Isolated Blurt Thread

[ThatsTheGuy]

No offense taken. The short answer is time and times. I arrived in '05, Lit was still a fairly small site, not the monster it is today. It hadn't been "found" as the saying goes. The regulars were a small group of forward thinking, intelligent people who interacted well together. We even had Litogethers. I had the honor of attending two out of the 7 or 8 held. I had the honor of also meeting in person, a dozen or so of my fellow AH's.

Where did they all go? A couple died. Several couples broke up and either one or the other or both didn't feel comfortable here anymore. Some got outted one way or another. Several moved on to either owning publishing companies or on to mainstream publishing and didn't have time anymore. A lot were run off by the appearance of over the top trolls and political crap. The reason there is now a political forum.

New people appear. Some stay, some go away. Groups form, some good, some not so good. Some people get along with others, some don't. It is an ever evolving place. Some of us are still here. Some of the old are still around but don't evolve themselves in the day to day threads. Or that's is all they evolve themselves with.

Times keep changing.

'05 was a very good year for Literotica. It was also one of great change and conflict. That was when the trolling increased exponentially. Some time later, the Lit get togethers got very nasty. The get togethers were suddenly less common and less known. The inner circle became extremely large and unapologetic.

 

[SamScribble]

New people appear. Some stay, some go away. Groups form, some good, some not so good. Some people get along with others, some don't. It is an ever evolving place. Some of us are still here. Some of the old are still around but don't evolve themselves in the day to day threads. Or that's is all they evolve themselves with.

Times keep changing.

I used to drink at a pub called The Spread Eagle. (There are lots of Spread Eagles, so I'm not giving too much away.)

When I first discovered The Spread Eagle, it was a pretty sleepy sort of place. But the beer was good.

And then - I don't know why - it became a haunt for writers and artists and boys and girls who flew fast jets (with bombs and missiles strapped under their wings). And then - and, again, I don't know why - it went quiet. Not long after that, I moved on. And I haven't been back. But I hear that it is back 'on the up'.

I think that Lit - and especially the Authors' Hangout - is a bit of a Spread Eagle.

 

[TxRad]

Something I forgot to add in was real life, real death, and personal fortunes, both financial and emotional.

Another point. We lost some of our strongest voices and the trolls rolled over the rest of us. A lot of people just gave up and in. They left for facebook where they could control who was in and who was out.

All I know is that there are a lot of people I miss and still call friends.

 

[Handley_Page]

Kinda reminds me of:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlPV4wtZ6HE

 

[oggbashan]

It's Wednesday, the day of our local auction. I won't be there but I have left some bids.

But - do I really want another wind-up gramophone? OK. It's a table model unlike the portables I already have, but it needs some tlc to work properly.

Why am I bidding on a lot which has a Windows Vista laptop and a Vista netbook (both without power supplies) and a printer? I know. It's for a friend's eldest son who has started a computer repair business. My bids at the auction have already provided him with a large box of cables and two working A3 colour printers. But I haven't asked him whether he wants the laptop and netbook.

A box of children's stationery could be useful for visiting grandchildren.

I'll find out later today if I won any of them. It doesn't really matter if I'm not there when the lots are auctioned. I have left bids at the maximum I'm prepared to pay. I wouldn't bid higher even if I was present. What I might do is bid the minimum and only bid on some other items and then try to find a friend or relation who wants them.

Anyone want a large cast iron Singer sewing machine for a cobbler? It weighs about half a ton but is in working order. (No. I didn't buy it. It has been unsold for about six weeks...)

 

[ElectricBlue]

But - do I really want another wind-up gramophone? OK. It's a table model unlike the portables I already have, but it needs some tlc to work properly.

Of course you do! Ogg's Home for Old Gramophones. Why the doubt?

 

[RocketLauncher]

No offense taken. The short answer is time and times. I arrived in '05, Lit was still a fairly small site, not the monster it is today. It hadn't been "found" as the saying goes. The regulars were a small group of forward thinking, intelligent people who interacted well together. We even had Litogethers. I had the honor of attending two out of the 7 or 8 held. I had the honor of also meeting in person, a dozen or so of my fellow AH's.
A lot were run off by the appearance of over the top trolls and political crap. The reason there is now a political forum.
Times keep changing.

'05 was a very good year for Literotica. It was also one of great change and conflict. That was when the trolling increased exponentially. Some time later, the Lit get togethers got very nasty. The get togethers were suddenly less common and less known. The inner circle became extremely large and unapologetic.

I think that Lit - and especially the Authors' Hangout - is a bit of a Spread Eagle.

Another point. We lost some of our strongest voices and the trolls rolled over the rest of us. A lot of people just gave up and in. They left for facebook where they could control who was in and who was out.
All I know is that there are a lot of people I miss and still call friends.

Tyvm for such open and honest answers . I believe I have a better grasp of the situation. It's unfortunate that the forum with the most to offer writers and potential writers has suffered so. It seems the beast with many heads arose from what was once calm seas.

It was a natural process, because when we go to the ring we are human beings, but once you feel the punches and the competition that's when the beast comes out and takes hold of us. Alexis Arguello

 

[RocketLauncher]

He did both, so I guess he'd know.

Good Lord, woman, you made me guffaw

 

[ThatsTheGuy]

He did both, so I guess he'd know.

But we had a Spock! He died and came back several times. These last 2 times.....well, they were the last 2 times.

 

[ThatsTheGuy]

Tyvm for such open and honest answers . I believe I have a better grasp of the situation. It's unfortunate that the forum with the most to offer writers and potential writers has suffered so. It seems the beast with many heads arose from what was once calm seas.

It was a natural process, because when we go to the ring we are human beings, but once you feel the punches and the competition that's when the beast comes out and takes hold of us. Alexis Arguello

Most excellent observation grasshopper.

