I entered a tunnel and found myself in a narrow world
Narrow puddles of water reflecting fluorescent light
It was very curious
Like discovering a secret level of society
It was an experiment in psychogeography
(YMO + William Gibson’s Floating Away)
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When I first made regular that was my exact reaction, my very first post in the lounge: “Evenin’ everybody!”
I can’t remember (and can’t look back to check now) if I posted a GIF of George Wendt walking in the door but if not I definitely should have.
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I no longer have access. Which really sucks. It was one of my favorite parts of the internet. Seriously.
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Count me as somebody who apparently wandered back and forth across the Line of Regularity without really being aware of why, what it was for, or having any attachment to it. For me the BBS is the BBS.
But I sympathize with people who want to keep the tier system. It’s not really something I thought about, as I have enough semi-anonymity with my choice of username here to feel relatively safe posting anywhere. I don’t see why it’s now considered harmful though.
My own concerns about the BBS have had more to do with moderation/ban transparency and severity, and the occasional bit of ugliness re: GamerGate (ugh) or the US presidential election (double ugh) which, for the most part, still wasn’t as ugly as some other communities where I occasionally spend some online time.
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Me too. Right now I’m like:
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RIP Lounge of Friendly Ghosts.
Cat on a tin roof, dogs in a pile,
Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile …
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Yeah - hey, @orenwolf, maybe keep it around for a little while longer so we have some time to say goodbye? It seems like this is all rather sudden and there’s no need for such urgency.
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I would have liked to have downloaded my posts. It’s all gone. Like it was never said.
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Damnit, now that I’m home from work I wanted to grab caps of some old posts, and the topics are already locked and inaccessible.
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I was actually thrown out of a community that I built and tended for four years because I opposed Trump. Ok, they didn’t say it in those words. But the day after election day, I was unceremoniously banned by the root admin/host - and also lost my IRL job.
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It totally figures I’d be bounced out of the lounge on my birthday.
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Happy fucking birthday.
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Well, I was hoping it wouldn’t have had to be said, but of course I should have said it anyway:
You, sir, weren’t the target of that particular accusation of lack of respect. I was venting through you, not at you, and I apologize for doing so, and for not making it abundantly clear that I was. You’ve bent over backwards pretty consistently to bring together some strong and querulous personalities and to bridge some pretty wide differences between people who share a deep love for this place. You bust your ass, and your good faith and transparency are, in my opinion, above reproach. As is your respect for us, and for the upper management.
I also want to say that I feel we users here can do better as well. We’re a rude, snarky, opinionated bunch, and a more unherdable herd of cats has yet to be littered. Here’s a suggestion for us puss-pusses:
I have no idea how hard it is to run a blog like the Boing and keep it a more-or-less profitable going concern. Revenuewise, all I can see is that the place depends upon ads, and revenue from the BoingBoing store. The BBS has no ads, and provides absolutely no revenue at all, as far as I can imagine. And yet a whole bunch of us browse BB with an adblocker on, and whenever anything is posted about some new addition to the BB store, the comments begin to fill up with how crappy a product it is, and how craptastic BB must be for selling such awfulness.
How 'bout we stop doing that shit?
I’m juuust hypocritical enough to realize that I too have an adblocker running, which I’m gonna whitelist BB on tonight. It’s shamefully overdue, but I’ve been having such a blast exploiting BB for all it’s worth that I plumb forgot that I should be seeing ads there. And maybe buying stuff from them on occasion. Y’know. To help make sure Ken and our other BB pals can make a goddamned living.
And do we really need to pile on the ragging on every BB store product? Does it help this place stay wonderful if we bust ass to undermine their revenue streams? Maybe we’d be valued more if we tried harder to not be actively destructive here.
Okay. That was a bit of an OT rant, but I’ve been sitting on it for a while. Sorry about that.
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Thanks! Here’s what I got so far:
Cancel the clowns.
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I said before I’d sleep on it but … a self ban might be in my future. I really feel that without the lounge this just isn’t where I want to spend time. If we can’t share stuff that really matters why bother.
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Personally, I never had to worry about stuff like that.
Before the requirements for becoming “a Regular” were adjusted the last time, I made the cut in "record’ time, just by doing what I do naturally:
I read, a lot. I comment… a lot.
I see comments that I ‘like…’ a lot.
And I get my more than my fare share of likes in return.
And I’ll admit something here: those 3 times that I got “sanctioned?”
The hardest part was not being able to peruse the Lounge antics and my PM’s.
So yeah; this feels like it’s meant to actively spite the community and to “put us in our place.”
Some things are even beyond the control of the powers that be.
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I still have access, desperately backing up what I can for you.
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“Mutants” being “anyone on the Internet who makes an account, no matter how new to the site or why they showed up?”
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