Here’s your chance: Pick one (1) poster and one (1) moderator:
A)who’s posts you admire
and
B)who you normally don’t interact with much.
(The idea is to avoid this turning into a flirting thread or people just listing tons of posters.)
For me, I’d choose Esprix as the poster I admire from afar. Even when I disagree with him, his arguements are usually extremely well thought out and well-written. I think his writing style’s very engaging. And he’s also great at arguing with the argument and not the person making it (sometimes in the face of great provocation! )
For Moderators, I pick David B. Again, I don’t always agree with him, but he constantly makes me think. And the couple of times he’s recommended a book, they’ve turned out to be really good!
Anyone else want to name the SDMB’ers they admire from afar?
Scylla, I have gotten to the point where I cover the monitor and keyboard with plastic before I open one of his threads…yet I have never spoken two words with him.
Manny is my mod choice…nobody can close or move a thread with more wit and verve…and he is damn intelligent too…
**Anthracite **. I haven’t interacted with her since the Welcome Wagon thread, but I always open a thread when I see her name, even before I registered. Her posts range from witty to scathing to intelligent and sometimes all three. I admire her greatly.
TVeblen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a post from her that I haven’t agreed with and her sense of humor is great.
Poster: Fenris.
Don’t mean to polish the apple here, but you’re funny. You’re witty. I love your posts. Long may you reign.
Moderator: Coldfire.
Whenever he’s involved with something, it has style. Wasn’t he the sheriff from the Great Gunfight at the BBQ Pit Corral last month?
Someone else will be along shortly, no doubt posting 234 links to threads where I take my pants off.
Admiring from afar? I usually let people know when I appreciate their writing. Both Scylla and Fenris know that they crack me up, so they don’t qualify here.
OK, let me think here. Ah! I got one. I probably never told Bricker how much I enjoy his input in GQ threads, and how I miss his Three Minute Mysteries. He’s one of the most broadly knowledgable people on these boards, and has great writing skills. In the same vein: Spiny Norman. Writes like he was born in East-Sussex instead of Denmark, and als has a very broad knowledge base. In addition, he’s a great guy to down a few beers with as well!
As far as moderators go, I’ll second the vote for manhattan. He is extremely intelligent, witty, sarcastic (that’s a good thing in my book - maybe I’m weird), and moderates a forum that is extremely hard to keep under control. A lot of people give him shit for being a cranky bastard sometimes: I’d like to reverse that logic. If he wasn’t such a cranky bastard at times, that forum would be filled to the rim with even MORE stupid questions. He is, IMHO, the best mod we have. No disrespect intended towards Chronos and JillGat, who both do a great job at moderating GQ as well. But you did ask me to pick just one.
Moderator: John Corrado. The sound of his voice thrills me to my very loins. Backup: JillGat, for the same reason.
Poster: Yojimbo. He mailed me a book on the 1916 Easter Uprising from Dublin, autographed by, among others, the drunken Coldfire, tatertot, ruadh, TwistofFate. I’m still dining out on that story. “Y’know, I hang out on this incredibly special message board, and I asked a question about the Troubles, and a BIG BEARDED GUY IN IRELAND SENT ME A BOOK.”
As far as moderators go: Eutychus. No question about it. I’ve not seen anyone come close to being as even headed and level tempered yet, and I think it will be some time before I do.
For posters, well, Magdalene. If for nothing else, for this quote in the Teeming Millions Nicknames Game:
Keeping in mind the parameters selected (little or no interaction, non-flirt, only one of each and, of course, posts I admire) I’ll say…
For a mod, Alphagene both cracks me up and supplies some good biology returns
And,
For a TM, I’d say tomndeb supplies a lot of posts I enjoy (although I’ll note he seems to be trailing off…) and I’ve had little direct interaction with him.
In the spirit of the OP, I’ll limit myself to one of each, with difficulty, because of course there are manny others here whom I enjoy.
There’s a lot of posters I could pick, but by virtue of immediate impact in a relatively short time on the boards, I’ll go with hazel-rah. For an extraordinate “damn, that’s exactly what I wanted to say, but much better than I could say it” factor, on numerous topics.
