Message Boards - Classic Or Dud?

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Is it me or are message boards essentially joyless affairs?

ILE = Classic, but is batting alone...

― Al Ewing (Al Ewing), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:27 (twenty-three years ago)

This is the only good one, I think. Everywhere else seems to want to go for all the fancy html and style over substance.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:28 (twenty-three years ago)

We are the rockistist of all boards.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:03 (twenty-three years ago)

This is a good board to lurk at. The discussions are usually amusing, in a good way.

― fractal (fractal), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Things can be amusing in a bad way?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Things can be amusing in a bad way?

Corporate Democracy to thread!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Too close to "beard" in the dictionary to truly enjoy them.

― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, in a laughing at them, not with them way. Only a Primary School teacher could explain this properly though.

― fractal (fractal), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 00:15 (twenty-three years ago)

But laughing at people is best! Whoever heard of a laughing comedian?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 00:19 (twenty-three years ago)

Billy Connolly sometimes laughed at his own jokes. Though in real life I usually laugh at people more than I laugh with people. Maybes I'm just a horrible person though.

― fractal (fractal), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 00:24 (twenty-three years ago)

I work with people who laugh at their own jokes and it is dud.

I started ILX to be the kind of message board I would like and with the odd lapse it is. Obviously my tastes in message boards are not entirely freakish because lots of other people like them too but I can easily see why someone wouldn't like this place: it switches between being cliquily flippant and fairly intellectual without warning; it's not terribly welcoming; it tends to pick new posters apart rather than indulging them; it steadfastly refuses to commit to anything. All of these I think are either good or not-bad things, though.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 00:38 (twenty-three years ago)

i used to post on a "riot grrrl" (it included many boys, btw) messageboard but it sucked because nobody on there had a sense of humour. everyone would just argue about how oppressed they are, and anyone controversial would be banned from the board. i love ilx tho. its way more free.

― di smith (lucylurex), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 00:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I wish there were more like ILX because sometimes no one here is awake and it's dead boring. And sometimes there's no juicy conversation.

― toraneko (toraneko), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 00:49 (twenty-three years ago)

toraneko you should get AIM (if you haven't awready), theres usually at least one ilxor on.

― di smith (lucylurex), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 00:51 (twenty-three years ago)

ILX is a diamond in the rough.
I've been on loads of horrendous message boards where there's always at least one person thinking that they're some sort of messiah for the internet and shouting everyone down. big dud.
and yeah, ILX doesn't take ages to friggin load.

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 00:52 (twenty-three years ago)

It's up to us to make it non-boring or juicy, really. If all else fails, start posting pictures of sexy folks. I wish that this tea would work already. I wander through boards and groups and lists. Most of them grow boing after about six months to a year. This one, curiously, has never. Funny, that.

― kate, Wednesday, 15 January 2003 00:53 (twenty-three years ago)

what are you talking about? this board has been boing as long as I've know it.

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:01 (twenty-three years ago)

boing! boing!!

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:02 (twenty-three years ago)

there's always at least one person thinking that they're some sort of messiah for the internet and shouting everyone down. big dud.

Well fuck you too buddy! You can go suck on some pirate anus! I am 707aL cL8551x0R and I can take your hippie vegetarian union-supporting peace faggot ass to the pavement if you need any more proof

Bitch!

― Tom Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:08 (twenty-three years ago)

how very boing.

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Tom> I come from the NME Angst board and trust me for cliqueness you are nowhere near that place. Not to say I don't like it though, some of the people are pretty decent. What I'm trying to say through my vodka and gin haze is you don't seem to have a 'fuck off newbie vibe'.

― fractal (fractal), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:12 (twenty-three years ago)

yes, it's more of an "ignore newbie" or "haha that stupid post was the best joke of the year" vibe, which i guess is friendlier than some other places...i mean it's cliqueish, just because a lot of people get together in person, but not actually unfriendly.

― Maria (Maria), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:14 (twenty-three years ago)

suck on pirate anus = joke

― Tom Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:17 (twenty-three years ago)

You can't completly avoid that though. In real life it's pretty hard for random stranger to join in a bunch of close friends conversation, and I sort of get the bunch of friends vibe from ILE/ILM. Not that this is a bad thing.

*I hope none of you are grammar pedants*.

― fractal (fractal), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Message board flame wars = classic, though. Especially when it gets all out of hand.

People posting "I'm going to kill myself" on message boards, and asking the posters to talk them out of it = dud.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:21 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah, it's perfectly natural that that would happen.

the great thing about ilx is that there's enough threads that i can always find a reason to procrastinate longer.

― Maria (Maria), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I prefer to lurk and post very ocassionaly. This is they way I work away from the internet, so it doesn't seem very unnatural.

