Is the AH Forum a washout?

[Handley_Page]

Look; I'm an outsider, right?
Not only am I unpublished, but I'm not an American.

The level of vitriol from one side of the political spectrum to the other (I assume), is, quite frankly, surprising. I know the good folks of the U.S. of A. take their politics seriously, but this is not supposed to be a Political Commentary site, is it?

There will always be a few "stirrers" on any board, who 'go fishing' to see who bites, and that may be a bit of a joke - until the 'serious' replies roll in. These are occasionally indicated by having missed or ignored something and thus float off topic and create more havoc.

SO please folks, can we have it a little lighter on the political stuff ?

If you have, thank you for reading.
I'll get me coat.

 

[Liar]

Kiss my ass.

Is that a) an order or b) an invitation? (please note that I don't accept any option c)

And actually, that's not what I meant to imply. There are still terrific people and topics here, that's the point. They are being hidden by the crap.

It's damned frustrating to have to sift through it all to find the gold.

See that's what I'm not getting about all this. There has always been crap. There was the derangement syndrome known as Scouries, there was bona fide cyber stalking cases, there was the "stop harrasing me" / "no YOU stop harrassing ME" shoutfests for months, there have been the most vile personal attacks imaginable, threats of violence even, ill willed rumor mongering, and...erm... something completely different. And there has always been a fair amount of political squabble. More now since the last election. The reason it hasn't died down here is because it hasn't died down in gerenal and that is reflected here (you should see the GB. yowsa). Someone posted an excellent article about that recently, "wingnut" something.

Personally, I don't find that very, for the lack of a better word, chafing. I'm entertained by engaging it, and I'm not gonna apologise for that. Especially since I try to contribute something for everybody otherwise.

 

[Isis56]

Well fuck you then. I'm not gonna waste my time on people who think that I'm a somewhat lesser being.

I don't think a hearty "Fuck you," is ever positive or encouraging. In the meantime, I thought I'd point out that the Bianca_Sommerland, Goldie Munro, and lesbiaphrodite have all started writing-related threads (all which I can spot without going down a page). They could use some old-timers' advice.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Yadda, yadda, yadda we do this every month, like menstruation. The Usual Suspects have a group rag. And at the end STELLA will leave FOREVER again.

TEACH needs to learn the meaning of schizoid. A hermit? Shy? Introverted? The 2nd definition is 'ambivalent,' holding conflicting opinions.

 

[Guest]

Is that a) an order or b) an invitation? (please note that I don't accept any option c)
See that's what I'm not getting about all this. There has always been crap. There was the derangement syndrome known as Scouries, there was bona fide cyber stalking cases, there was the "stop harrasing me" / "no YOU stop harrassing ME" shoutfests for months, there have been the most vile personal attacks imaginable, threats of violence even, ill willed rumor mongering, and...erm... something completely different. And there has always been a fair amount of political squabble. More now since the last election. The reason it hasn't died down here is because it hasn't died down in gerenal and that is reflected here (you should see the GB. yowsa). Someone posted an excellent article about that recently, "wingnut" something.

Personally, I don't find that very, for the lack of a better word, chafing. I'm entertained by engaging it, and I'm not gonna apologise for that. Especially since I try to contribute something for everybody otherwise.

Good points all, Liar. (And most definitely an invite on the kissing, by the way.)

Lit has always been a marvelous escape for me and a tremendously supportive place, the latest with my husband's medical concerns. The AH has been a place to boast and brag and flirt and tease and sometimes even discuss writing,

I wonder if the attacks just seem so much more personal to me now? Maybe it has more to do with the overall political climate of my country, day to day. The U.S. is so divided. There is no middle ground. Anger is rampant.

And when I come to Lit, I just cannot handle more of the same.

 

[lance gt]

I've been a member of Lit since 06, and it wasn't until recently that I wanted to find out more about writing techniques and other helpful hints. I came into the AH looking for that and found this instead. I was surprised to find so many political threads and threads that weren't related to writing what so ever. I never knew the old AH and wish I had, it sounds like a place I would have liked. I've been cautioned by a lot of people about the shit disturbers in the room and to keep them on ignore, but it's hard to ignore a personal attack, not on my opinions, but me personally. I avoid the political threads, as Liar stated, I'm not an American, so there is no interest in what goes on there. I regret getting into some of the tirades and mud-slinging adventures that I have, but some I felt justified in responding to. I know who starts the toilet turning here and who keeps throwing shit into it, and I avoid getting into it with them. The ironic part isn't that they cause problems, most of them don't even write stories. This seems to be the only place they put anything down in writing. I know I've probably ended up on some people's ignore lists for my own shit throwing endeavors, and I apologize for it, but I'm trying to make friends here and get to know other writers and share opinions on writing. The Usual Suspects, as they are called, are the ones I wanted to know better, to come in and say hi and get to know, share ideas and a bunch of laughs. I know my nemesis is reading this and he'll post another comment about me like he usually does, but I fluff it off and make fun of him. I do find it interesting that only a select few have taken the time to get to know me and we've become friends and share our life stories together. Maybe it'll just take a concerted effort to leave the politico threads alone when they're posted and wash them down the page with threads that are germane and ones that promote friendship. Just a noobie's take on what I've seen and experienced so far.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The Usual Suspects are upset cuz niggers or white-trash moved into their neighborhood. Poodle Springs gated-community will never be the same.

