Updated House Rules

[Mr Pee]

To what extent would you (or anyone else, for that matter) even want to "sum up Berlioz" (even assuming that such were possible in a mere forum post) in a thread that had nothing to do with him or his work? That said, I'd not yet noticed that the notion of "wasting valuable space" was one that seems to bother you any...

Hello, ahinton.

I usually read the first few sentences of a post before I glance up at the member name. In your case, however, there is no such requirement. The pompous verbiage, the use of several words where one would do, the overwhelming air of intellectual snobbery, and the apparent total lack of any sense of humour are clues aplenty.

Provocative?

No. Just the facts.

[ahinton]

Hello, ahinton.

I usually read the first few sentences of a post before I glance up at the member name. In your case, however, there is no such requirement.

There's no need to single me out for special treatment or non-treatment here, Mr Pee, let me assure you (if indeed you need such assurance, which you seem to do) and I'll try as far as possible to ignore the question of whether your evidently immediate recognition of my posting style (if such I have) exonerates you from any perceived need to look up the identity of the poster in my case.

The pompous verbiage, the use of several words where one would do, the overwhelming air of intellectual snobbery, and the apparent total lack of any sense of humour are clues aplenty

"Clues" as to quite what is hardly a matter of importance, but let's allow that one pass in favour of the more important issue that prompts you to write as you do above when what I'd written (and to which you commented) involves a mere 62 words, more than half of which were in any case in the form of a question which you seem unable or unwilling to answer, viz
To what extent would you (or anyone else, for that matter) even want to "sum up Berlioz" (even assuming that such were possible in a mere forum post) in a thread that had nothing to do with him or his work? That said, I'd not yet noticed that the notion of "wasting valuable space" was one that seems to bother you any
Not only do you fail to answer the question, you also omit to identify which particular words among what you call the "verbiage" are "pompous" or on what grounds, where in particular you purport to identify "the use of several words where one would do" (let alone which "several words" might better - in your exalted view - be substituted with which "one"), how the alleged "air of intellectual snobbery" "overwhelms" you (or why you seek tacitly to imply that it might do the same to anyone else) or what it is about what I've written that to your mind constitutes "snobbery" of any kind, "intellectual" or otherwise or how it supposedly does so or, lastly, why a "total lack of any sense of humour" is supposedly "apparent" to you, in the overall context of your evidently absurd and pointless remark about Berlioz that does less than nothing even to contribute to the matters at hand in a humourous manner, let alone in a serious one.

"Provocative? No. Just the facts. "

Neither of these, of course.

All that said, I cannot help but note the extent to which you choose to have a knee-jerk recourse to te use of emoticons wherever the already wearied reader might presume your inability satisfactorily to express yourself without them.

Since all of this kind of thing gets posted here alongside the avatar of the statue of Elgar by his bicycle outside Hereford Cathedral, one can only hope that the ghost of the composer mounts said velocipede aussi vite que possible and pedals away as far as he can from such nonsense...

[Mandryka]

I agree. I think a bit of good natured verbal jousting should be encouraged. And sometimes a little provocation or "mickey taking" can enliven and re-invigorate a thread. I'm certainly man enough to put up with it- (hope that's not sexist!)- and I'm sure others here are too. We're all grown-ups, aren't we? Sticks and stones etc....

I think it would be a very dull and moribund messageboard if there was no room for the odd lively exchange.

And FF, please don't remove the icon. How else to sum up Berlioz without wasting valuable space?

Totally agree, Mr. P.


I look forward eagerly to your (as always) constructive contributions to the following threads, which I shall be starting in the next few weeks:

The Red Arrows: For Retarded Adolescents Only?

The Murdochs (Poll): Firing Squad, Hanging, or Lethal Injection?

Olympics 2012: How Best To Disrupt Them

[ahinton]

Totally agree, Mr. P.


I look forward eagerly to your (as always) constructive contributions to the following threads, which I shall be starting in the next few weeks:

The Red Arrows: For Retarded Adolescents Only?

The Murdochs (Poll): Firing Squad, Hanging, or Lethal Injection?

Olympics 2012: How Best To Disrupt Them

Pardon me for mentioning it, but I think that you've forgotten
Hector Berlioz: The Founding Father of French Romanticism.

[Mr Pee]

Not only do you fail to answer the question, you also omit to identify which particular words among what you call the "verbiage" are "pompous" or on what grounds, where in particular you purport to identify "the use of several words where one would do" (let alone which "several words" might better - in your exalted view - be substituted with which "one"), how the alleged "air of intellectual snobbery" "overwhelms" you (or why you seek tacitly to imply that it might do the same to anyone else) or what it is about what I've written that to your mind constitutes "snobbery" of any kind, "intellectual" or otherwise or how it supposedly does so or, lastly, why a "total lack of any sense of humour" is supposedly "apparent" to you, in the overall context of your evidently absurd and pointless remark about Berlioz that does less than nothing even to contribute to the matters at hand in a humourous manner, let alone in a serious one.