Moderators sigh. Well Rule B in the OP excludes Coldie (you know I would have picked you if I could, right? ;)). I’m going to go with JillGat, partially because I always felt she came out of the Melingate incident with the most dignity intact, and partially because … she’s just cool. Welcome back, Jill.
For posters, I have to say my favorite to read is either Polycarp, who is a brilliant debater and very funny and open-minded, Kimstu, for more or less the same reasons, or Enderw24, who can always get a laugh out of me.
For moderators, I would choose Eutychus55 because he, simply put, can come up with the funniest topics.
Okay, I don’t think I’ve ever had any actual interaction with her, so I am going to say Guinastasia. I always enjoy reading her posts. I wish I would run into her at #sd sometime.
As for a moderator…I’m gonna go with Alphagene. I’ve talked with him a few times, but not much. He moderates the Pit, which is easily my favorite forum, and he seems so right for it. And I loved that “Why I Love Alphagene” thread from a while back. (“You know what I love best about Alphagene? That he always has cocoa with those little marshmallows waiting for me when I come in from the snow. He’s so sweet and thoughtful that way.”)
Hmm… People who I admire but don’t interact with very much? There are hundreds of Dopers who fit that criteria. However, since I’m only allowed to choose one poster and one moderator (stupid rules, always getting in my way ;)), I’ll pick the first two who came to mind:
Poster: tatertot Really, how can anyone not love tater? I think I’ve probably said this before, but it’s worth repeating – tatertot is my idol. I’m seriously considering changing my major from psychology to taterology. I’m still in awe of the entire Poofy scheme.
Moderator: TVeblen Last week, my roommate was reading a passage from one of her texts that she found amusing. If I remember correctly, it had to do with the lack of cleanliness in the house of Thorstein Veblen. I started to say, “That’s really bizarre. Veb strikes me as the type who concerns herself with hygiene,” but quickly realized that my roommate was refering to the economist and not our lovely moderator. Veb has always displayed the highest degree of compassion, intelligence, and humor on the boards. She’s also been incredibly kind to me personally when I’ve been going through rough times. Veb’s pretty gosh-darned smashing, if you ask me.
Hm. I have, by this time, interacted with most of the people on the boards whom I admire. For mod, I’m going to say Gaudere. She’s the atheist with the wisdom of Christ and the patience of Job, and is who I, also, want to be when I grow up. The poster I admire from afar has got to be DrFidelius. He’s one of the chief reasons I registered here.
Ugh this is rough . . . I always hate picking only one for something, but here goes.
Poster: Well, despite the fact that Ukelele Ike was in my dream last night (twas quite bizarre) . . . I have to say my favorite poster is WallyM7. I know that is sort of cheating, but I’ve been gone for over half a year, so I’m still getting used to people again. And he is the only one who ever seemed to acknowledge, and actually praise me, for anything. I miss him terribly, and I’m sorry if anyone feels I brought him up unfairly.
Moderator: Coldfire, since he has always been the epitome of cool to me, although last time I was a regular poster, he wasn’t a mod. But as I’ve said before, I’m sure the admins will realize their egregious mistake soon and set things right immediately. Love ya Coldfire!!
[sub]I just want to let you know that I fretted about posting this for a long time, because I was afraid I was opening up old/painful wounds, but I feel that this thread more than any is the appropriate place for a WallyM7 mention.[/sub]
I’ve been thinking about this one all morning. There are a lot of people I really like here, but one poster I’ve really come to admire in just a short time is Redboss. He’s just really cool, and boy, I do not want to get on his bad side!
As for the mods, well, that’s an even harder pick, but I think I’ll go with the flow and say TVeblen. This isn’t so much for her moderating skills (which, of course, are fantabulous), but more for her “regular” posts. I could also have picked Coldfire. I’m completely in awe of him for his language skills (among many other things). OTOH, I’m scared of him, and I don’t know why. I always thought he should moderate the pit instead.
Poster: tomndebb He’s the poster who encaptures best the original intent of SD: Fighting ignorance.
(Honourable mention goes to Dr. Fidelius for the same reasons).
Moderator: Aside from a recent ‘episode’, I really wouldn’t say that I ‘interact much’ with moderators. They, on the whole, all do a great job under often less than ideal circumstances and I tip my hat to them. Not too often do we find such competence for such a ‘low-paying’ job. If I had to choose one, it would probably be Eutychus.
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