Barry postured: The problem is not anonymous posting; the problem is using this place as a forum for ego-wars and petty squabbles, and mistaking them for intelligent conversation. 825 posts since midnight Friday, and over half of them fall into the above category, posted by only a handful of people. This handful have by now established enough of a "track record" that I feel safe in ignoring anything they have to say for the rest of the incarnation.
He won't, any more than he has any of the other umpty times he's said he was going to over the years. But wouldn't it be nice if he did? (And how hilarious is it that he obviously excludes his own posts from the "ego-wars and petty squabbles" category?) The old posting limits may have been a pain for you, Alex, but they kept this place *somewhat* readable and worth visiting. I have to say it's gone past that point now. I scan the list of posts and the only names I'm even tempted to click on are anartaxius and s3raphita and Bhairitu and merudanda and steve.sundur and occasionally emptybill and cardemaister. Doc occasionally posts something interesting and non-"Look At Me" these days but it's difficult to tell from the first few words in Message View so I usually give his posts a pass just to be sure. Share seems to have two qualities her tormentors do not -- range and an ability to feel positive emotion Or at least the ability to fake positive emotion, but not really well enough to escape detection. As to "range," not even Barry believes that. -- but to be honest most of the things she's interested in I'm not, so I often skip her posts, too. MichaelJ and Edg are occasionally funny, so I sometimes give their posts a shot. I think Barry has forgotten quite a few people whose posts he often reads and comments on, as well as quite a few interesting threads he's ignored that had nothing to do with "ego wars" or "petty squabbles." I *understand* that the old posting limits were a pain for you, Alex, and I don't blame you in the least for wanting them gone. But I DO have to point out that what many warned of as the consequence of getting rid of them seems to have come to pass, in spades. Actually, two things that nobody warned of that could not have been anticipated have done the real damage: Neo, and one poster who has gone completely out of control. We never really had a chance to see how lifting the posting limits would have functioned otherwise. There's no hope of changing the former, and the latter would have to change himself, which seems unlikely. Most of the posters who have left have done so because they couldn't cope with Neo. For those of us who stuck around and made the best of it, the out-of-control poster is now making FFL increasingly unpleasant even if they don't interact with him. One begins to suspect that he is intentionally doing his best to destroy the forum (possibly out of resentment that he was never able to attract the attention he craved while the posting limits were in effect). The fact is that before the posting limits were imposed years ago, the situation here was very different from what it had become by the time they were lifted (pre-Neo and pre-poster going out of control). There was an excellent chance that we could have done fine if it hadn't been for the two complicating factors. We still might have a chance if that one poster's influence could somehow be neutralized. Share's phoniness and excessive mindless posting will always be an irritant, but if she could restrain her bitter resentment of the more intelligent posters and stop stupidly egging on the out-of-control poster, the damage she does would be reduced to a tolerable level. On the other hand, it's almost tempting to let the forum become so impossibly boring that Barry finally gives up on it. What a blessed relief it would be to see the last of his sadistic viciousness and gross dishonesty. If he were no longer around to stir up animosity, we might be able to rebuild.
