State of the Yart

[Darklight]

I suppose this has to be periodically stated for the newbies and those with poor memories, but I'm sure I'm not the only moderator here bored witless with having to throw a regular scheduled and well earned tantrum about forum behaviour. I suppose it goes with the job

Youse know I love youse all, and I almost always enjoy catching up with stuff here anyhow, so I suppose the spasmodic bitch sesh is inevitable. From time to time, in any space whether virtual or In Real Life ( TM ) the conversation descends to tediousness and slinks under the cupboard to hide.

In a nutshell:

The thread named OOOOOO MY GODDD has been locked. I have received correspondence from Happas and was less than impressed with his understanding of the situation. To this time he has still not placed a valid email address on his profile here and while I have a private one for him he still has not complied with forum guidelines re. accountability and I have suspended his access for a week, with a good option to extend this permanently.

I'm going to keep the thread locked until I make my mind up, partly for this reason and partly because it bores me. I've NEVER done this before and CS you can flame all you like, but goading the younger and/or sillier members here to make idjuts of themselves isn't as funny as it used to be either

I'd really like to see this forum return to a place for open discussion on all aspects of the field not covered by the other forums here ( this is a Chill Space after all ). Of late I've been a tad disappointed with the high prevalence of low humour that fails to be witty, and no CS, Nozz, gomaos and waterdragon I don't mean youse aren't funny but you are encouraging some of the sillier ppl here to go ballistic by egging them on.

I've been a part of the goading process myself, but I might just take my own advice and stop for a bit until things cool down and reasonable debate on a wider range of subjects resumes, and the jokes, instead of being tedious through repetition, become amusing because of their freshness and vitality.

I'm also completely over dodgy posts( see Rev's thread in his forum regarding illegal activities described ). While I know none of you would ever do anything illegal, admissions of illegal activities are beginning to flourish. Most of them so minor as to be a hassle to pursue. But from this point on I'm going to be a complete bitch about it. You have been warned

If you think you have worded your post in such a manner to contravene forum guidelines, then check it yourself, or better still, check it the next day when you have more distance from it. I am only interested in mopping up genuine mistakes, not policing inadequate understanding of rules we all agreed to abide by. I get to do both anyhow, but the latter option pisseth me off mightily.

Good ppl here are staying away, and we may lose them altogether because of the slackness, stupidity and lack of regard from other members. To lose the shared knowledge of such valuable ppl would be sad.This has been a fun, informative and interesting place to be ( even on the occasion's I've had to apologise ) and I'm fully intent on keeping it that way for everyone, not just the textual onanists.

The world is full of interesting stuff to talk about. Let's.

( Quick, somebody say something witty, or I'll tell you my new joke... )

[This message has been edited by Darklight (edited 29 January 2002).]

[rkundalini]

Well, I agree and I disagree.

I agree that the teenage drivel is tiresome.

I'm not sure whether I agree or not with locking the thread. (Censorship is rarely a good way to shut up people who are saying something you don't like. We probably need just wait for them to get bored or to grow up. A few disparaging comments might not go astray but actual wielding of censorship power I find dangerous...)

I don't agree with banning Happas. His contributions in Psychedelic Expressions have been some of the more interesting reading of the past weeks. He may also be responsible for some of the ho-hum "I'm so fucked up on blah blah" stuff, but at least he doesn't try to disguise it as High Art with a cloak of Hunter S. Thompson narrative style...

[Darklight]

Fair enough arkay

I fully agree with you about censorship being dangerous. But don't forget that threads can be unlocked just as easily, and it's not like I've been so hardline that I won't cop debate and occasionally change my mind afterwards. This is a cool down as well as a response to Happas' non-compliance, it's not like it's forever

The main reason I locked it is that I wanted debate on this one anyhow. There are dozens of ppl here who will email each other expressively though privately about a decision or opinion I've expressed but only a handful who will actually have the guts to come out and question it here and rationally and I'm over the cowardice factor.

We probably need just wait for them to get bored or to grow up.

And then we get some more to replace them. Everyone here is accountable for their actions, young or old, trashed or sober.

As I'm fortunate enough to include kids, young ppl and adolescents in my circle of friends and colleagues who are responsible, intelligent and energetic in their outlooks I refuse to accept the idiot drivel of anyone younger than me as representative of their age group rather than an example of their stupidity.

