Write a controversial opinion

[EdwardsOtherSide]

It's tough to top Helen Parr. And yet.

Top her, bottom for her, I am open minded.

 

[EdwardsOtherSide]

Controversial opinion I heard repeatedly from locals in Las Vegas; Las Vegas was better when the Mafia ran it, the CEOs/MBAs/oligarchs have ruined it.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Controversial opinion I heard repeatedly from locals in Las Vegas; Las Vegas was better when the Mafia ran it, the CEOs/MBAs/oligarchs have ruined it.

That's an increasing problem in a number of industries. Not the mob angle so much as the corporatization. My dentist was AWESOME, then he retired and sold the practice to some chain. Before it was the same people who had worked there forever, now the turn over is crazy, there is a new person behind the desk every time I go in. And it SUCKS, I'm looking for a new one.
When it's a small business the business owner is just interested in making a good living. If he runs his practice, makes $250k a year, he's happy.
A corporation buys the practice, now they have to pay a dentist, and make profit on top of that. Plus they borrowed money to buy the place, so they are sweating the interest. Now it becomes a game of nickel and diming to cut costs, which screws up the customer experience.
Instead of "a good living" it becomes "profit margins".

Mob was happy to get rich, they didn't give a shit if they were making 4% or 5%, they were making bank. No reason to nickel and dime...

 

[Statius]

If corporations are not feeding/ growing, they are dying. There is no sustaining like a locally or privately owned business. That is what, in my opinion, makes them dangerous AND evil. That is what takes the humanity out of corporations.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

If corporations are not feeding/ growing, they are dying. There is no sustaining like a locally or privately owned business. That is what, in my opinion, makes them dangerous AND evil. That is what takes the humanity out of corporations.

I don't think that's necessarily true, but we've embraced a mindset for publicly traded companies (important distinction because many privately owned businesses are in fact a corporate business structure) that it is growth above all.
There is a great YouTube Channel called "Modern MBA" and he tracks the downfall of a bunch of successful companies, and more often than not, they get into trouble because they try to expand out of their core business to chase growth.

GoPro was a great example. They owned the market, they were the generic term for that type of camera became "GoPro".
Then the market got saturated, they were still making lots of money, but GROWTH we need GROWTH!!!! and they tried to start making drones. DJI kicked their ass, and they lost a ton of money.

It wasn't always like that, and there are industries where it still isn't We just need to adjust our mindset.

 

[lovecraft68]

Two suggestions to more accurately describe much of what the forums priority and purpose is for some of the posters here.

First, the forum description

A place for writers and readers to self-promote and build their forum base and brand.

Because that seems to be the trend of the last couple of years, spending more time running around the forum like a politician sucking up and "I'll fluff yours if you'll fluff mine." like locking in the vote of a very small amount of people here is more important than appealing to and building up the reader base which is immensely larger.

To go along with the new forum slug I think we could suggest an AH anthem.

 

[iwatchus]

Two suggestions to more accurately describe much of what the forums priority and purpose is for some of the posters here.

IRL, I am a good bit older than you, but I'm but a wee lad in this world. But I have to say, you have mastered the literary grumpy old man pretty well.

Can't you find a word cloud to shake your cane at. Or just some kids to chase off your Leaves of Grass?

In all seriousness, I obviously didn't see it in the past. I've only been on AH for about 7 months, writing for almost 9 months. Yes, there is self-promotion. The rest of us don't have 250 published books to hang our hat on. But mostly what I see is people telling jokes, arguing about life and talking about their hobby. All normal healthy things for people to do.

 

[SmilingLez]

Your 1st paragraph exhibits poor punctuation and stilted, (technically) nonsensical wording ("etc. [sic] ad nauseum.")
But I understood your message.

Language conventions (or usage patterns) have no King, little unanimity and constantly change. CLEAR THOUGHTS and BEAUTIFUL INSIGHTS shine as great achievements. Perhaps put down the police baton and lift your eyes to the universe. We can be special. Let's celebrate that and chillax about misplaced priorities.

Words flow with a grin,
He clings to each earnest line,
Missing the sly wink.

 

[OralAllOver]

Words flow with a grin,
He clings to each earnest line,
Missing the sly wink.

Nicely written I concede happily

 

[lovecraft68]

IRL, I am a good bit older than you, but I'm but a wee lad in this world. But I have to say, you have mastered the literary grumpy old man pretty well.

Can't you find a word cloud to shake your cane at. Or just some kids to chase off your Leaves of Grass?

In all seriousness, I obviously didn't see it in the past. I've only been on AH for about 7 months, writing for almost 9 months. Yes, there is self-promotion. The rest of us don't have 250 published books to hang our hat on. But mostly what I see is people telling jokes, arguing about life and talking about their hobby. All normal healthy things for people to do.

Thank you, I strive to be the best I can at whatever I choose to do. I'm too young for a cane though.

