Just me or is ILX pretty damn cranky lately?

loooooool

That boston terrier looks TERRIFIED.

Those dogs actually make me kind of unhappy.

I guess people always snipe when things go meta. The only way to avoid it is to avoid meta.

I'll look at some hungover owls instead: http://hungoverowls.tumblr.com/

The only way to avoid it is to avoid meta.

good advice!

HM, did you ever think that being sarcastic and zingy every second of the day about every damn thing might be part of the problem? I know this is your "thing" but don't *you* ever get tired of it?

Like, can't you ever just kick back and look at some surfing dogs or hungover owls and not be catty and mean just because you can?

this isn't gonna go well

is it just me, or

Like, there's a line between "being sarcastic and funny" and "actually being kind of a dick" and you have been steadily edging over that line?

Sorry that I'm being direct about this instead of couching it in snarky zing language, but honestly. It makes things unneccessarily unpleasant. If you have something to say, say it. If you just want to be snarky and zingy for the sake of it, just think twice before you hit "submit"?

http://media.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/images/2010/sep10/surf_dog_sm/dog_surf_04.jpg

^^ dog who has figured out how to live imo

like, the amount of crankiness going on in there is way out of proportion to the actual question

hmm but the 'should there be an i love football' question has come up enough times and been argued about enough times, in enough scattered threads, that i think it's built up quite a weight of associated mulishness?

a lot of ilx back-and-forths could be read as zippy/frothy or mean/grudgy, depending on your mood, and i think maybe you're on to something with 'prolonged period of time' - just skimming for a five minute break i'm probably more likely to think 'hah zing' rather than 'ugh people are getting personal again'.

it's 100x less drama-filled than it was a few years ago, but it's definitely a bit grouchy/aggressive at the moment.

the past year or so seems like the most mellow ilx has ever been?

reading old threads is a trip. circa 2001 discussions altered rapid-fire btwn "HUGGS" and "fuck you, shitbag"

i think i followed the boards most closely a couple of years ago, and there was a fair amount of drama then. guess a lot of the more volatile, instigatory personalities have since left the bldg, but i dunno, like maybe secret 77 is a seething cauldron of backbiting and sordid id workouts

no it's not just you.

the rage of caliban at seeing his own face in the glass.

xpost to darragh

the past year or so seems like the most mellow ilx has ever been?

This is actually true I think.

it's totally fucking true stop pussyfooting around it

certain elements have been dispersed, it's true

It has seemed pretty mellow to me. xxp

xxp that's pretty much how i posted for oh i dunno til last month?

d00ds!!!!!!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/tosh.0/the-20-coolest-surfing-dogs

what is?

certain elements have been dispersed, it's true

― cambyrdsclosetvacuumsounds4fun (acoleuthic), Monday, September 20, 2010 3:51 PM (14 seconds ago) Bookmark

code for loads of interesting posters being banhammered i guess

but idk if any board with whiney as one of its main posters can really be called mellow

thank god

http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/terminal01/2010/5/27/14/enhanced-buzz-17127-1274984290-4.jpg

I don't think there's anyone still here I actively 'dislike'...

(never hated anybody, tbh, ever)

(is the reverse true? dunno, check my sb level somebody...)

did you FUCKING hear me you stupid cunts, this board is WAY MELLOWER than it used to fucking be

jed

it's totally fucking true stop pussyfooting around it

― illiterate mods are killing ilx (darraghmac)

heh i was hoping that would maybe stand out a little as obviously not genuine but obvs not

The past year or so has been mostly mellow, I agree there, but TBH I meant about the past week or so. But that might be entirely personal due to stress and me reading the wrong threads.

i just assume everything is zingy and silly. like, when ppl post meta- stuff on noise board threads or whatever i don't think it's done in a spirit of malice whatsoever. more just people bored at work or at home or whatever just jabbing at people. semi- or even full-on affectionately in most cases. much like how you can say "fuck you!" to a good friend but wouldn't be able to get away with that speech to a stranger

yeah fuck sometimes you gotta take a zing for the team

but hell- zings ain't what they used to be

darraghmaxbygraves.

