I’d say you need sloppy seconds on that cactus.
We disagree on whether or not this is simply a “variant”.
I’m with John Mace on this one. I can’t see how “fuck a cactus” is functionally different from “fuck you.”
Context.
One is wishing the person to get fucked, the other is wishing the user to fuck something.
Maybe you haven’t gotten the “talk” yet, but when one cactus likes another cactus…
And spines, I would hope.
Very silly. Neither is a literal invocation of desired action. Both are crude dismissals involving the word “fuck.” Context is irrelevant.
If one is wrong, the other should be as well.
Of course I’m of the opinion that both should be permitted.
The post you were replying to had nothing to do with context. The context of “go fuck a cactus” was the fact that the thread was entitled “Fuck cacti!” and was post after post talking about copulating with a cactus. If you don’t see how that context is relevant, maybe you have a weird understanding of the terms “context” and/or “relevant”.
Please keep reading this post. I’ll get to your question shortly.
I have never, in any sense, used the phrase in any way other than as a substitute for L-O-L. My computer (and phone and iPad) are set up to insert “Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there” whenever I type in that 3 letter phrase.
The notion that I “go into a thread just to post” those 10 words is ludicrous. If something is funny, I laugh at it. I like to indicate that I found something funny, because it’s a way to let someone know that their attempt at humor was successful, at least to me.
I’m not sure what could have led you to think that it was ever used to mean anything else, but please feel free to quote my post where it didn’t indicate laughter.
However, the real issue is the language restrictions that were handed down by Ed. I’ve always thought they were unnecessarily restrictive and would love to see them removed. But as long as the rules are there, they should be enforced. If the Mods are unwilling to enforce them, they should say so clearly, so that what is and is not going to be permitted is clear to all of us. Having the plain meaning of Ed’s post tacitly ignored by the Mods (which seems to be what they are acknowledging they engage in) isn’t good enough, IMO, as it still allows selective enforcement.
The tortured posts in which Mods have tried to explain their actions, where the explanation deliberately ignores quite of bit of the plain language Ed used are, frankly, embarrassing to see on a web forum/community of this caliber and intellect and not worthy of the astute and discerning people that we all know them to be.
Either enforce the rules or get rid of the rules that aren’t going to be enforced, IMO. I started this thread seeking clarification, because it seemed that first a Mod was able to skirt the rules, then a regular poster was able to. Now I know that the Mods are not enforcing the rule as written, although thus far all of them have to declined to say what the vast majority of us think: the rule is arbitrary and stupid and should not exist. But if it exists, it should be enforced, and it does exist, so yes, I think it should be enforced.
ETA: Thank you, Knorf, for understanding and for your efforts to try and help others see the point I’m trying to make. I’m also glad to know that you still laugh at the quarry line (like I do).
LOL
I feel the same way about jaywalking laws: I think that they’re stupid and people should be allowed to cross the street wherever they want, but that doesn’t stop me from sitting outside all day reporting jaywalkers to the police. Making sure rules I don’t agree with are enforced to the absolute maximum possible extent really is a wonderful use of my time.
Someday your lonely crusade will make everyone realize just how ridiculous those rules are. Truly you are a hero for our times.
This is possibly the saddest thing i’ve read in my ten-plus years on this message board.
That is a very unlikely context. You’re just being silly and argumentative for its own sake.
I hardly think one OP from Bo is equivalent to “sitting outside all day reporting jaywalkers.” Also, several other posters, myself included, have spoken up to request a clarification.
Am I in the fucking Twilight Zone here? Yeah - that’s an unlikely context. But it actually happened - go read the thread linked to in the OP!
I stand duly corrected. I mis-remembered what thread the quote “go fuck a cactus” was from. My bad.
My opinion remains it would be nice to get a clarification on this. The quote in question was nonetheless still a crude dismissal on the order of “go fuck yourself” or “fuck you” (albeit more humorous given the thread, yes) and either Ed’s stupid rude should be removed or it should be made clear that the … uh … clause I’m no longer mentioning is officially not being taken seriously by the mods.