― fractal (fractal), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 01:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Board = here = happy = yay.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 02:47 (twenty-three years ago)

People who post things like "I am going to kill myself" on boards have to be trained out of this and into the habit of saying "I am bored and lonely someone talk to me" which is more honest, and actually, far more effective. ILX is good for doing this.

― kate, Wednesday, 15 January 2003 10:23 (twenty-three years ago)

it steadfastly refuses to commit to anything

Oo, lets commit to something now. let's let's let's. What sort of thing can we commit to?

― Alan (Alan), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 10:43 (twenty-three years ago)

A group marriage.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 10:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I get a lot of use out of Mac OS X Hints Forums and Mac Fixit Forums, but only when I have specific questions that need answering. ILE is the one and only really.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 10:52 (twenty-three years ago)

This is not Battersea Dogs' Home. How do you know that people who post things like "I am going to kill myself" aren't, at the specific moment they posted it, or for whatever amount of time elapses before and/or after posting it, aren't being honest? Can you read my mind, Kate? No you can't. So cease your crass generalisations.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:01 (twenty-three years ago)

The definition of a shit message board - http://www.ateaseweb.com/forums/index.php?s=72f99a793170e489b04af47e3b7836a8&act=SF&f=18

― leigh (leigh), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:01 (twenty-three years ago)

I really wish I did post "danger! danger!" earlier now.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:03 (twenty-three years ago)

And why exactly is "picking apart a new poster" a good or "not-bad" thing?

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Because I think arguing with someone new is showing more respect to them than thinking "hey they're wrong but they're new so I'll just ignore them" which was the attitude on a lot of the Usenet groups I used to go to. I didn't mean "picking apart" to mean "picking on", but I don't think ILX does that.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:08 (twenty-three years ago)

I agree with Tom, though it's a tricky area.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah - it's a "not-bad" thing that can sometimes turn bad. I think it's the only way for a message board to keep its identity (just like the not-committing thing is the only way for a message board's identity to evolve). I think argument should always be friendly, too, though I know there've been big disagreements over that in the past.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Takes a while to realise what are the jokes and what are the criticisms. It's the lack of inflection thing. It's a bugger.

― SittingPretty (sittingpretty), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:17 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the "it's not terribly welcoming; it tends to pick new posters apart rather than indulging them" thing is, on balance, a good thing.

While I have to confess to the odd bout of paranoia early on if something I've posted has been ignored or had the piss (mildly) taken out of it, I think you've got to not take things personally.

I also think that being forced to defend your arguments keeps you on your toes and (hopefully) means that you post less bollocks. May not always be the case with what I post, but it's an aim.

― James Ball (James Ball), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:25 (twenty-three years ago)

How do you know that people who post things like "I am going to kill myself" aren't, at the specific moment they posted it, or for whatever amount of time elapses before and/or after posting it, aren't being honest?

Because if you're seriously going to kill yourself then you wouldn't bother to log onto the internet and rant about it, you'd just do it. Come on, if someone starts posting things like that then they're just looking for a big hug aren't they ?! Its not a crime to want to be loved in a crisis, even by strangers.

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:26 (twenty-three years ago)

Takes a while to realise what are the jokes and what are the criticisms.

Exactly. And isn't that why emoticons became so widely used.

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:28 (twenty-three years ago)

The first rule of people saying they're going to kill themselves is that you take them seriously, IMO.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:28 (twenty-three years ago)

i think its fine for people to post "try and talk me out of killing myself stuff"....

i also think its fine not to respond. i mean, its a request not a demand?

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:30 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm also of the opinion that in some (extreme and desperate) circumstances, suicide is probably the best option. I'm certainly not going to offer platitudes like "well you wake up tomorrow and everything will look different" because in some cases that just isn't true.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:33 (twenty-three years ago)

ssshhh.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 11:40 (twenty-three years ago)

New posters only really get picked apart if they say something worth being picked apart (and so they should do). As do old posters, for that matter, some of whom in my experience get far more shit thrown at them than any newbies.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 12:01 (twenty-three years ago)

I mean I know what Kate's trying to say - if you're going to post that kind of thread, think twice about how you're going to phrase it? Is it a genuine suicidal ideation or are you just looking for a big hug (even if only electronically)? With me it's more complicated; the answer would be both, because there is a clinical difference between just feeling low and being convinced that you don't want to see any more of this hellish world/life. Sometimes when I post threads of that type I feel the former; sometimes it's the latter, it depends.

And I get far too panicky and paranoid about things most of the time, which doesn't help.

It's hard to describe. Posters who know me in "real life" know the way I am and why I am that way, but it's difficult to express it in the necessarily limited context of a message board.

