Bad-faith post about Kerry and McCain

June 13, 2004 11:09 PM

This hasn't been mentioned, and it went unremarked in the thread, but eyeballkid's recent post was an example of a very bad-faith post, using MeFi as his ironic playground.
posted by Ethereal Bligh to etiquette/policy at 11:09 PM (135 comments total)

Whether my off-topic prediction in a MeTa thread was appropriate or not is irrelevant. EBK posted a FPP that was nothing more than quoting my comment in that thread. When he thought perhaps I and everyone else didn't get the joke, he also linked to it. It's a NYT link, with nothing more and nothing less than my comment in the thread.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:13 PM on June 13, 2004

And what would you like us to do about it?
posted by Jimbob at 11:15 PM on June 13, 2004

Oops. Wrong thread number.

My initial comment, my quoted comment.

On preview: I dunno. Calling him out on it. What does anyone ever want done when they call someone out? A flogging? That's not a bad idea.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:16 PM on June 13, 2004

Um, your links bring me right back here. Is that me? Is it just happening to me?
posted by Salmonberry at 11:16 PM on June 13, 2004

He was probably just writing for his audience.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:16 PM on June 13, 2004

Oh, there we go.
posted by Salmonberry at 11:17 PM on June 13, 2004

What does anyone ever want done when they call someone out?

Exactly. My work here is done.
*Guns his Chopper and heads for the highway*
posted by Jimbob at 11:19 PM on June 13, 2004

I really don't have to explain my use of the phrase "writing for my audience" do I? It's a common expression. When I was thinking about the phrasing of my recent FPP, even though I don't tend to get all worked up about the sort of thing the post is discussing, I was aware that much of the MeFi membership does. And I do lean toward being a little suspicious about it, myself. But I worded my post biased in the direction of the general MeFi sentiment, mostly unconsciously. Because, I was writing to this audience. I deeply regret that I chose the word "my" rather than "this"; and I am prostrate with contrition at the implication that the MeFi readership is "my" audience. Or, actually, not. Because that's not what I meant.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:28 PM on June 13, 2004

This hasn't been mentioned, and it went unremarked in the thread

Let's be honest, Ethereal Bligh. You posted this now because you are angry about ebk's snark in the taco thread.
posted by eddydamascene at 11:31 PM on June 13, 2004

Jesus, Ethereal Bligh. Get a life.
posted by reklaw at 11:33 PM on June 13, 2004

I agree with eddydamascene on this one.
posted by Salmonberry at 11:35 PM on June 13, 2004

Of course that's why I posted it now. It was obnoxious and worth calling-out on when ebk did it, but I figured someone would. I'm not really a calling-out type. But his continued attempts to heckle me pissed me off enough to go ahead and post this thread. Because his FPP was just plain shitty and egregiously everything that MeFi isn't about.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:36 PM on June 13, 2004

It's a joke, Ethereal Bligh. You're over it.

Right?
posted by attackthetaxi at 11:38 PM on June 13, 2004

etheral bligh ... I say this without an iota of snark. Take a break. Walk away. You're taking this a bit too seriously.
posted by crunchland at 11:49 PM on June 13, 2004

It was obnoxious and worth calling-out on when ebk did it, but I figured someone would.

You did. Pre-emptively. And your call was noticed.

I'm not really a calling-out type.

Oh, but you are now! Poof!

I guess I haven't been reading deep enough to find said heckling. Hm.

Really, Im in your corner, you know I am, but I think you're rapidly heading toward the hard surface against which all long-enduring members must bounce before realising what retribution is really worth here: next to nothing.

Take heart. After this rebound you will experience a whole new life here, one in which you can say what you mean, and a whole new meaning is brought to that which you never meant to say (which you'll then be wise enough to hold on to). Better times await. Rock the treshold.

In all seriousness: aim for the bullseye with your forehead. Lead with your chin. You have what it takes to go the distance, but you need to go down first. Hang on!
posted by scarabic at 11:54 PM on June 13, 2004

Crunch, as noted elsewhere (meaning: it's not my imagination), people have been ragging on me for well over a week now. I reached my limit.

But I wouldn't have posted this MeTa thread if I didn't think that ebk deserved calling-out for his post. It was a stunt. I'm pretty sure that Matt frowns upon using the front page of MeFi for stunts like that. Yeah, I have a particular axe to grind, but I've copped to it and I think that the case against ebk's post stands on its own. And it, in fact, didn't really bother me in the sense that I took it personally. But I thought it was in very bad form. I was surprised no one called him out on it.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:55 PM on June 13, 2004

"You did. Pre-emptively. And your call was noticed."—scarabic

I did? I wrote "Haha. Very funny" in the thread. Is that what you're referring to. Or you mean my prediction of that newsfilter post? But that his post was NewsFilter is only the frosting on the cake. The real point was that he posted it for no other reason than making his little in-joke. And, it was a NewsFilter post. An injoke that was within the site guidelines would be only marginally tolerable, but that it wasn't kinda puts it beyond the pale, doesn't it? It's like someone complaining about goatse posts and someone else immediately posting a FPP goatse post. That's pretty bad behavior.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:59 PM on June 13, 2004

But does it matter? Does it really matter?

I was being a bit cruel when I said "get a life", but there's something in it. Everyone notices your posts. You post in almost every thread. You don't ever seem to leave. Why? You write ten-paragraph essays about issues on MetaTalk. Why?

Take a step back. You and me signed up at about the same time -- difference is, you're still top of the contribution index. You've dived head first into MeFi and you seem to have got stuck, and from some of your posts it seems like you were reading it near-obsessively before that. Have a week off, or something. Go and think about things that matter, instead of a MeFi post that some guy made because he thought it'd be funny.
posted by reklaw at 12:06 AM on June 14, 2004

EB, please don't take this the wrong way, but I think you should understand why you might be getting a less than postive response in many cases to your comments and threads. Speaking as a fellow newbie, and one that's also posted a fair bit since joining in April, you walked right in here and have acted as if you've been a member since day one.

Not that there's anything wrong with being profilic, but you have to understand that you're rubbing a lot of people the wrong way by stating what MeFi is about and what it isn't about after a couple of months of posting. You may be right in much of what you say, but there's still an amount of protocol and heirarchy that goes along with any group, online or not. You wouldn't walk right into a dinner party that you've been invited to and start dominating the conversation and comment on the practices of others would you? And if you do, would you be surprised if some of them are snarky about it? Not that they should be, in a perfect world, or whatever, but face the fact that if you're going to post as often as you do and the way that you do that people are going to jump all over you.