People come and go. Some stay due to addiction - not knowing of any other world, forever lost in the matrix.

Some drop into the abyss from which there is no return. Others claw back out to safety - never to look back nor return. And still some drop a rope into the abyss to pull the others out........but the rope isn't long enough and misses it's mark.


And then there's me. I dare to tread the edge and look back in to challenge the demons I cannot see. Gotta know my limitations - but no, I have to do it. I simply must. Never fully accepted in either of my worlds, I created my own. I've always been a curious child. [Hug]

 

[MelissaBaby]

Good Lord, woman, you made me guffaw

Always a good way to start the day.

 

[ThatsTheGuy]

Always a good way to start the day.

https://i.chzbgr.com/original/6573321216/h124B32F6/

 

[oggbashan]

Auction?

I ended up with the laptop, the netbook and the printer.

The printer/scanner/copier works.

The laptop? Battery dead, hard drive missing.

The netbook? It requires a power supply in a voltage I haven't got but I think it is dead.

I'll pass all three on to my friend's son to see what he can do with them - if only for spares.

Meanwhile I have been trying to find a way to use a Polish letter L with a line through it for my wife. It's not an ASCII code. I can get it in Word through Insert Symbol from the 'Latin Extended A' set of symbols. An easier way is to copy and paste it from a table:

Ł

It is Unicode Ł

The problem? My wife doesn't know how to use Word.

 

[Handley_Page]

"Join the queue" seems appropriate.

 

[THROBBS]

No offense, but wth happened to this place?

what Tx and Og said.

I was here (reading) in 1999, I think I joined (under a different name) in 2003?
I posted a couple stories (under that name) in 2004-5. Took them down some time ago.

waxes and wanes. (feels like more of the latter... or is that just me whining?) LOL

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Where did they all go?

I'm still here El Guapo!

 

[NotWise]

My office partner is an intelligent, entrepreneurial man about half my age. As much as I respect his creativity and intelligence, I struggle to keep my tongue in check when he tries to reinvent the wheel over and over.

He needed a better education. Living in four countries while in his twenties may have rounded out his character quite a bit,but his education left him with a gap in understanding that he doesn't see.

 

[Hypoxia]

It's music stuff again, 'ukes and mandos and gits et cetera, but not their 'how', rather their 'what' and 'why'. What happens with these little axes?

What: On mandolins and mandola tuned near standard, it's Celtic or country or opera. Tuned low, it's blues or surf, and since I'm a guitarist, I approach those like guitars. On bright standard 'uke (high strings top and bottom) it's ragtime and tropical. On dark 'uke (low strings top and bottom) it's doo-wops, bossa Nova, and classical.

Why: Because my older hands have a trouble with guitars now, and a little lute and my ThinkPad can co-exist on my lap. Also, quieter sounds are good in this house. Why not: All those instruments to haul, ay yi yi. Much easier back when a single guitar sufficed.

 

[oggbashan]

One of my cousins was proficient on an acoustic guitar. His father played the lute, mandolin and guitar.

The cousin travelled the world in his early twenties. At one point he was in the Yukon, working as a store nightwatchman and sleeping in his severe weather mountain tent during the day.

With some of his saved pay he bought himself a 12-string Gibson acoustic guitar. He taught himself to play it in his small tent.

Unfortunately he couldn't sit up and play the guitar in the tent. He played it while flat on his back. Later, in Australia, he played with a folk group. They were unusual in that one of their guitarists was always on his back on the stage. It took him three years before he became confident enough to play while sitting normally.

Forty-five years later he still has the Gibson. In the meantime he has acquired an Australian wife, Australian citizenship, children and now grandchildren. The grandchildren like to see him play his Gibson while flat on his back. They used to ask Grandad to play lullabies from the floor.

 

[RocketLauncher]

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves
And all the mome raths outgrabe.
- Lewis Carroll

 

[RocketLauncher]

Presently there seems to be a definitive lack of whimsy.
Wholly intellectual passages can come across as dry.
Isn't the art of conversation and the written word, in all its forms, integral to the art of literature?
Whimsy is highly underrated.

 

[RocketLauncher]

You - you alone will have the stars as no one else has them...In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night...You - only you will have stars that can laugh.
- Antoine de Saint Exupery

 

[oggbashan]

...
Whimsy is highly underrated.

I know. Some of my whimsical stories are rated very low.

 

[trysail]

https://public.oed.com/wp-content/uploads/Final-fascicle-400-wide.jpg


1928: Year Of The Dictionary

by Peter Gilliver

‘This year, whatever else it may be, is the Year of the Dictionary.’ So wrote Charles Onions in the Times of 19 April 1928, in an article celebrating the completion of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. The final section or ‘fascicle’ of the Dictionary, covering words from Wise to Wyzen—and with the names of Charles Onions and William Craigie, the two surviving Editors, on its title page—was published on that day, bringing to a triumphant conclusion the labour of thousands of people over nearly three-quarters of a century. The English language now had a dictionary unmatched in its comprehensiveness and wealth of detail: ‘the supreme authority, without a rival or the prospect of a rival’, as it was described a few years later—a description which still holds today...

...The main event in Oxford was a special exhibition of dictionaries at the Bodleian Library: rather more muted than the ‘military exercises, boxing matches between the dons, orations in Latin, Greek, English, and the Oxford dialect […] and a series of medieval drinking bouts’ that had been predicted by the American humourist H. L. Mencken...


https://public.oed.com/1928-year-of-the-dictionary/


​

​

 

[oggbashan]

I have the 1966 first edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Etymology edited by C t Onions.

I bought it for £1. It is worth about £50 but it is for my use, not as a collectible.