Oh no, I've been scolded by
Corolinth for making snide quips.
It's cute that you think that chemistry thread was the reason they/she left. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.
If anyone ever wondered why I didn't perma-ban Montegue during my tenure, it's quite simple. While I utterly hated the idea, I let him stay because he was a lightning rod, the willing recipient of the board's Two Minutes Hate. Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, human being or alien, Montegue had the unique ability to piss literally
everyone off, and didn't mind being a punching bag. While his very presence made several
"someone is wrong on the internet" types really, really annoyed ("I can't believe he still
holds his own opinons! I've proven him wrong so many times!"), most were content to just let him remain a punching bag. A necessary evil. But in the absence of Monte, someone else needed to be that scapegoat. We as humans don't seem to generally like the fact that there are people that exist who either disagree with us or annoy us through repeated exposure. And so what happens? We push away everything that clashes with our own worldviews, and then start looking for things that
might clash with them, and so on. We've eaten ourselves alive.
Taly commented on the rarity of decent discussion in
the 'six kinds of libertarians' thread. And it's astonishing to see that. I thought that kind of discussion was no longer possible here. Instead, its existence proves that it
is perfectly possible, it's just not the path that we choose 99% of the time. Instead, we'd rather fling our e-peens around like billy clubs, act as though each and every person here is final goddamn authority on any given subject, and try to destroy anyone who thinks differently.
Nitefox and LK have the right **** idea. This place was invaluable to me 12 years ago, when I was growing up as literally the only geek in my family and town. I felt incredibly alone. The Glade opened my eyes, and made me realize that hey, I wasn't alone! There were others out there that liked the same things I did, that had the same kinds of interests and could have conversations more intelligent than whether it was going to rain or not, or asking an opinion of <insert sports team mascot name here>.
That was 12 years ago. I've made a lot of friends, many for life, on this message board, and it's enriched my life fully. But we've routinely seen a drop in everything that I used to love about this board. And the personalities on here that used to be worthwhile have either A) left because they saw the writing on the wall or B) suffered from personality creep that has let their worst traits run wild without the value-added portions.
I'm freely available on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, email (farsky at gmail), and dozens of other outlets. If there's anyone still here who wants to drop me a line, feel free to do so. I've wrestled of late over the decision to leave here entirely, or just cut back my time to the areas of the board that beggar my interest, but the simple fact of the matter is that those areas have withered and died on their vines.
Peace.
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