Good heavens, you guys. I mean, I could just twirl more. That would probably help.

EVERYONE has their own 'fine line' and no one knows where it might be UNTIL THEY CROSS IT - then BINGO there's that line.......respect it - or hopefully make light of it by joking about it - OR NOT - I don't know..I'm just tired.

Every time I put it on Spike, it's 1000 Ways to Die, which is one of the worst pieces of crap on TV.

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Yes, sometimes I have had to tell Seanz too far when his hands tend to linger down towards my bottom during a hug.

In any case, this is the old; 'I have the right to say that I hate that you hate that I hate that you hate what I say' argument.

This whole thing boils down to; it's a free country, and you can only control your own behavior.

Sigh...

Jeeps, I'm just talking here. The topic is thoughts on the blog. I'm giving my thoughts, same as you and everyone else here. DG, asked for a solution so that we don't just focus on the problem, which is a good idea, and I gave the best one I could with little time to think it over. You don't like it. That doesn't bother me. I know it's imperfect. I'm not trying to "control the blog." I knew what it was like when I started commenting, as I said I lurked for two years reading well into OT every day. I'm just giving my two cents. That's it.

Trigger this isn't directed at you, but it's to your point -

When I was in my early years at the newspapers, we ran a column where chess players could comment on strategy by mail, and we would print excerpts from some of the letters on alternate Thursdays.  Some of the boys writing in would take criticism of moves very personally, worse than if you insulted their mothers.  You could always tell that somebody was angry because they paid extra to have rush delivery of their letter.  We finally decided to sponsor a chess tournament and when all of them got in the same room, they were the socially awkward misfits you would figure them to be. Cheap, too.

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I was thinking about it, and just about every "regular" I could think of, who's been on the blog for like a year or more, has been both scolded by me and defended by me. 
My concclusion: I have a big mouth.

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I'll take Josie Wales any way I can get him, thank you.

Oh, Lily-, I wasn't thinking about you - or anyone in particular. It's a general observation.

And although I've seen "too far" tried, it doesn't generally work so well in-blog. Usually starts a flame war.

Not always. Once I said "ouch" and many of us veered off into a perfectly frivolous side-bar about Terligua Chili and single malt Scotch.

I thought you said 'defriended,' mcrob, not 'defended,' and I freaked out and checked my Facebook.

You definitely know you've become a regular if McRobbie has both reprimanded and stuck up for you on the blog.

If I'm considered a "regular" then no McRob, I don't think you've ever defended me.  But there usually is no defense for me, so I'm cool with it, just as long as you get my references.

In Response to Re: Some Thoughts on The Blog:


Was it that extensive?  I know I told him a few times that his stories were annoying, and we had a bit of a fight last week when he went off on a couple of ladies, but I didn't feel like he was the victim of a complete beatdown - did I just miss a bunch of stuff? 

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Was MP really henpecked off the blog, or was it a case where he just decided to go, for whatever reason.......interfering with work, a sockpuppet creation, some kind of strange blog-performance art thing either perpetrated or conceived by some "regular" to inject a little fun or mess with the blog?

I try to distract the blog, with varying degrees of success.

I love this place.

I've never been a part of an online community before, so I guess I don't have anything to reference it to.(Well, there was that short lived stint on the other papers site)

I do know though, and I've mentioned it before, that the anonymous nature of the internet lends itself to people acting in ways that they ordinarily wouldn't.

That's where the lines get blurred here. The majority of the Regulars have at least met each other for drinks, and many have developed close friendships and personal relationships.

Knowing this, and witnessing the exorbitant amount of drama(which I'm certain is to their amusement) that goes on, it's perfectly understandable that a Lurker would be hesitant to jump into the fray. Especially with seeing others stumble in their attempt and get torn to shreds.

A whole lot of this is just human nature. Some people are at home in front of a microphone, on a stage, and some people fall to pieces under the spotlight.

~Steps up to the microphone~

I would to take an opportunity to give a shout out high five how do you do to the Semi Regulars. People like OlderNotWiser(I hope I got that right) who chime in every day and give great(and not so great) advice, and people like Jane and softpatina, who jump into the mix, but stay above the nonsense(leave that to us professionals).

I think I may be considered one of the troublemakers. I can't help myself, really. I'm not easlily offended, and with some of the offenses I've faced, it's easy for me to be weary of those who are. We all have different tolerance levels.

Anyway, as you know, I love you all, and I hope the time stamp glitch is just that, and not attempt to alter the format.

Love Letters is not broken, don't try to fix it.

Food snobs and alcoholics. My lily, I just laughed outloud.