Part of why I have success here and in other markets is I understand priorities and where I need to put my energy. A lot of people here talk about either getting better as a writer in general, or trying to reach more people with their work. Neither of those things will happen thinking how your perceived in the AH actually matters or securing a dozen sure 5 votes from the friends you make.

You miss where I keep saying "some" because its not everyone, but here's the end game to my "old man" routine.

To get the attention of people here who want more here than how many likes their post gets or padding the reaction score. If that's what you want, carry on. If not, take a moment to think about what serves you and what doesn't on the quest to being more successful.

In the post you brought up about my market production, note how I end it with if you want to build up anything, you need to be serious about it and keep pushing. Want to post memes and be part of a circle jerk, have at it, but don't expect to progress to anything more than that. This place is like anywhere else on the net, the wrong people have the biggest voices and become the pied piper of meh.

If people are offended at the attitude of taking the writing-which is the reason everyone came here-more seriously than clique building-than it exposes the problem more than anything myself or anyone else here ever will.

 

[iwatchus]

Thank you, I strive to be the best I can at whatever I choose to do. I'm too young for a cane though.

Part of why I have success here and in other markets is I understand priorities and where I need to put my energy. A lot of people here talk about either getting better as a writer in general, or trying to reach more people with their work. Neither of those things will happen thinking how your perceived in the AH actually matters or securing a dozen sure 5 votes from the friends you make.

You miss where I keep saying "some" because its not everyone, but here's the end game to my "old man" routine.

To get the attention of people here who want more here than how many likes their post gets or padding the reaction score. If that's what you want, carry on. If not, take a moment to think about what serves you and what doesn't on the quest to being more successful.

In the post you brought up about my market production, note how I end it with if you want to build up anything, you need to be serious about it and keep pushing. Want to post memes and be part of a circle jerk, have at it, but don't expect to progress to anything more than that. This place is like anywhere else on the net, the wrong people have the biggest voices and become the pied piper of meh.

I probably do all the things you complain about. But I am also very passionate about my writing and making it better. I have a problem with being too obsessive about working towards goals. Over all, it has served me well throughout my life. But it also comes at a cost. For me, the relaxation and camaraderie found here is an important salve. Writing can be immensely frustrating endeavor.

Most of us here have our egos balancing on a knife's edge, worrying if we can really write well enough, can we keep doing this, will the muse abandon us. Every one of the "Tell me you like my story" posts should be subtitled "because I'm not sure it's actually good." Apparently somewhere between being a poor struggling amateur and publishing 250 books, you lose that insecurity. Or maybe you don't and you just don't like being reminded of it. I don't know.

 

[Z_TheWriter]

Thank you, I strive to be the best I can at whatever I choose to do. I'm too young for a cane though.

Part of why I have success here and in other markets is I understand priorities and where I need to put my energy. A lot of people here talk about either getting better as a writer in general, or trying to reach more people with their work. Neither of those things will happen thinking how your perceived in the AH actually matters or securing a dozen sure 5 votes from the friends you make.

You miss where I keep saying "some" because its not everyone, but here's the end game to my "old man" routine.

To get the attention of people here who want more here than how many likes their post gets or padding the reaction score. If that's what you want, carry on. If not, take a moment to think about what serves you and what doesn't on the quest to being more successful.

In the post you brought up about my market production, note how I end it with if you want to build up anything, you need to be serious about it and keep pushing. Want to post memes and be part of a circle jerk, have at it, but don't expect to progress to anything more than that. This place is like anywhere else on the net, the wrong people have the biggest voices and become the pied piper of meh.

If people are offended at the attitude of taking the writing-which is the reason everyone came here-more seriously than clique building-than it exposes the problem more than anything myself or anyone else here ever will.

It seems to me that you take this forum/board a lot more seriously than many of us. This is obviously not a crime, and is probably why I often find great insight in things you've posted. But being less serious is no crime either. The description you propose to change does say "socialize".

Now if there was to be set down an edict from on high saying "This place is for serious discussions of the craft of writing only" then I would happily dispense with the memes and so on. I also suspect I would not come here often anymore.

I am not here to become a serious and successful writer. It is absolutely possible that will decide to strive for it and maybe even attain it. I may even end up owing some of that hypothetical prowess to advice given here by you and others. The reason I am here though is in fact to post memes, to have fun, to make friends, and then learn something from them now and then.

You are not required to participate in any of this. You are also not required to like it, or even tolerate it. But I for one would appreciate some modicum of understanding that this forum is many things to many different people. Not everyone is or even wants to be a serious writer, there might be space for both.

 

[MillieDynamite]

 

[lovecraft68]

Anton Levy-founded of the Church Of Satan and renowned grifter-commented that Satan was the best thing that ever happened to the Catholic Church, he kept them in business.

I see myself in that light here on occasions, I say something blasphemous and people will come in and refute it, good for a forum team building exercise.

At the end of all of it, I hate seeing people prefer to dick around rather than reach their potential and worse are the ones that lead them down that road. Like that in every aspect in life, those that can't hate seeing anyone else succeed so they want them down to their level.