Good Grief......

Anyway, moving on....


I'm glad we're in agreement, Mandryka. I look forward to your proposed threads listed above, although I shan't be contributing to the Red Arrows debate given the recent tragic loss of a pilot in Bournemouth.

[Flosshilde]

Mandryka,

Mr Pee, if you can't recognise the humour in these words from ahinton -

"To what extent would you (or anyone else, for that matter) even want to "sum up Berlioz" (even assuming that such were possible in a mere forum post) in a thread that had nothing to do with him or his work?"

it is you that lacks a sense of humour.

To revert to the question of the value of emoticons, the classic 'smiley' is very useful as a substitute for the tone of voice or facial expression in a conversation (which the message boards threads essentially are) to indicate that a comment is made in a light-hearted manner, as a joke. (See my question to Frenchie above, asking her how it felt to be omnipotent. I'm sure she wouldn't have taken it as a criticism, but felt that it needed a 'smiley' to show that it was a joke. If we were talking face-to-face she would have known from the smile on my face. I would, in effect, have been my own 'smiley'.)

(I've just noticed that it's possible to 'diasble smileys in text' - a useful adjunct to the 'ignore' function?

Alas no - I've just tried it & it only applies to one's own messages, & simply retains the text rather than creating the image)

[Mr Pee]

Mr Pee, if you can't recognise the humour in these words from ahinton -

"To what extent would you (or anyone else, for that matter) even want to "sum up Berlioz" (even assuming that such were possible in a mere forum post) in a thread that had nothing to do with him or his work?"

it is you that lacks a sense of humour.

Well, I suppose we all find different things funny, but I find nothing remotely humurous in the excerpt above. It's not exactly Blackadder, is it? I think ahinton was being completely serious. Perhaps he could enlighten us on the matter, preferably in less than 600 words......

[Flosshilde]

Well, I suppose we all find different things funny, but I find nothing remotely humurous in the excerpt above. It's not exactly Blackadder, is it? I think ahinton was being completely serious. Perhaps he could enlighten us on the matter, preferably in less than 600 words......

Humour is a very personal thing - even if ahinton didn't intend the sentence I quoted to be humourous, I thought it was funny. I'm not surprised you didn't find it funny, Mr Pee - people rarely find humour directed at themselves funny, & it was rather subtle.

[ahinton]

Well, I suppose we all find different things funny

Indeed we do.

but I find nothing remotely humurous in the excerpt above

That is as much your prerogative as it is Mandryka's or, for that matter, anyone else's to do the opposite

It's not exactly Blackadder, is it?

No - nor was in intended to be and, for that matter, it would have been contextually inappropriate if it had been so intended.

I think ahinton was being completely serious. Perhaps he could enlighten us on the matter, preferably in less than 600 words......

If I or anyone else actually needs to enlighten you on what I wrote about Berlioz in response to your reference to him, I fear that there's no hope for your understanding, whether such attempted enlightenment be couched in 600, 60 or even 6 words and, whilst I fully accept your response about the Red Arrows in the light of the recent tragedy that befell one of their pilots, it might be as well in the meantime if you ponder the extent, if any, to which the recent invitation to you to contribute on some new topics was "completely serious"...

Were the poor long-suffering Edward Elgar to mount his bike and drive off at high speed leaving your forum avatar with the mere grass on the cathedral's north face, "I wouldn't be at all surprised" (as Dorothy Parker once said in a quite different context).

[cavatina]

I agree. I think a bit of good natured verbal jousting should be encouraged. And sometimes a little provocation or "mickey taking" can enliven and re-invigorate a thread.

Exchanging insults and vicious personal attacks never helped get your ideas across. Are we here to discuss ideas thoughtfully, or score points off each other? There are thousands of places on the internet to crudely, insensitively bash people and have your callow "fun" at the expense of others. Can't we try to keep this place a cut above the old BBC boards?

While some classes of insults DEFINITELY deserve to be killed off faster than a bucketful of staph aureus in an operating theatre, there is a case to be made that removing personal attacks artificially makes their authors look like better people than they are. Go on, show your real colours...let everyone see exactly what kind of human being you are. Though I don't blame FF at all for trying to keep everyone under wraps. It's her forum you're mucking up, and hosting a board where people do little else but spew hatred and bile would reflect poorly on the Friends of Radio 3.

I would like to suggest the removal of the "ignore" function
"I'M NOT LISTENING TO X" seems to be a rather immature way to conduct oneself ?

