So…if I’ve got this right, you’ve gone from insulting Scylla to insulting everyone who bothered responding to his situation rather than his writing style? Hmmm.
And then to follow up with the ol’ “If you don’t agree with me, you just prove my point.” Clever.
I realize I wasn’t one of those to jump on you (maybe I was, actually, I’m not positive what one had to say in order to make your “reading comprehension challenged” list), but still. IMO, this is just a blanket insult to people who don’t belong to any cult and don’t care what anyone thinks about said cult and just wanted to offer a “hang in there” to someone going through a tough time. (I do agree it could have gone into MPSIMS, but it could’ve been an oversight. Of course, people could have taken the high road and just ignored it, but I guess posting in the Pit is an open invitation to nastiness.)
Why does anyone care if someone writes overblown prose? The writing was literate, complete sentences, good punctuation, etc. As writing goes, it rates a big fat “could be worse” in my book.
As to deleting forums because they don’t fit the strict standards of the intellectual elite here? Please. Some people actually like to, you know, talk. About subjects other than scientific breakthroughs and math theory and whatever legal issue is hot today. There are forums and boards out there that are dedicated solely to brilliant people who want to discuss nothing more than whatever ingenious thoughts they have, so it’s not like bright people are left only with the Straight Dope for their smart-fix. No one has to read IMHO or MPSIMS, any more than anyone has to read Scylla’s posts.
Sorry if I’ve misunderstood, Dave. I just don’t get why this is such an issue.
I’ve not been following Scylla’s threads either way, but I’m a bit confused by some of the responses here.
When someone is going through alot, don’t they usually just say so? My reading of the post in question gave me the impression that it was clearly trying to impress with it’s wit and prose. That doesn’t set off everybody’s BS detector?
I have no doubt that the guy is feeling down. Fine. Get better, and all that other half-hearted, well-meaning stuff.
When one posts anything in the Pit, one opens oneself to mockery and arguments. That’s what the Pit is for. BobNewby’s post was in the right forum, said what many people were thinking, and most of all was funny.
Scylla made the decision to post his feelings on a public message board, write it in the style he did, and post it in the forum designed for derision. I’m sure he can take a joke, and I find it sad that others can’t.
All this has been said already, but I just wanted to put in my two cents. It’s the freakin Pit for cryin out loud!
I’m pretty indifferent to Scylla and his problems, but the teenage girl comment was hilarious. Too bad Bob’s follow-up was jerkish, he might’ve had the potential to become another… well… me.
(everything’s ultimately about me, you understand, or so I’m told)
I really never did give a shit about what contemptible scum thought other than to glean satisfaction in knowing that such dislike me. It means I’m doing something right.
I personally did not particularly understand the OP in the referenced thread. It could have been a lot clearer (my Freshman English instructor would have written “Wordy” all over it, like she did my essays). I do see Weirddave’s point about the Cult of Scylla, though. I’ve read enough of Scylla’s threads to watch the posters lining up to tell him how wonderful he is. Maybe I’m just jealous, but it does seem a bit fawning to me.
Bottom line - the OP referenced was a bad idea, poorly executed. And for the record, I’m sorry things aren’t going well right now, Scylla. I hope things turn around for you.
I’m confused on how it’s “fighting ignorance” to rag on somebody who’s posting about how he’s going through a rough time. You say that when you post something on the internet, you’re opening yourself up to criticism – I say, what’s the point in criticizing? There are plenty of us who saw the thread, didn’t know what to make of it, so we just moved on. I wouldn’t take the time to go in and piss on it any more than I go to every livejournal I can find and make fun of the author’s writing style.
So what ignorance has been fought, exactly? What have we learned, other than the fact that there are people out there with a weird grudge over a stranger on the internet, and they’re so obsessed with that grudge that they need to make petty, nasty comments about him in public. So obsessed that they’d even create a fake message board account to do so. (I notice that the cost of having multiple one-shot guest accounts and sock puppets doesn’t figure into your “strain on the hamsters” calculations.)
Seems to me that bitching about personal annoyances with another poster in a public forum is as much a case of attention-grabbing, as using the forum as your personal journal. It’s just that one gets you criticized, and the other gets people for whatever reason saying “way to go!” and tell you good job for “keepin’ it real.”
But in the original thread, at the time that Weirddavemade his comment about – " tons of people fawn all over him telling him how funny and clever and just so Goddamn nifty brilliant he is…" – no one had done that at all!
Even my own one word comment of perfection was directed at Scylla’s grasp of a particularly difficult reality.
The comments, other than the jerkish ones, were similar to your own words of encouragement.
Weirddave, if I missed passages in the original thread where people were telling Scylla that he was funny, clever or brilliant, prior to your claiming they were lining up to do so, then I will apologize. I am not one of those who tried to shut you up, but I did think at the time that your comment was bizarre under the circumstances.
He posted in the forum that is designed for criticism.
If he wanted sympathy, the Pit was not the right place to post in. End of story.
Post in the Pit, you might get made fun of. No?
How about “Post in the Pit if you and your supporters can take a joke”?
People being mean in a Pit thread? No fucking way! Are you serious? In the Pit?!?!? Why, why, why,??!?
“If you gotta flame, do it here” (ad-lib) If the questionable comments had been made in a different forum, the reactions would be warranted, however, they were made in the forum designed for arguments.
The responses in question would not have been made if the OP were in a different forum.
I don’t think **Scylla **was trying to impress anyone with his writing style. In fact, I honestly don’t think he could write any differently if he tried. The man is a 40-something academic, and his manner of writing has probably been set for years. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he spoke that way, too. His OP read the way it did simply because that’s the way he writes.
