It amazes me

[Seattle Zack]

... that all the talented writers in this forum have reduced themselves to, basically, posting opinion pieces from other (more talented?) writers.

Is this all this forum has come to? Slap down an op-ed from Yahoo news (or some other obscure (?) newssourse) and then post giggley little smileys after your coy inuendoes?

Jesus fucking christ on a motorized wheelchair.

How about coming up with an insightful observation or two of your own, rather than regurgitating that published pablum written by a poorly paid hack that has less talent then you do.

Aren't you writers? Can't you do a better job than the sloppy morass of metaphors and half-formed sentences that passes for journalism nowadays?

I always enjoyed the AH because it seemed the posts were .... composed, perhaps, rather than dashed off like that crap in the GB or BDSM or other forums. A post by the Doc or gauche I would relish reading in advance, before I even clicked on it , because I knew it would contain some insight, or a delightful turn of phrase, or whatever, but at least it would be actual "creative" writing and therefore something worth reading.

As of late, there seems to be very little writing in the AH and more argumentative drivel and that's why I rarely come here any more. My loss, probably. Argue about Yahoo News items all you want, but you're missing the treasure trove of creativity that is the core of this forum.

So write, goddamnit! Don't post what others think, don't parrot others' words, grab the reins and lead the stagecoach yourself!

 

[Songcatcher]

So write, goddamnit! Don't post what others think, don't parrot others' words, grab the reins and lead the stagecoach yourself!

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. — Hunter S. Thompson

 

[oggbashan]

I'm not amazed at the recent lack of discussion. There has been some but many people were more concerned with the Presidential election until recently and during November NaNoWriMo takes precedence over meaningful threads.

The political threads produced some fine if emotive writing. The extracts in the NaNo support thread show that there is still good writing being produced - just not so much on threads on technical aspects. Those threads are still around e.g. dialogue and in Newbie support.

Some of it disappears from the AH as writers PM each other for advice on difficulties in their own work or as a result of feedback. Not everybody is willing to go through the exposure on the SDC.

I am grateful for some of the private comments and advice I have had from members of the AH. I am usually willing to help others if asked. I don't like criticising other people's writing in public and I am reluctant to post PCs because a misunderstood comment can hurt.

I think there is a conflict of priorities in November. The NaNoWriMo experience is well worth trying. Those doing it seem to come to the AH for light relief from the hard work - and why not?

Og

 

[minsue]

... that all the talented writers in this forum have reduced themselves to, basically, posting opinion pieces from other (more talented?) writers.

Is this all this forum has come to? Slap down an op-ed from Yahoo news (or some other obscure (?) newssourse) and then post giggley little smileys after your coy inuendoes?

Jesus fucking christ on a motorized wheelchair.

How about coming up with an insightful observation or two of your own, rather than regurgitating that published pablum written by a poorly paid hack that has less talent then you do.

Aren't you writers? Can't you do a better job than the sloppy morass of metaphors and half-formed sentences that passes for journalism nowadays?

I always enjoyed the AH because it seemed the posts were .... composed, perhaps, rather than dashed off like that crap in the GB or BDSM or other forums. A post by the Doc or gauche I would relish reading in advance, before I even clicked on it , because I knew it would contain some insight, or a delightful turn of phrase, or whatever, but at least it would be actual "creative" writing and therefore something worth reading.

As of late, there seems to be very little writing in the AH and more argumentative drivel and that's why I rarely come here any more. My loss, probably. Argue about Yahoo News items all you want, but you're missing the treasure trove of creativity that is the core of this forum.

So write, goddamnit! Don't post what others think, don't parrot others' words, grab the reins and lead the stagecoach yourself!

Doctor, heal thyself.

I understand the argument. Hell, I see it often enough. What I don't understand is when it comes from people who rarely post much less start threads. If you don't like the content available on the board, do something about it. For god's sake, Zack, don't just complain that we're boring.

 

[gauchecritic]

Re: Re: It amazes me

Doctor, heal thyself.

I understand the argument. Hell, I see it often enough. What I don't understand is when it comes from people who rarely post much less start threads. If you don't like the content available on the board, do something about it. For god's sake, Zack, don't just complain that we're boring.

And if no-one complained? Where would we be then? Buried beneath a mountain of superficiality hoping some redneck or commie would come along to dig down and rouse us from our self-imposed stupor.

Waiting to be entertained is a common enough occurence these days so why rail against someone when they ask for a more engaging type of entertainment?

