Web mail doesn't beep.
Duh. Silly me. Though the Message Centre on TT was supposed to beep. But it never did.
Wash: Captain, didn't you know kissin' girls makes you sleepy? Mal: Well sometimes I just can't help myself.
'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
Bureaucracy 1: Like Kafka, Only Funnier
A thread to discuss naming threads, board policy, new thread suggestions, and anything else that has to do with board administration and maintenance. Guaranteed to include lively debate and polls. Natter discouraged, but not deleted.
Current Stompy Feet: ita, Jon B, DXMachina, P.M. Marcontell, Liese S., amych
John H - Mar 01, 2003 2:10:58 pm PST #6088 of 10001
scrappy - Mar 01, 2003 2:12:15 pm PST #6089 of 10001
Nobody
Usually it's more polite, John. It's clear what the email is about.
BUFFISTA A: Hey, Buffista B, I hear you know a lot about Sumerian Fertility chants and also the proper way to use a fish fork. Can I ask you some questions for a Smallville/SpongeBob Regency fic I'm working on?
BUFFISTA B: Sure.
BUFFISTA A: Insent.
John H - Mar 01, 2003 2:16:55 pm PST #6090 of 10001
Smallville/SpongeBob Regency
Now that's some Smallville fic I really would read. And reminds me about this very punk-alterna-chick I saw on Town Hall station reading Georgette Heyer.
But wasn't ita saying that people were doing quite the opposite? Doing the "insent" thing without an obvious reason. Maybe that's my too-paranoid interpretation.
If backchannel is here being use to mean "talking about people non-publically", then advertising the fact that you're doing it by saying "insent" without an obvious Smallville/SpongeBob Regency reason for it seems, at least, ungracious.
§ ita § - Mar 01, 2003 2:20:30 pm PST #6091 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
It's been done both ways, John. I wasn't one of the people that objected, so I might be mischaracterising it, but I'm pretty sure it was exchanges of context-free insents that were being complained about.
DavidS - Mar 01, 2003 2:31:23 pm PST #6092 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
The backchannel issues were ones of etiquette and basically as ita described.
Sometimes you have to say "insent" but if two people are using a board as a work-around on some email deficiency then it kind of drains the board of content. I personally just asked that those little notices come with other (again) more content-ful posts that other people could respond to. The idea being that if you're using the board to facilitate an email exchange then you should also make an effort to contribute to the board itself in a way that everybody can participate in.
The other issue was alluding to backchannel exchanges on the board which made other people feel left out, and again excluded people from conversation.
It's not a hard and clean issue so much as a kind of sensitivity to the effect it has on the board. Just that it can feel exclusive. And that while sometimes it is necessary, you should also make an effort to be inclusive as you're doing it.
John H - Mar 01, 2003 2:47:05 pm PST #6093 of 10001
Nothing further to contribute, except that I just took a quick peek into Bitches to see who was there and found them discussing Gerard Manly Hopkins, Rice Pudding and Frank Zappa.
If we ever need a replacement for "corsets, duct tape and physics"...
DavidS - Mar 01, 2003 3:08:36 pm PST #6094 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
If we ever need a replacement for "corsets, duct tape and physics"...
Yeah, but these are a constant on the order of the speed of light.
John H - Mar 01, 2003 3:40:17 pm PST #6095 of 10001
Just as long as we know that when we say "duct tape" we really mean Perl.
Betsy HP - Mar 01, 2003 8:23:09 pm PST #6096 of 10001
If I only had a brain...
I like "What ita Said".
It performs a useful social function. "You may think that ita's opinion is unique. It is not. I share it completely. But I'm not going to waste your time restating what she said, because she said it very well. And you have better things to do than hear me blathering on. Unless you don't. "
Not to mention serving as a swift pat on the back to ita for the excellence of her phrasing.
victor infante - Mar 01, 2003 8:24:42 pm PST #6097 of 10001
To understand what happened at the diner, we shall use Mr. Papaya! This is upsetting because he's the friendliest of fruits.
Not to mention serving as a swift pat on the back to ita for the excellence of her phrasing.
What Betsy said.