Has ILE become too pally?

I've never met another Ilxor, haven't been on AIM in months, and that never bothers me.

Like I said upthread: someone, somewhere, is always bitching about ILX. Either it's too pally/in-jokey/chat-roomy/twee/nice/cliquish, or it's too hostile/unsafe/argumentative/overrun-by-new-people. You can't have it both ways. You can't fix both problems. All you can do, apparently, is keep swinging back and forth between the two. The complaining is probably part of the cycle, which means we're about to be overrun with personal attacks, stalkerish behavior, and a few people leaving the boards or threatening to -- or maybe we have, cause I'm not caught up yet.

Josh, if the reason you left Usenet was because it became too pally, I have to wonder at how you're defining the word "pally".

Yeah you can, in theory. It doesn't have to be either of things. In practice, maybe you're right that those are the two traps it can fall into.

i read and post on the "earnest" threads bcz the chances of finding somewhere else in the world where i get my ideas this stretched or challenged = v.slim indeed

My take on it is that the serious threads are often less about exchanging ideas and much more about scoring points off of each other in a genteel, academic manner and if I'm going to be involved in a point-scoring contest, it's much more entertaining to me to involve dick jokes.

Conversely, I really like the way people are treated when they post personal problems to the board. The outpouring of well wishes and sympathy usually staggers me, even given that many of us have met each other.

In Praise of Kate St. Clair

I mean look! Jason and Pete fighting over my affections! You wouldn't get that on ILE!

*accidentally releases tons of guano onto own head and suffocates*

I have no problem whatsoever with chatcentric threads as long as they don't overtake other threads much, and I don't really think they do.

Incidentally, Dan in serious mode, which happens more than he gives himself credit for, is one of my favourite posters...

Wow, Matt. Thanks!

If you're going to say things like "I'm undetectable on Usenet" without typing your name into Google Groups, you get what's coming to you.

You know my sordid Usenet troll past!

You wish - I know your stolid a.f.g-h FAQKeeper past.

I'm obviously not undetectable on Usenet and also any one of these fuckers could actually tell the name that I posted 99.9% of my Usenet shit under! I just trust my compadres not to sell me out to the mang.

I love jokey threads. But my favourites are the ones that make you think and laugh.

I just trust my compadres not to sell me out to the mang.

So I'm the mang now? Fabulous.

When I first visited (uh, lurked on) ILE, I felt like I was at this party and didn't know everyone. But lots of the folks looked really cool and I wanted to chat them up and become bestest buddies with them. So then I got up the courage to start posting and now I can post messages to people by name and know a bit about them and their personality. It's fun stuff. I should hope it's like that for most new people.

:(