So either suck it up and keep doing what you're doing, or acknowledge that there were 17,000 people here before you. I mean this with as little rudeness as possible, and I know that this has been discussed before, and you've written treatises about the dynamics of online participation. Can you really not see that you're positioning yourself as an alpha dog and all the other alphas don't like it, politesse aside?

And again, with no snarkiness intended, judging by your comments you spend way too much in MetaTalk. No other user in the top 25 has even a 1:1 ratio of Mefi vs. MeTa comments, yours is about 1:1.7.
posted by loquax at 12:09 AM on June 14, 2004

If y'all want to make this thread about me, you should probably start another MeTa post for it. But you might notice that "...you post in almost every thread" isn't true. Sorting the front page by "my last twenty commented threads" gives me twenty threads back to...May 29th. That's sixteen days, meaning I'm commenting in about one and a quarter MeFi threads a day. How do you think that would stack up against some of the people represented in this thread? I probably do, however, comment in about half the MeTa threads.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:13 AM on June 14, 2004

We're making this thread about you because it was self-referential in the first place.
posted by attackthetaxi at 12:19 AM on June 14, 2004

Not really, it wasn't.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:21 AM on June 14, 2004

(Um, well, literally of course it was self-referential. At least my "more inside" comment. But the main subject of the post was not self-referential.)
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:22 AM on June 14, 2004

you should probably start another MeTa post for it

But that's the point right, let and let live. Personally, what you say or do doesn't bother me. A lot of what others say and do does. Some comments I read on here disgust me coming from whatever beliefs and biases that I do, but I wouldn't call neccessarily call anyone out on them. I figure that any comment I can make on here has been made hundreds if not thousands of times by now, and I try to contribute only when I have something really new to add to the discussion. And in matters of MeFi self policing or governing or whatever you want to call it, as a newbie, I figure that a) no one will yet care what I have to say about, and b) I haven't yet earned the right to tell this community what its standards are or should be.

Was eyeballkid out of line by cutting and pasting your comments in his thread? I guess so. Have you been out of line on here in the past? Sure. Everyone has. Calling people out on every little thing diminishes the impact of a call out when it's really deserved. And calling people out on snarkiness only begets more snarkiness.
posted by loquax at 12:23 AM on June 14, 2004

Seriously, there's more than a few people, as loquax says, who'd have a lot to say about me in the proper forum. This thread really isn't it. Feel free to start another one. It'll be cathartic for some, I'm sure.

On preview: EBK's post seems to me to deeply violate the spirit of MeFi, and that's why I think it's unambiguous that it should be called-out. Hell, Matt created MeTa specifically as an outlet for that sort of implicit meta-commentary. EBK slyly got around that restriction. It was a stunt, and that seems like a real abuse of the front page.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:27 AM on June 14, 2004

So all the evidence points to you not actually posting on MeFi that much (so sorry I said "almost every thread")... but posting on MetaTalk a heck of a lot. As loquax says, your ratio of MeFi:MeTa is about 1:1.7. 417 MetaTalk commments (and rising...) to only 270 MetaFilter comments. Granted, some of those are AskMefi, but just look at this list. Not only do you post in most MeTa threads, you post five to ten comments in each one.

Nobody cares about this alleged abuse of the front page. I thought it was quite funny to use your wording, given that the post was inevitably going to be made anyway. And for all you're saying that we shouldn't be discussing you here, don't you remember that your original prediction was off-topic in the MeTa thread it was in?

We're discussing you because this is about you. And does it really matter whether things are in the "wrong thread"? Who does it harm? The Gods of categorisation? People are, to be frank, worried about you. Hanging out in MeTa and leaving five five-paragraph comments on each thread isn't good. Your contribution index goes beyond prolific to become a cause for concern. Every time I come to MetaTalk, I see your name. That's not a good situation.
posted by reklaw at 12:32 AM on June 14, 2004

EBK's post seems to me to deeply violate the spirit of MeFi

It was a stunt,

You don't seem to know much about "spirit of MeFi," do you?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 12:35 AM on June 14, 2004

EB, honestly, I didn't mean to jump on you or attack you. I hope you take whatever I said (and say in the future) in the benign spirit in which it's meant.

And before this turns into a pile up, EB's probably right, this thread isn't the place for it. If people do have a problem with his posting or comments, open a new thread. Or better yet, we should follow our own advice and just let it go, skip the thread or whatever.
posted by loquax at 12:38 AM on June 14, 2004

It was lame and useless that he did it, and everyone knew that it was gonna happen. Who cares? Scroll down or up.
posted by interrobang at 12:40 AM on June 14, 2004

Where ever I scroll, there is Ethereal Bligh. Waiting. Waiting...GAHHHHHH
posted by attackthetaxi at 12:42 AM on June 14, 2004

I did? I wrote "Haha. Very funny" in the thread. Is that what you're referring to. Or you mean my prediction of that newsfilter post?

No, I mean your original predicition. I was there. You totally called it. I thought you got credit for that days ago. As I said, perhaps I haven't read deep enough to judge the nuances you're referring to. Really, though, do you have more to offer than those 3 seemingly unrelated links, 2 of which are to your own comments? I'm scanning through the thread... aha! I see one more link.. but oop! it's to another one of *your* comments. What's the deal, dude?

Seriously: bounce, EB, bounce! It's soooo much better on the other side!

[waiting to catch you]
posted by scarabic at 12:46 AM on June 14, 2004

Good point, attackthetaxi.
posted by interrobang at 12:49 AM on June 14, 2004

Loquax, rest assured that I can tell the difference between friendly (though frank) criticism and someone poking me in the eye because they think it's fun. No worries.

On preview: interrobang, it rankles me because most of the off-charter fpps that get called out are ones where the poster honestly disagrees about what MeFi is or should be all about. Some really want it to be NewsFilter. Some really want it to be BiasFilter. Whatever, they're still posting in somewhat good faith (even if they are contrary to majority opinion). This post, though, was completely in bad-faith. Completely. I dunno, that's my opinion. We'll see what Matt things about it. Given all his various stated opinions and actions in the past (closing commenting on joke/chat threads, discouraging injokes, his posting guidelines, etc.), this post just seems to me to be almost exactly in the sprit of the MetaFilter that Matt doesn't want. And there's a reason I come here and not Fark or wherever.

On second preview: Scarabic, you realize that I didn't actually "call it"? That's the whole point of this thread. I think you're missing the point here.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:50 AM on June 14, 2004

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP.

