Diner-SUN☼ Possibilists

[Farmer McGregor]

Actually, fellas, I'm not coming back for more in the future, and this is almost certainly my last post here.
I'm done.

Well, I for one will miss you if you are gone for good.
RE

Only been hanging around in the Diner for a couple weeks, but there seems to be a pattern emerging here.
In that time I have witnessed the apparent departure of two members (haven't seen anything from Golden Oxen since the brouhaha a week ago or so) after a lot of insult and torment over what looked to me like trivial issues, or a failure to try to understand someone's position.  Again, I haven't been watching long enough to know all that's transpired.  I know that I definitely dislike some of the tone here.  People's minds are rarely if ever changed by insult and harassment, but by friendly engagement and well crafted persuasion.

Admittedly, this is somebody else's sandbox, and if any of us don't like how its owner treats us, we can take our toys and go home.  But how many neighbor kids can you alienate before you're left all alone?  Looking at this site's stats indicate that it has been a much busier place in the past, apparently peaking some years ago.  For all it has to offer, it appears that there are actually only a few people that frequent the Diner.  Where are all the other Kollapsniks that we know are out there?  Hell, I know a couple dozen right here in my community.

Gonna have a tough time attracting people to intentional real world communities if you can't even get along in cyberspace.

Respectfully,
Greg

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[jdwheeler42]

JRM doesn't really have the constitution for this, he's not an asshole.  Kind of a prototypical New Age Sensitive Guy.

I've always heard it referred to as a Sensitive New Age Guy (SNAG).... mainly from Heartless Bitches International.

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[Farmer McGregor]

In my defense, the rules of English are complicated, and the only way to master them are via route memorization.

Oh dear gods I (almost) hate to do this to you LD, but I just can't resist: It's 'rote' not 'route'...
--Radio, self-appointed junior SG cadet

See...I can't help but fuck it up.  Too bad I can't blame it on neurology.  Feel free to point out my mistakes.  I'm not going to take offense.  I guess I'm the village spelling idiot.  So be it!

If I even suspected that you'd take offense I would back off.  I'm glad you're a good sport.
I have a couple of potential advantages in this area:
1. I served six years at a Catholic parochial school -- that should be explanation enough -- under the tutelage of a 300 to 400 pound nun (hard to tell under big black habit (gown)) we called Wart Hog behind her back.  She called us "impudent ill-bred little fools" to our faces.  She was the school's English teacher. We. Learned. English.

2.  I have a natural knack for the language; I'm wired for it.  Learned to read really young and have read voraciously ever since.  That helps a lot.

3.  I cheat.  My posts are double and triple checked, edited, corrected, and sometimes even moved into a word processor temporarily to make sure everything checks out okay.  I keep Dictionary.com on speed dial.  It's part of why I'm so damn slow at responding.

Don't sweat it, it's fun calling out the booboos.  Ironically, I find that the local SG is one of the worst offenders, no doubt because he's a friggin' text machine.  I bet his fingers bleed at times.
--Greg
p.s.  This post has been edited even after posting...

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[RE]

Actually, fellas, I'm not coming back for more in the future, and this is almost certainly my last post here.
I'm done.

Well, I for one will miss you if you are gone for good.
RE

Only been hanging around in the Diner for a couple weeks, but there seems to be a pattern emerging here.
In that time I have witnessed the apparent departure of two members (haven't seen anything from Golden Oxen since the brouhaha a week ago or so) after a lot of insult and torment over what looked to me like trivial issues, or a failure to try to understand someone's position.  Again, I haven't been watching long enough to know all that's transpired.  I know that I definitely dislike some of the tone here.  People's minds are rarely if ever changed by insult and harassment, but by friendly engagement and well crafted persuasion.

Admittedly, this is somebody else's sandbox, and if any of us don't like how its owner treats us, we can take our toys and go home.  But how many neighbor kids can you alienate before you're left all alone?  Looking that this site's stats indicate that it has been a much busier place in the past, apparently peaking some years ago.  For all it has to offer, it appears that there are actually only a few people that frequent the Diner.  Where are all the other Kollapsniks that we know are out there?  Hell, I know a couple dozen right here in my community.

Gonna have a tough time attracting people to intentional real world communities if you can't even get along in cyberspace.

Respectfully,
Greg

I get along just fine with almost all people.  Just many of them have trouble getting along with me. lol.

How many forums and for how many years have you been doing this sort of thing?  I go back to before the Internet even existed, on the old Arpanet.

It's a tough medium overall.  Because it is mostly anonymous and there are no real consequences for being an asshole (other than eventually getting banned), people feel free to vent their spleen at each other and arguments get much more vehement than they usually do IRL.  IRL, you get into the kind of arguments we periodically get into here, and somebody throws a punch.  You can't do that over the internet, the closest you come is to put up a ridiculing pic or vid.

I will compose up an analysis of some of our more recent Walkabouts from the Diner.  Perhaps I can help you understand the nature of the medium and be able to tolerate it better.  It's quite difficult really.

RE

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[jdwheeler42]

Ughh! Sorry to hear about your tongue. Are you having to get cancer treatment, JD?