Yes.
And anyone who isn’t annoyed with Bo’s retarded but allowed catch phrases should be smart and justify utterly ignoring the “and variants” clause to Ed’s idiotic pit rules.
And same with people who don’t care, one way or the other should also be smart and justify utterly ignoring the “and variants” clause to Ed’s idiotic pit rules.
Bo’s idiotic catch-phrase is, in fact, idiotic, but utterly irrelevant (much like the majority of Bo’s posts. ) to “ignoring the “and variants” clause to Ed’s idiotic pit rules.”
Because the current solution that the pit-mods have come up with: "Ignore the ‘and variants’ clause 99.999% of the time and just enforce Ed’s spinster-esque, tight-assed, utterly arbitrary list of words that he decided were naughty*, because that does the least damage to the Pit and keeps the Pit as functional as it can be, rather than Ed’s crazed notion of the Pit as MPSIMS with the occasional naughty word.
Why would you want more rules? Especially stupidly vague ones like “and variants” when right now it’s crystal clear what the rules are: Almost exclusively the list of words that make L’il Ed cry and you’ll only get a warning unless you go out of your way to ignore warnings.
*This is after about 2 weeks of tap-dancing himself into a corner about how the Pit was broken and how he wanted to “fix” it by doing stuff like disallowing all insults, period, followed by disallowing all flaming, followed by “unless it’s a funny flame” and so on. Basically, he painted himself into a corner and rather than have the cojones to just back down, he came up with the idiot list. Which has been enforce as lightly as possible (one, maybe two bannings for flagrant violations–someone typed “cunt” like 30 times after being told not to-that sort of thing) and as narrowly as possible.
I thinking you’re missing the point, which is to use this opportunity to get rid of the current pointlessly and arbitrarily banned expressions. The fact that comparably offensive statements are peachy, and only (maybe) the literal use of “fuck you” is not, is potentially a lever to pry up that stupid rule once and for all.
Where?
Go down to the pit and find a case where the “and variants” have been enforced at all–I’ve seen a ton of mod notes (which don’t accrue and don’t matter) and a very few bannings from extreme, rapidly repeated misbehavior. I can’t think of a single warning including from Ed himself (during the painful few weeks where he pretended to be interested in the board after his pit-rules fiasco) for violations of the naughty words list, let alone the “and variants”. It’s never been enforced beyond the minimum cursory way that it’s being now, including when Ed was stomping all over the Pit.
Ed rarely if ever backs down completely–he painted himself into a corner so the rules will most likely stand, and be enforced in the most cursory, lightly handed, vague nod in the direction of the “Yeah, yeah, we’re required to remind you that these terms are naughty” way. And, unless Ed changes his mind, that’s how it’s likely gonna stay.
And kudos to Miller and Gfactor for doing so. The two of them kept the Pit with a lot of the character and unique forum flavor that Ed tried to kill.
But, given that it’s been made very clear that this isn’t going to happen, the only effect your complaint could possibly have is to encourage even more language restrictions in the Pit.
I think that Gfactor and Miller have done an admirable job, under fairly adverse circumstances, by treading very lightly around the stupid language restrictions and interpreting them as narrowly as possible.
Is this an ideal situation? No. But as long as Ed Zotti remains completely unresponsive to rational discussion on the issue, and continues to impose stupid restrictions on a message board that he’s not even really a part of in any meaningful sense, the best we can hope for is that the moderators take a more reasonable approach to the issue. Which is exactly what they’ve done.
I made clear, back when these dopey language restrictions were announced, that i was going to post as i had always posted, and let the chips fall where they may. Since the rules went into effect, i’ve told a few people to go fuck themselves, or fuck off. I’ve received mod notes for doing it, and i’m happy to take them. And i’ll probably continue to use those terms occasionally in the future. If it ever gets to the stage where using those terms leads to my suspension or banning, then that will also be fine because at that time this message board will have become a place that holds no interest for me.
Until that time, i think the Pit mods are doing just fine with these stupid rules.