My views on rules for blogs have changed to, essentially, “I no longer care really”, except that I do still like them to be stated. But in reality, my views have not changed, because my views, such as they are, are a superset of ideas, various different and contradictory actions, only a few of which will be my position based on a particular context, based on whats going on at the time. The views some on this site remember me for were based on the Peer to Peer Phenomenon of Amazingness Roll through Politics like a Tornado leaving the blogosphere. It’s like a tornado from the twighlight zone, instead of turning trailer parks and suburbs into wreckage and waste it took the wreckage and waste of politics and turns it into trailer parks and suburbs.
Category: Meta
Sep 17 2007
on Armando and civility
The topic has been rehashed to death already, but these diaries, written over the past 2 years, are still pretty much relevant:
Armando is a kind, gentle, caring person
Ultimate meta: civility, dKos ecology and the reclist
Meta: How to discuss constructively with a smart brash kossack
Beyond the text below, I’d like to note one thing: there is nothing that will frustrate a bully more than unflailing civility in the face of continuous aggressivity. Civility actually is very satisfying in fights.
Sep 16 2007
The Official Moody Loner Fuck You Essay.
Okay.
Yes, God help you, I’ve decided to chime in on the “civility” debate.
Apparently, as far as I can tell with sleep deprivation, being behind on my online projects, and having a small child climbing on me since 7 AM, the problem is that we don’t say “fuck you” to each other enough.
Therefore, I offer this handy essay, by which any of our members can pass along the requisite “fuck you”s to any of our other members without having to actually type “fuck you” themselves. Civility and lively disagreement are maintained.
That said, let’s get to the fucking.
Sep 16 2007
The Problem With Civility
The problem with civility is not the civility, it is the whining about civility.
This type of comment galls me no end:
Civility, to me, does *not* mean being ‘nice-nice’. No. If you see me posting something you disagree with, well… go for it! Tell me you disagree, tell me why, and I will try to justify my position.
Civility, rather, means treating one another with respect. Civility means knowing that, as LBJ said “When two people agree on everything, one of them is doing all the thinking”Civility means being polite; it does not mean being silent.
Civility means assuming that other people are of good will, even if they disagree with you.
Civility means being willing to entertain the idea that you are wrong. (well, except me, of course. I’m never wrong).
“How could you think that you ignorant baboon!” is not civil.
“F*ck you” is not civil.
“Only a Republican could think that” is, given the nature of this site, not civil.
“I disagree, because I think XXXXX” is civil.
Civility does not shut down debate, it opens it up. It allows people to venture unpopular positions, knowing that they will not be shot down. It allows people to disagree without risking friendship. It encourages those who are usually quiet to speak up.
Let’s disagree. But let’s not be disagreeable.
The problem with this is that the folks who write this type of comment will wield “civility” like a club in an attempt to stifle debate. I know it. I lived it. I came here because I felt confident we would not buy into this faux bullshit. Based on the reaction to the comment, I think I may very likely be wrong. More
Sep 16 2007
Meta Meat: Hidden Comments and Flamewars
First of all let me say that I am NOT one of those people who has been on the Internet since it was born and messages were exchanged by putting stone tablets into wicker baskets and floating them down the Euphrates. I arrived on the Intertoobs in November ’05….blown in on the aftermath of Katrina. I found Daily Kos pretty much right away and made it my home. Thus, everything I know about the web and meta and flamewars etc…..I learned in Kosdergarten. It is my only reference point, thus I tend to be way overly referential to my experience there, I have no choice!
For those of you who don’t know, I was heavily involved in the Impeachwars, this allowed me to see and consider nearly every possible excess in ‘moderation’ that is able to occur there. In preparing to launch here, I also closely studied My Left Wing and the Francis Holland situation that eventually gave rise to Political Fleshfeast, a blog that was basically created in reaction to Daily Kos’s moderating policies ….and the reaction to them at MLW! I have seen the damage they can do to people. And to blogs where they occur.
But I have a confession to make….there is a part of me that REALLY likes Flamewars.
Sep 14 2007
All politics is cosmic
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.
– John Donne, Meditation XVII
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
– Constitution of the United States of America
We’re all in this together.
– High School Musical
Sep 14 2007
writing in the raw: the touch
I’m listening to a musician, new to me. Sam Prekop… heard his music playing as i passed by a small shop. i walked in and asked… who is that. Sam Prekop. Oh.
So now i’m listening to Who’s Your New Professor. I love it. I love the acoustic guitar. And the acoustic piano. The tone… the depth of the music. And listening, i hear the electric elements there too. but it is the acoustic parts that are warmest, most intimate.
Sep 12 2007
Welcome New Users
Welcome New Users to DocuDharma. We expect there will be a lot of you today.
Sep 12 2007
So Today’s The Big Day!
Sep 11 2007
Scheduling (Revolutions)
Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting?
Do you believe you’re fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know?
Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love?
Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love.
You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can’t win. It’s pointless to keep fighting.
Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?
Because I choose to.
Sep 10 2007
Final thoughts on look and feel
Have to say it was a surprise to see the maroon blox, but when OTB changed the banner, they worked great!!! And the color of the eyes with the maroon, and both the dark and light blues now all work well together… here are two things i thought of about the banner: make the sky dark blue and see if there isn’t some reddish gases swirling faintly somewhere… and spread the blue over the keyboard, as it is in the left of the picture… then i think it’s captured and is in harmony with the other elements on the page… one last thing… is there anyway to soften the bottom edge of the banner? LoE knows what i mean, i think
0. The line default line separating main from extended text: i would flush left it as well as have more space between the line and the main and extended text…you can see it here… it just hangs there and has NO relationship to anything… you may want to just make a thin maroon line the length of the column to divide…but that line in the middle doesn’t always hit center, depending on how paragraphs break
1. First line of essay need more space between it and the link above it:
[subject promote]
Every time Osama bin Laden’s vile visage reappears on America’s television screens,
2. Same with the last sentence of the essay, which needs space between it and the tags line:
possibility anymore?
Tags: (All Tags) :: Add/Edit Tags on this Post