Got a PET scan Friday, seeing about a course of treatment Monday the 6th.

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[Eddie]

Scary. Keep us posted. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

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[Farmer McGregor]

It's a tough medium overall.  Because it is mostly anonymous and there are no real consequences for being an asshole (other than eventually getting banned), people feel free to vent their spleen at each other and arguments get much more vehement than they usually do IRL.  IRL, you get into the kind of arguments we periodically get into here, and somebody throws a punch.  You can't do that over the internet, the closest you come is to put up a ridiculing pic or vid.
RE

I certainly can appreciate all that.  I do not, however, have to like it, or put up with it if I don't feel like it.
On the whole, time spent on the 'net is major fucking waste of precious time.  It's an amusement, and that's all.  IMHO, no one is going to have their life changed beyond what their own efforts to self-educate will accomplish.   They don't need to hang out in a virtual space getting harassed to become a productive Collapsiterian.
I sure as hell didn't.  I'll bet LD didn't either.

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[Farmer McGregor]

Ughh! Sorry to hear about your tongue. Are you having to get cancer treatment, JD?

Got a PET scan Friday, seeing about a course of treatment Monday the 6th.

Scary. Keep us posted. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Ditto that here.

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[azozeo]

Ughh! Sorry to hear about your tongue. Are you having to get cancer treatment, JD?

Got a PET scan Friday, seeing about a course of treatment Monday the 6th.

Good luck with that my friend...

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[luciddreams]

It's a tough medium overall.  Because it is mostly anonymous and there are no real consequences for being an asshole (other than eventually getting banned), people feel free to vent their spleen at each other and arguments get much more vehement than they usually do IRL.  IRL, you get into the kind of arguments we periodically get into here, and somebody throws a punch.  You can't do that over the internet, the closest you come is to put up a ridiculing pic or vid.
RE

I certainly can appreciate all that.  I do not, however, have to like it, or put up with it if I don't feel like it.
On the whole, time spent on the 'net is major fucking waste of precious time.  It's an amusement, and that's all.  IMHO, no one is going to have their life changed beyond what their own efforts to self-educate will accomplish.   They don't need to hang out in a virtual space getting harassed to become a productive Collapsiterian.
I sure as hell didn't.  I'll bet LD didn't either.

I'm not sure I agree that the Diner is a waste of time (or the internet).  Although I understand your sentiment.  In the end you are sitting on your ass staring at a computer screen doing next to nothing. 

I spend a lot of time on the Diner.  I probably spend more time than I should.  It's not like watching tv as a waste of time though.  At least this is interactive and usually features various degrees of philosophy, and it has it's own psychology and sociology, of which I find interest.  My favorite activities have mostly been reading and writing.  I don't like people much in person, but I have a need for social interaction.  Here I get social interaction without the in person part, and I read, philosophize, receive and share ideas, and I write.  I also keep a blog Epiphany Now. http://emtmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/plutocracy.html] [url]http://emtmusings.blogspot.com/2017/01/plutocracy.html[/url]  I am nowhere near as active of a blogger as I used to be. 

As far as the editing of posts go.  I correct red squiggles, and I try to be mindful, and I even re-read my posts after posting and edit where I find mistakes.  Sometimes I'll re-read a post and not correct an identified mistake.  It all depends on how I feel at the time.  I just don't see it as that big of a deal.  I don't treat every post as I would a blog because what's the point?  What, I might get made fun of virtually because I chronically fuck up the Queens proper English?  So   My ego is just fine...and humble. 

I also make my life an open book here on the Diner.  I've always been that way.  I tell the truth, and I'm not afraid or feel as though I should hide.  The NSA has a file on me, and they have since I got myself kicked out of the Navy.  I won't live in fear, and I have nothing to hide, so why not share my life?  It's all just 1's and 0's in the end, and we all end up either pumped full of formaldehyde not rotting in a casket entombed in a over priced wooden box surrounded by concrete below ground...or in an urn in the end. 

I just hope to make it through life without being physically tortured at the Ministry of Health.     

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[Farmer McGregor]

I'm not sure I agree that the Diner is a waste of time (or the internet).  Although I understand your sentiment.  In the end you are sitting on your ass staring at a computer screen doing next to nothing. 

Exactly.  I would be ashamed to have you visit my farm for all the messes and unfinished projects, but here I sit cuz' it's cold and windy out there.  Though I am also putzing around the house and organizing my growing library of awesome how-to books.  I like books.  They don't need power to exist or be read.

2 + 2 =  That's you!  I've checked out your blog before -- that's you.  Nice writing.  Do more.

I just hope to make it through life without being physically tortured at the Ministry of Health.     

That line right there is why you should write more.  Classic!

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[luciddreams]

I'm not sure I agree that the Diner is a waste of time (or the internet).  Although I understand your sentiment.  In the end you are sitting on your ass staring at a computer screen doing next to nothing. 

Exactly.  I would be ashamed to have you visit my farm for all the messes and unfinished projects, but here I sit cuz' it's cold and windy out there.  Though I am also putzing around the house and organizing my growing library of awesome how-to books.  I like books.  They don't need power to exist or be read.