Be forum famous or be Lit story famous, free will rules all, but sometimes you need to hear the not so popular side of things to be able to make that decision.

 

[Z_TheWriter]

Anton Levy-founded of the Church Of Satan and renowned grifter-commented that Satan was the best thing that ever happened to the Catholic Church, he kept them in business.

I see myself in that light here on occasions, I say something blasphemous and people will come in and refute it, good for a forum team building exercise.

At the end of all of it, I hate seeing people prefer to dick around rather than reach their potential and worse are the ones that lead them down that road. Like that in every aspect in life, those that can't hate seeing anyone else succeed so they want them down to their level.

Be forum famous or be Lit story famous, free will rules all, but sometimes you need to hear the not so popular side of things to be able to make that decision.

I respect both the role you see yourself taking, and the feelings behind this particular case.

There are limits to how much that respect will stretch, however, before I feel the need to respond, when I feel like that same respect is not afforded me.

Hope there are no hard feelings. I do actually mean it when I say I greatly enjoy your insights here.

 

[OralAllOver]

Anton Levy-founded of the Church Of Satan and renowned grifter-commented that Satan was the best thing that ever happened to the Catholic Church, he kept them in business.

I see myself in that light here on occasions, I say something blasphemous and people will come in and refute it, good for a forum team building exercise.

At the end of all of it, I hate seeing people prefer to dick around rather than reach their potential and worse are the ones that lead them down that road. Like that in every aspect in life, those that can't hate seeing anyone else succeed so they want them down to their level.

Be forum famous or be Lit story famous, free will rules all, but sometimes you need to hear the not so popular side of things to be able to make that decision.

Did I miss his/her electoral victory in Declarer of How It’s Done campaign?
Ok his/her omniscience obviously a galactic certainty, but why be an asshole?
I'd think you'd know better

 

[Off_base]

Two suggestions to more accurately describe much of what the forums priority and purpose is for some of the posters here.

First, the forum description

A place for writers and readers to self-promote and build their forum base and brand.

Because that seems to be the trend of the last couple of years, spending more time running around the forum like a politician sucking up and "I'll fluff yours if you'll fluff mine." like locking in the vote of a very small amount of people here is more important than appealing to and building up the reader base which is immensely larger.

To go along with the new forum slug I think we could suggest an AH anthem.

Didn't you just post your own thread titled "#250", in order to gain accolades and compliments from AH?

It's increasingly hard to take you serious.

 

[alohadave]

GoPro was a great example. They owned the market, they were the generic term for that type of camera became "GoPro".
Then the market got saturated, they were still making lots of money, but GROWTH we need GROWTH!!!! and they tried to start making drones. DJI kicked their ass, and they lost a ton of money.

GoPro's biggest problem was that when waterproof action cameras became commoditized, they tried to hold onto their place as first to market and didn't lower prices.

 

[Britva415]

Language conventions (or usage patterns) have no King, little unanimity and constantly change. CLEAR THOUGHTS and BEAUTIFUL INSIGHTS shine as great achievements. Perhaps put down the police baton and lift your eyes to the universe. We can be special. Let's celebrate that and chillax about misplaced priorities.

I have yet to see a story which contains both numerous-early-technical-writing-mistakes AND clear-thoughts-and-beautiful-insights.

It's possible that it's because I quit too early, but I don't think it's likely.

 

[lovecraft68]

Case in point. This thread was started by someone pointing out a common mistake in writing.

The entire thread other than his post is a bunch of jokes. Not one serious reply to someone trying to explain something.

https://forum.literotica.com/thread...word-for-a-man-who-gives-massages-is.1644973/

Quite the place to discuss writing, unless you're one of the chosen ones.

 

[OralAllOver]

Cmon, almost by definition great artists break the rules

https://writingdarkness.ca/against-the-grain-four-authors-that-transgress-grammar/

 

[OralAllOver]

From mathematics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan

 

[Z_TheWriter]

Case in point. This thread was started by someone pointing out a common mistake in writing.

The entire thread other than his post is a bunch of jokes. Not one serious reply to someone trying to explain something.

https://forum.literotica.com/thread...word-for-a-man-who-gives-massages-is.1644973/

Quite the place to discuss writing, unless you're one of the chosen ones.

Counterpoint 1: It was quite a simple explanation with not much to discuss, and the 2nd person to make a joke was OP himself.

Counterpoint 2: https://forum.literotica.com/threads/should-i-address-the-elephant-in-the-room.1644790/
Serious and nuanced question with lots of on topic discussion.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Case in point. This thread was started by someone pointing out a common mistake in writing.

The entire thread other than his post is a bunch of jokes. Not one serious reply to someone trying to explain something.

There's nothing to discuss in that thread. It's a dictionary entry.

 

[SkyBubble]

Feminism is dead.

Discuss.

"New Wave" feminism is certainly on life support.