You talk to much, you jerk. Just shut the hell up.
posted by crunchland at 12:55 AM on June 14, 2004

No, you *did* call it, EB. The fact that it happens is sort of a Camusian "bad faith", but who cares? Most of the stuff that ends up here that sucks really isn't worth complaining about. Look at postroad's posting history.

Everyone's suspicious of you right now not because you post so much, or with such length; it's because you post things like this, which makes it look like you want to draw attention to yourself. I don't think that's what you're doing, but posts like this sure give people that impression. You're like the unfunny quonsar, posting in every thread. That's how it feels.

I don't disagree with you at all, and I said so in the thread where you predicted that the post in question would happen. But complaining about other users' behavior around here is a waste of time.

If you don't like something, ignore it. When the waiter brings the dessert-tray, and it's got fifteen different pies and cakes and tortes on it, and you already know you don't like pears, you're not being forced to eat all fifteen desserts.
posted by interrobang at 12:58 AM on June 14, 2004

Seriously, crunchland, don't call people jerks and tell them to shut up. What's your problem? Why is he a jerk? Because you read every one of his comments? Is he ruining the MeFi experience for you? If you have a problem with him, ignore it or express it in a slightly more constructive (or at least clever) way than "shut the hell up".
posted by loquax at 12:59 AM on June 14, 2004

On second preview: Scarabic, you realize that I didn't actually "call it"? That's the whole point of this thread. I think you're missing the point here.

Yes, in fact, I am totally missing the point. Please explain it to me from the ground up, as if I were a 5 year old, and assuming that I don't read every comment and post on the site. Please avoid using the phrase "scroll up," if possible. Perhaps this is a tall order, but I'm willing to make a long promise in return: I will listen.

Start over.
posted by scarabic at 1:00 AM on June 14, 2004

Scarabic (and interrobang): Maybe I'm just not getting your POV. I predicted a post. EBK didn't like that I predicted the post (and that my prediction was off-topic, apparently), and so he took my comment, with its exact wording, and made the predicted FPP with it, linking to a NYT story he found. He didn't come across the story and go, "Oh, look, this is interesting, I'll post it". He didn't even try to disguise what he did by making it look arguably like a post in good-faith, he deliberately used my exact wording so that the smirk on his face would be obvious to everyone who got the joke. That's what made it a stunt. There's no reason to believe that he cared one whit about the story or the link in question. It was using the front-page for no purpose but making a supposedly clever little in-joke. That's what I mean about the post being in as bad faith as it could be, and that I didn't actually call the post because no one ended up having the chance to make it.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:17 AM on June 14, 2004

Did you e-mail him about it, perchance?
posted by Vidiot at 1:21 AM on June 14, 2004

He didn't do it because he didn't like your post. He did it because HE DID NOT CARE THAT YOU CARED. Calling it out doesn't help. It's not going to make the post go away. He doesn't care that you don't like that he did it, and I'd bet that he might even like it. The post is a troll TO YOU. You're falling for it.
posted by interrobang at 1:22 AM on June 14, 2004

...and for fuck's sake, it'll be gone in 48 hours, and you'll never have to see it again. Big deal. So you have a metafilter-enemy.>/i> I (kinda) I have one, and it doesn't bother me at all. In fact, if I met him in real life, we'd probably clink glasses in a dive in the East Village. It's just a website, and the "front page" having newsfilter posts on it hurts nobody.

Eyeballkid is probably a jerk for doing what he did, but what? Does it curdle your milk or uncork your wine?
posted by interrobang at 1:26 AM on June 14, 2004

Complaining about this is meta-asinine, more than anything else.
posted by interrobang at 1:33 AM on June 14, 2004

Yeah, except that it didn't really get my goat. I didn't call him out when he made the post, nor did I email him, because I didn't take the post as personally as I did it as being thumbing his nose at everyone by making the front-page his playground. I figured someone would call him on it. No one did. As I said earlier, he pissed me off tonight, which seemed reason enough to go ahead and post about it. Vendetta? Well, it depends upon how you look at it. It seems more to me like someone going out of their way to be a jerk and eventually being called on it.

On Preview: I have several MeFi enemies. It does bother me, especially since at least a couple of them are people I used to like a lot, and even now still do, though it's a bit difficult. Yeah, okay, I never should have made this post in this context. It completely distorts it and the ensuing discussion. But I think ebk's post deserves censure, strong censure, completely independently of any issues concerning me. I thought if I copped to why I was tonight motivated to make this post, it would answer that question and put it aside. I didn't expect it would be front-and-center. Stupid of me, probably.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:34 AM on June 14, 2004

he deliberately used my exact wording so that the smirk on his face would be obvious to everyone who got the joke. That's what made it a stunt. There's no reason to believe that he cared one whit about the story or the link in question..

Well... he definitely defied your prediction, but you made that prediction on the grounds that others here would find the subject post-worthy, right? Perhaps he was being snide in using your own words against you while proving you right? This is what I would call disagreeing with you, and being a smart ass. Not bad faith. As for disagreeing with you, it's to be expected on any message board, right? and as for being a smart ass... aw shit. To hell with it.
posted by scarabic at 1:37 AM on June 14, 2004

On Preview: I have several MeFi enemies. It does bother me

Bounce, baby, bounce! Are you hearing me on this?
posted by scarabic at 1:40 AM on June 14, 2004

*heehee*

EB: Not to put to fine a point in it...EBK is making a joke at your expense. That you seem to be getting worked up about it rather than just letting it lie is just compounding the joke.

I imagine EBK would respond in this thread but for the fact that he is bent triple with laughter & is incapable of pressing the keys on his keyboard. [Checks time] Actually, he's probably asleep dreaming of giggling sheep...

[On preview] I have nothing more to add.
posted by i_cola at 1:47 AM on June 14, 2004

He's not conventionally handsome; he'll never be tall.
posted by scarabic at 1:49 AM on June 14, 2004

First: I'm not your MeFi enemy. I'm just sayin'.

Second: It appears from the above discussion so far that EBK's actions didn't piss off everyone, and don't seem to be felt to be "a real abuse of the front page." This isn't a democracy, so it doesn't really matter, but it certainly appears that you're in the minority here.

Third: However, it's obviously pissing you off, regardless of what you say above regarding it not really getting your goat.