Two things strike me here. Both concerned with this medium.

Cut'n'paste is passive. This is an authors' hangout. Do you see any dichotomy there?

Yes you can argue that the last thing authors want to talk about is authoring (but that can't be exclusive)
You can argue that research (cut'n'paste) is an author's tool, I say that tools are there to be used, not displayed.
You can argue that if you want change, you have to force or encourage change, by example if nothing else. I say that biting everyone's head off within reach of your teeth is one way to make people aware of a need.

 

[cantdog]

Re: Re: Re: It amazes me

gauchecritic:
I say that biting everyone's head off within reach of your teeth is one way to make people aware of a need.

I can dig it. I was slipping into usenet mode. "Post a link! Where's your citations for that?"

The posts I enjoy the most around here are the eloquent ones, the vast, soaring rants with the poetry of the heartfelt.

We need more urgent rants to jazz up the place. Christ in a motorized wheelchair is a good start!

cantdog

 

[Songcatcher]

Do we have a philologist among us? A professor of words? An expert on the old meanings?

Venison's fine. Bambi for Christmas.

 

[logophile]

Being new around here, I want to ask what's good to rant about? Obviously, politics is fair game. How about Religion? Public Education? Parenting Choices? Or do we try to stick to more author-ly things like British vs American spelling of the word color, or, ummm, colour? This is a sincere question...

 

[BlackShanglan]

I'll disagree on the posting of cut/pasted articles. Yes, we are alledgedly authors and that means that we ought to write. But writing ceaselessly, relentlessly about ourselves and our writing process eventually becomes a form of morbid introversion. In order to write, one must think about some things other than writing itself. I take the pasted postings in that spirit - a stimulus to writing and discussion. Some discuss well, others poorly - but why imagine a brick wall between debating a posting and writing a story? All writing is writing of one sort or another, and apparently tangential discourse serves a purpose.

 

[cantdog]

I'm not sure what we're taking a position on, any longer. I thought the idea was, what's the difference between a news clipping service and the AH?

Answer, I hope: we can really fuckin write, all on our fuckin own. Amusement aplenty is to be had, yet we flip shit against the wall and point at it. Let us, rather, to please the sensibilities of the perusers of these virtual spaces, reel out gut by the hank and craft it into sentences of wit and gems of brevity and pith!

And flip that against the wall instead.

I mean sure, it's all text. But is it writing, or is it *shudder* the GB?

 

[cantdog]

Or maybe I missed the point. I dunno.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Personally, I just meant that we might now and then enjoy something to write *about* other than the insides of our own skulls.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I see nothing wrong with posting a news article that will inform and/or anger the other members or that is interesting. However, I don't see all that much point in posting somebody else's opinion. If I feel strongly enough on a subject, I will post what I think.

An exception to that generality would be if some Christian fundy issued some really ridiculous statement of opinion, we might post it just to hold him up to ridicule.

 

[cantdog]

Personally, I just meant that we might now and then enjoy something to write *about* other than the insides of our own skulls.

Oh, I getcha. And you're right, what's more. No one progresses in a bell jar.

 

[Belegon]

Although they came at a time when I wasn't ready to participate, Vella recently started some quickie challenges that were amusing... I think I enjoy both sides of the coin. I do find the commentary here to be better composed and thought out...

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

I must have an old schedule.

We just did "The AH is becoming like the GB" complaint.

I thought the "The AH is Too Cliquey" was the next scheduled beef thread.

At least we are doing some creative scheduling of the perennial complaints. You have got to give us that.

 

[gauchecritic]

I must have an old schedule.

At least we are doing some creative scheduling of the perennial complaints. You have got to give us that.

Did you not get the memo?

1. Getting like the GB
2. Not creative
3. Too cliquey
4. Not enough humour
4a. Not enough highbrow humour
5. Too much politics
6. Too much logic.

<loop>

 

[cantdog]

What's good to rant about? Obviously, politics is fair game. How about Religion? Public Education? Parenting Choices? Or do we try to stick to more author-ly things like British vs American spelling of the word color, or, ummm, colour? This is a sincere question...

There are no such guidelines, since the AH, mercifully, is unmoderated.

That's the short answer. I rather like the political and religious threads because of the wonderful rant opportunities, and parenting and look-what-they-did-in-the-school threads, while rarer, can be even more heartfelt. My favorites, to date, have been the philosophical ones, because it is possible to actually wing out some Wisdom with the big ass W. There have been only about four such since I came here. But they were a stone gas all the way, except for amicus, who thought we wanted to hear Ayn Rand.