A few disparaging comments might not go astray

We've had them. The dumb one's just don't get it, and they get all excited.

Possibly one of the probs is that many of us now know each other well enough ( either via Chilli Sauce, EB1 or here ) and the network of ppl has been long enough that we all feel pretty relaxed and comfortable with each other.

This isn't the actual problem but we can usually jest, satirise and flirt within a wide range of comfortable boundaries. Unfortunately from time to time this seems to excite some of the younger newbies, and those whose testicles haven't yet descended, some of whom seem to have nothing to contribute but drivel.

They get all excited over any mention of sex, disregard the original counterpoint of implication of irony or satire and bawdiness, and fire off screeds of unintelligible prose.

Too much of this and the forums start to look like the back of some of the less interesting toilet doors I have seen( why is the least interesting graffiti always found in university loo's? ) and ppl who may have something insightful to say figure there's no-one around clever enough to listen.

I want to stop it, so we can get back to being relaxed and silly and clever without feeling like the place is full of deservedly deprived inadequates who are slavering at the merest thought of being invited to discuss their erotic pathos in words of one syllable or less.

Like I said, it's a warning, it's not forever. There's only been ONE permanent ban on ALL the forums since we've been here and that was well deserved. Some of those warned or temporarily banned have gone on to contribute significantly anyhow...I think Nozz would be the first to admit that He got a well deserved ban and went on to invent Chilli Sauce and while I can picture him typing next to a large pile of crumpled tissues he is also more than capable of asking good questions and giving good answers.

[Chemical Shaman]

Originally posted by rkundalini:

...

Here's the deal motherfucker!!! I believe those three fucking condescending dots are directed at me! Infact im sure of it , you let me know either via the forums or email COZ I GOT SOME FUCKING SHIT TO SAY!!!

AND I WOULDN'T BE TYPING IN CAPITALS UNLESS I WAS AT LEAST 98.7% SURE THAT THOSE 3 DOTS WERE A FUCKING STAB AIMED AT TAKING ME DOWN.

IM GONNA SIT HERE AND PRETEND THAT THOSE 3 DOTS AINT THERE UNTIL YOU CONFIRM IT.

[Wazron]

For the record, I'm 100% behind you Darklight. I believe in freedom, not freedom taken for granted. The 'rules' here (if there even are any) are few and lenient, but even here some people will always be motivated to do stupid things.

My #1 concern is a journalist looking for a quick beat-up for the front page punching 'australian drugs witchcraft' into a search engine and getting a hit- where, do you think? Then the story comes out- 'our ten second search showed a site with references to drugs etc., 'won't someone think of the kids'... "any child could find this site in under a minute" kind of crap. (If the kid was searching the internet unsupervised and unrestricted and was searching for the same topic/s anyway).

Misuse of the forums for posting stupid/pointless/legally actionable material potentially puts the site at risk. I shouldn't need to mention that this is Not A Good Thing for all concerned.

Please bear in mind that I have never met any of you personally and that I have no bias or prejudice on this issue- I think DL is right and I will stand by any decision s/he (I think you're a she DL but I have never asked) makes.

It's one time laying down the law. Doesn't happen often, doesn't need to. Moderators are there for a reason. If they don't get given a reason to act, they don't act. QED.

wazron

[Wazron]

Originally posted by Chemical Shaman:

Here's the deal motherfucker!!! I believe those three fucking condescending dots are directed at me!

Those three dots are called an ellipsis. They denote a pause in the flow of words or thoughts. Are you worried that you're being associated with an awkward pause in conversation or people's brains locking?

Just wondering...

XXX

Wazron

"It's not just me, everyone thinks you're paranoid"

[G Dawg]

Originally posted by rkundalini:

I agree that the teenage drivel is tiresome.

I agree ( for the most part anyway )

I think the thing is many people don't recognize that there is a time and place for everything.

It would be good to see some more intelligent topics going on, but still read a few laughs.

Also people should not take others so seriously all the time as has often been the case in some of the topics ( fuck, I rarely take myself seriously )

Later,

Garret.

[anubian lights]

Fascinating...

[Torsten]

rkundalini wrote:

I agree that the teenage drivel is tiresome.

