OK, I realize I'm not exactly a sphere of influence around here, but I have a suggestion for the good of the order.
There has been much wailing about excessive posting lately and I have to agree -- the drivel is rising so fast the dam's about to bust. I've read all the misplaced 1st Amendment arguments and the "if you don't like it, fuck you" arguments, so there's no need to repeat them.
I agree in general with the skip-what-you-don't-want-to-read school of thought but, besides being just plain dumb, the real problem with excessive posting is this: I see an interesting thread, begin to read it and wish to participate, but by the time I have gotten to it, it's been dragged off topic, trampled on and turned inside out by 15 or 20 inane additions, so posting in regard to the original thoughts seems pretty pointless.
Given that people are going to do what they're going to do, I have one suggestion to curb the logorrhea. (To give credit where it's due, something I read in one of Sparky TooCoolForTheRoom's epistles to the unwashed gave me the idea.)
Since many pointless posts seem to be the result of people sprinting toward guruhood or some other designation, why not get rid of that silly shit altogether? And dump the post count, too. I mean, we're adults, right, so what's the point of counting coup by seeing how many submissions one can rack up on a BBS?
It seems that everybody likes the self-derived title that comes at 1,000 posts, so why not do this -- get rid of all the intermediary titles (Experienced, whatever's next, Guru, Possessor of the 12 Golden Umbrellas, whatever) and boil it down to two: "Virgin" for under 50 and the right to make up your own moniker at that point. That way, the over-achievers will only be annoying for a short time.
So, what do you say? Did I just make you say "hmmmm," or did I just make myself the least popular guy in town?
There has been much wailing about excessive posting lately and I have to agree -- the drivel is rising so fast the dam's about to bust. I've read all the misplaced 1st Amendment arguments and the "if you don't like it, fuck you" arguments, so there's no need to repeat them.
I agree in general with the skip-what-you-don't-want-to-read school of thought but, besides being just plain dumb, the real problem with excessive posting is this: I see an interesting thread, begin to read it and wish to participate, but by the time I have gotten to it, it's been dragged off topic, trampled on and turned inside out by 15 or 20 inane additions, so posting in regard to the original thoughts seems pretty pointless.
Given that people are going to do what they're going to do, I have one suggestion to curb the logorrhea. (To give credit where it's due, something I read in one of Sparky TooCoolForTheRoom's epistles to the unwashed gave me the idea.)
Since many pointless posts seem to be the result of people sprinting toward guruhood or some other designation, why not get rid of that silly shit altogether? And dump the post count, too. I mean, we're adults, right, so what's the point of counting coup by seeing how many submissions one can rack up on a BBS?
It seems that everybody likes the self-derived title that comes at 1,000 posts, so why not do this -- get rid of all the intermediary titles (Experienced, whatever's next, Guru, Possessor of the 12 Golden Umbrellas, whatever) and boil it down to two: "Virgin" for under 50 and the right to make up your own moniker at that point. That way, the over-achievers will only be annoying for a short time.
So, what do you say? Did I just make you say "hmmmm," or did I just make myself the least popular guy in town?
