Even in High School they only ran these things twice a year! Do we really need a new king and queen of the SDMB Prom every clearasil-infected month? Gosh, is it time for SMDB council elections again? Hey! Who is the head cheerleader of GD?
Please, Opalcat, I know you are not the only offender, and I do respect the amount of work and dedication you so obviously invest in the Teeming Millions Homepage (see - -I een gave you a link). But, please, is it really necessary to revive these popularity contests every lunar cycle? Do we think people have forgotten about Phaedrus already? Do we wonder whether Satan is still popular? Do we care whether DavidB is the best loved moderator since Mussolini?
<H2>NO!</H2>
<H7>I wonder if this will get me nominated for something?</H7>
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
*
Well, Spiritus, I can’t let you stand out there all alone, as others pick up sticks to smack you with.
I thought this sort of thing was stupid in high school; I think it’s stupid now. I didn’t participate in it in high school; I don’t participate in it now. Neither, I gather, do the majority of posters registered to this board. That said, if it amuses people to elect a “cutest couple” or “most likely to be hung-over at graduation,” I say go crazy. The rest of us will be playing hooky and drinking beer out by the lake, just like we did when the rest of our peers were electing the junior class president.
Well, I notice I haven’t been mentioned in this thread yet either. Is it because I’m too fat??? Is that it??? Is it because of the way I dress? Is it because of my friends (cause, like, you know, they’re not REALLY my "friends…)? That’s it, I’m gonna go home and masturbate.
The IQ of a group is equal to the IQ of the dumbest member divided by the number of people in the group.
jodih’s pretty much hit the nail on the head, S M. The popularity threads keep reappearing, so they mean something to somebody. As with the other polls, list threads and the like that seem both pointless and annoying to some, you really can just walk on by. They’re not going away.
There hasn’t been an “awards show” since I started here last May…but I think that this is a little different than the “who is your favorite poster that you’d most like to have a date/coffee/sex/child with” threads. I mean, getting your name in one of those threads doesn’t earn you a nifty award icon in your TMHP profile.
Seriously, it’s just for shits and giggles. There’s no need to have an aneurism over it, right?
“…being normal is not necessarily a virtue. It rather denotes a lack of courage.”
It’s meant in good fun as a diversion from the grind of the day. If you can’t handle it, don’t participate, but for those of us who want to, why bitch and moan about it? When I proposed the idea people went for it. When I asked for categories, I got about 150. I pruned that DOWN you know. Obviously SOMEONE likes it or people wouldn’t be voting.
I agree that the popularity contests are puerile. Of course, if it was up to me I’d ban homecoming/prom queen and king. What a stupid idea: to single out two students and put a genuine crystal crown on their head because they won a popularity contest! Oh. my. God.
And we wonder why “unpopular” kids go around school blowing people up. Let’s damage their self-esteem just a little bit more, shall we?
And while I’m on a rant, why doesn’t the valedictorian get a freakin’ tiara?
Deep, cleansing breath. Okay, that being said, I think Opal’s list is not exactly the same b/c a lot of the categories are tongue-in-cheek. I’d vote for some of them, but unfortunately in my advanced age of 33, I couldn’t possibly recall the poster’s name who amused me 3 months ago with his witty response. I just don’t have the memory allocation in my brain to remember things like that.
Granted some categories in Opal’s list are a bit sophomoric, but then again so are some of the posters.
Jodih:
I agree with you. That is why I tried to keep the OP (relatively) flame-free. In fact, I am even flattered that I have been nominated for anything, since I hold many posters here in high regard. But it seems to me such things should be kept in MPSIMS where they belong (seting aside for the moment th equestion of whether they belong anywhere in adult society). But today I opened up a thread in GD calling upon people to VOTE!
Hey – there is a moderately important election occuring soon in a country near you (well, near me, at least). So i figure: Hey, a debate about the civic duty of the electorate in a representative republic. Then I open the thread.
AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!
Like I said – I have no issues with MPS in MPSIMS. I have not only taken part in the same, I have even started threads there (well, a thread). However, I felt like I had walked into a lecture hall expecting political debate and instead had Kathy Lee Gifford ask me to rate the candidates on charm, poise and the ability to fill out a bikini.
As I said - this is not so much a flame as an opportunity to vent and express an contrarian view. In the less than three months I have been posting to this board I have seen at least three of these things go by. I was beginning to get depressing flashbacks to the time I spent working in a shelter for teens. I might have responded in one of the “VOTE” threads, of course. But which of the six should I have chosen? I placed it here, instead.
Do I mind them as an occasional diversion, no. Do I object to other people taking part in them, of course not. Do I reserve the right to express my opinion about them, betcher last dollar on it.
[sub]besides, I was really hoping to be nominated for youngest poster.[/sub]
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
*
Hmmph! I absolutely agree. What a silly, shallow, inane idea for a contest. Most of us graduated from high school many years ago, and were MUCH too mature to participate in such things even then. Of course, those among us who insist on remaining in a state of arrested adolescence are welcome to do so. I, for one, am not even going to look at OpalCat’s page. Well, maybe one quick look … just so’s I can make fun of it…
… What’s this? Somebody nominated ME for coolest screen name?
Well, that changes everything. I’m off to vote for myself…
I think apathy, depression, irony, and confusion are damned fine ways to view a world going to hell.
– Cynthia Heimel
As the poster elected most popular poster, I have to agree with you. The mantle of most popular poster has not added anything special to my life. Being the most popular poster has not made my jokes any wittier, my debates any mor heated, my intelligence any more abundant. So I have to agree that being named most popular poster really did nothing for me, aide from being named most popular poster.
Well I say if it gives someone a kick to get voted for…let it be. I don’t see any harm in it…and in a way it probably boosts the morale and ego of some of the people who post here that normally wouldn’t get that boost. I think it’s all in fun…no one really takes it seriously…I mean people can go in and vote as many times as they like…so how accurate could it be…it is total fun.
Well considering that there is a section solely for Great Debates, I felt that pointing it out was valid. Note that it was just ONE POST. What the fuck validity would the voting have if it was just “MPSIMS people vote on the other forums”?
Again, I have to say you’re just a cranky fuckhead and why don’t you just go the fuck away?
How much validity is it going to have anyway? It’s just a Mundane Pointless Shit I Must Share exercise, not a Great Debate. Enough MPSIMS people hit the GD, don’t they?