Kinda getting this kind of a vibe recently, but it might just be too much meta (in which case this thread won't make it any better) or it might just be me needing an actual holiday really badly.

Or does ILX just seem more cranky when you're overinvolved in it for a prolonged period?

― Karen D. Tregaskin, Monday, 20 September 2010 15:17 (28 minutes ago) Bookmark

the trouble with you complaining that every room you go in stinks of shit is that you're often smeared with yr own shit already and everyone else gets kinda cranky about it

but hell- zings ain't what they used to be

― illiterate mods are killing ilx (darraghmac), Monday, 20 September 2010 15:54 (2 minutes ago)

OMG @ Surfer Dog #20.

omg alright

OK, WRT the zing thing-

1) this has been discussed before, but some people (myself included) have expressed discomfort with the idea that people who are essentially strangers on a messageboard are not actually *at* the level of intimacy/affection for you to be able to automatically zing and assume it's affectionate as opposed to hostile.

2) whenever I try to be all funny zingy in a lighthearted way, I frequently get people going o_0 OMG are you SERIOUS at me - maybe this is just proof that I shouldn't try to be lighthearted because I somehow don't "get" how to do it. But mostly it's more like... people can't read tone on the internet. If you don't know someone well enough to "get" when *they* are joking or not, maybe you shouldn't zing at them.

ok no pussyfooting.

seriously, what did you hope to achieve by bumping this thread?

It's like throwing warm water at people.

Sometimes, they throw warm back, and sometimes they go back to the tap to get hotter water.

Actually, it's nothing like that..

nakhchivan, that was really kind of over the line. I'm asking nicely, could you dial down the personal stuff or take it off board?

.. and sometimes, they piss into the waterpistol.

just close the thread

in general ilx is fairly peaceable

kate gets involved in a huge clusterfuck thread and various small clusterfucks and suggests ingenuously that the place is getting cranky

k, it is definitely hard at times to pick up on nuances/ambiguities of tone when just looking at text, but i dunno. probably not worth sweating no matter which side of fence you are on at a given time

ilx is (relatively) quite placid these days

code for loads of interesting posters being banhammered i guess

yeah but dudes could have simmered down a bit

"Shall we have a new board, poll" is a clusterfuck thread?

dunno, maybe the ecology here has been drained of some spirit, and we need to bring back the shitbirds, the malcontents, the full-on creeps, the solid and reliable trolls

seriously, what did you hope to achieve by bumping this thread?

Basically, to stop the zinging for a second and say "hang on, can we talk about whether this is serious or not?" because I do not actually know.

I can no longer tell if people like nakhchivan and History Mayne are getting personal because they think it's funny or zingy, or if they have an actual problem. I have lost the ability to tell.

"Shall we have a new board, poll" is a clusterfuck thread?

― Mark G, Monday, September 20, 2010 3:02 PM (2 minutes ago)

it's quick, shit got heated, i think it barely qualifies yeah

but like the chances of anyone falling out over it are zero so maybe not

yeah but dudes could have simmered down a bit

kinda bums me out b/c some of those dudes in question contributed good stuff when they weren't being full-on assholes. but they just... couldn't... seem to keep their worst impulses at bay

kate i gotta say i've been fairly alright w/ you and i didn't like that you got banned

just trying to alert you to the fact you may not be a disinterested observer in the 'crankiness' you identify

please close this thread, it can't possibly achieve anything

otm

well ppl still think the board's too rough, and others think it's cuddlestein. it's an ongoing process imo and i'd favour letting em all back in again and letting sb do the rest of it but that's not gonna happen.

I think the answer is that ILX is less cranky than it was two years ago, and WAY less cranky than it was three to five years ago. Is it more cranky than it was two weeks ago? Dunno. I might not have been on many of the threads where the crankiness has been happening.

Kate I think you personally have been pretty cranky of late, and that's colouring your view of the rest of ILX. Part of that is because people have been being dicks and baiting you but also because you can be a pretty cranky person in general, even when they aren't really doing so. It's a bit chicken/egg really.

Don't really see where this is going to go other than everyone turning up to grind their usual meta axes.

meta cleavers...