Anyway. Things are not too bad at the moment. I feel as though I am in the act of turning a corner but haven't completely turned the corner, if that makes any sense. I cannot pretend these feelings/problems aren't there. But compared to even one month ago, it's an improvement.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 15 January 2003 12:25 (twenty-three years ago)

And isn't that why emoticons became so widely used.

Absolutely. But I somehow don't get the feeling that ILE would be a place where a plethora of emoticons would be particularly welcome. I use them a lot elsewhere (although only really the main three), and have probably used them here without thinking, but.....oh, I dunno.

― SittingPretty (sittingpretty), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 14:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Skipping 13 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I'm all against them. I just find them annoying as they deaden tone.

In the past, I have tried giving them up for a while here and elsewhere. Many of my comments were then *completely* taken the wrong way, by both new folks and old. So I'll stick with, thanks.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 15:57 (twenty-three years ago)

I never know when to use the 'nose' :-)
or not.. :)
and then you have to ask 'which nose?' :-) :^) :o)

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 16:09 (twenty-three years ago)

It is also important to use (( as much as possible!

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 16:56 (twenty-three years ago)

I usually find that is only annoying or dim people who consistently misread tone or irony. We might all be puzzled occasionally, but why not give people the benefit of the doubt that they are not trying to be offensive? If I had to keep going ;-) all the time, I'd feel like I would be pictured in people's minds as a grinning and winking goon.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 17:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Smileys without noses generally look terrible in proporional fonts. It looks almost as if the smile is unnaturally curving up to the eyes. So I always keep the nose in. As far as which nose, that's a genetic thing I think but you have to be pretty silly to go with the :o) nose.

― Chris P (Chris P), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 17:05 (twenty-three years ago)

Thanks. I am. I'm also upset to know that N. is not a grinning, winking goon.

― SittingPretty (sittingpretty), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 17:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh he is.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 17:13 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm less upset now.

― SittingPretty (sittingpretty), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 17:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, I am. But on the internet no one knows you're a goon. D'oh!

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 17:16 (twenty-three years ago)

N. using emoticons = goon

Me using emoticons = a view into my secret soul, which goes by the name of Brett Beautiful.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 17:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Giving people the benefit of the doubt often = encouraging rudeness. I use a simple rule - if I wouldn't tolerate that sort of rudeness in real life, I won't tolerate it online, emoticon or no emoticon.

― kate, Wednesday, 15 January 2003 17:37 (twenty-three years ago)

I think I often get misread but I don't give a fucking shit.

: /

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 17:39 (twenty-three years ago)

I agree with Kate. I am never abusive online (or at least only to friends who know for sure that I am joking, eg. calling Anna a moron the other day). Snide sometimes, maybe. But I'm that in real life too sometimes.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 18:03 (twenty-three years ago)

N, you're the rudest person on this board!

I'll put a ;-) in here so this doesn't look "snide".

― kate, Wednesday, 15 January 2003 18:05 (twenty-three years ago)

I also like the Bowlie forum. most of the posters are younger than the Ilxors, and therefore less cynical and ironic.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 19:37 (twenty-three years ago)

blah, blah, blah, blah.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:28 (twenty-three years ago)

The rudest person on the board has surely just posted above me.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:33 (twenty-three years ago)

you misread me.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Like fuck I do/did!

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:35 (twenty-three years ago)

: /

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I challenge anyone to find an example of me being rude on ILE.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Like fuck I do/did!
-- N. ([email protected]), January 16th, 2003 12:35 AM.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh yeah. More effusive than rude, tho?

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:52 (twenty-three years ago)

effusively rude. : (((((((((((

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Blustering, maybe.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:55 (twenty-three years ago)

-ly rude. >: (

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Message boards r a lot like hurting your head.

― naked as sin (naked as sin), Thursday, 16 January 2003 02:39 (twenty-three years ago)

OMG - today I read this thread, the Marcello and Kate stuff, and I felt a safe distance away from it. Then I get an email from a guy saying (amongst many other things similar and sad things):

As far as i can see i serve and will serve no useful purpose on this earth... the only reason i still burden the earth with my existence is that i do not have the courage to do what needs to be done.... but i am working on that...

And I just don't know what to say to him!

― toraneko (toraneko), Thursday, 16 January 2003 10:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, silly question first, but is this someone you know, and if so, in what capacity?

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 16 January 2003 10:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I met him on an aeroplane a month ago and since then we've been emailing. He's quite young and stressed and depressed and in conflict with his parents and he's very isolated (lives in the country in Tassie).