What this thread’s OP and other of his ilk were doing was, essentially, mocking a man’s accent. They weren’t paying attention to what he was actually saying - they were giggling and making fun of his pronunciation.
Alessan you might want to doublecheck your facts. Scylla is not an academic. And, sure, he could write differently if he chose. Edit so that you don’t sound like a pompous windbag and it’s all good.
First of all, perhaps I’m mistaken about Scylla’s background. I rarely - if ever - visit MPSIMS, so I can’t claim to be an expert on the subject. I seem to recall him mentioning advanced degrees, but I may be mistaken. It’s hardly relevant, anyway. nless he’s been lying through his teeth for the past six years, I think we can assume that he’s a middle-aged, well educated person who does most of his work from behind a desk - which is basically my point.
Second of all, can you prove he knows how to write differently? I know I’m skirting logical fallacy, here, but can you give me any examples from his 10,000+ posts of him writing like an “Average Joe”?
Weirddave I don’t have any problems or any grudges with you, but your OP here is in really bad form. You’ve essentially started by insulting anybody who might hold a different position; never a good jumping off point. As a matter of fact, I think my reading comprehension is pretty good, and yet it did seem to me that you were bashing both Scylla and his cadre of fans. You essentially accuse of him attention whoring and writing prose that’s… what exactly? Too polished? Looks like it’s written for an audience?
Look, similar shit sometimes to your experience happens to me too. I write something, and people don’t get what I’m saying, or it implies something which I didn’t intend. But honestly, after a while of gnashing you teeth you can either accept that you didn’t write well enough for your target audience… or you can say that all are reading comp challenged and play the martyr card. One of these fosters understanding and good will, the other does not.
As for other folks who snipe at Scylla, I don’t understand what your problem is. That he’s a good writer? That he puts effort into his posts? That, yes, like most of us he probalby likes people to notice and appreciate his work? Sounds like we’ve got a lot of green eyed monsters running around.
I read the thread he posted. It was well written, and it had an authorial voice. So what? If someone’s having personal problems do they have to be depressed, or can they put it in their own voice?
Yes, we’ve already established that this was the wrong forum for that post. Thanks, I think that’s covered. You apparently missed the part where I moved past Scylla’s responsibility as a poster to this forum, and onto the responsibility of the other people who responded to that thread.
Exactly. Why? That’s my question. Why fucking bother being nasty to someone over something so trivial? The forum description says “If you gotta flame.” Not “if you wanna flame” or “just for the hell of it, go ahead and flame.” As another thread puts it, the Pit exists so you can be a dick, it doesn’t mean you have to be a dick. Why bother making two threads’ worth of griping over a stupid personal beef with another poster?
You’re trying to make it sound like I’m sniffling and saying, “Why you people all gotta be so mean?” I’m not. I’m saying, “Why do you have to be so fucking petty?” There are so many boneheaded things that get said on this message board on a daily basis. I’ve been in more than my share of arguments on here. I have no problem with calling people out when they say something stupid, or wrong, or offensive.
But this was just a case of a bunch of people having a personal problem with Scylla, and even being jealous that he gets attention. Petty, and juvenile. They didn’t object to what he said, but how he said it. I suppose that you could be really, really charitable and say that their beef was the same as yours – it was posted in the wrong forum. That’s still no excuse; don’t people have lives and better stuff to do than act as junior moderator and say how they think the boards should be run?
I frequently see posts that are annoying, or over-written, or long-winded, or melodramatic, or pompous, or self-important. And unless they’re actually saying something offensive, I just roll my eyes (to myself) and move on. Because I’m an adult, most of the time. So my question is why can’t everybody else just grow the hell up?
I read the referenced OP and poor forum choice aside, I simply had a hard time trying to figure out precisely what Scylla was trying to say. Many interpret Robert Frost’s "Stopping by the woods on a snow evening as a contemplation of suicide. Scylla has replaced the horses with his running shoes but the sentiment is the same.
So, after some contemplation, I interpreted Scylla’s post as a sort of “I am overwhelmed and just don’t know how much longer I can take it” sort of statement. I am undecided if it was a literal cry for help or idle musings. Perhaps if he used language a bit more straightforward it would be easier to tell. I think that is the gist of much of the mockery. Keep it Simple Scylla.
WeirdDave, I read both threads. I know what you mean by the “cadre of fans.” Scylla’s thread was neither the appropriate venue nor the appropriate time to air your grievances.
If you don’t get that, then there’s little I can do to help you understand. One cannot be taught sympathy. But I will tell you that I actually gasped when I read your post because it was so calloused.
There is no point at all in criticising - it isn’t helpful, and it isn’t kind. But total strangers have no obligation to be helpful and kind. They can be flippant, they might be in an irritated mood, they might have a dislike of the poster, they might be a wisecracker - there are any number of reasons why they might come up with a less than hugz type response.
My point is that if you post a load of personal glurge in a forum that is not specifically targeted to emotional help and support, it’s tough fucking shit if someone jerks around in your thread.
And frankly, people should examine their motives in posting personal woes and moans here. People need to consider whether they are in fact just attention seeking, or sympathy-mongering, etc. If one is really upset, or going through tragic times, and wants 100% support, put it in a fucking friends-only LJ. Otherwise you’re fair game.
Istara - people have been posting their personal problems - often deeply emotional problems - in the Pit since time immemorial. Why is this one the first to earn your open scorn? Have you always condemned the phenomenon, and if not, what made you change your mind?