Less is More

[Hubris Boy]

The lighting inside the secret control bunker is subdued. Shades of red and amber flash malevolently in the semidarkness. Another shift, another hundred or so breakdowns. He pauses on his way into the room and looks forlornly at the the lights on the warning panel. So many. He reads the names with dumb amazement. Home Base. Current Events. Politics. IOTD. Comments and Suggestions. Food and Drink.

"Food and Drink?!? How the fuck can you troll Food and Drink?"

Hubris Boy staggers to his chair and collapses into it with a groan. He cradles his head in his hands. The incessant shrieking of the Mk.IV Troll Detector^™ causes his head to throb and his ears to ring like church bells. With bleary eyes he stares at the reset button across the room.

"Fuck it," he thinks to himself. "It'll just go off again in another 30 seconds."

He sips from his filthy coffee cup and wonders how it happened. It used to be so quiet here. He remembers a gentler time- a time without flashing lights and shrill alarms. A time of reasonable, sequenced arguments and lively debate. A troll-free time. Well, a troll-lite time, anyway.

He remembers, and is filled with indignation. Reaches for his for his keyboard and blows away the dust. He grins. "This oughta piss 'em off," he mutters.

Some time later, a new thread appears in Home Base; thread starter... Hubris Boy?? A handful of ancients blink with astonishment. "Hubris Boy? We thought he was dead."

The majority don't even notice. Why should they? "Who the heck is this Hubris Boy character? Never heard of him."



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Hubris Boy notes with dismay a change that has crept not so stealthily into the character of the Cellar in the past... oh... year or so.

Once upon a time, the Cellar was a witty, well-informed but not-stuck-up-about-it forum where people with widely varied backgrounds could discuss a wide variety of topics. Most posts were reasonable and reasonably well written- good grammar and spelling were the rule. (Okay... with the exception of Jaguar v0.9 beta. But they seem to have included a spellchecker in the release version.) It was a genuine pleasure to stop by and read what folks had to say about the topics of the day. GIANTS walked among us in those days, my friends. I used to live for new posts by tw. I rarely agreed with the man, but he was fun to read and even more fun to debate. People used to gather 'round to watch the sparks fly. [Yes, I know he's still here. I'm just making a point.]

Sadly, this is no longer possible.

Because the Cellar has been transmogrified into a chat room.

In place of well considered posts, we find ourselves inundated with a flood of messages that are semantically equivalent to "Heh. Me too." Or, "Oh yeah? Your mother." We're buried to our navels in drivel that looks like it was cut-and-pasted from the AOL "Tourettes Syndrome Singles #7432" chatroom. The sheer volume is such that it is no longer possible to separate the wheat from the chaff. We're drowning in chaff.

Some of this increased volume in posts can be attributed to the growth of the Cellar population- a phenomenon as pleasant as the Cellar is bound to expand by virtue of its own excellence. That's great. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is an exponential increase in the volume of posts made by people who have absolutely nothing to say. Don't believe me? Check out the stats. They're right under our user names for all the world to see.

&lt;OldGeezer&gt;
I remember waaaay back to the day when Sycamore's post count rolled over into four digits. That was fucking amazing. A thousand posts?!? I couldn't believe he'd done it. It took forever to reach a thousand posts. What an impressive achievement.
&lt;/OldGeezer&gt;

Fast forward to 2004 and prepare your senses for the assault. Waves of babble and blather break over our heads. There are new members who seem to make a thousand posts a day. There are old members who emulate them. Holy crap. Nobody is that interesting. Fer Chrissake, muzzle yourself. Anybody who breaks the thousand post mark in less than two years really needs to go outside more.

We're all guilty of it. And the occasional one line bon mot is okay... it adds zest to the soup. Every post doesn't have to be a "Summa Theolgica." But they don't all have to be "Beavis and Butthead," either.

Some people will be offended by this thread. I don't give a fuck. I'm just making a shoe. If you want to put it on and loudly announce to the world that it fits, that's your decision.

If you're smart enough to find your way here, you must have at least some capacity for critical thinking. Use it. Put your super-ego in the driver's seat and think before you post. Before you click the 'submit' button, stop and ask yourself: "Am I contributing anything to this discussion?" If that's too much for you at first, try: "Does it least have a noun and a verb?"

