"And you can sing along?"

"Give me something to sing about?"

"A breakaway hit or more of a boog number?"

I got nuthin' man.

I shared Hec's brain! Fascinating!

high fives Darrien

"Give me something to sing about?"

high fives Allyson

But I'm just putting out a motion to table this - or rather let's wrap it up, and let it sink in.

Seconded. (just for that Robert's Rules touch...)

I know you want conversaton stiffled on the topic, but I have spent a lot of time formulating my thoughts and I would like to share. Is it alright if I do?

(Edit: I know opinions are always welcome, but if the topic is closed I don't see a need to reopen it.)

I know you want conversaton stiffled on the topic, but I have spent a lot of time formulating my thoughts and I would like to share. Is it alright if I do?

I was kidding about the stifling. If you have things to say, this is the place. I'm not the arbiter of anything. Just urging things towards conclusion. But if you've got something to contribute please do.

OK, you asked for it!

I have been reading this discussion all day, waiting until I could get enough time to get all my thoughts down before I posted on the matter.

1) I love the Buffista community. I love it so much I want to build a Cape Cod cottage with a white picket fence in this community and send my hypothetical children to the Buffista Public School District. I usually feel like the new neighbor who’s too afraid to go to the community 4th of July bash for fear I will be rejected, but I occasionally step out onto my patio and try to make conversation. I still feel like a member of the community, just a really shy one. I’ve never been one to introduce myself; I prefer to just jump in when it feels right. Maybe that’s been part of my problem. (Hi, I’m Kim.)

2) Saying that, one of the first things I ever learned about participating in on-line groups was that you must learn the group before you enter it. I have taken the time to get to know this community and pay attention to what goes on here. M. clearly never took the time to get to know the community before posting. His first post was directly to Joss, as though Joss posts here all the time. Had he bothered to read even posts from a few days prior, he would have seen discussion about concerns of a sudden influx of members who wanted only to converse with Joss. Lo and behold…. M.’s second post was to insult Allyson. Allyson, she who is forever Buffista in my eyes. While a new poster, who knew nothing about the community, might have been offended by Allyson’s post, one who knew the community would have understood the joke, would have understood Allyson’s attitude, and would have understood Allyson’s incredible stress. We, as members of the community, understood all those things. A new poster, who was concerned about fitting in with the community, would have stepped back to evaluate the situation and try to determine why Allyson’s post was not regarded with more hostility within the community. (I personally thought it was very funny and right in line with everything that had been discussed in previous days.)

3) As time went on, it became clear to me that M. had no interest in becoming a part of the community. I honestly expected him to get bored and leave. He continually rejected the community standards explained to him, further demonstrating his lack of understanding of the environment we were trying to foster. He would have left eventually, one way or another. The stompy feet just took the initiative to expedite things to alleviate bad karma.

4) In hindsight, I probably did something that to some degree or another may have added fuel to the fire by posting the NY Times circulation statistics. I was personally bothered by a “fact” M. stated about the Times relevance. I didn’t want to get overly involved, so I did a minor bit of research that I thought might be helpful to the debate. No one responded to the information I posted, so I thought everyone had just moved on and chose to not follow up with any further explanation. If this in anyway aggravated the situation, I am truly sorry.

Bottom line for me is that I wish all new posters were as conscientious as Darrien has been. (Ten hours!?!) Since there are going to be times when that doesn’t happen, I think the policies in place are well thought out and very fair.

P.S. I don’t mind Lyra Jane counting my new thread opinion as a “yes” vote. In fact you can consider this as an official “yes” vote.

Nice post, JustKim! I'll be coming over to your cape Cod any time now to drink cocoa and gossip.

I love the Buffista community. I love it so much I want to build a Cape Cod cottage with a white picket fence in this community and send my hypothetical children to the Buffista Public School District.

Yep, that's how I feel too. Thanks Kim, and the politeness that you asked before posting your excellent post is what makes you a Buffista in my view. Yes, we are winding down the m discussion because we have so many more pleasant things to discuss. Yay!

Will the music thread be accepting of people who really, really like '80s power ballads by big-haired rock bands? 'Cause, really, Bon Jovi, I still dig them.