Dear ILE - a plea

anyway, i think ilx is at its best when it sticks to ANSWERING tHE QUESTION (you know, the bit at the top) and goes off course when it becomes about talking about other posters. The good posts in this thread are about the topic. The bad ones are about poster x and whether or not they are y.

i've got half a mind to ask mods to remove any personally directed posts on the main boards, at least for a bit. Unless the thread is about a particular person, natch.

attack someone's ideas, not them.

-WDYLL?

-can't say

A ban on off-topic might be nice, but then, off-topic can be fun. Oh, I don't bloody know.

Why is there no going back, particularly on the boards that could by now fit into one thread? What's the moral force behind 'should' there? I just don't get your viewpoint.

I haven't been posting much because I haven't noticed many threads that make me think or capture my attention or make me want to write a post longer than a few lines. I don't know if others feel the same.

I think the result of that is the shorter more smart assed post, which can be funny.

Some of the recent fights have been kind of insane I guess, but I'm not sure are they actually more ramped up than before, or, and this is crucial, are there just more layers to the onion that is the board now. What I mean is are people so disconnected from whatever idea they have of ILX in their heads, and are there so many posters now, that these huge fights appear even crazier because they don't know those engaging in them, or they seem distant.

Sometimes I think I get this, all of a sudden everyone is all "louis jagger wtf" or yesterday's row, and you think "right then...hmmm" and have no real idea what to contribute.

x-post some posters were so beautiful that god had to call them back to his arms

-WDYLL?

-can't say
1. That's talking about yourself, which is surely OK. Posting on a WDYLL "you're an ugly shite" == not OK. And also, like I said, you can talk about someone when they're the subject of the thread (eg "What do I do about my X?")

um hello what is the "topic" of the local/clique threads exactly?
um, hi, part of the problem is that because people are too wary to use the open thread they're clustering into the fucking cliques! But, surely the topic of the DC thread is life as lived by the people in DC, no? I mean, the local threads (that I've read) are almost free of vicious attacks on other people in the thread. Which is presumably partly why they're so popular.

millions of xposts and Laurel OTM

The Natural Life Cycle of Mailing Lists

Exactly, that's the flaw in the argument. And making them exempt wouldn't work cos a rule with exeptions is no rule at all.

I would be in favour of a "DON'T BE A DICK" rule, but one person's dickish behaviour is another person's valiant defender of truth and honour.

Maybe an "IGNORE THE DICK" rule. If someone's being a dick, ignore them. No-one likes being ignored, and so the horrible people would go away and the nice people would stay being nice. How's that?

Unless there is some kind of way a majority can register their support to have the under-subscribed boards ditched, and then Stet or whoever can act on that, it seems an irreversible process.

And why are you assuming that just because I wrote 'should' I feel I have the moral high ground?

What do you actually think should happen? Leave things as they are? If it is broke don't try and fix it as you'll only end up with a different kind of broken?

even if dom puts a pic up?

Unenforceable, unworkable.

You can't really do that but not direct it at somebody in particular.

And as OTM as Laurel may be, it's asking a lot of moderators to police the boards for anyone talking about ILX, tho i guess meta threads could be zapped easily enough.

What if people who love books or cooking or whatever just start posting their threads on ILE? Why does it need to be so official?

A personal attack on an annoying dick isn't going to make them shut up or stop, it's just going to increase the amount of bickering and insulting on the boards!

xpost
And as OTM as Laurel may be, it's asking a lot of moderators to police the boards for anyone talking about ILX, tho i guess meta threads could be zapped easily enough.
Yeh, talking about ILX is probably OK, if a bit dull. Talking (shit) about other posters isn't.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/170/381843130_1b9c23ee39.jpg

(And don't say that there is one on Firefox, blah blah)

xpostx2

What if people who love books or cooking or whatever just start posting their threads on ILE? Why does it need to be so official?

-- ledge (tomdotledge...)

otm -- also i don't dislike ILF but that's exactly what's happened so it may as well not exist.

I think the reason local threads are fight free is just familiarity. That's the same reason football threads are some of the most enjoyable, even though I'm no expert I find myself posting on them more because at least there is banter, and it's fairly constant (eg Liverpool always shit etc)

I also get this from ILM despite all the criticisms.

It's quite crazy really to think that ILE, a board which is so open ended in terms of topic, has managed to provide a sense of this familiarity or community in the past, and still does.

I think if people really want a change to the board then they have to give some of their brains to it, and start interesting threads, not attempt to regulate it.

Maybe a lot of people are busy and check in now and again and find nothing to post about. I don't know if it's a way back in but lately if I'm bored and want to have a chat on ILE I start a thread, something stupid, eg Oatibix. Selfish maybe to just use the board this way but it keeps links with people I suppose.

ROFL.

when did '133t' speak take off on ILE anyway?

Before you were here. wink wink I remember when Mark S and Starry would interact and I was like: WTF are they SAYING? Those were the days (that I found ILM very intellectually challenging hence my sporadic postings; it was just so daunting/interesting).

I don't think that ILX has gone down the dumpster really. There are much less intellectual (*cough* *cough*) threads but that has more to do with the evolution towards just knowing eachother and being pally. I can'yt imagine having intell. conversations with my husband all the time, really.

I dislike the fact that some things have splintered off, cooking, books and film belong here really. Cooking would get so much more traffic if it just kept it's threads on the main board.

VERY much OT(f)M.

Ian Riese-Moraine is the first to come to mind. Of course, the bullys might say he wasn't enriching and worthwhile, which is the reason they were mean to him, but why is up to them to decide? Anyway, there are probably many other posters who have left because of this, it's just that people probably drift off gradually instead of posting a message saying "I'M LEAVING AND THE REASON IS THIS". And no doubt there are many posters (myself included) who post less these days because of the meanness.

Or, y'know, people could stop talking about books on ILB and start a thread on ILE, as has happened.

And why are you assuming that just because I wrote 'should' I feel I have the moral high ground?

Well I thought it was strange for you to be taking a moral stance on anything, mostly you're just "This is what everyone does, why change it?"! And particularly on this, where you're going "this is happening, so we should do this more", but missing the clause about whether it's working. You're beginning to sound like you started from the Bold Step and worked backwards.

What do you actually think should happen? Leave things as they are? If it is broke don't try and fix it as you'll only end up with a different kind of broken?

Dude, I didn't say any of this. I just don't think there's any serious movement away from a core ILE. Or at least, none compared with 6 months ago.

I never had it to lose.

I think partly for the reasons I described above (also because ILB used to be a pretty robust separate site). If I start a thread about a specific book on ILB, I can be fairly confident that no-one's going to image flood it or start a row on it, because those things don't happen there.

Sadly, posting doesn't seem to happen there anymore either, so maybe it should be chopped. I don't know. It's not my board.