Saturday, January 31, 2009

Analogy Time

There's a big ongoing party that everyone is invited to. Everyone. People come, people go; some linger around longer than others.

The music is bumping, the drinks are cold and intoxicating, the food is delicious, and the people seem to get along nicely for the most part.

One day this dude walks in, a new guy; first time he'd decided to take advantage of the open invite. He drinks the beer, eats the food, converses a little here and there; and then he decides that he isn't digging much on the party.

Now, instead of just leaving like most polite people would do, he shuts off the music for a moment and gets on the microphone.

"Hi everyone, I know I've only been here for a few minutes but I just wanted to bring a few things to your attention. First, this music sucks. I mean seriously, it's terrible. Secondly this beer is like piss in a bottle. The food was absolutely wretched, and to be perfectly frank you people bore and annoy the hell out of me."

Surprisingly the many many people at the party were not pleased with this announcement. As one they told the new guy to get the hell out of the place, kicking him out the door from whence he came.

Once he left, the party resumed.

But the guy was actually offended by this. How dare they tell him to leave! He was only expressing himself, only offering them an objective veiwpoint! This simply would not do!

He went around town telling a few people here and there about the terrible experience he had at the party. Some people listened to him and took his words to heart, most just ignored him. But that didn't stop him from trying to spread negativity about the party.

It is said that the guy still resents the party and party goers.

Despite his efforts, the party went on uninterrupted. That party still goes on today. The moon still revolves around the Earth, and the Earth still spins around the sun.


Moral: Freedom of speech does not entitle you to be an asshole.

Labels: , ,

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Alternative Analogy Time.

Bloke is driving down the info' highway and notices a light off to the side and in the distance. He drives down there to find a venue, above the door to which is 'News Aggregator's Forum' , on the door a note, 'Open, all welcome'. He goes in.

There is music, food, drink and conversation. There are message boards where people are invited to post comments on other's topics, or indeed post a topic of their own.

The conversations are not open to newbies, not a problem, bloke reads some posts. He comments on some posts. All, it seems, is well. His comments are well received and his rating within the forum is on the up. He might even be able to listen to and join a conversation or two soon.

Bloke reads the rebuking of a poster on some trivial thing or other, and pays little mind to it. Then he sees people who have the rating and so the power to do so, go around removing and shredding posts. Others editing other's posts.

Bloke gets on his laptop and Googles the forum. Some people have been there, left, and told others that this isn't a very friendly community. He does not take this as gospel, but draws attention to the comments to see what the community has to say about them. Thinking 'how this is reponded to will be a very good indication as to wether the negative review/comments are still, if ever they were, true'.

Well. Now the music stops (not bloke, he hasn't the rating, hence nor the means to change anything). The atmosphere changes. People whisper to people who whisper to people. Indignation is in the air and looks to be contagious. Some fight the contagion. Others don't try to. 'Who is this bloke?','bloody cheek!', indignation turns to hostility, 'Quick, shut him up', 'Gag him!', 'Bury him!'. Ordinarily rational individuals congeal into a mob.

An 'innocuous' post appears on a note that has a gravestone as it's letterhead (avatar). A topic is 'revived', and brought into service, headed 'Plime's Graveyard'. Another 'innocuous', - seeming countdown to burial - topic appears. No. No, that's paranoia. Surely. Isn't it?

Bloke looks at some stats. How many people registered here? He can't find that info. Number of sites that link to Plime 1,778. Over 1600 people have marked their locations. How many haven't? Could be tens of thousands. He looks at those who post regularly and guesses at a few or so dozen. How many are multiple registered. No way of knowing.

Bloke has to wonder, how many of the registered are now 'buried'?

It may well be that, --"The music is bumping, the drinks are cold and intoxicating, the food is delicious, and the people seem to get along nicely for the most part". When no-one is asking awkward questions.

But:
Is this cosy community now located in the middle of a vast graveyard where 'rest' Plime's persona's non grata? And how many times bigger than the active community might this graveyard be? And what might have been the 'crimes' of all those buried?

