Subject: Rambling is bad.
Author:
Posted on: 2012-05-27 02:19:00 UTC
Especially when it distorts the board to the point where people cannot use it.
Which is what you were doing, and is why rambling is bad.
If you wish to ramble, you are welcome to join the chatroom.
Hi! I'm new here. (Duh)
I watch/read Hetalia, Glee, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Warehouse 13, Eureka, Merlin, Once Upon a Time, Harry Potter, and a bunch of other things. Sorry if there's a thread I'm supposed to post this on. *paranoia*
I also like genetic experimentation (AKA: Randomly messing with DNA to see what happens) I'm only in middle school though, so I can't test any of my theories. *pokes list*
…I'm going to shut up now.
Hi, have some fudge!
Here, have some Bleeprin to get you through the badfic and some cookies to celebrate the goodfic with!
I'm a fan of a number of the things you're a fan of, and very curious about the things you're a fan of I haven't seen!
~Mystia
Welcome to the Board! Have some of my hydrophobic water to commemorate the event. Do not mix with hydrophilic substances. Also, have a big box of fruit flies and for your gene experiments.
So, you watch Doctor Who? What's your favourite incarnation of the Doctor? I've only watched New Who but I have to admit that I really like the Ninth.
My favorite is (no surprise) Tenant (The tenth), but I also really like the fourth Tom Baker. Also, if you're new in the fandom, once you finish the tv series, try checking your local library for Doctor Who books- I'm pretty sure there are more than a hundred.
Welcome to the board! Have a collection of varied fruit flies for all of your genetic experimentation needs. Though, seriously, fruit flies make good science fair projects. They reproduce rapidly, and are easy to get at science supply websites. I got mine from a site that sold different mutant forms.
Apparently their genes also show similarity to ours. Hmm, I must look in to that, especally as for some odd reason, my Dad encourages my mad scientist-ness. I should also look into science fairs. They seem fun.
Hello! I'm also a newbie here, so welcome aboard. And let's be newbies together.
I offer you this delicious cupcake as a welcome gift.
Greetings, new friend! Have some enchanted Tungsten slippers! While you're wearing them, click your heels together three times to turn your feet into a carbide drill!
Another Hetalian eh? We seem to be everywhere nowadays. Anyway, have some 2-D glasses, guaranteed to compress that pesky extra dimension or your money back! Also, I'm kind of celebrating in my head that I'm not the youngest one here. *Is a high school freshman.*
*Mentally resigns self to having nickname of 'Youngest'*
Please read our constitution, and the various guides on the Wiki.
Feel free to drop by the chatroom.
There have been so many new Hetalians popping up lately. I shouldn't talk because I'm one too, but still...
Have a mad-scientist lab coat for all your genetic engineering needs! And you don't need to shut up, feel free to ramble as you please. We're all a bit crazy here so we don't mind.
Maybe some of the decent Hetalia fans are getting more mature, looking at the crazy Hetalia yaoi fangirls (Because [insert deity here] knows we have enough of those) and searching for a way to clean up the fandom.
Especially when it distorts the board to the point where people cannot use it.
Which is what you were doing, and is why rambling is bad.
If you wish to ramble, you are welcome to join the chatroom.
Observe, if you will, exhibit A: one (1) copy of the PPC Constitution. The preamble states, and here I must clear my throat significantly, 'We are a community, here to share writing and writing tips, help out fellow writers in need, exchange opinions, and natter endlessly about everything from our favourite canons to apple pie.'
The prosecuted defense rests, y'r'honours. Specifically it rests right here, quite possibly singing 'We Shall Not Be Moved' - or maybe 'A Wizard's Staff Has A Knob On The End'.
hS, always up for a good rambling natter
PS: But seriously, if people having long conversations is bothering the Board at large, Dann might want to run another survey about whether bumping mode is working out, rather than us telling people to stop talking.
....and then what I was saying.
My point was 'especially when it distorts the board'.
Which was the case here and here.
And in case you need further proof, here, have a photo of the board requiring two monitors to even have a chance of holding all that rambling.
That is bad. There is a difference between chatting and rambling. When people have to tell you to stop because your rambling is putting the board on the verge of requiring three monitors to be able to see it all, it is not good.
The PPC works when people are conscientious and respectful of others. It doesn't work when things reach such extreme levels and people have to be told to not do it because they didn't have the self-awareness to consider stopping before it gets to be that ridiculous.
It can be argued that stretching the Board is a major problem (just as it can be argued that it isn't, because you can easily scroll straight past it). However, this does not mean 'Rambling is bad.' is a true statement - just like 'Elves are cool' is not equivalent to 'Legolas must fall in love with with eVeRyOnE', much to Some People's chagrin.
