Dear ILE - a plea

obviously that was never going to last forever - it's 5 years later and ILX is huge now. I think it is true that a lot of ILE has turned into a huge zing-fest, which is a bit if it makes people ignore the really good bits of ILX - eg for me the dance/jazz/experimental threads on ILM, the noise boards, and on the rare occasions I remember they exist the books and cookery boards (which I agree could easily be moved back to ILE - see eg the ILE pynchon thread).

i've just installed killfile, and I rather suspect that's going to improve ILE a lot for me. perhaps some other people here should try it too.

I was *so* convinced that first ailsa post was Grimly Fiendish

hey, so was i for the first couple of lines. i thought i must have got up in the middle of the night and done it. and started using capitals.

although then i started to disagree with bits of it and got confused.

there's absolutely nothing anyone can add at this stage that will act as a panacea for all ILX's perceived ills. but i do think this thread is fulfulling a useful purpose, insofar as it's allowing people to get shit off their chest in a marginally more constructive manner than usual. and mark's original comment is absolutely OTM: he's not trying to turn it into alt.hug, just pointing out that, you know, perhaps we shouldn't spend all our time jumping up and down and shouting at each other.

anyway. my thoughts. briefly.

1) things change. ILX has changed quite a bit since i started posting in late 2004. such is life, eh? as someone (dan, i think) said wisely upthread, nobody - not mods, not admins and certainly not thread-starters - can legislate for other people's behaviour. trying to impose rules of engagement is a complete waste of time.

similarly, any "balkanisation" or otherwise is just part of the process - like it or not, ILX is now much bigger than the sum of its parts, and is going to evolve in ways you might not like. tough.

it's an internet message board. lighten up, people.

2) sometimes people say twattish things. sometimes a couple of posters will get into a fight. jon's daft louis/google thread might have overstepped a mark, but why does the whole fucking board have to get involved? we have mods. they sorted it, quickly and efficiently. louis handled it all very well. end of story. move on, there's nothing to see.

it's an internet message board. lighten up, people.

3) sometimes threads go off at tangents. sometimes those tangents are irritating and silly and seem to be nothing but zings. sometimes that kills threads completely. sometimes it makes them brilliant.

it's an internet message board. lighten up, people.

4) the problem, if i may be so bold, isn't that people are getting "bullied". that's a hell of an emotive word to be throwing around. it's simply that there's been a bit of low-level sniping and zinginess and suddenly we're acting like it's armageddon. it's not.

it's an internet message board. lighten up, people.

5) like i said on another thread recently, when someone said: "people are being nasty and no-one's doing anything" - i am. i'm ignoring it. i'm glad so many others feel the same. if individual posters (louis, dog latin etc) think they're being hard done by, they should raise it with the mods. the rest of us should stop piling in and shouting FITE FITE FITE.

it's an internet message board. we all care about it too much. that's nice for us. now let's get some perspective, eh?

but, yes, this is an internet message board. don't think we need say any more. unless says something that annoys us or we can make fun of

- there's no point trying to lay down ground rules of behaviour and say: "if you post on ILX, you must act like this".

- there is every point in ignoring behaviour you don't like and not rising to it.

that's how i can be agreeing with mark's first post and then seemingly disagreeing within the space of a sentence. sorry, should have spent more time on it.

but then it's only an internet message board and ...

I know that there was a good feeling about both ILM and ILE back then - but a large part of that ws in the discovery of this place, and then in looking back I always tend to remember the good bits mopre strongly. The board has over time developed as its grown in number, but like you I still get a good feeling out of some threads. I still feel that if I put some effort in it's possible to get some good convo, which is not very different from 2002, though it might be a diff kind of effort.

(I honestly can't remember how good it was to compare, just that it was very good.)

-- temporary enrique (miltonpinsk...), February 15th, 2007."
Um...you just proved otherwise in posting that...

oh, and I just tested. No problems loading.

lots of good advise since my first post, from grimly in particular. thinking about it more, it's not 'bullying' which ever annoys me (i'm still not sure i've ever seen any of this, tbh), but the same lame jokes again and again (which i'm hopeful the killfile will sort).

