Allyson is inimitable and probably unprecedented

Clearly, y'all have not seen me imitate Allyson.

That'd be Burrell, I think.

But I totally agree.

Anytime I'm in agreement with both Burrell and Ple at the same time then I'm certain of my rightness.

Clearly, y'all have not seen me imitate Allyson.

I'd buy tickets. If we buy tickets will you come to the F2F and imitate each other?

Clearly, y'all have not seen me imitate Allyson.

Yeah, but you're taller.

ETA:

Anytime I'm in agreement with both Burrell and Ple at the same time then I'm certain of my rightness.

t preen

I don't want to make a long post about community standards or the way people interact on the net, because I'm at work and I'm supposed to be... uh, working, but I'll just say that I've felt uncomfortable reading what looks like a witchhunt for the last hours. There's more than one person in the world who thinks that "Firefly"'s ratings were bad, or that "Buffy"'s ratings aren't all that, or that the unwashed masses are stupid; actually, there's even the chance that there's more than one person in Cleveland who holds those opinions (and incidentally, how stupid would someone had to be if he was trying to sneak into a posting board where he's been banned, and then confesses that he's from the *exact* same city?). Pointing fingers at someone who makes you uncomfortable and accuse him automatically of being an impersonator does nothing to help solve things.

I understand that this is an established community, and I've tried to behave in a adequately circumspect way (actually, there have even been chances where I've felt some condescension towards me from people with lower userIDs and I've shut up because of that, but maybe that's my own issue), but I am thinking that if the chance of talking to people *vastly* different than you makes the community that uncomfortable, then maybe you should have made the website private to begin with.

I think those are good points, Paul. I'm also one of the ones who wanted to stay on the island.

I've been there, done that, in watching the collapse of a community, and the Buffistas were very much an oasis. Not so much, anymore. I miss WXing, all the time. This has been an interesting ride.

I don't know if it's worth anything, but I'm glad you're around. You're good people, I respect what you wrote.

(and incidentally, how stupid would someone had to be if he was trying to sneak into a posting board where he's been banned, and then confesses that he's from the *exact* same city?).

And ISP (though it's a very large ISP), FTR.

It's a large city. We've more than one person from there. At some point, however, the similarities become hard to ignore. Word choice, choice in online games, things like that. Yeah, it could all be coincidental. Occam would suggest, however, that it's not, but that isn't something easily proved.

Why mention the same city? Like I said, it's a large city. And why does anyone leave anything that could be considered a clue after a potential fresh start? Well, if we don't pick up on it, then who's left looking foolish at the end of the day?

Allyson was one of the people who warned us about what could happen if we lost the layer of abstraction that WX provided. It was hotly debated, well, as heatedly as anything is debated around here. (Or was, that is, seeing as the temp of debate has increased in recent times.)

To be honest, I am uncomfortable with the level of traffic and the massive and sudden influx of new people. It's only natural. Hell, I'm still uncomfortable with the physical level of growth in the city in which I live. We had sort of a nice, comfortable level of growth for the first three months before the shit hit the fan, and I wish to hell it had stayed that way, but it didn't, and I don't know that there is a solution.

Um, not feeling qualified to comment on the community standards debate, but I have a FAQ (regular Buffista FAQ) entry-addition-thingy. Under 'ita', should we make it known that 2003 has been declared ita appreciation year (BBaBB)? It says, "and we all want her and want to be her", which we could then follow with something like, "So much so, in fact, that we've declared 2003 ita appreciation year, though some of us started earlier and we will doubtless continue for many future years." Only funnier.

I think that if most folks are scared of new people this should become a private board.

I usually stay out of these discussions, but after reading 76 more posts on the issue, I thought I’d add another thought.

I’m fairly new to internet fandom. I’ve done message boards before…was even a community leader of a board for a couple of years. All in all, though, I find that you’ll get the same range of behavior no matter what the topic of the board.

I haven’t been a Buffista for nearly as long as many people. I found you all in May of last year. I lurked for several weeks before I finally posted. As a matter of fact, I watched the end planning of the F2F and then heard all of the stories after everyone got home. It was the “I could have been there so easily” thought that finally got me to post. I lurked for a couple of years on the Bronze. I never felt comfortable enough with that community to de-lurk. The Buffistas, though, have been able to integrate many fabulous newbies over the last several months…hell, even I was fairly readily accepted. I’m getting to my point, I promise...

There are some definite core Buffistas and some definite core Buffista thoughts, though. There are discussions that I stay completely out of for that reason. I don’t mind…these are my issues. But there was a time when I spoke up because I was offended (even used the word offended in my post), and I was shot down. I was not apologized to. I was told how wrong I was. And, I don’t bring this up to discuss the issue again…I’m over it. I hope everyone is over it and that it's another forgotten topic. I just bring it up as an example. And, I’ve seen it happen a couple other times too…not that I could name them off the top of my head, and I don’t have time to Nilly them, because I’m at work.

I haven’t been involved in these discussions with Schmoker, because I don’t need anything to raise my blood pressure right now. I’m certainly not taking his side. But, I think if the community in general thinks that these kind of instances happen only because of the influx of newbies, we’re greatly mistaken. Granted, it's easier to get over them when you're friends, or long time community members, *making up* from a fight (and that's an important distinction), but I thought I should make the point anyway.