Also: the 'people' doing the telling seem to be mostly you, so maybe it's not a problem for everyone? Hence the prosefence's suggestion of checking with the Board at large, since I can't read their minds any more than OH NO PLEASE STOP THINKING THAT GUYS REALLY.
hS
PS: I know you didn't mean it this way, but 'didn't have the self-awareness' is verging on flaming. See previous comments on mind reading, etcOK PLEASE STOP IT I KNOW WHO THAT IS
Namely, I agree that the Board isn't the right medium for extended chatting between just a couple of people, especially if it stretches out the Board, especially if it happens in real-time or near-real-time. Like Phobos said, other mediums are more appropriate.
Plenty of people also think this, and mentioned it back when Dann started a "So, what do you think of this new bumping thing?" thread. Specifically, I spotted:
- Data
- EileenAlphabet
- The Irish Samurai
- PitViperOfDoom
- Miah
- Mysterial
- AnnaBee
(And myself.)
I didn't look at all the replies, though, just the ones nearer the top.
So, it's not just July.
~Neshomeh
I don't necessarily have a problem with people making long reply-chains, but I don't like the fact that with the board in bump mode at the minute, that leads to the conversations being kept on the front page. If they disappeared as new threads were added, I don't think I'd mind at all.
Given that we are in bump mode, I don't think there's anything wrong with handing out reminders when needed. As for why I've never been the one to give the reminder if I feel like this, I'm blaming that on the time difference. As far as I can remember, whenever it's come up so far someone else (and yeah, I think it has been July most, if not all, of the time) has already taken care of it. As Phobos said, it should only take one person saying it for it to be effective.
I don't think rambling is bad. What I think is bad is when a couple of people use the board to have an extended conversation, rather than using the chat (or some other means of communication). I am of course aware that all of the Big Annoying Threads (BATs) have started as ramblings, but plenty of ramblings have not spawned BATs and in theory a BAT could just as well consist of a couple of boarders having a long and serious debate, say, about whether being human shaped or not means something for a characters personhood, and it would be equally annoying.
The real problem - as I see it - is people not taking their conversation to the chat, rather than the subject they are conversing about.
I mean, JulyFlame had to tell people to please stop posting in the shipfest thread and nobody is suggesting that shipfest threads are bad. So why should we say that rambling is bad, when most people are perfectly capable of rambling responsibly and it's just a few once in a while who need a polite but firm suggestion to take it to the IRC?
Also, I believe that if we make it a habit to tell people, 'your thread is getting long, please take this to the IRC' rather than 'please stop rambling, you're clogging up the board' we won't have to worry about whether it is okay to make the IRC suggestion to a serious discussion, which is getting long, or deal with people being confused or upset because 'but we weren't rambling, we were having a perfectly serious discussion about where the line is between a poetic death and torture'.
Especially since there's a huge difference between good-natured chatting and derailing a completely unrelated topic into something that could easily be taken into an IRC channel or e-mail for the people involved.
So yeah, siding with July here.
I don't know why you seem so keen on seeing people destroy this Board's layout so much, but I can't stand looking at two to three screens worth of blank surface just to see the next topic. So it's not just "scroll straight past it" to me.
...is not with rambling. We don't have a word for what we are talking about, yet. Rambling means long posts which may or may not stick to a single topic. What we have seen a lot in the recent past is conversations made up of several dozen, 0-3 sentence long posts between two people. This usually happens over a fairly short period of time. A better term for it might be "Conversation Spam".
And, I am with July on this one. It is annoying to have to scroll for 30 seconds to get past a single thread (which mainly looks like blank screen), especially with bump mode keeping them at the very top of the Board. These conversations would be better taken to email, the IRC, or an instant messenger.
July is usually the first to say these things because July is monitoring the Board fairly constantly. As for why July is the only one saying it, well, I can only speak for myself on this one. For me, it should only take one person saying something for the message to get across. If more people were saying it, ever time it came up, then we would be having a conversation about dog-piling newbies instead.
However, that was not what July said. What she said, in her subject line, to two people who were not doing any of that, was 'Rambling is bad.'. She didn't qualify that with a 'I mean', but with an 'especially' - indicating that rambling is always bad, and more so when certain conditions - which I acknowledged are open to debate - are met.
And yeah - you can speak for yourself, I can speak for myself, July can speak for herself. July thinks she needs to say something, you think you don't need to add your voice, I think it's not worth saying anything. But we're just three regular people, whatever impressions recent elections may give any observers. What does the Board At Large think? You, me and July don't know. Hence my suggestion that we survey the general mood.
hS
I said rambling is bad to someone who said they thought they were given the impression of it being bad, with the body being: "Especially when it distorts the board to the point where people cannot use it. Which is what you were doing, and is why rambling is bad."