See the thing is that Tassie has the highest per capita suicide rate of just about anywhere. Like, more kids I went to school with have died of suicide than of everything else put together - something to do with being stranded in the middle of nowhere with easy access to guns, and a knowledge of how to used them. Actually, it's funny that I felt distant to your conversation seeing as one of my old classmates and one of my old teachers have both killed themselves in the past two months.

So, I am concerned but I don't know him well enough to know if he's looking for attention or if he's really, seriously feeling that bad.

― toraneko (toraneko), Thursday, 16 January 2003 10:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Best to be cautious then. Talk to him via email and try to find out more but keep him at arm's length. Meeting up might not be advisable. Also don't get entangled to such an extent that you assume responsibility for his life/death - extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all times. If after two or three posts he's still saying the same thing then let him go. It's sad, but it's not your problem. Sometimes you have to be a little selfish so that you can get on with your own life.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 16 January 2003 11:03 (twenty-three years ago)

We can't meet up - we've got 1000's of kilometres and a big stretch of water between us. It hurts when you can't just reach out and hug someone.

― toraneko (toraneko), Thursday, 16 January 2003 11:28 (twenty-three years ago)

I know. But when you hug someone - even electronically - you have to be careful that you can extricate yourself afterwards.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 16 January 2003 11:39 (twenty-three years ago)

this is the first and only message board I've been to. reading bat other message boards tells me I've been lucky.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 16 January 2003 11:45 (twenty-three years ago)

also, abt new ppl being 'picked on': if someone says something then they need to defend it if others find it a tad dodgy. its discussion, nothing more.

this process is healthy: you can put yr args out there. refine them, drop or replace them for better ones.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 16 January 2003 12:05 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

Internet Argument Leaves 2 Dead, 2 Injured

San Diego Based Message Board Is Cause for Mass Murder

Arguments on Internet message boards are nothing new, and often are a central component. But in San Diego, California an argument turned deadly on 25 May 2005, resulting in two murders, and two other attempted homicides.

"We've always had a lot of arguments and disputes on this board, but nothing like this, and I really don't think anyone saw it coming," said Radley Pingay, administrator of pirate969.org, in an email response.

"Bruce was always a little hostile, but so many people are like that online, it's hard to tell what's real and what's just shenanigans." Bruce is not only the username of the suspect in the double homicide, but is also his first name.

The online argument started in a thread (link) discussing a local band promoter. Bruce Pastuer, now wanted on two counts of homicide and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, was one of the participants in the discussion.

Apparently two other board members and Pastuer exchanged insults, at which point Pastuer drove to the home of the two victims at approximately 3:00PM, and shot them both with a borrowed 12 gauge shotgun. The police have not recovered the weapon, and the names of the two victims have not been released pending notification of their relatives.

In the course of the shooting, two neighbors came to investigate, and Pastuer reportedly fired at them as well. His location is unknown, and anyone with information is requested to contact the San Diego Police Department.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Survey:

If you could enhance 96.9FM...

Shoot Bob Ugly in the face.
Increase signal range.
Cut out all the talk shows.
Cut out all the music shows.
Have more live DJs.
Have less weird music.
Have less mainstream music.
Have the FCC shut the station down.
Nothing, just keep going.
Cut back on the profanity.
Crank up the profanity.
I'm drunk stop asking questions.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.pirate969.org/mboard/showthread.php?t=18735

― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Bruce this is serious fucking shit and I can't believe what you did. You took this shit way too far IRL, and you seriously need to turn yourself into the cops. Don't make it worse for yourself man. You've always been a great moderator; don't fuck this up man.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

and for your further amusement:
http://www.pirate969.org/mboard/showthread.php?t=18735&page=8&pp=50

― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

that thread is like an internet version of River's Edge. wtf.

― ()ops (()()ps), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

It's a hoax.

http://www.radpin.com/journal.aspx?storyid=135

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:32 (twenty-one years ago)

roffle

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:34 (twenty-one years ago)

well DUH

― charleston charge (chaki), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

CHECK AND MATE

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, it took like 2 minutes to realize that. (xp - not the roffles, those took 0 minutes)

― Community Cornerstone (deangulberry), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I've again realized there's nothing more painful than reading the AOL film and music message boards.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 07:35 (twenty-one years ago)

reading prince fan sites / messages boards

anyone ever come across the horror that was alt.music.prince?

― death of tom (death of tom), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 09:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm glad to see the eeggs message board fading away, such obnoxious twits that dominated that place.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 09:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm kind of trying to decide if ILX is C or D - for me, personally - at the moment. There are a lot of posts and posters here that I get a lot out of in all sorts of different ways; but there are posters who do the opposite and drag me down too, which isn't the sort of thing I want to happen when I'm already feeling low.

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 11:44 (twenty-one years ago)

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