-- nathalie (wotwotwo...), February 15th, 2007. (later)

you are wrong!!

-- RJG (RJ...), February 15th, 2007. (later)

No, she's right. What did you think it was

"No, she's right. What did you think it was "
Did you take that seriously? It was just a perfect example of what's wrong with the boards currently, and should really just be ignored.
Sarcasm cannot be properly recognised over the internet. It's also rude by nature.
This is why I only use it in private.

xpost

what a fascinating insight, i totally agree.

it wasn't 555 posts, either

crossposts

am sad to read that zoe espera has/had decided staying away/not posting is/was for the best. nothing much to be done, though. if you are upset/annoyed/put off, the only options, really, are (as zoe espera (amongst others) said) to stop posting or start ignoring

yes. you should. please do.

Might be a bit of a task logistically, and goes against the idea of One Community, but given the chimerical nature of the latter it's probably what's going to end up happening.

yes. you should. please do.

Er, no! The problem with the ignore-the-badbits plan is that it leads to everyone squirrelling away into their own threads and boards and effectively abandoning the mainstream to the mercy of the fannies.

nobody - not mods, not admins and certainly not thread-starters - can legislate for other people's behaviour. trying to impose rules of engagement is a complete waste of time.
Ye think? Legislation is all about other people's behaviour! Do you go "oh, hey, lots of muggings in Glasgow. Ach, well, can't legislate for behaviour. If you don't like being mugged, just try and ignore them".

Then when you text your pals to come out, and nobody does because it's the fucking badlands, you mutter "ah, well, natural evolution of the city. If i don't like it, tough."

It may only exist inside computers, and it might be possible to turn it off and walk away, but it's also obviously important and personal to lots of people, and can make them laugh or cry, become sad or happy etc and is filled with lots of other people they value and care about. Why something like that's "just" anything is beyond me.

er, yes. this is ILX. it's totally, totally different. we are all, basically, intelligent people. any true sociopaths can be banned. all the rest is mere irritation.

Er, no! The problem with the ignore-the-badbits plan is that it leads to everyone squirrelling away into their own threads and boards and effectively abandoning the mainstream to the mercy of the fannies.

what fannies? people acting the tool doesn't make them fannies. it just makes them posters who are acting the tool. they've got as much right to post here as anyone else. or do you want it to be a private members' club? :/

if everyone stopped getting so hung up on other people's behaviour, this board would improve no end. like i say: if people have a genuine complaint - eg "i feel i'm being victimised/bullied" - then it's a matter for the mods. but what's happening most of the time is a pile-up of other posters going OOOH THAT'S TERRIBLE SOMEONE GOT ZINGED OOH DEAR IT'S SYSTEMATIC BULLYING I TELL YOU HEY SEE THAT POSTER OVER THERE THEY'RE A RIGHT CUNT. it's just tedious.

you're a site admin; you probably see it differently, and i appreciate that. but you can't control everybody's behaviour. you can try ... but you're going to end up with a very small board indeed.

okay: your personal investment in this is obviously way more than mine, and i'm sorry if you find my attitude glib. but i'd say the same about any other social situation, to be honest: it's just a pub/it's just a workplace/it's just a city. pragmatism 101.

i like ILX. i wouldn't post here otherwise. i care about it. i wouldn't have donated to the server fund if i didn't. and i have made a few genuine friends through this board (which is a pleasant surprise, and more than i'd ever expect of an internet forum). but the vast, vast majority of posters are simply acquaintances with whom i have only one real thing in common: we post on ILX. it's, er, just a message board. sorry.

And people mugging people doesn't make them muggers, it just makes them people who are mugging people? They've got as much right to roam the streets as anyone else.

if everyone stopped getting so hung up on other people's behaviour, this board would improve no end.
Q-afw-FT.

it's just a pub/it's just a workplace/it's just a city.
Which comes back to the "ach, fuck it, it's just X, why bother changing it". Yet you're the one who wants to shoot all the people who panic-buy petrol come the revolution. You're going to end up with a very small country.