As much ROFF as anything

Ken Fortenberry wrote:

Exactly. It's fun, it's entertaining,

Well, it is nice to know that one has friends of course, but I can´t see
much sense in baiting them, and even less fun in it. That one feels obliged
to refute lies, or slurs, and even rank idiocy, is clear enough, and I have
no argument with that. But friends would not do that to each other anyway?
Even should a friend make a mistake, this would not normally result in any
serious castigation?

Just as an aside really, it seems to me that the longer some people are
here, the worse the baiting becomes. A case perhaps, of familiarity breeding
contempt?

Whatever. Back to occasional lurking.

TL
MC

Conan the Librarian wrote:
Ken Fortenberry wrote:
Mike Connor wrote:
snip
It may well be that we can´t all just get along. Assuming such to be the
case, then why are we all here? Just to waste time with absolutely
hopeless
"sounding-off"?

Exactly. It's fun, it's entertaining,

I'm probably going to regret this, but I am curious about that
statement. ...

Well, I find roff fun and entertaining but an enormous waste of time.
But being an enormous waste of time is a big part of why it's fun and
entertaining. I mean, I come here precisely because I want to take a
little break from the drudgery of wordsmithing and waste a little time.

... But the part I don't get is the veiled
(or sometimes, not-so-veiled) threats of physical violence ...

I absolutely agree. Besides being ridiculous, issuing threats of
physical violence is one of the things that is specifically
prohibited on virtually every ISPs Terms of Agreement. (You can
eliminate the vast majority of them that you see on roff just by
sticking Opie in your killfile.)

This is not directed (just) at you, Ken, but since you brought up the
idea of friends: It sure seems like a number of folks here have gone
out of their way to alienate any possible friends they might have had here.

There's very few folks here who could ever be a close friend of mine.
The overwhelming majority are decent enough fellows with whom I would
be happy to share a stream and a beer at some point and then there's
a very small few with whom I wouldn't want to associate under any
circumstances. Just like "real" life off of Usenet, right ?

Then what will you be left with?

Well, it'll always be an enormous waste of time, it's got that going
for it. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

Ken Fortenberry wrote:

Mike Connor wrote:

snip
It may well be that we can´t all just get along. Assuming such to be the
case, then why are we all here? Just to waste time with absolutely
hopeless
"sounding-off"?


Exactly. It's fun, it's entertaining,

I'm probably going to regret this, but I am curious about that
statement. I agree that some of the banter and the intellectual
jousting can be entertaining. But the part I don't get is the veiled
(or sometimes, not-so-veiled) threats of physical violence and the
insults that resemble schoolyard taunting.

It doesn't bother me in the sense that I'm offended, it just doesn't
make a lot of sense to me. I've been around newsgroups since 1991, and
spent a good bit of time on political groups, so I've seen my fair share
of the good, bad and ugly (mostly ugly). But I came to expect the worst
when the only common ground those folks had was their hatred of the
opposite side.

Here we supposedly have a common love of ff'ing, and in fact, most
of the participants in the most egregious name-calling have fished
together (and apparently, in some cases even enjoyed it). That's the
part I don't get, and can't really find humor in.

I still follow (most of) the threads, so I guess it's at least
intriguing (in a car-wreck-by-the-highway sense), but why is it
entertaining to call your fellow flyfisherman a poopie head?

Yeah, it's a waste of time, but so long as you have friends here,
and I most definitely and emphatically consider you a friend, it's
not meaningless.

This is not directed (just) at you, Ken, but since you brought up
the idea of friends: It sure seems like a number of folks here have
gone out of their way to alienate any possible friends they might have
had here.

Then what will you be left with?


Chuck Vance

Mike Connor wrote:


Don´t really know why I even bother ... posting at all anymore. Like
a number of other things it has become almost meaningless.

not so to some here. i've learned a good bit from your posts and enjoyed
your rhymes...

but, it is eerie here at times, almost "lord of the flies" strange.
still, i've had my fill of the arrogant, hypocritical asshole....

jeff

Jeff Miller wrote:
Mike Connor wrote:
Don´t really know why I even bother ... posting at all anymore. Like
a number of other things it has become almost meaningless.

not so to some here. i've learned a good bit from your posts and enjoyed
your rhymes...

but, it is eerie here at times, almost "lord of the flies" strange.
still, i've had my fill of the arrogant, hypocritical asshole....

And I of pertinacious pricks who persist in rude Usenet behavior.
But not this time. Why no top-posting this time ?

--
Ken Fortenberry

....well, i was feeling polite, smart, and energetic. fortunately, it
was fleeting...

and, btw, i'm ashamed for not having said this sooner... i'm privileged
to know and to consider joe macintosh as my friend. he's as fine a
fellow and fishing companion as one could hope to find...and, i hope to
spend many more days in his company. the sight of joe sitting on a rock
or log by a trout stream eating sardines is a pleasing one, and,
thankfully, it's a gift i've enjoyed on more than one occasion.

jeff

Ken Fortenberry wrote:




And I of pertinacious pricks who persist in rude Usenet behavior.
But not this time. Why no top-posting this time ?

....well, i was feeling polite, smart, and energetic. fortunately, it
was fleeting...

and, btw, i'm ashamed for not having said this sooner... i'm privileged
to know and to consider joe macintosh as my friend. he's as fine a
fellow and fishing companion as one could hope to find...and, i hope to
spend many more days in his company. the sight of joe sitting on a rock
or log by a trout stream eating sardines is a pleasing one, and,
thankfully, it's a gift i've enjoyed on more than one occasion.

jeff

Ken Fortenberry wrote:




And I of pertinacious pricks who persist in rude Usenet behavior.
But not this time. Why no top-posting this time ?

Jeff Miller wrote:
Mike Connor wrote:
Don´t really know why I even bother ... posting at all anymore. Like
a number of other things it has become almost meaningless.

not so to some here. i've learned a good bit from your posts and enjoyed
your rhymes...

but, it is eerie here at times, almost "lord of the flies" strange.
still, i've had my fill of the arrogant, hypocritical asshole....

And I of pertinacious pricks who persist in rude Usenet behavior.
But not this time. Why no top-posting this time ?

--
Ken Fortenberry

Mike Connor wrote:
snip
It may well be that we can´t all just get along. Assuming such to be the
case, then why are we all here? Just to waste time with absolutely hopeless
"sounding-off"?

Exactly. It's fun, it's entertaining, and it costs nothing because
I use DSL for work anyway. It's ALL about wasting time. And don't
say that like it's a bad thing, we all obviously have loads of time
to waste.

... Like
a number of other things it has become almost meaningless.

Yeah, it's a waste of time, but so long as you have friends here,
and I most definitely and emphatically consider you a friend, it's
not meaningless.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Mike Connor wrote:


Don´t really know why I even bother ... posting at all anymore. Like
a number of other things it has become almost meaningless.

not so to some here. i've learned a good bit from your posts and enjoyed
your rhymes...

but, it is eerie here at times, almost "lord of the flies" strange.
still, i've had my fill of the arrogant, hypocritical asshole....

jeff