Why is rambling bad? Because it distorts the board to the point where people cannot use it.
Especially was a poorly misplaced modifier, I will admit, but I had underscored what I was saying with my second post. That is what I was referring to as rambling. It is why I had links to the two superlarge threads that stretched wide with little content, and the photo of the board showing the wide stretch.
And you are allowed to mean anything you like - no, seriously. Except that thing about cookies in a flowerpot, that's just weird.
But what you said was 'Rambling is bad, especially...', which is more than a misplaced modifier. Remember, you're referring to something that hasn't happened all month (I just checked) - to my eye, you were delivering a fairly authoritarian putdown to someone who wasn't doing anything wrong. And you only clarified when I called you on it - which doesn't help in all the times when no one asks.
And I get that you have a hard time dealing with some people - and yes, on the Board I can safely say 'particularly HimochiIsAwesome and AnnaBee', because that's where the evidence points - but... they have every right to be here. We all do. And we all have the right to contribute to the community. As the Constitution says, 'If you find it impossible to get along with another member of the PPC, please take it up in private e-mail.'. I'm not accusing you of flaming or bullying - and definitely not of talking about people out of their hearing, I honestly don't believe you ever would - but I think this qualifies. You may not even realise you're doing it, but you are hounding certain people. Please, stop.
hS, writing a lot to try and convey the point clearly
While lively discussions between a multitude of people are a good thing to do, having a pair of people convert your thread into their personal chat isn't. The fact that this thread created such a gigantic whitespace also discouraged others from replying to it, since it would have just been pushed back up by that.
This board may not have the strict on/off-topic rules many forums have, but at some point, a thread on the board isn't the right medium any more. What July meant was probably that some people don't see where that point is.
(And I'm sure I've been ninjaed now.)
Nah, there is no thread for posting introductions in. But anyway, welcome to the PPC Board! Here, have my everlasting friendship!
I like genetic experimentation too. My goal is to take over the world with mutant rabbits. Except like you, I'm in middle school.
*Starts hoping that you're younger than me so I don't have to be the youngest person here.*
I was planning on using Walmart and Google to take over the world. Well, the world minus the middle east. In past empires they've been very troublesome.
Grade seven. You?
Year 8.
*Starts dancing as he realises someone is younger than him.*
Then you aren't going to be a middle schooler for very much longer. Then I'll be the middle schooler. Let me know how high school is! *is stressed about high school and college despite having no reason to be*
Except the Australian education system might be different to where you are.
In the US (Or my school district), we have K-5 in elementary, 6-8 in middle, and 9-12 in high.
Same here. Except what we learn might be different.
It probably does. My school district is insane in what they have us learn, as most of the schools around us are private and we feel the need to keep up. I'm not really complaining though. It stops me from getting bored.
I see.
Don't worry, Middle School isn't very stressful or difficult.
15 days left! (For me, at least)
Nice to meetcha!
Hetalia AND Doctor Who? Are you me? *is paranoid that everyone is really me*
And no, there's no thread. Aha, I felt the same way when I joined!
Shutting up is best. You get rambling otherwise, and it can annoy people. ^^ Take it from a rambling expert!
Anyway, gifts, gifts...
Have a Box of Infinity!
Warning! HimochiIsAwesome is not responsible for any aliens that come through the Box of Infinity. Box of Infinity should not be used as a substitute TARDIS.
I'm not the only Hetalia fan! I always freak when I find someone in one of my fandom because my school is full of people who think watching more than tree non-sport related hours of TV is geeky and are compleately oblivious to the Internet. It's kind of irritating, but it's always fun to mutter something that without context means nothing, but in context is very insulting.
...you'll find quite a few Hetalia fans on the Board, although only AnnaBee springs to mind.
Hm, my memory really is bad.
Agh, I get so annoyed at the internet-oblivious. They're missing so much. ^-^'
I have a terrible memory too, I'm sure I'll meet other fans soon enough.
Also, I've been looking for another anime to watch. Do you have any reccomendations?
First of all, hi, and have a cup of tea. Just mind the leaves, they might try to eat you...
Anyway, regarding Anime: I highly recommend Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and its sequels, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. Don't let the Magical Girl in the name scare you, they're not like any other MG you can find out there.
Prince of Tennis is pretty good, and I enjoyed it even though I hate sports in real life.
Hm...
That's the only good one that springs to mind.
That, and Detective Conan, but I've only read the manga of that, so I can't be sure.
*watches so much anime that she forgets most of it*
I suggest The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, that is, if you haven't already seen it.
I shall look it up.