Moral: As with opinions, there can be more than one analogy. And analogies can be slanted, biased or just plain wrong.

6:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here you go mate. And far away from the touchy souls at Plime.

donteatpoop said...

Oh, one more note. The "troll on you crazy diamond" was just in case it was you. More of a stab in the dark than an assumption. If it was you I was hoping you'd get goosebumps, if it wasn't you I was hoping it would just sound clever.

QG's response:

That is unfortunate; I didn't get to have goosebumps, you didn't get to sound clever.

**************************
Ok. So let me address the rant.

donteatpoop said...

QZ, no worries. Despite your accusations, I don't edit people's posts. (nor do I delete them, unless it's porn I'll usually publish it here too) Save the one time, in which I did because you were antagonizing the shit out of everyone with your multiple accounts that were being created just to continue stirring up the pot.

Response:

I didn't accuse you. In fact I did not name anyone. I accused only those who have done so by using the generic term 'they'. If you did not then you are not one of the 'they'. I have no reason to disbelieve you. As to the accounts - I said I would post a link to my review. How else was I supposed to do so without creating another account when my account was in 'the graveyard'? I created 3 in all. the original (and was to be only) QG. The second (GQ) was the link to review, as stated. And finally (the-last-word) was created because 'they' (include yourself, or do not) were, by their actions, saying 'we have spoken place the gag, he will not speak again, we have the last word around here and will not hear anything he has to say about this matter or any other'.

**********************

Back to you then. You said:

No need to be upset with Trolly McTrollerton, or to apologize for him/her. I had the option to delete the comment (thrice typed, which I found entertaining because i assumed it was a blogger who should have known about the option to approve comments) or publish it. I chose to publish it. He/she is welcome to come back and troll again, I enjoy mocking them.

Response:

Ok.

********************

You said:

Maybe you just lack tact? I don't know.I'm not sure what sort of reaction you were hoping for when you began to repeatedly link to a negative review of the site that was published nearly two years ago, (the reviewer later retracted everything and is an active member of the site); but there's no way you were expecting us to bust out the champagne.

Response:

I expected to be able to discuss it. I expected - 'yeah, we know, been there, done that'. I expected - 'that was then, do you find it to be like that still?' I expected - 'stick around and make up your own mind'. I expected - 'no problem, some people like it here, some don't, take it or leave it, ain't no prison'. What I did get though, well you know what I got, it was the rule of the mob. And as for my "repeatedly" linking to the review I did explain that for all to see on 'the site', but then it isn't for all to see anymore, is it?

*******************

You said:

Or maybe that's just how your magical mirror of politeness works?

Response:

Knaves twist words to make traps for fools.

*************************

You said:

And though you claim to be some sort of martyr in all of this, insisting that you're polite and aren't "into gratuitous insults" you begin your comment on my blog with "I don't expect you to publish this". What the fuck? You were also going on and on about people editing your comments over on the site.

response:

I do not claim to be a martyr. I can gratuitously insult, but tend to save it for friends. Do you really expect me to believe that you are insulted by me not expecting you to publish my comments? Please!

************

You said:

Is that the polite mirror talking again?

Response:

A mirror is an inanimate object mate, can't be polite or otherwise.

***************

You said:

I'm not gonna point a finger and say you were trying to stir shit up; but what the fuck were you doing? Please by all means, explain yourself so that I can edit your post and twist your words around. (that last sentence was pure sarcasm).

response:

When I read the original review and comments on it, I thought 'how this is reponded to will be a very good indication as to wether the negative review/comments are still, if ever they were, true'.

*************

You said:

Now, honestly, I have no fucking problem with you. You, and anyone else, is welcome to start a new account on plime and begin anew. Or not. I don't think anyone cares either way. Honestly, if you hadn't posted here I would have forgotten about you. (no offense)

Response:

I, honestly, have no fucking problem with you either. And I know I can start again, but that really isn't the point of this little chit-chat.