But, not everyone feels the same way I do about these matters, and every time a lot of religion or politics starts to happen there are sensitive souls who threaten to leave because those discussions are just too repulsive.

So there you are. Nobody did the brow-clutching and complaining because of the philosophical threads, but people's appetite for philosophy is limited, just the same.

Even philosophy like the Blowjob Limit.

 

[shereads]

Re: Re: It amazes me

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. — Hunter S. Thompson

Look at your face! You took too much!

Like Songcatcher, I only steal from the best.

 

[logophile]

There are no such guidelines, since the AH, mercifully, is unmoderated.

That's the short answer. I rather like the political and religious threads because of the wonderful rant opportunities, and parenting and look-what-they-did-in-the-school threads, while rarer, can be even more heartfelt. My favorites, to date, have been the philosophical ones, because it is possible to actually wing out some Wisdom with the big ass W. There have been only about four such since I came here. But they were a stone gas all the way, except for amicus, who thought we wanted to hear Ayn Rand.

Thanks for the help cantdog. If parenting rants are allowed than I'll have some soon. I feel like everyday a battle is being waged between parents who have bought into the American ideal of early and forced independence and children who really need to be allowed to be children for a while longer. Add to it that I'm a lactavist and intactavist who works in alternative women's health care and it's obvious that I have a couple of very strong feeling about things!

Oh, and philosophy is fun too!

 

[shereads]

Pardon me, but is this the roundtable at the Algonquin Hotel? Is that Dorothy Parker over there with her hand on Thurbur's crotch? When writers and artists get together in real life at any of their "hangouts," do they talk exclusively about writing and art?

I'll bet some of you guys used to host great parties, until the guests began to realize they were only welcome if they were judged to have enhanced the tone of the room.

If one didn't know better, one would think one had stumbled into the Snobs' Hangout. It's a message board on a porn site, for god's sake. I'm not an author, but I enjoy the company of people who can express themselves, whether the topic is politics or hamster care. At Literotica, the people who can express themselves tend to be authors, and they hang out here. I don't post at the General Board because I have no interest in discussing Colin Powell or colonoscopies or T.S. Elliot with semi-literate 15-year-old boys trying to pass for 16, who think this was an Erection Year.

Being reminded that thread space is at a premium and should be reserved for Author-approved topics makes me wish you Authors would post a list of approved ones. If you're hosting this party, do your duty as hosts. Or at least put out a decent buffet.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I thought the "The AH is Too Cliquey" was the next scheduled beef thread.

Slightly delayed, but there you are. Happy?

 

[minsue]

Re: Re: Re: It amazes me

And if no-one complained? Where would we be then? Buried beneath a mountain of superficiality hoping some redneck or commie would come along to dig down and rouse us from our self-imposed stupor.

Waiting to be entertained is a common enough occurence these days so why rail against someone when they ask for a more engaging type of entertainment?

It's not the complaining that bothers me. Hell, I'll complain about anything under the sun so I certainly won't hold that against anyone. I guess I just find it frustrating when a person complains but does nothing to fix the problem as they see it. That's all.

 

[Kassiana]

Friday dawned as it usually did, the chirping of birds heralding the day, the light spreading over the rooftops, and the sounds of the few joggers outside running their courses. It also brought the new duty roster, which had a new chore for people to do this fine warm day.

"DISHWASHING?"

The shriek was audible to all but the most stubborn sleepers.

"Jubilee, calm down. It's not so bad." Jean hummed as she looked at the roster. She and Scott had laundry to do today, and she was sure she could persuade him to lock the door once they were in the laundry room and …

"NOT SO BAD?" The teenager clutched her own face dramatically. "What happened to the dishwasher?"

Jean choked back a laugh with some effort. "Somehow, the pipes got frozen solid overnight. They burst wide open. It should take a few days to fix."

"SOMEHOW? BOBBY!!!!"

The girl ran off and Jean started laughing. Amazing how Rogue and Remy ended up with dishwashing duty after dinner today, and Saturday, and Sunday … almost as if someone knew how to hack into the Professor's computer.

But of course, no one did.

--From a work in progress on another site, a bit of X-men fanfiction tentatively entitled "Exercise." Now, don't ever say I never gave you anything.

 

[cantdog]

The chirping of birds is wicked repetitive, sometimes. Brainless dinosaur noises: "This is mine! This is mine!"

Little bastards.