quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Why did you blindly accept the dictates of grammar Nazis as fact?
Do you split your infinitives? Do you end sentences with prepositions? Do you wish I were, instead of wish I was? Do you "properly" distinguish between less and fewer, between lie and lay?
For me: yes, yes, yes, no, no.
I don't blindly accept the dictates of so-called "Grammar Nazis", however, I know that if I used the word "funner" in a paper, for instance, my professors would tell me to change it. As I said, I have no problems with its use humorously, ironically, or I suppose, colloquially. However, as Kwea said, it doesn't make it proper English. At least a passing knowledge of proper English, I would think, is a requirement for writing any sort of book-length piece of writing--a requirement that Blayne has repeatedly fallen short of.
Posts: 3658 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quote:Googling "Tara" would never in a million years connect to Hatrack, much less connect to a picture of me... And I imagine the same is true for most people here...
That is not true for quite a large number of people here.
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posted
In answer to the request in the original post, I'm ten foot two and have a voice like distant thunder, but the precise details of my appearance are generally obscured by the nimbus of golden light that surrounds me.
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quote:Originally posted by Occasional: "This description doesn't apply to anyone who has voiced objection."
Riiiight.
Your clever and articulate retort has made me realize the error of my original opinion on the subject.
Oh, wait. No it hasn't. I know the real name of most of the people who have voiced objection. I know that several of them have met people here outside the forum. I know all of them well enough to characterize them.
The characterization would be partial, but all characterizations are.
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quote:I don't blindly accept the dictates of so-called "Grammar Nazis", however, I know that if I used the word "funner" in a paper, for instance, my professors would tell me to change it. As I said, I have no problems with its use humorously, ironically, or I suppose, colloquially. However, as Kwea said, it doesn't make it proper English.
But none of us are writing papers for college courses here on Hatrack. I see nothing wrong with using the word funner here.
I actually agree with your larger point, but I don't think that his use of the word funner supports it.
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posted
mph, the Internet is my playground, my sounding board, whatever. The best that can be said is that it is really what I think, but it is hardly my personality as much as alter-ego. The last place I would give out any information about the real me is where privacy has no existance. And that has more to do with safety issues than the idea that I have anything about me of importance.
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: But none of us are writing papers for college courses here on Hatrack. I see nothing wrong with using the word funner here.
I actually agree with your larger point, but I don't think that his use of the word funner supports it.
And that is a point that I will concede.
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posted
Dagonee, does that go for Blayne Bradley with the description? Is he one of the "inner circle" that you describe? If not, then I still find the objections to be silly and self-important.
Am I jerk online? You bet, and I don't care. What are you going to do, ignore me? Write some more words on a computer? Please. I am nothing compared to what exists in other places. I am not even bad enough to get a warning that I might get kicked off the Forum. If you want real jerks, I could probably point you in the right direction. I am just abrasively opinionated.
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Occasional, just because you keep the real you divorced from the forum doesn't mean everyone does. I have met over 100 hatrack users in real life. I have had more than 20 over to my home. Anyone who cares to try can find from my post history where I live to within a few miles, where I work, where I went to school, and many details of my personal life, as well as plenty of pictures of me and my family. This is the real me. And I do not care to have anyone basing a character on me and putting words in my mouth for publication and linking it to me with my name. (My handle is my initials, and my real name has been posted here many times. If my handle was used in a book based on Hatrack, anyone who came to Hatrack to check it out could easily come across my name.) Generally, when one bases characters in a story on exisiting people, one changes the name. Otherwise, it is way to hard to tell what is fiction and what is supposed to be true.
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posted
Occasional, Blayne Bradley is Blayne's real name. He lives outside a small town in Quebec. His mother makes ceramics, and he helps out with the family business. He's going to a community collegen type school (the Canadian equivilent) to be a computer programmer, and he tried to join the army a while back but decided it wasn't for him. He has a hard time getting anywhere because his home is a long bus ride from the closest town. He plays a lot of video games, including with King of Men online, and has spoken with at least 5 hatrackers over skype, although I don't believe he's met anyone in person. He's posted several pictures of himself.
Yes, he's part of the circle of people who don't just consider this an alter-ego playground.
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quote:Dagonee, does that go for Blayne Bradley with the description? Is he one of the "inner circle" that you describe? If not, then I still find the objections to be silly and self-important.
Of course it applies to him. I know his real name, and lots of details about his life - from the mundane to the tragic - that would allow a decent characterization. I don't know who he's met in real life.
Moreover, this isn't an "inner circle." This information is known to any who choose to read it on the forums. Moreover, many real-life Hatrack gatherings are open invitation, with meeting times and places publicly posted and therefore open to anyone to attend.
Just because you choose to limit your participation here to being an "abrasively opinionated jerk" doesn't mean that others have made the same choice.