Fourth: As several people have said to you nicely, perhaps you're taking this place way too seriously if this is how thick your skin is. (I know, I know...I've posted tearful, heartfelt odes to this site when I thought the spirit of MeFi was in jeopardy, but that's different, dammit.) Making a FPP? Out of legitimate news that is likely to provoke -- and did provoke -- interesting, informed discussion? That's a crime? Okay, it may be Newsfilter, but that's hardly among this site's biggest problems, IMHO.

Fifth: I don't know about all the EBK/EB interactions, and I don't care to go look them up. You say he's your net.enemy. I don't know either of y'all too well, but I'd say that EBK has been consistently gracious, funny, and laid-back in all of our encounters, whether they were in the blue, in the gray, or IRL. I find it hard to believe that he'd maliciously go after you.

Sixth: I'm here because it's fun. If this (not-terribly-out-of-the-ordinary-for-this-place) behavior is causing you not to have fun, maybe you should take a break for a little while. I don't visit the site as often as I used to (mainly because of outside demands on my time, not personality conflicts here), but I find that when I do swing by, the day-to-day flamefests just generally don't bother me and aren't worth joining.

Seventh: What i_cola said. (errr, chiefly the first part of what i_cola said.)
posted by Vidiot at 1:51 AM on June 14, 2004

Eighth: How does he dream? How does he think? When he can't even speak? And he can't even blink?

Ninth: Bounce!
posted by scarabic at 1:57 AM on June 14, 2004

Tenth: Could this guy really be a jerk?
posted by Vidiot at 2:00 AM on June 14, 2004

He's just a little bitty thing. He's just a little guy.
posted by scarabic at 2:02 AM on June 14, 2004

Somebody make a Powerpoint presentation, please.
posted by attackthetaxi at 2:02 AM on June 14, 2004

Christ, look, I don't think of ebk as my MeFi enemy. I have come to think one other person who seems to be stalking me in those terms (but not ebk) and that's who I had in mind when I wrote that above about "enemies". Anyway, there's two separate issues here that I very stupidly implicitly conflated. Ebk's FPP didn't really piss me off in a personal sense, I think I would have been equally annoyed by it had it been someone else than me that he was riffing off of. Since it didn't deeply offend me personally, I wasn't moved to respond to it in any fashion greater than my "Haha, funny" comment in the thread. I really did think someone would call him out on it; and I think no one did because very few knew what it was he had done. Maybe I'm wrong. Yah, I got really mad tonight at ebk because his razzing me in my FPP thread wasn't even in regards to something I feel that I was guilty of (I mean, I am long-winded and whatnot but my comment in this instance wasn't intended in any sense the way he and others took it) and, dammit, there've been a handful of people that have been pretty vocal and personal in insulting me, a few that I've interacted with directly, but others where I've never exchanged words with. And I don't post nearly as much as I used to, not the least because of this criticism. I've totally ignored most of these comments, and have found that, anyway, other people often come to my defense, which is better for everyone all around. Tonight, though ebk's comment was probably one of the least intentionally hurtful comments that have been made, I just lost my patience. You poke someone enough times, they get upset. It's human.

But, anyway, objectively, I still think that ebk's FPP was a strong violation of the site's ethos and stuff like that should be strongly discouraged. It has nothing to do with whether or not he was trolling me. He could have been my best friend and posting it in the most heartfelt best-friend sort of a spirit, and it still would have been an egregiously bad-faith front-page post. The post wasn't in any sense what it was ostensibly about. It was really a too-clever-by-half in-joke. Of course people had things to say on the topic...I did. I figured, hell, the thread was there and as I had said, it's quite interesting. But it would have been a bad NewsFilter post had it been posted in good-faith. But adding insult to injury, it wasn't.

Hell, I'm not even mad anymore. I'm just arguing the case for my MeTa post. Usually, that's what people who make MeTa posts do.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 2:09 AM on June 14, 2004

EB. It's okay. Seriously. You don't need to write a three paragraph dissection of the proceedings every 3 comments to defend yourself.
posted by attackthetaxi at 2:19 AM on June 14, 2004

Mr. Bligh: next time you feel the urge to write something,

DON'T.

Thanks.

If you ask me, EB should be banned from MeTa for his own safety, but still allowed to participate on MeFi proper and AskMe. Does anyone else think this is a good solution?
posted by reklaw at 2:30 AM on June 14, 2004

I do think it's perhaps time to add "chillin'" to the old toolbox. My Tao of MetaFilter comments appear to have all been lost on you, Bligh, but that's about as condensed as they can get.

Further: the admonition to "chill" is not to be equated with an outright rejection of your complaint, which you've articulated well enoguh. It is a sincere suggestion for what would constitute right action on your part from this point forward, not to mention what's probably in your best interest.

*hugs*

*sleeps*
posted by scarabic at 2:46 AM on June 14, 2004

I'm not even mad anymore

you sure about that ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:07 AM on June 14, 2004

God help me, but I actually miss Miguel.

And personally, I think it's funny to think that EB thinks he has 'enemies' here. Nice ego.
posted by Dagobert at 3:31 AM on June 14, 2004

Welcome to your flameout thread, EB. Nurse Konolia will be with you shortly.
posted by PrinceValium at 4:16 AM on June 14, 2004

EB: you don't have enemies around here, just a few people who think your posting style could use some work.

Fewer words and a reduction on the instances of the following words; me, I. It looks rather egotistical to see 4 paragraph meta comments on what you think.

Say it short, say it sweet or don't say it at all. Seems to work around here pretty well. If it's not your personal writing style then you've got your own blog to write on.
posted by dflemingdotorg at 4:22 AM on June 14, 2004

"And personally, I think it's funny to think that EB thinks he has 'enemies' here. Nice ego."—Dagobert

Please. "Enemy" in the sense that that word has a meaning in this context. There's no point in naming names, but there's been a few people that seem to have gone out of their way to very directly and emphatically insult me. As mentioned earlier, I don't actually comment in that many threads in the blue, but you'll find these same few people insulting me in some of those threads and here in MeTa. What's a good word for it?

