This is topic In Praise of Hatrack in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
 
There has been some grumbling about how things go here sometimes, about how maybe some of us argue our passions without acknowledging that those who hold a different view may hold that view through rational examination of their experiences, not just some party line.

I have been guilty of the occassional grumble along those lines, but I come before Hatrack today to REPENT.

Hatrack is teh seat of rationality compared to many forums that skew to a different base. But, lo, even other SF&F boards fair badly by comparison. I would not have expected this, but this thread at Asimov's opened my eyes.

Thank you, Hatrack, for arguing with passion and respect (and a great amount of self-awareness that seems quite uncommon to me).


 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
And they wonder why they can't get chicks.
 

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Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
 
to Olivet. How's the fam, and the writing?
 

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Posted by TheHumanTarget (Member # 7129) on :
 
I'm devestated...you've been cheating on Hatrack with Asmiov?
 

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Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
 
Wow; I'm not sure if I feel the same trust anymore. I may have to leave now that it's been violated.
 

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Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
 
That thread at Asimov's is simply unbelievable. I read it yesterday when you posted it elsewhere, and I still can't get over it.
 

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Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
 
JT, THT and Phanto- I'm not registered at Asimov's, but one lady in my writing circle is (plus another who recently had a story in Strange Horizons reads there sometimes). So, I'm not cheating on Hatrack. The family is great, the writing is *mumble, mumble* and life is good. Thanks for asking!

kq- I had the same thought when I was directed to a similar cat fight on the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy forum in response to Dave Truesdale's ill-considered "parody" of Adrienne Martini's Rant about this year's Hugo Nominees. Poor guy attempted to use the word "pussy" ironically. It went over about as well as you'd expect (about as well as, say, using the word "coon" ironically).

I read it, Googled him, and then decided he was not malicious, merely clueless. He struck me as a fellow whose life did not include an abundance of feline companioniship.

So it was fairly easy for me to take no notice, really (though I did have visions of a woman winning the Hugo next year and her acceptance speech consisting of meows - my imagination is my friend ).

I just think it's wonderful that Hatrack is largely empty of that level of cluelessness. I thought the world at large was, too, until just recently.

I have lived a very sheltered life, in a reality shaped by my own perceptions, but it still amazes me to run into people with whom I cannot find some sort of common frame of reference. It's happened a bit more, lately.

But I didn't post either place. Just didn't seem worth it.
 

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Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
 
I read both of those...and I thought he said EXACTLY what he meant, and did it well.

I am not saying he was right, or tactful, but I don't think he was clueless at all.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
I was starting to wonder what the big deal was until about halfway down. yikes!!!
 

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Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
 
Leave it to a girl to appreciate the Hatrack's community!
 

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Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 
A bunch of uncultured swine over there, nobody even mentioned Ci Xi,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ci_Xi

or heck even,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheng_I_Sao

edited for slightly over the top condescension.
 

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Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
 
There are more four-letter words than necessary on that board (which I've noticed on a lot of boards, even at places like the Daily Kos), but the discussion wasn't as dumb as I thought it was going to be.
 

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Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
 
By "clueless" I meant largely unaware of how offensive he was being- not that he didn't realize he was being offensive. I think he was trying to reverse the sexism he saw in the bookslut's post, I just don't think he realized how hurtful he was being, especially to himself. The Bookslut apologized, and I'm glad she did, because her tone didn't do her cause any favors. Sadly, his response only served to illustrate her point-- one which most of us are content to ignore as a relic of less enlightened times.

Both "sides" seem strident and unpleasant to me, honestly. *sigh* This is why Hatrack is so cool. Mostly, everyone gets on fine and posters like Cris Bridges and Claudia Therese prove that grace is not a gender-specific trait.
 

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Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
 
ook ook okoookokook!
 

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Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
 
*gives Phanto a cookie (kookie?)*
 

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Posted by Nathan2006 (Member # 9387) on :
 
Hatrack, as a whole, is a great forum. The best I've seen in terms of self-awareness, and respect, or any other criteria.

However, I do have to say, this is in comparison to other forums.
 

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Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
 
I read the whole thing, and yes some posts were strong worded, but I thought both sides brought up good points as well as rebuttals. The people involved were also fairly eloquent I thought. Gender discussions are always so ugly in general, this one wasn't that bad.

Yeah, there were some f bombs dropped, but we have a rule against 'em here which makes them more shocking elsewhere. I do like Hatrack very much, but we do have our share of locked topics (which makes me immediately go read them).

Maybe I'm just used to the bloodshed on my own college's forums (the president had to step in this semester and tell people to can it, it was that bad), but that was nothing compared to stuff I've seen at my school. Even being under real names doesn't stop people from flaming.

One point the Azimocv posters failed to bring up was that while women aren't really known for violent crimes, they take out aggression socially à la Mean Girls. Yes Mean Girls is a movie, but it was based on a non-fiction book about high school cliques from which some of the pranks and lines came verbatim.

I thought it was an interesting thread.
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 

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Get a grip. TomK is right, men, in general are superior to women in some important areas, like music composition (a much different and far rarer talent than musical instrument performance) and logic and the maths. This does not prevent some men being boneheads in these areas and some women being extraordinary. For example, Lady Ada, a great mathematician; Ayn Rand, a giant in philosophy.

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Britain? ... no, ...yeah! Britsh Columbia, beautiful state.

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