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quote:Am I jerk online? You bet, and I don't care. What are you going to do, ignore me? Write some more words on a computer?
Occ, You do damage to people's opinions of the things you support and organizations you belong to, in large part because of how you present yourself and your arguments, but to some extent because it is you who support them.
That's what people can do, think less of things because you are associated with them. That's why many of the people who take strongest objection to some of your participation here are more or less on your side on the things you talk about.
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quote:Dagonee, does that go for Blayne Bradley with the description? Is he one of the "inner circle" that you describe?
He didn't describe an inner circle.
quote:Am I jerk online? You bet, and I don't care. What are you going to do, ignore me? Write some more words on a computer? Please. I am nothing compared to what exists in other places. I am not even bad enough to get a warning that I might get kicked off the Forum. If you want real jerks, I could probably point you in the right direction. I am just abrasively opinionated.
You are a jerk because you act like a jerk to people (we're actually people here, not just a sounding board), know that you act like a jerk to people, and don't care.
The fact that there are bigger jerks out there doesn't ameliorate it. Neither does the fact that you're a jerk without violating the TOS of this site.
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posted
ElJay, now that I know that information then the objections are even more moot. You are already out there for everyone to see. Although, I admit there is questions of "putting words in your mouth" and a larger audience.
Still, what keeps some random fool from already looking into your life simply because they read what was on Hatack and decided to do a little "research." Didn't you ever learn not to talk to strangers? I am perplexed how easily people make lives on the Internet, ignore the consiquences, and then get all upset if someone thinks of doing something with that information. Besides, I don't think Blayne said anything about actually using real names; although he could have meant using them.
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quote:I am perplexed how easily people make lives on the Internet, ignore the consiquences, and then get all upset if someone thinks of doing something with that information.
I would have the exact same objections to a member of a club writing a book about members of that club using the names that the club members use to refer to themselves that I have to the proposed Hatrack book.
There's nothing in the analysis that depends on this being an Internet community rather than one where the interaction occurs in person.
quote:Besides, I don't think Blayne said anything about actually using real names; although he could have meant using them.
That's pretty much irrelevant to any of the objections I have seen.
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quote:ElJay, now that I know that information then the objections are even more moot. You are already out there for everyone to see. Although, I admit there is questions of "putting words in your mouth" and a larger audience.
Forgot to add this part.
This demonstrates that you don't really understand the objections. They aren't about the book possibly putting information out there.
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posted
Yes, I'm out here for everyone to see, in my own words. I have no problem with that, and I have no problem with any random fool reading anything I've typed. I haven't put anything here any more dangerous than someone could overhear evesdropping on me and a friend having lunch at a restaurant. This is a similar type of public space.
That doesn't make it okay for Blayne to write a character as me in a novel based on people here. He has said he would use handles, which I pointed out is easily linked to real names in my and many other cases.
There is nothing wrong with using people you know as inspiration. Writing about specific people as themselves is a very different matter. It's something that should not be done without permission, and Blayne doesn't have it.
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"You do damage to people's opinions of the things you support and organizations you belong to, in large part because of how you present yourself, but to some extent because it is you who support them."
Oh yea, Hatrack the World. Like my participation here has damaged the opinions of people enough to make a difference. If there is one thing I have learned is that very few people here have changed their minds about anything. I would like to think I make a difference for good or ill, but I know better. The seriousness that some people make about Hatrack really is starting to be irritating and I am not sure why.
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Blayne, if by some long shot you would like to write me in, go for it. I'll even provide you with a picture for accurate description, and a list of things I do not like (It's shorter than the list of things I do).
Posts: 349 | Registered: Oct 2007
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quote:If there is one thing I have learned is that very few people here have changed their minds about anything. I would like to think I make a difference for good or ill, but I know better.
Whereas I know for a fact that I have changed people's minds here, on some very serious issues. I don't know that this was for good or ill, of course.
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quote:Originally posted by adfectio: Ignoring everyone bickering on here:
Blayne, if by some long shot you would like to write me in, go for it. I'll even provide you with a picture for accurate description, and a list of things I do not like (It's shorter than the list of things I do).
I used to be lukewarm on abortion until discussing it with people on Hatrack. Though I guess it wasn't actually Dagonee that convinced me, it was the blast-ackwardness of people who refused to honor any date of viability that made me see that only "from conception" really means Pro-Life.
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posted
Anyway, there was a suggestion back when I was new here of putting some of the landmark posts together in an anthology. I forget what the reception was on that. It seems like it couldn't have been as prevalently negative as response to the idea of a fictionalized story would be.
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posted
Blayne, how would you feel if we decided to create a book where each member writes a story specifically about you?