Look, folks. Get over this idea that I'm an egomaniac or whatever. I'm not. Unlike the rest of you, I don't have a job or any other outside acitivities or interests, I'm a shut-in, basically, I spend all my time on the net. So I'm here (and elsewhere) a lot. I'm long-winded. Not because I think that my words are so important that everyone is expected to stop what they're doing and read them, but just because for a variety of reasons, I am. I am not the least offended that anyone doesn't read my comments because they're too long. Get it? I am not craving attention, I'm not performing for an audience, whatever. I take myself seriously? Yeah, in the sense that I take lots of things seriously and lots of ideas seriously. That's the kind of person I am. Do I expect everyone else to take everything as seriously as I do? Nope. Upon reflecting about these issues, I've decided that I, too, have an instinctive reaction to long-winded, overly serious people where they sort of rub me the wrong way and I think they're full of themselves. I dunno, maybe some of them are. Maybe that supposition is completely reasonable. I don't happen to think that I am, all things considered. I can bend over backward to be self-effacing, and I probably will step up my efforts to do so in the future. But, fuck, the truth is that what everyone is implicitly accusing me of I'm not guilty of. Am I guilty of being long-winded? Yep. Guilty of posting a lot to MeTa? Yep. And let those things bug you on their own terms. But quit reading crap into it that isn't true and then attacking me that basis. I'm sick of it. "Nice ego". Christ. Someone else used the term "enemies", I just picked up the usage. I don't know what's more appropriate to call someone who seems to really, really dislike me. From now on, I'll try and run all my word choices by you guys to make sure they don't strike your sensibilities as being egomaniacal.

On preview: which paragraphs of other people's posts aren't on what they think?
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:32 AM on June 14, 2004

Unlike the rest of you, I don't have a job or any other outside acitivities or interests, I'm a shut-in, basically, I spend all my time on the net.

Why? Don't you think that's a rather unnatural way to live?
posted by reklaw at 4:35 AM on June 14, 2004

Yeah, it's a fucking unnatural way to live. You got a couple of hips and maybe a shoulder and a knee to spare? That'll fix me right up. Huh. It never occured to me that this was not the optimum lifestyle. Thanks, Reklaw! I just needed someone to point that out to me in a patronizing fashion. Who'd a thunk it?
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:41 AM on June 14, 2004

Oddly enough, I'm not familiar with the details of your life. I take it you have some kind of injury that means all you can do is sit at a computer, or something? Do you seriously have absolutely no way of getting away from it for a while?
posted by reklaw at 4:43 AM on June 14, 2004

This thread features the shortest posts from EB I've ever seen. Hell, I can fit some of them into one page on my screen! W00t.
posted by bonaldi at 4:48 AM on June 14, 2004

With all due respect, reklaw, you don't need to know the details of my life to have a sense that implicitly assuming that I'm some freak who's a shut-in by choice might be not your best conversational gambit. And you continue to be patronizing. Stop it.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:49 AM on June 14, 2004

Anyway, whatever. I've made my case about ebk's post, and I've said my piece defending myself against some of the charges made against me in this thread. I've pretty much said everything I've needed to say in this context. Yah, it's hard to resist responding to a new snideswipe¹ at me, but I will. Maybe someone could talk about ebk's post.

1 A useful, initially inadvertent, neologism.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:53 AM on June 14, 2004

Maybe someone could talk about ebk's post

I found it amusing. I think other people did, too.
posted by toby\flat2 at 5:03 AM on June 14, 2004

"I predicted a post. EBK didn't like that I predicted the post, and so he took my comment, with its exact wording, and made the predicted FPP with it"

Huh? That's what all this bullshit is about? Who cares? Seriously. Can I get a show of hands?

Ethereal Bligh - You my friend are fuckwit of the month. And don't fall back on that tired excuse of it all being eyeballkid's fault.

It's you baby. All you.
posted by y6y6y6 at 5:04 AM on June 14, 2004

With all due respect, reklaw, you don't need to know the details of my life to have a sense that implicitly assuming that I'm some freak who's a shut-in by choice might be not your best conversational gambit. And you continue to be patronizing. Stop it.

So I make a perfectly valid criticism of you, and you just whip out the "omg you're picking on a cripple" card and then refuse to elaborate? Nice. If you want sympathy or special treatment, then explain. If you don't, don't. Oh, and you've called me "patronising" twice, but I'm being about one thousandth as partonising as you always are.

No matter what your situation, I refuse to believe that you have no choice but to post to MetaTalk all day. After all, what did you do before you joined MeFi? I'm sure you have more fruitful, important or interesting things that you could be doing. Go do them.
posted by reklaw at 5:08 AM on June 14, 2004

Yeah, it was pretty funny. It also didn't link to your comment or call you out by name, so I wouldn't have known/remembered that he "quoted" you without you dragging this whole business into metatalk.

If you are protesting against RunningMateFilter in general, you have an uphill battle.
posted by PrinceValium at 5:08 AM on June 14, 2004

Well, this is a train wreck of a thread, and no mistake.

posted by seanyboy at 5:19 AM on June 14, 2004

EB. Patronising is when ... you ... talk ... down ... to .... somebody. HmmmKay.
posted by seanyboy at 5:20 AM on June 14, 2004

A/ I didn't catch the depth of EBK's snark in the original post.
B/ Now that you've pointed it out, I think it's vastly amusing, not some sort of crime against humanity.
C/ I thought the actual thread turned out quite well for a newsfilter post. Civil and interesting discussion, at least for political junkies.
D/ This call out is far more egregious than the post you are complaining about. You objected to the original post being a personal joke, but this is a personal whinge prompted by - at your own admission - another transgression altogether. Puh-leeze.


EB - with all due respect, loquax so perfectly echoed what has been bugging me about your posts that I will repeat it here:

you're rubbing a lot of people the wrong way by stating what MeFi is about and what it isn't about after a couple of months of posting. ..... You wouldn't walk right into a dinner party that you've been invited to and start dominating the conversation and comment on the practices of others would you?

Of course everyone has a right to complain about whatever he wants to, but when you walk in here with such a pompous, officious attitude, people are going to start taking potshots.
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:40 AM on June 14, 2004

fwiw, I snapped. It was late, I was tired, and I snapped. I shouldn't have told EB to shut up, and I shouldn't have called him a jerk .... even if he should, and he is. Some things are better left unsaid.
posted by crunchland at 5:56 AM on June 14, 2004

Tenth: Could this guy really be a jerk?



Do you people really think that ebk's agenda is to make front page posts to piss off Ethereal Bligh? He's part of the enemy's shock troops, designed to stir up trouble and distract people from the real issues at hand. You'll all wake up on November 3rd and there'll be ebk laughing at you because his plan has worked!