Then Chemical Shaman replied:

I believe those three fucking condescending dots are directed at me! Infact im sure of it

Don't flatter yourself. You're not in your teens anymore

[Darklight]

Originally posted by Wazron:

(I think you're a she DL but I have never asked)

Last week you called me brother *sniff*, you're so fickle

I think I'm a girl too. Its a wardrobe statement...the bike goes with everything I wear

[Torsten]

I garee with the way thing have gone re Happas. I think a short pause for him to reconsider himself is a good move and a week off isn't going to hurt him.

I have reviewed several of Happas recent posts and agree that his contribution is substantial, entertaining and quite different from most here. I just hope that he is happy enough in what he is posting now and doesn't require the constant attention tht CS demands in his unique way. Really, we couldn't support two of them could we?

A few days off will show Happas that we appreciate him for his skills, his stories and his experimentation..... NOT for his attention seeking teenage drivel. The problem is that he seems to get more responses for posting the teenage drivel than for his interesting stuff and this will encourage him the wrong way.

This is maybe an issue we need to look at as a whole community rather than just singling out Happas.

[Darklight]

This is maybe an issue we need to look at as a whole community rather than just singling out Happas.

Zackly. We ( me included ) get out of hand from time to time and it alienates ppl as well as makes us look boring. So I put the brakes on.

Happas just provided the straw that broke the camel's back, it's not like I've fogotten the other bales

[waterdragon]

just for the record, nowhere have i printed: "all you silly people please go ballistic". maybe we should get an icon which denotes a thread as being of no ethnobtanical interest. i realise i have been a party to some tomfoolery but as in life not all conversations are gold.

[Darklight]

i realise i have been a party to some tomfoolery but as in life not all conversations are gold.

No but some of the funny ones *are*

For the record, again, and no not in response to yr call WD I completely approve of tomfoolery ( what a lovely word ) and this is the place for it in Chill.

Occasionally one type of conversation will dominate and threaten to take over completely ( mint in the garden analogy ) and I like to bring it back to a state of equilibrium before the Tilt mechanism gets hit. Then we get to start all over again

If we'd been overly serious for a couple of months ( hardly likely really ) I'd be standing on my head quoting the Marx brothers.

[Darklight]

No votes in favour of a continued ban of Happas?

Choice, I'll press the buttons to reinstate him ( and reopen that awful thread *sigh* it can't all be good news then hey )

[Chemical Shaman]

I seriously have a lot of stuff to say here and im waiting for RK to grow some balls and admit those dots were directed at me. This isn't the first time he has done this and there is only so much condescending humiliation I can sit here and take. The least he could do is come right out and tell me directly he has a problem with me instead of making snide little remarks and bitching like a drag queen.

Grow some balls RK.

[Wazron]

Originally posted by Chemical Shaman:

I seriously have a lot of stuff to say here and im waiting for RK to grow some balls and admit those dots were directed at me. This isn't the first time he has done this and there is only so much condescending humiliation I can sit here and take. The least he could do is come right out and tell me directly he has a problem with me instead of making snide little remarks and bitching like a drag queen.

Grow some balls RK.

And here's the quote that' the problem-

"I don't agree with banning Happas. His contributions in Psychedelic Expressions have been some of the more interesting reading of the past weeks. He may also be responsible for some of the ho-hum "I'm so fucked up on blah blah" stuff, but at least he doesn't try to disguise it as High Art with a cloak of Hunter S. Thompson narrative style..."

Now CS if you've ever written anything of Hunter S. Thompson standard, I am yet to read it. The post was aimed at people who try to disguise (usually tedious) stories about the wonderful world of fugdruckedness and try to give it pretensions to art.

The one thing I would have to say is that you have a refreshing lack of artistic pretension. Although I am sure doing 'funky dances' and yelling "shazam" at ppl at 3am while stinking of commercial bulk-buy gherkins is doing a lot to win the hearts and minds of those who believe drugs to be a menace.

Ergo, I don't think that the ellipsis was aimed at you. I don't know whether RK thinks you're joking or not. I originally thought you were but now I'm not so sure. Care to get lucid for a second and clarify?

waz

[Wazron]

Originally posted by Darklight:

I think I'm a girl too. Its a wardrobe statement...the bike goes with everything I wear

pushbike or motorbike?

This I have to know.

Waz

[Chemical Shaman]

Im full proper serious here Waz , and yes he was refering to me and not to anyone else because it's the second time. The first time was only half as subtle but was an absoloutely positive reference to my writing style. I just write like it is , i don't try and add artistic flair , I write how it happens. Nothing I have ever written sounds anything like HST , so stick it in your arrogant clacker RK.