 

[michchick98]

Sarah, Cloudy, I'm with you. The AH isn't the place it used to be. All the heart, intelligence and family feeling seems to have seeped away.

I keep coming back, in the hope that there'll be some spark of the old AH, the wit, the banter, the humour, and the gut-wrenching laughter. Even when we debated politics, we tried to do it with graciusness and respect for the other person's feelings. What we get now is terrifyingly angry, vicious, abusive and insulting if you so much as dare to disagree with them.

I don't need this.

It's not only the arguments and the bickering, but comments like this that make the noobs not want to participate. I mean seriously, who can compete with that? It makes it sound as if the people who are here and who do not cause a ruckus are unwelcome and the noobs who dare to venture in here are also unwelcome.

I know I've been guilty of getting involved in the arguments in the past, but I've made a serious effort to ignore the trolls unless they have something useful to say. Then I make the effort not to quote them for those who may have them on ignore.

But for some of the old-timers (for lack of a better phrase, sorry folks) make it seem as if even those of us who've been here for a year or two can't make the "intelligent" contributions that used to be made here.

I've tried starting a few game threads, but they've fallen by the wayside after a day or so. I've posted interesting articles I've found in the news, usually trying to keep them unrelated to politics, and those usually disappear off the first page after a day or so also.

So my question is, if everyone's so tired of the political threads, why not either: a) start your own non-political/writing related thread or b) contact Laurel and request to have the policital threads either moved to the GB or its own forum/sub-forum created? That way "the heart, intelligence and family feeling" can return.

For some reason or reasons, they are determined to take over this fourm and I say let them alone. They don't want to just talk to each other -- they want attention. If we don't give it to them, they'll leave.

I will, repeat what I've said all along: The best thing to do is virtually ignore them. Let them talk to each other.

I've been saying this for a long time. Don't give them the fuel for their fire and they'll go away. Case and point, the posts JBJ is making on THIS thread, just to try to get a response.

If it's not worth my effort, stress level or raised blood pressure, I don't respond. Period. More of the people in this forum, even the old-timers (sorry again everyone) need to try this advice for themselves. It's an internet forum, it can't be that hard to do.

Yannow, it's not very encouraging to try and bring something positive to the table here, when threads like these pop up all the time, taking a dump on the efforts. It might not be the intention, but the effect is that you're letting us know that the posts and threads actually being made to bring positive energy are apparently chopped liver. Because we're not Zoot. Or something.

My statements reflect this very thought. Makes us feel like shit because we do make the efforts to keep the AH a better place, but since we're not one of the the "revered ones," we're nothing.

 

[michchick98]

On and one more thing (insert eye-roll here)

Why don't all of those who are sick to death of the political threads go through the older threads in this forum and bump them up? Find an interesting one (writing related or not, but definitely not political) and bump it.

Get a new conversation going. I think with all the people that are unhappy and disappointed with the direction the AH is headed that this would be a simple compromise and it might even bring in some new blood.

 

[cloudy]

On and one more thing (insert eye-roll here)

Why don't all of those who are sick to death of the political threads go through the older threads in this forum and bump them up? Find an interesting one (writing related or not, but definitely not political) and bump it.

Get a new conversation going. I think with all the people that are unhappy and disappointed with the direction the AH is headed that this would be a simple compromise and it might even bring in some new blood.

It's not the threads, it's the assholes. [insert eyeroll here]

No one said you were stupid, or not wanted, or whatever else you're putting on yourself, but you weren't here when Colly, Lou, Lewd, etc., were posting, so you have no frame of reference at all.

If you choose to feel slighted because we miss some old friends (some have died, not just left), then have at it.

 

[_Lynn_]

My statements reflect this very thought. Makes us feel like shit because we do make the efforts to keep the AH a better place, but since we're not one of the the "revered ones," we're nothing.

On and one more thing (insert eye-roll here)

Why don't all of those who are sick to death of the political threads go through the older threads in this forum and bump them up? Find an interesting one (writing related or not, but definitely not political) and bump it.

Get a new conversation going. I think with all the people that are unhappy and disappointed with the direction the AH is headed that this would be a simple compromise and it might even bring in some new blood.

My first thought was because they would rather bitch about things than do something to correct the problem. Look at the number of people replying to the political threads. Then see how many of those same people have posted to some of the lighter/writerly threads.

 

[Isis56]

The Usual Suspects are upset cuz niggers or white-trash moved into their neighborhood. Poodle Springs gated-community will never be the same.

I know I'm supposed to ignore this, but I can't.