(In answer to your question, Vidiot: Yes...yes he just could be. Take away his pudding and )
posted by filmgoerjuan at 6:37 AM on June 14, 2004

and have found that, anyway, other people often come to my defense, which is better for everyone all around

Y'hear that, y'all? What's good for Ethereal Bligh is good for the world!
posted by IshmaelGraves at 6:42 AM on June 14, 2004

Is EBK's right Bush finger significantly longer than his left? Is this a common abnormality in deep-cover mole Bushistas?
posted by taz at 6:50 AM on June 14, 2004

I predicted the post (and that my prediction was off-topic, apparently), and so he took my comment, with its exact wording, and made the predicted FPP with it, linking to a NYT story he found.

EB, you predicted that the post would be made, but that prediction was no supernatural demonstration; all big news stories, especially political ones, get posted to metafilter. Some people don't like this, some people do, but the fact is, even if only a small portion of the active members are in favor of newsfilter, they will post those links, and others will discuss them. I'm one of (probably many) middle-grounders who would not post a newsfilter link, but happily engage in the conversation of the news links I find to foster good discussion. (The discussion in the mccain thread was reasonably interesting & it is not a terrible shame that it was posted.)

He didn't come across the story and go, "Oh, look, this is interesting, I'll post it". He didn't even try to disguise what he did by making it look arguably like a post in good-faith, he deliberately used my exact wording so that the smirk on his face would be obvious to everyone who got the joke. That's what made it a stunt. There's no reason to believe that he cared one whit about the story or the link in question.

ebk knew also, like you and pretty much everyone around here, that the post would inevitably be made. He chose to make it in a manner that would also be a little inside joke at your expense. There is also no reason to believe, as you seem to, that he made the post only to rile you up. It was going to be made. He may have felt it was particularly interesting.

It's also possible that he wouldn't have made (though someone was sure to) the post if he didn't also have a little joke to make, but the way to tell if an "in-joke" is going too far is if the thread is full of people going "what the hell?" which this wasn't (not because everyone was in on it, but because it was kinda a meta-level joke; the post was legitimate by current standards as it was).
posted by mdn at 6:58 AM on June 14, 2004

Always knew dat eyeballkid was hella bad.
posted by dong_resin at 7:14 AM on June 14, 2004

*claps*

Encore! Enore!

*whistle*

This thread was a lot of fun to read. It had Drama! Action! Comedy! What more could anyone ask for! 5/5 stars!
posted by Quartermass at 7:16 AM on June 14, 2004

Is EBK's right Bush finger significantly longer than his left?

I think it is, taz, and you know what they say about guys with long right middle fingers. Hubba hubba.
posted by iconomy at 7:17 AM on June 14, 2004

And by the way, thanks to filmgoerjuan for that decidedly NSFW image that I just scrolled past AT WORK.

Next time I run into you on #mefi, you and me gonna fight.

I am planning to make a bumper sticker out of that, though. I'll start plastering it on all the cars in my neighborhood, especially those who already have Bush-Cheney stickers.
posted by deadcowdan at 7:18 AM on June 14, 2004

deadcowdan, look closer - those are fingers.
posted by PrinceValium at 7:29 AM on June 14, 2004

Quartermass: hear, hear.

I give this thread two middle fingers up! One of them way, way up!

From here, this was a misunderstanding between two people I pretty much respect in every interaction I've had with them (I too will give EBK a good reference any time, and EB... well, he could stand to open a window every once in a while, but he seems thoughtful and benefit-of-the-doubt-worthy). A group hug might not be necessary, but one of you two hooligans needs to buy the other a drink. Or, in case of Portuguese influence (Miguel?), some of the sticky-icky.

(And now, bouncing!)
posted by chicobangs at 7:42 AM on June 14, 2004

my name is quonsar, and i approved this thread.
posted by quonsar at 7:50 AM on June 14, 2004

It's like reading old Migs threads. Only sassy.
posted by darukaru at 8:06 AM on June 14, 2004

*cries, strangles the baby jesus, kicks a puppy, cries some more*
posted by t r a c y at 8:34 AM on June 14, 2004

/me removes all names from Anal Twit list, retitles it to Anal Twit Supreme, inserts Ethereal Bligh

As for you eyeballkid: Cool! ;-P
posted by mischief at 8:42 AM on June 14, 2004

EB:

Seriously:

The frequency and length of your comments are going to make you nearly universally hated on MeFi if you don't tone it down. Listen to the criticism. Slow it up a bit.

It's like reading old Migs threads. Only sassy.

Miguel has publishing creds as well as a fan base on MeFi to balance his detractors, and he still has been bashed incredibly for being less loquatious than you. You haven't garnered fans and I don't know of your creds.

Stop now before you become the MeFi whipping boy, in stockade, fruit flying from all directions. Or ignore the rotten tomatoes the way you have been and risk becoming the resident joke.

Just chill.
posted by Shane at 9:01 AM on June 14, 2004

X'D

EBK IN 2008!
posted by Stynxno at 9:06 AM on June 14, 2004

He does get extra points, for playing the sympathy card, though.
posted by crunchland at 9:21 AM on June 14, 2004

I'm going to reprint CunningLinguist's summary here because it's so well said:

A/ I didn't catch the depth of EBK's snark in the original post.
B/ Now that you've pointed it out, I think it's vastly amusing, not some sort of crime against humanity.
C/ I thought the actual thread turned out quite well for a newsfilter post. Civil and interesting discussion, at least for political junkies.
D/ This call out is far more egregious than the post you are complaining about. You objected to the original post being a personal joke, but this is a personal whinge prompted by - at your own admission - another transgression altogether. Puh-leeze.

All of that is dead-on, EB. It's time for you to stop repeating your justifications and realize that nobody agrees with you and that this was a bad MeTa post. And, as everybody else has said, chill. Everybody seems to like you well enough (I certainly do, insofar as one can like an ethereal presence), but you should make an effort to see yoursel' as ithers see you.

I'm missing Migs more every day.
posted by languagehat at 9:27 AM on June 14, 2004

Sit between two mirrors and the back of your head recedes into infinity.
posted by y2karl at 9:40 AM on June 14, 2004

I know I'm a little late to the party and we're quickly nearing the point of reaching for the syrup bottle, but I wanted to jump in with a quick defense of EB.

The good Lord knows EB and I have bumped heads once or twice and in my opinion the points about his posting style are valid. However, what we have here is the rarest of the rare, someone who cares more about the community than the content of a particular front page post. That's not a bad thing. I wouldn't want more than a couple of EB's (okay, more than one) but he's trying, in his own way, to make this a better place. The delivery could stand a bit of work, but the vast majority of what he says is sound, at least I think so.
posted by cedar at 9:42 AM on June 14, 2004

posted by y2karl at 9:57 AM on June 14, 2004

You don't ever seem to leave. Why?