Not if you think they have nothing to say. Besides, isn't it far better than wasting everyone's time posting cruel, senseless, bigoted, hate-filled personal attacks against them? You'd be better off spending your time getting therapy to figure out why trying to bully and intimidate others to make them feel small makes you feel so good.

Honestly, I wish MORE people around here would put me in their filter files so I can get on with talking to people who enjoy hearing from me and/or having a serious, thoughtful debate.

[ahinton]

Exchanging insults and vicious personal attacks never helped get your ideas across.

This is indeed true of anyone who indulges in it.

Are we here to discuss ideas thoughtfully, or score points off each other? There are thousands of places on the internet to crudely, insensitively bash people and have your callow "fun" at the expense of others

...and to boldly (or otherwise) split your infinitives, evidently! Sorry - no meanness intended - just abit of idle effort to inject a whisker of humour into an obviously somewhat intense discussion!

As you were...

[Flosshilde]

Exchanging insults and vicious personal attacks never helped get your ideas across. Are we here to discuss ideas thoughtfully, or score points off each other? There are thousands of places on the internet to crudely, insensitively bash people and have your callow "fun" at the expense of others. Can't we try to keep this place a cut above the old BBC boards?

While some classes of insults DEFINITELY deserve to be killed off faster than a bucketful of staph aureus in an operating theatre, there is a case to be made that removing personal attacks artificially makes their authors look like better people than they are. Go on, show your real colours...let everyone see exactly what kind of human being you are. Though I don't blame FF at all for trying to keep everyone under wraps. It's her forum you're mucking up, and hosting a board where people do little else but spew hatred and bile would reflect poorly on the Friends of Radio 3.



Not if you think they have nothing to say. Besides, isn't it far better than wasting everyone's time posting cruel, senseless, bigoted, hate-filled personal attacks against them? You'd be better off spending your time getting therapy to figure out why trying to bully and intimidate others to make them feel small makes you feel so good.

Honestly, I wish MORE people around here would put me in their filter files so I can get on with talking to people who enjoy hearing from me and/or having a serious, thoughtful debate.

A bit over the top, what? I don't think that this is a board "where people do little else but spew hatred and bile" - on the whole it's good humoured, sometimes a little tetchy. Rarely full on insult-throwing.

& I think that "Though I don't blame FF at all for trying to keep everyone under wraps. It's her forum you're mucking up" isn't quite as innocent as it seems, when one thinks of some of the comments Cavatina (under previous names) has made about Frenchie.

[Mr Pee]

A bit over the top, what? I don't think that this is a board "where people do little else but spew hatred and bile" - on the whole it's good humoured, sometimes a little tetchy. Rarely full on insult-throwing.

& I think that "Though I don't blame FF at all for trying to keep everyone under wraps. It's her forum you're mucking up" isn't quite as innocent as it seems, when one thinks of some of the comments Cavatina (under previous names) has made about Frenchie.

I agree, Flossie! Cavatina's tirade strikes me as far more vicious and bile-filled than most of the ones she's complaining about.

Good humoured if occasionally a little tetchy

sums it up nicely I think.

Therapy indeed!

[cavatina]

I think that "Though I don't blame FF at all for trying to keep everyone under wraps. It's her forum you're mucking up" isn't quite as innocent as it seems, when one thinks of some of the comments Cavatina (under previous names) has made about Frenchie.

Whatever our differences, I've always tried to respect FF's conception of this forum by not posting threads and topics she found objectionable on the BBC board. (e.g. no cooking threads, wine, pets, gardening, relationships, etc.) When I heard she invited the Googlebots to index the site, I totally killed the "personal news"-oriented Visitors Forum behind my old avatar, which had hundreds of posts and well over 2,000 hits, if I remember correctly. Which is a shame, because I really miss it.

I think this place would be infinitely more interesting and fun if we could talk about lighter, more humane subjects instead of restricting Platform 3 to everybody trotting out the same tired old received opinions about politics, religion-bashing, and current events, but I'm well aware this isn't my call. It's her party and she can cry if she wants to.

Maybe once I'm back home, I'll try to start more philosophy and ethics threads and see if anyone is interested.

[Ariosto]

I agree, Flossie! Cavatina's tirade strikes me as far more vicious and bile-filled than most of the ones she's complaining about. sums it up nicely I think.

Therapy indeed!

I'm getting worried!! I'm agreeing with Mr Pee and Flossie far too much for it to be healthy!!

It must be that I've become a reformed character ... Can't think how that happened? Perhaps I'd better go and see the doc. Maybe a hysterectomy will do the trick ... (I put in all those emithingies just to make sure no one will take offence, as I'm such a peace-loving easy going conductor basher ... Sorry my fingers are typing all sorts of rubbish I don't want. I can't seem to control them, so maybe a dose of scales and studies might to the trick).