compassion, and affection are intertwined in our makeup, and you have it in your hands to make a big difference in someone your age’s life when adults cannot.)
I don’t think cole burner is required to have supernatural knowledge that some other poster may or may not have a problem. I do think it’s his responsibility, and all of ours, once becoming aware that a serious problem exists, to at minimum not aggravate the problem, and at best be a part of the solution.
And, with regard to his OP as amended by further comments, I believe that the Mods. exercise intelligent judgment as to when to overlook a questionable possible infraction and when to be more firm. This is not “playing favorites”; it’s tempering justice with mercy as they become aware of mitigating circumstances. The 55th infraction, after two or three warnings, of the same rule, is treated quite differently than a possibly inadvertent infraction made by someone whom they happen to know is under a significant degree of stress. And for the life of me, I cannot see where that is improper.
Round Guy, I for one thank you for your retraction and apology (at the top of page two) – what is posted in anger is often intemperate, and that you recognized that and acted appropriately (IMHO) is (again IMHO) well done.
Ryle, I’ve had major life problems, and people here have helped. And several of them have had major life problems, and they have helped. It’s not a matter of a fault requiring an apology – in the words of the song, “we’re only human, allowed to make mistakes.” I was where you were a week or so ago, back when I was 14, and there was no Internet nor a social support network I could turn to. I managed to make it through, and wonderful things have happened since. But what I’m trying to say is, it’s not something you need apologize or seek forgiveness for – it’s something many of us have been through, and we understand. If you need to make atonement, your job now will be to pay it forward – when you’re 18 and see a 14 year old who looks down, you’ll know something of what he or she is going through, in a way people who haven’t been through it cannot, and you can be there for him or her when he or she will need you. (But get your own life on an even keel, if you haven’t already, first.)
Um, totally off topic, and wrong forum but…
Ryle dup, I’ve been meaning to thank you for the great link you put in Cafe Society. My husband and I have really enjoyed the addicting games.
okay, sorry for interrupting.
Thanks for apologizing, RoundGuy. I’m sorry if I was a bit harsh on you.
Cole Burner, you are a prick of the highest order. Perhaps if yourself or a loved one ever suffered through depression, you’d get off your self righteous high horse and have some fucking human empathy for once.
Thank me? My god! I thought I’d have been stoned to death for posting that link by now 
My friend tortured me by showing me that, I’m just paying it forward.
you guys, Ryle has goten the secret Get Out of Pit Free card.
And some of you don’t even know it exisits!!!
he’s cool…
Ah, the wisdom of age (Polycarp) transmuted to the wiles of youth (Ryle Dup):
Seriously, Ryle Dup, it’s good to see you in a frame of mind where you can joke like that. I want to hijack this thread long enough to apologize for the snarky comment, followed by the sanctimonious crap, that I posted in the CanvasShoes thread. Had I known the true situation, I’da never done it, and I’m very sorry. K?
I’ve struggled with depression, too, for a large part of my life. Never slit my wrists, but I used to think about how easy it would be just to step in front of a speeding bus. Now my life is so good, it’s hard to believe sometimes that I lived for so long in that dreary, hopeless wasteland. So, hang in there, when the Black Dog returns to nip at your heels – and it WILL happen, along the road to recovery – coz life really is worth the effort.
Ryle Dup, in spite of your evil intentions, my SO and I have been having a jolly time with the games. My favorites so far are Insaniquarium (must feed fishes…must feed fishes), Happy Pill, Poke the bunny, and Spank the Monkey. Mr. boobah was thrilled with the Shooting Range. Make of us what you will.
I am job hunting which is almost as depressing as the way I felt at 13. Dark humor in large doses helps to alleviate symptoms.
How on earth did the games torture you?
(I’m getting an uneasy feeling a mod will come along and chastise me for not being hostile in the pit).
anyway, I think you’re swell. Articulate, brave, and funny.