2 + 2 =  That's you!  I've checked out your blog before -- that's you.  Nice writing.  Do more.

I just hope to make it through life without being physically tortured at the Ministry of Health.     

That line right there is why you should write more.  Classic!

Thanks for the compliment Radio!   

I blog when the spirit fills me.  I've sort of gotten fatigued I think with blogging because I've said it all so many times.  You can only lament collapse in so many ways before it just gets tiring.  Especially when you spend as much time as I do in these god forsaken halls of internet debauchery.  Still...occasionally something will light a fire and I'll write a blog. 

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[Eddie]

Actually, fellas, I'm not coming back for more in the future, and this is almost certainly my last post here.
I'm done.

Well, I for one will miss you if you are gone for good.
RE

Only been hanging around in the Diner for a couple weeks, but there seems to be a pattern emerging here.
In that time I have witnessed the apparent departure of two members (haven't seen anything from Golden Oxen since the brouhaha a week ago or so) after a lot of insult and torment over what looked to me like trivial issues, or a failure to try to understand someone's position.  Again, I haven't been watching long enough to know all that's transpired.  I know that I definitely dislike some of the tone here.  People's minds are rarely if ever changed by insult and harassment, but by friendly engagement and well crafted persuasion.

Admittedly, this is somebody else's sandbox, and if any of us don't like how its owner treats us, we can take our toys and go home.  But how many neighbor kids can you alienate before you're left all alone?  Looking at this site's stats indicate that it has been a much busier place in the past, apparently peaking some years ago.  For all it has to offer, it appears that there are actually only a few people that frequent the Diner.  Where are all the other Kollapsniks that we know are out there?  Hell, I know a couple dozen right here in my community.

Gonna have a tough time attracting people to intentional real world communities if you can't even get along in cyberspace.

Respectfully,
Greg

Some people come here to talk about collapse and how to adapt to the changing world. They get along fine.

Others come here to propound their personal POV, and they bring their sacred cows with them. The sacred cows tend to get the shit kicked out of them here.

In general, the ones who leave are the ones who aren't flexible. They are the ones who want to do one of several things...(a) be a cheerleader for some politician. (GO wants to trust Trump, because he needs a strong authority figure he can trust. Trump mostly gets excoriated here.)

or (b) wage war in the comments against some perceived injustice or unfairness:

Uncle Bob has problems with the feminist agenda and female social justice warriors. It has to with his personal experiences in his chosen field, which is full of female bosses, many of whom are off-the-scale ball busting bitches who use their gender to gain advantage in the healthcare bureaucracy he works in. He comes across as mysogynist, but he has some legitimate gripes. But nobody here wanted to completely accept his POV as the only correct one....and he too got real excited by the false hopes around a Trump (outsider) campaign, and he liked that Milo kid who just self-destructed in public this last week. He wanted to defend Breitbart, and it was along about then he went walkabout.

For GO, he has this idea that anybody should be able to log on here and say anything. He has his panties twisted because after four years, RE finally banned a guy we all knew was a troll and  FF industry shill. One person banned here, ever....and that after a million second chances. But that makes this forum, in his eyes, a place where censorship prevails.

Alan just wanted to go on about how great China is, and how bright the future is for the Chinese, and how China is going to take over the role of World Hegemon. He could write ten thousand words in thirty minutes, and he would.....and then disappear for a month or two. Bipolar? Probably.

Ashvin was/is a born-again Christian who swallowed the entire Christian Apologetics doctrine hook, line and sinker, and used his not inconsiderable writing skills and great intellect to try to prove to us beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus really lived, and that the Bible is our roadmap to Eternal Salvation. He finally graduated and got a job, and got a life, I guess.

I can't think of anyone else who just flat got run off. A good number of people who used to post on the forum were just fans of RE's writing who really weren't preppers, or at least never shared their own stories, just wanted to do an occasional drive-by snipe at some POV they disagreed with.

In general, this is a place anybody can write just about anything they want, but they will be called on to defend their POV, and their ideas might be questioned, and their sacred cows might start to whine after a while....

I find the Diner to be fairly congenial, for the most part. Just not many of us out there, and many who are....are trying to fly under the radar.

We had one really excellent prepper who freaked out when he was shown that being on the net made him visible. He didn't realize how easy it is to figure out exactly what somebody's IRL identity and address are for people who know how to look, and I think he dropped off the net altogether, forthwith. We never heard from him again.

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[RE]

We had one really excellent prepper who freaked out when he was shown that being on the net made him visible. He didn't realize how easy it is to figure out exactly what somebody's IRL identity and address are for people who know how to look, and I think he dropped off the net altogether, forthwith. We never heard from him again.

BC2K.  A real loss there.  Terrific Paranoia though, and yes he pretty much dropped off the net, t the point of deleting his email addys.

RE

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[luciddreams]

God, how could I have possibly forgotten Ashvin?   

He was fun.  Especially with Jeebus coming out of left field.  I knew him back when he was blogging before the Diner.  What was the title of his blog? 

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