That question could equally apply to scores of members, yet you choose to isolate EB only with your question. Why?
posted by rushmc at 10:11 AM on June 14, 2004

y2k: hah! I was beginning to feel like a jerk for even lightly skimming this thread, but the Escher pic makes it all worth it. I say again sir: hah! hahHAH even!
posted by freebird at 10:16 AM on June 14, 2004

Look! It's Alanis Morrissette on the monkey bars!!!
posted by trharlan at 10:45 AM on June 14, 2004

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posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:13 AM on June 14, 2004

I believe the specifics of what Ethereal Bligh has chosen to call out are benign, but only in so much as this thing is commonly accepted on MeFi, despite whether it's right or productive. eyeballkid's post, while of low quality in general, does rise above the bar of what seems to be acceptable for FPP these days.

(On a side note, I feel it's necessary to state that no offense is intended, EBK. Some background work would not have been difficult and would have given greater context to why this was suddenly news again. McCain had, months ago, already stated he'd not run as VP, much like he said four years ago when the news media fell in love with the possibility Bush would pick him as a running mate. There's a considerable amount of spin on this story and in that context would have made for some interesting comments from MeFi conservative and liberal pundits. As it was presented, I didn't find the FPP interesting, but I happily ignored it and didn't find it bothersome in the least. It just didn't engage me.)

What I believe EB is responding to is a considerable amount of backlash against him this past week or so. What started out as an irritating drip of outright dismissal of his opinion simply because it was he who posted it, has turned into a steady flow. Instead of recognizing the greater issue, EB chose to point out a specific issue. In response to his call out, this thread has become a massive and unnecessary pile on and is an example of the issue at large. The second comment illustrates this, as do many of the posts in this thread:

And what would you like us to do about it? (1)

It seems to me that EB wanted to discuss something, brought it to MeTa and got trashed. I'm certain that's not what he wanted.

The frequency and length of your comments are going to make you nearly universally hated on MeFi if you don't tone it down. Listen to the criticism. Slow it up a bit. (2)

The notion that he should post less and shorter comments is not genuine advice, but perhaps stepping back and letting go of some of the emotion is. Perhaps some of the outpouring of comments from EB is related to being throttled by the silence of not having membership at Metafilter for a period of time. He was not as prolific of a poster on MonkeyFilter or even at The Complex Now, where he seems to have more of a personal stake.

But I think ebk's post deserves censure, strong censure, completely independently of any issues concerning me. (3)

EB, I don't think more rules and punishment will make Metafilter a better place for you or for anyone. On the other hand, an even handed application of the existing rules would. As much as I don't believe people should be attacking each other off topic, it's been allowed repeatedly. EBK should not be punished, he's really a good guy.

(And on that note, EB, come back to #mefi. I can't promise it will be pain free, but it would be nice to see you there again. I've been looking for you there this past week.)

The greater issue of pressure building up against you needs to be met with some compromise on your part. I don't propose you care less, post less or change how you post. Instead, you do need to let go of some of the emotion. You do need to realize that in as much as there are childish and personal attacks on you, typing comments on the internet does invite this sort of thing. Please, let some of the steam go, somehow. If you're ever in Western MA, beer is on me. :-) And as for the rest of you, let up. (And if you're in Western MA, beer is on me.) Since it's become evident that he's taken this personally, it should be clear that this is not an opportunity to hurt him more.
posted by sequential at 11:25 AM on June 14, 2004

I have several MeFi enemies.
Are you sure – maybe you’re the new kid on the arguing block site.
posted by thomcatspike at 11:27 AM on June 14, 2004

I'll only repeat that what seems wrong to me about ebk's post has little to do with me and, anyway, I wasn't offended personally by it. I thought it was funny, too, really. But, again, that sort of post seems to me to be much worse, in a subtle, insidious way, than most of the FPPs that get complained about here on MeTa. The antics of the two users whose names escape me at the moment are another example of this sort of thing. For my part, I can see the allure of writing a post for no other reason than to make some clever subtextual (and possibly MeFi injokish) point—and I've probably considered it at some time or another. But it strikes me as one of the most egregiously bad-faith things I could do on MetaFilter. I'd never do it, though I'd want to.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:19 PM on June 14, 2004

I've done it. Re: Googling for posts is pretty sad. I can't believe it took almost a year for "cargo cults" to show up.
posted by taz at 12:48 PM on June 14, 2004

This isn't real. This is text.
posted by mmcg at 12:57 PM on June 14, 2004

Just to add a grain of rice to EB's side of the scale, I think that eyeballkid's post was lame as a plain NewsFilter post, and doubly lame as a snark-off to the "prediciton" in meta. Yeah, EB talks a lot - I narrowly refrained from posting some "enough, already!" messages when he started up - but for the most part, I think he's got interesting things to say, so, you know, enough, already.
posted by majcher at 1:01 PM on June 14, 2004

"God help me, but I actually miss Miguel. -posted by Dagobert"

Where IS Miguel? Did he have a Big Farewell that I missed somewhere? (please link, if so?) Because as much as he often drove me crazy I think he could pop in and have a bit to say about all this.

EB, chill. Remember a couple days ago you misinterpreted me? This is the kind of thing some of the commenters here are talking about.

Laugh it all off. ebk's is not the Post That Will Destroy MeFi. Not even tarnish it a tad. There have been worse. And yes, it is All About You - don't you realize that most MetaTalk posts work that way? Or end up that way, anyhow.
posted by batgrlHG at 1:05 PM on June 14, 2004

ebk's is not the Post That Will Destroy MeFi.

That post is strapped to a gurney in my basement laboratory/rec room, waiting for a strong enough lightning storm.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 1:13 PM on June 14, 2004

I wasn't moved to respond to it in any fashion greater than my "Haha, funny" comment in the thread.

And all this time I thought your, "Haha, funny," Comment was referring to this pre-emptive comment from ebk's thread.
posted by jmd82 at 1:33 PM on June 14, 2004

Let's see -- an in-joke, in the form of a thread that would've inevitably been posted anyway, framed in such a way that those who didn't get the in-joke wouldn't even have known they were missing anything.

Yeah, that's real fucking egregious.