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Thought was a person on the ancient Underage Writer's Forum before it got finally shut down who basically wrote about himself finding a Hat Rack and then coming to the world of Hatrack. It was a well written story- I wonder if anyone still has it.
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quote:It doesn't matter whether he'd be OK with it -- many people here wouldn't be.
I was actually assuming he would not be OK with it, and therefore might then better understand how other people feel about being written into one of his stories.
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posted
I don't understand the big deal here in all honesty. If you don't mind him writing you into a story tell him so, and if you do mind tell him not to. Problem solved in my opinion.
Any Blayne, I know I'm not much. But I'm adfectio's girlfriend so you can take that and use it if you want.
Posts: 106 | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
Blayne, I think it's a bad idea. If you wish to write a piece of post-apocalyptic fiction centered around an internet web forum, fine. The name Hatrack River is copyrighted, so you'd be in violation of that if you include it without permission (which I sincerely doubt you'd get). I'm no lawyer, but if you use people's real screennames from here (which in some cases are their names), you might be opening yourself up to accusations of libel.
Perhaps you could create a thread where you set the scene, and let people participate as they will. If enough people are interested it will have a life of its own, and people who don't wish to be included need not participate.
posted
I take Occasional's view-- that Hatrack isn't real. It is a virtual place.
I don't believe that I am capable of showing who I really am in a virtual world. There are elements of me here, the way there are elements of me in the fiction I write-- but it's not really me. The virtual me is true, but not complete. I extend those views to all my online relationships.
That is to say, you don't know me.
It is a relationship that is slightly skewed because of the medium through which it is propagated. There is an inherent amount of mistrust in it, which I am comfortable with.
I recognize that other people don't share my feelings about Hatrack's...er...virtuosity; and I try to accommodate their feelings as much as I can by not belittling (or even thinking much about) their relationships to other virtual people. It is not my place-- I don't even think I'm capable-- of judging the depth of someone else's feelings for other people.
I believe it's usually important to be considerate even though this is a virtual world. I can choose to be whoever I want to be-- why not choose to be a generally nice guy who gets along with people?
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote:Originally posted by cassv746: I don't understand the big deal here in all honesty. If you don't mind him writing you into a story tell him so, and if you do mind tell him not to. Problem solved in my opinion.
Unless, you know, he did use the names/characters of people who told him they didn't want him to.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:I don't understand the big deal here in all honesty. If you don't mind him writing you into a story tell him so, and if you do mind tell him not to. Problem solved in my opinion.
It wouldn't be that big a deal if Blayne respected others' wishes about it, but so far he's just dismissed other people's concerns. That's the big deal.
----
quote:I take Occasional's view-- that Hatrack isn't real. It is a virtual place.
I don't believe that I am capable of showing who I really am in a virtual world. There are elements of me here, the way there are elements of me in the fiction I write-- but it's not really me. The virtual me is true, but not complete. I extend those views to all my online relationships.
That is to say, you don't know me.
That's true for all mortal relationships. I've been married for ten years, and we're still discovering how much we don't know each other.
I don't think that fact that this interaction takes place over the internet makes it any less "real". Yes, it has different strengths and limitations, but so does every other arena of interaction. Somebody who knows me at church will get to know me in a different manner than somebody who belongs to a club I belong to, but neither relationship is more "real" than the other because of that. They're all incomplete to one degree or another.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Occasional: "This description doesn't apply to anyone who has voiced objection."
Riiiight.
Wow, and I thought I was a dick.
Like I said before, just because somebody is worse doesn't take anything away from you. :wub:
---
My problem with the "y'all aren't real" paradigm is that it encourages bad behavior. While you tend to be a paragon of civility, Scott, those who consider the other people on the board as "not real" tend to treat those "not real" people poorly.
I am a real person, and I don't appreciate being told that I'm not.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I'm not sure why I'm fine with someone presenting a nice face at hatrack and not a nasty one. I suppose it's just my personal preference for nice and not nasty.
I think Hatrack is a lot like a magazine. You can read for information, or for entertainment, or for the personal ads and jokes. Except most magazines, if you ask them a question, can't alter their content to give you an answer (or sometimes tell you your question was dumb). I think Hatrack is pretty amazingly cool.
I don't forget that it was once supposed to be OSC's living room. That was two and a half years ago.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Tresopax: I have changed my mind on a number of issues.
That's not what Xaposert told me.
-Bok
Xap's exaggerating his point then. He may think I should change my mind more than I have, but he knows as well as I do that Hatrack has altered my thoughts on certain important topics, for better or for worse. Posts: 8120 | Registered: Jul 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Occasional: If there is one thing I have learned is that very few people here have changed their minds about anything. I would like to think I make a difference for good or ill, but I know better.
Sweet sufferin' succubus. Because you've failed, we must be immovable?
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