On Apr 13, 2007, at 10:41 AM, shempmcgurk wrote:
Firstly, thank you for your kind words.
Secondly, I don't feel comfortable with the five posts a day rule
and, as such, I won't be participating much because of it. I think
the solution is disproportionate to the problem. You don't need a
jet plane to cross the street.
Yes, I think it's great not to open up the messages list of FFL and
see 40 postings by Spare Egg and I'm sure the 5/day rule is
responsible for it. And I'm sure that one of the motivations behind
the rule was to eliminate his diahrettic multiple postings...perhaps
another motivation was to eliminate or reduce my multiple postings as
well.
But I had a method of eliminating Spare Egg's postings that didn't
require censoring or stifling his flow of expression: I DIDN'T READ
HIS POSTINGS!
Even though an irritation, I simply scanned the messages list and
didn't open up any postings listing him as the author.
So the cost to me? The minor -- VERY minor! -- irritation of seeing
his name so many times and skipping over them either with my cursor
or with my eyes. Yes, that often required opening up one or two
more "pages" of messages lists on FFL than I would otherwise have to
do every day and, yes, it was an irritation but it was, like,
literally a 5 or 10 second irritation each day. I wasn't waiting in
a bank line for 20 minutes whenever I need cash the way I used to
have to do before there were automatic teller machines.
So was my scanning method a price to pay? Sure. But it was a minor
one...VERY minor.
Contrast that cost with the 5/day rule.
This is how your rule works for someone like me: it feels like a
monkey on my back knowing that if I read something and, wanting to
respond to it, I have to hold back because I only have X number of
possible responses that I can make...it's too much of a carrot on a
stick for me. In a word? It stifles my free flow of expression in a
way I can't live with.
It feels too much like the school monitor in grade school looking
down my back as I waddle to my next class in my galoshes and winter
coat (think of Ralphie in "A Christmas Story"). This is the opposite
of what the internet is, to me, supposed to be all about.
Hey, it's a matter of personal style and this rule simply isn't a
good fit for me.
It seems to work for your style and that's great...but it's not
mine. I'll continue to lurk as I have over the past 6 months or so
but when I post it will be once in a blue moon. I'll find other
outlets for my expression.
Shemp,
I really doubt most people "like" the 5-post a day limit--I know I
don't. But as Gull explained, things were totally out-of-control and
petty arguments as well as compulsive postings were basically ruining
the place.
It's great that you had the motivation to simply skip over Spare's
posts on the website. But a heck of a lot of others found his endless
habit a major annoyance, and it's difficult to constantly ignore, day
in and day out, someone so in-your-face. And it was hardly limited to
him.
As far as your leaving goes, while I don't like to see anyone who wants
to stay go, didn't you leave well before the 5-post limit? And if the
solution is drastic, IYO, what would you suggest in its place to keep
the compulsive posting and bickering to a minimum? It's a monkey on
everyone's back, and I'm sure the moderators would listen to
alternatives.
Best of luck finding any place even remotely like this one.
Sal