Don't pull that reverse-racism shit. You're doing us all a disservice when you pull out Angry Black Man. I fucking hate people walking on eggshells around me because some other ghettofab decided any mention of color wasn't PC. Not everyone who isn't white hates white people. The white people who hate non-whites are in the minority. Get over yourself. Being black doesn't make you an asshole, being and asshole makes you an asshole. That, and you're discrediting the hardships of all the other races in this world. You don't fucking know what racism is until you've been turned away from a place because you're so obviously not the same as the people inside. Or go to a country without the upward mobility you enjoy and then see how you feel about Poodle fucking Springs.

 

[cloudy]

I know I'm supposed to ignore this, but I can't.

Don't pull that reverse-racism shit. You're doing us all a disservice when you pull out Angry Black Man. I fucking hate people walking on eggshells around me because some other ghettofab decided any mention of color wasn't PC. Not everyone who isn't white hates white people. The white people who hate non-whites are in the minority. Get over yourself. Being black doesn't make you an asshole, being and asshole makes you an asshole. That, and you're discrediting the hardships of all the other races in this world. You don't fucking know what racism is until you've been turned away from a place because you're so obviously not the same as the people inside. Or go to a country without the upward mobility you enjoy and then see how you feel about Poodle fucking Springs.

Perhaps you should get to know people before you assume something like this.

James isn't Black.

 

[lance gt]

Perhaps you should get to know people before you assume something like this.

James isn't Black.

Exactly Cloudy. Isis, that's his pic he uses for his avatar. He and his band of monkeymen have 5000 keyboards going all day to churn out the crap he posts. Gotta hand it to him, at least one of the chimps knows how to read.

 

[Isis56]

Exactly Cloudy. Isis, that's his pic he uses for his avatar. He and his band of monkeymen have 5000 keyboards going all day to churn out the crap he posts. Gotta hand it to him, at least one of the chimps knows how to read.

And now my ass is my hat. Oops. Well, now you all know how I feel about reverse racism and xenophobia in my current country. I'd tell you how I feel about the n-word, but I had some Bailey's with my Oreos and milk, so now I feel better anyway.

And why on God's green earth would I want to get to know him? I rely on sane folk like you to tell me what's up. Matta yoroshiku onegaishimasu. *insert polite bow from the waist*

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Perhaps you should get to know people before you assume something like this.

James isn't Black.

I'm pre-op trans-racial. Youre so insensitive and neo-con!

 

[cloudy]

I'm pre-op trans-racial. Youre so insensitive and neo-con!

I know, right?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

CLOUDY

I suspect I have a black ancestor. Her husband came to South Carolina from Scotland and married a poodle, then she abruptly divorces him (this was right after the Revolution), he marries the ancestor, and they move to St. Simon's Island GA where they owned 4 rice plantations. I have a copy of his portrait and he's your garden variety Scotsman, but their kids are dark complected, have hair full of tight little waves, and black eyes. There is like no record for his wife though her surname is a prominent one in South Carolina. I suspect she was quadroon or octaroon like Mariah Carey.

 

[matriarch]

It was never my intention to insult anyone, I guess in my growing old age I was indulging in a bit of nostalgia. It's what us oldies do. Go on forever about the old days. Ask my sons. And my wife.

It just seems to me that we never seem to laugh here on Lit any more....it's not a crime to remember old times and old, absent friends, with affection. We all do it, here or out in the real world.

I'll do my best to stop behaving like an ageing arse.

Sorry.

~Auntie~

 

[Guest]

My first thought was because they would rather bitch about things than do something to correct the problem. Look at the number of people replying to the political threads. Then see how many of those same people have posted to some of the lighter/writerly threads.

Well, that's a bit unfair.

Since I'm frustrated with the angry rhetoric on what was once a fairly positive forum I should spend time posting inane replies on the "Last Person to Post Here" thread?

I'm not knocking that thread, but it isn't really my cuppa.

And it isn't a solution to correct the problem, is it?

 

[LaRocha]

http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/offenderSearchNav.do

 

[Guest]

http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/offenderSearchNav.do

You're posting of picture of yourself . . .? WTF is this for?

 

[_Lynn_]

Well, that's a bit unfair.

Since I'm frustrated with the angry rhetoric on what was once a fairly positive forum I should spend time posting inane replies on the "Last Person to Post Here" thread?

I'm not knocking that thread, but it isn't really my cuppa.

And it isn't a solution to correct the problem, is it?

Posting to friends is 'inane'?

 

[lance gt]

It was never my intention to insult anyone, I guess in my growing old age I was indulging in a bit of nostalgia. It's what us oldies do. Go on forever about the old days. Ask my sons. And my wife.

It just seems to me that we never seem to laugh here on Lit any more....it's not a crime to remember old times and old, absent friends, with affection. We all do it, here or out in the real world.

I'll do my best to stop behaving like an ageing arse.

Sorry.

~Auntie~

Don't take it to heart Auntie, we all reminisce about the good old days. If you feel strongly enough, share those memories with us and maybe it will invoke the spirit of them and we can return to them and enjoy the room that way again.

 

[lance gt]

You're posting of picture of yourself . . .? WTF is this for?

maybe there's a pic of JBJ in there some where.