(Count me as one more of the people who's completely lost patience with you over the course of this thread, EB, for what little that's worth. It's not that you talk too much; it's that you seem relentlessly impervious to the responses.)
posted by ook at 1:38 PM on June 14, 2004

Well, this has been fun. Anyone have any soothing ointment for my asspain? Who's up for sluts and plants? I'm buying. C'mon. I promise I won't lecture anyone...much.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 2:02 PM on June 14, 2004

#mefi - June 14, 2004 - 22:59 PST
[22:59] * eyeballkid wonders if he should make a metatalk post about eb's profanity.
[23:00] <malphigian> i'd give even odds that post would quickly turn on you ebk
[23:00] <Ethereal_Bligh> Do what ever the fuck you want, ebk. It'll be amusing. I imagine you'll be surprised at the response.

Metafilter: ironic playground.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:35 PM on June 14, 2004

(June 13, that should be)
posted by eyeballkid at 2:36 PM on June 14, 2004

Put me in the distinct minority that considers EBK's behavior well worth a call-out (considering his 10 front-page posting history, I'd call plagiarism on him at the very least), but not worth the 1000+ words EB used to explain/defend himself.

Let's face it, EBK is jealous of EB based on the acronym confusability alone. Not to mention the fact that 'ethereal' made the runner-up list of Merriam-Webster's Favorite Word List, while 'eyeball' did not.

I understand EBK's point of view, having my own issues, with username Witty, since WendellWit.com is my alternate identity, but then, Witty is several times the asshat that Bligh is, but I haven't gotten into pissing matches with him (until now).
posted by wendell at 2:39 PM on June 14, 2004

comment
posted by JohnR at 2:45 PM on June 14, 2004

The frequency and length of your comments are going to make you nearly universally hated on MeFi

Yes, dammit. We illiterates only tolerate comments of three sentences or less. And don't go usin' none o' yer big-ass fancy-dan WORDS, neither!!

It was long-since established that the ideal Mefi comment is as follows:

.
posted by rushmc at 3:55 PM on June 14, 2004

Let's face it, EBK is jealous of EB based on the acronym confusability alone

We illiterates only tolerate comments of three sentences or less.

My initials are EB, and a nickname my grandfather gave me. I want in on this bloodfeast. Dammit.
posted by WolfDaddy at 4:09 PM on June 14, 2004

don't shoot your load yet, Wolf--there'll be other opportunities, with other people.

EB, I'm sorry you were piled-on, and agree that people shouldn't make a post just to shit on someone else's post or comment, or as a supposedly witty move--and it's been done by David Dark more than once already, so doing it now puts whoever does it into the same league as him, as i see it. It's rarely as funny or as clever as the person doing it thinks it is.
posted by amberglow at 4:31 PM on June 14, 2004

don't shoot your load yet, Wolf--there'll be other opportunities, with other people.

Gettin' all Dan Savage now, are we?
posted by y2karl at 5:07 PM on June 14, 2004

Wait, what happened to Migs? I was internet-less for like, a week, and now he's gone? Sabbatical?

EB, your posts are long. But I still like you. Don't flame out, or, if you do, take someone else with you for a week or two.

Most good flameouts try to take quonsar with'em.
posted by graventy at 5:13 PM on June 14, 2004

Gettin' all Dan Savage now, are we?

Yup...next i'll give someone the flu by licking all the doorknobs here ; >
posted by amberglow at 5:41 PM on June 14, 2004

I love each and every one of you.
posted by adampsyche at 6:25 PM on June 14, 2004

"I love each and every one of you."—adampsyche

So does Jesus, and look at the reception he gets around here. Fuck off.¹

1 That was, um, supposed to be the punchline of the joke. I don't really mean it. Except to you know who. (Voldemort)
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 6:45 PM on June 14, 2004

I'd like to take this opportunity to give my thanks to heyadam for keeping Witty off my ass by waving some shiny things in front of him.
posted by wendell at 7:37 PM on June 14, 2004

Witty needs a smack.
posted by amberglow at 8:06 PM on June 14, 2004

I don't know when I turned into such a jerk, but it must've happened because look at me now. EB, I owe you an apology, my little rant back there had much more to do with the rest of my day than with anything about you. Sorry.
posted by ook at 8:43 PM on June 14, 2004

It's making me kind of nervous that Miguel hasn't dropped by to offer EB some pointers. I mean, we've invoked his name more than three times - where is the guy? This silence seems abnormal...
posted by batgrlHG at 8:54 PM on June 14, 2004

Ook: that's okay, it was one of those threads.

Um, I really and truly want to sincerely thank everyone in this thread that offered constructive criticism and meant no ill-will. Several of you apologized for doing so, which is, um, ironic. And to those who actually said things muchly with ill-will, well, um, I ain't happy about it (who would be?) but I'm prepared to accept that in some sense you're not totally responsible for it. Or something. Well, being a jerk, even when justified and even when someone is asking for it, is still something one should take full responsibility for, but you know what I mean. There's like a mix of things I do that are indisputably annoying and objectionable and are things I should try to change, and then there are other things that, I think, are perhaps not things that are inherently vices so much as they are edges that scrape badly against other people's edges. But in both cases, people react the way people react—I do it, too. For example, there's a moderator on TWoP who annoys me beyond all reason—I'm just sure that my intense dislike of her is justified and rational; but, at the same time, it's so intense and not shared by everyone that...well, maybe it's partly me, too. At least. Anyway. I really think people should regret being willfully hurtful; but I don't think anyone should regret (or apologize for) being annoyed.

And see? That was too wordy and long-winded for many, I'm sure. But I am who I am. Some things aren't going to change too much.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 9:20 PM on June 14, 2004

blah blah woof woof yadda yadda yadda.
posted by quonsar at 9:37 PM on June 14, 2004

posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:42 PM on June 14, 2004

Y'know, I think I went through a half gallon of rainbow sherbet during this thread. P_G's little pic just made me snarf it all up. Through my nostrils. Pretty colors! Bounce bounce bounce bounce.
posted by WolfDaddy at 10:04 PM on June 14, 2004

SA .gif?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:35 PM on June 14, 2004

Two EBs enter, one EB leaves.
posted by interrobang at 12:33 AM on June 15, 2004

I mean, we've invoked his name more than three times - where is the guy?

Um, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beet...

Most good flameouts try to take quonsar with'em.

quonsar, I could use a break. Wanna have a pissing match? It'll be good fun and get us outta here for a week or two.

You asshat.
posted by Shane at 8:02 AM on June 15, 2004

Apparently Miguel is on holiday.
Darn. I was kinda hoping he and EB could get in here and attempt tp out-lengthy-comment each other to the amusement of all, and then we could all trade drink recipes before this goes off the front page. Ah well.
posted by batgrlHG at 8:25 AM on June 15, 2004