************

You said:

Before I replied, I jumped back over to that review on marginalized and saw your most recent post. If jax hasn't gotten back to you; the idea of only the creators editing the post sort of goes against one of the key ideas of that site. Typos, bad links, lack of images, pornographic images, spam, and that sort of thing can be fixed by the community. Just deleting it would be pretty crappy for a new user who made a mistake, as they would be banned otherwise. Generally, people get second, third, and fourth chances over there. It all depends on the attitude.

response:

I hear what you are saying. A few typos on a forum, hardly the end of the world. No-one is going to use the forum as a dictionary. And which is the lesser of the evils, a few typos or censorship. But porn, offensive images, libel etc I can see could be a problem. So then, how to remove those swiftly and not allow the removal or editing of non-libelous text 'opinions' without the consent of the author? Post the question over there. Surely, if someone posts libelous material it is the poster who is libel, not the site .

************

You said:

Stop pretending that you were stabbed in the back, or however you've percieved the whole experience. If you really want to be reflective about it, whip out that crazy polite mirror and think about how you may have influenced the reactions you recieved. The first time you brought it up you were quickly shut down, not banned, just downvoted and asked/told to cut it out. Yet you continued. Again and again. It was as though you found a hot button and just couldn't resist pushing it over and over again. Like a little brother who was delighted to have found a new way to annoy his older sibling(s).

Response:

I'm not saying I was stabbed in the back. I'm saying I was gagged. And I wasn't trying to rile the mob. I was trying to say 'look at you lot and how you are collectively behaving'. 'You are demonstrating the negative comments to be true'. If you want to downvote something, downvote the something. You don't have to look for other posts that the person has made that you have had no problems with and which have positive votes, to downvote those too.

*************

You said:

You can't serve cocktails and get pissed off that people are getting drunk, man.

Response:

People are responsible for their own actions. If a drunk gets into a car and runs into someone. He can't blame the publican who sold him the drink.

****************

You said:

Whatever you do in life, interweb or the real world; I hope that you figure out how to take verbal and non-verbal cues as to what is and is not welcomed behavior.

Response:

Thank you. I do take the cues. But then have the godawful bloody cheek to ask just why said behaviour is soooo offending. Especially on a site where "Transparency is everything on Plime". Why nobody can mention 'the bloody great elephant in the room'. That is to say, and please answer this:-
WHY could this debate NOT have taken place on Plime?

************

You said:

"Peace, love, and happiness. Yeah, happiness." - Jimi Hendrix

I say:

Peace, love and happiness. Yeah, happiness. And maybe a little tolerance and understanding too. And (lets push the boat out) maybe a little less fear.

Speaking of which; are those photos of the big, red, starey eyed, six foot, soft teddybear really you? They scare me :-)

Take it easy man.

QG

6:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So good of Sucker to keep the debate alive on

http://www.hmtk.com/archives/plime-the-unfriendly-news-aggregator.html#comment-824078

A true soldier in the fight to keep freedom of speech

9:41 AM  
Blogger donteatpoop said...

lol. Dude, you're still on that? Crazy that he's updating it, kind of creepy that you're still checking it out.

3:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lol. Hiya mate. How you keeping?

Yep, Plime has become a pet hate!

There's an update if your interested (there's an update if your not). :)

And I kinda made a point, after Plime, of not being bullied off of Ramblings, and certainly not by anyone I know to be trying to do so in defence of the tactics employed by the clique from Plime. Is that creepy? Your entitled to the view!
I hadn't checked it for a while though I thought the arguement dead. See, you can't be too careful. :)

2:13 PM  
Blogger donteatpoop said...

Still playing who will get the last word, then?

5:23 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Bloke didn't get enough love from Mum.

Bloke was forced to school with Davey Jones lunch pale.

Bloke blames others for shortcomings

Bloke becomes narcissistic.

Bloke isn't even British.

1:51 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home