Im not a fucking idiot and im not going to sit here being insulted by a condescending dot using stargazer. The most beautiful thing about me (apart from my immense cock) is that im UPFRONT with my shit , I tell it like it is and I don't hide behind dots. These 3 fucking dots have insulted beyond belief and I gots a lot of stuff to say here. I just want you to fucking say , with out hiding behind dots I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YO SHIT CS. Simple as that , can you step out from behind your dots and do that RK?

Trust me guys I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't certain , the first time I let it slide and walked away with my pride bruised a little , but im not going to just sit here like a bitch with fucking cynical dots being thrown around left right and centre.

pushbike or motorbike?

Darklights a hardcore biker chick. She uses flavoured lube to pack swing arm bearings or some shit (I have no idea what these are).

[gomaos]

Originally posted by Wazron:

Now CS if you've ever written anything of Hunter S. Thompson standard, I am yet to read it.

WTF is Hunter Thompson?

A war monger like Winston Churchill?

[Wazron]

Originally posted by gomaos:

Originally posted by Wazron:

WTF is Hunter Thompson?

A war monger like Winston Churchill?

Hunter S Thompson is the author of 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. You should read it or at least watch the movie.

I hope that being exposed to this material will change your worldview.

He's quite famous, I'm surprised yu haven't heard of him- given your circle of cyberfriends.

waz

[gomaos]

Originally posted by Wazron:

I hope that being exposed to this material will change your worldview.

Yeah I've seen the movie.

It was good but it didn't change my world view.

There wasn't anything in it I didn't know already.

But: It's a good movie.

Wouldn't mind watching it again.

And if I ever come across the book in the library, I'll read it.

[Torsten]

Originally posted by gomaos:

Yeah I've seen the movie.

It was good but it didn't change my world view.

There wasn't anything in it I didn't know already.

Maybe if you'd come across it at the time of the book release it would have changed your world somewhat. Not saying it was a moment in life I remember well, but it certainly gave me a slightly different outlook on drugs and on literature. For me maybe it was a wake-up call that it is actually possible to do too many drugs

haven't seen the movie and don't want to. I don't think it can be better than the book (although most book lovers didn't seem to mind the movie) . I believe there was a discussion about the value of the book vs the movie on these forums a little while back.

[rkundalini]

heheh, I love it... having not been bothered to read this thread, being sure that it would have descended into a bitch session, I come back and find several bitchy messages bitching about what a bitch I am .

I can't remember who wrote the handful of posts that were obvious cut & paste jobs on "Fear and Loathing", I have a feeling it was not the CS himself but one of his sidekicks. But whatever, if I never mentioned you and you don't think your writing style is HST-like, then why have you jumped to the conclusion that my comment was directed at you? I don't pay that much attention to who writes what. A few of the "drugfucked" stories posted here are funny (like the Oh My God thing). Most of them I just find boring (personal taste), but each to his own I usually think. Some of them are not only boring but a bit irritating because they try to cloak the story with a pretense of being Art by the device of unusual literary style. If you, as you have said here, don't fall into the latter category then you have no need to be all offended.

Usually I don't make negative comments to people about things they make unless they specifically ask for feedback. In this case one slipped out (oops) but I meant to use it as a compliment to Happas. The first post of the "oh my god" thread was really pretty funny, whether or not the author realised he was being funny at the time, heh heh...

[Chemical Shaman]

Originally posted by rkundalini:

But whatever, if I never mentioned you and you don't think your writing style is HST-like, then why have you jumped to the conclusion that my comment was directed at you?

Because a while ago someone said that Chemical Shaman should be given his own forum and your reply was "Perhaps we should call it the Hunter. S. Thompson fanclub forum..."

Notice the EXACT same 3 dots.

yes i remember , i remember because the words cut deep. They hurt me , they hurt me alot. Like im some sort of plagiarising fraud. I had nearly forgotten about it until these same 3 dots came my way.

It may have been about that rubbish "Fear and Loathing in Albury" stuff but I highly doubt it was in reference to someone else cutting and pasting entire paragraphs from FALILV because of this sentance

but at least he doesn't try to disguise it as High Art with a cloak of Hunter S. Thompson narrative style...

or infact these words

cloak of Hunter S. Thompson narrative style...

That's a pretty good indicator you were refering to a writing style.