There are a lot of us crowded into this small forum. Practice a little self-conscious self censorship, won't you? And let the Great Unwashed stay in the chat rooms. Where they belong.

[lumberjim]

lol

[jaguar]

I was going to agree with you, but alone, that would be a tad..problematic. Thus a sentence discussing the problems associated with that, which in itself is mindless drivel.
On the upside, it's spelt correctly.

Syc's could do with a larger following to hit that sweet spot.

None of the really good member seem to stick around. I am aware of the implications of this statement.

[lumberjim]

aw, c'mon. that was funny


i hear you h_b. and the shoe fits.

i think each of our perceptions of what the cellar 'is' is going to be different. there are those who only post well thought out, clearly stated positions on serious topics. there are those who enjoy the community that exists. for the latter, when the boards are slow, it's lonely. funny, the timing of your thread and dagney's. you both appear to miss the quieter slower paced days. i can see what you're both saying, but there's not much to be done about it. as I see it, there are maybe 30 or so active posters, and lots of readers. the well thought out posts have not gone away, they just have company now. if you don't have the time or inclination to sift through the chaff, then don't. msg boards constantly change and morph into different trends. it's just the way it is. all this tshirt hawking glitz obviously doesn't jibe with your ideal. i wish people would post more. I'd like to see the cellar grow enough that UT could charge admission and not lose anyone. a network of friends that can talk to each other all day, trade skills and knowledge, support each other emotionally, and refine their beliefs through argument and debate.

so what's the point of this thread? you want us all to shut up? why have a message board at all then?

i think i know where one more of the 'yes' votes on that poll came from, now, at least.

[jaguar]

Ah that's where you're wrong. The quality of discussion here now is frankly, by comparison to what it was, shithouse. At best. Problem is I still can't find anywhere better. Gated forums are the only ones that can keep a good size and quality posters.

Well, HB, you're entitled to your opinion. You're also perfectly welcome to surf off somewhere else to find nobler boards with better spelling and grandma. No one is pointing a gun at your head, forcing you to read everyone's posts. I agree with LJ, how do you enhance the quality of a discussion by telling everyone to shut up? Are we all supposed to read only YOUR posts and be so dumbstruck with awe that we never reply?:p






(edited for "grandma")

[ladysycamore]

Wow I'm about to agree with Jim. :p

As someone who has moderated mailing lists and currently co-administer my own board and chatroom, I understand the different ebbs and flows that a message board goes through. A certain "vibe" is established in the beginning, and as more and more people come on board, the tone and vibe tends to change. IMO, that's natural. Change is good (well, in most cases). Some people just take longer to adapt to change (not necessarily YOU HubrisBoy, but I am just saying in general).

But it's my understanding that their isn't a specific "way" for people to post here...unless I missed that memo. Ah well. Life goes on.

[prince] Peace and B wild! [/prince]

*not a "Summa Theolgica" type of person anyway* *shrugs*

[vsp]

Originally posted by Hubris Boy
Anybody who breaks the thousand post mark in less than two years really needs to go outside more.

I seem to have figured this shit out years ago WITHOUT going outside more.

[xoxoxoBruce]

We've been treading water waiting for you to lead us to the promise land, HB.

[Undertoad]

I think one answer is removing the post count, which I think I will do when we go to vBulletin 3 (any weekend now).

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yes, do it UT.

[Undertoad]

WHY WAIT?

[jaguar]

I don't see how that is possibly the answer to anything HB addressed.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Then every post can be taken at face value rather then weighted against a percieved standing based on post counts, for or against.

[ladysycamore]

Originally posted by jaguar
I don't see how that is possibly the answer to anything HB addressed.

Just taking a wild guess, but I think that it's been mentioned that people are probably posting comments merely to up their count (and at one point, I thought that too, but then I realized that some people just have a lot to say. oh well).

Of course, that's only a guess, a theory...no one knows for sure if some post short and supposedly "AOL-type chat" comments just to brag about their numbers. I figured some people are just to the point, or that's all they had to say about the post they were commenting on. *shrugs*

Too bad...I was looking forward to seeing myself hit 1,000 posts ( I wasn't paying much attention to my stats until about 2 weeks ago anyway).

Carry on.