Posted by Howard Beale at comm700-a0901-dhcp033.bu.edu on December 02, 2001 at 19:38:40:
In Reply to: Long, rambling post about VA stuff, et al posted by herdthinner on December 02, 2001 at 19:17:35:
: I've tried to avoid long, rambling posts, since most visitors here don't finish them, if they even start reading. But hey, youse was warned!
: Since first coming here, and immediately seeing "fucking newbies!" style gripes practically every other post, I made it a point of never replying, defensively or otherwise, until I'd gotten a feel of things (including reading the summaries, but I admit I've only touched on NewsAskew at best, since I much prefer just hanging out here with youse guys). Thing is, many, if not of *this* board, are grizzled veterans of some other area of the 'net. In my case it's a Buffy club populated mainly by citizens of the UK. It's been - I dunno, 3, 4 years now? since I was like post #15, so I've been referring to the oldest members as the grizzled veterans. The atmosphere in that club is a welcoming one, where each new member gets an official hello from the club's current hostess, and the biggest controversy I can recall is that a bunch of Liverpudlians were crowding the boards with OT stuff, like where to meet this weekend or that. Ooo, scary.* Since joining that club I've used it as an excuse to visit England twice during their annual meetup, much as the V-thon folks here have been doing for Jersey. The biggest difference between the Buffy crowd and here, though, is that the Buffy crowd has never even attempted to get any castmembers to attend. Too expensive, I'm told. Oh, by now, if V-thon happens next year, I'll do my best to attend. I just can't do a trip to Europe and to another state so close in time to each other.
: I like the term "grizzled veteran," since it reminds me of all the "Sarge" roles in cliched World War 2 movies, where "Sarge" teaches some young, brash lieutenant a thing or two about war, life, etc. One or the other usually ended up dead, too, as I recall. But that's beside the point. I'm also a grizzled veteran at work, being the only one left of the original grouping of my department before all those fucking newbies started getting hired.
: Kidding.
: So as a veteran of other boards, et al, but not particularly this one, I've always welcomed "fucking newbies." The same old posters bore me after a while. Even so, I admit that, by now, there are certain posters whose messages I won't even click on, but those will remain nameless. I don't do flame wars or payback - ever - but the same can't be said of some here. Mind you, that applies to humanity in general.
: I've successfully avoided replying, so far, to any of the dirty laundry sessions like the Toads and jenry thing, since the fact they were even being discussed on this public board disturbs me a great deal. I mean, I don't even remember Olaf's scene from Clerks, having only seen it once (elsewhere I posted that I like the cartoons MUCH MUCH more than the live-action film that spawned it. For the same reason so many didn't like it - no dick and fart jokes and no swearing!). Hell, I haven't even seen Mallrats yet. I will, eventually, if only to get the full scope of the Jersey films and who's related to whom. When it came out, I just derived "teen comedy about screwing" from the ads and let it disappear from the theatres. Same deal with Clerks when it first came out. "Very vulgar" I heard, over and over. I wasn't up to seeing that kind of thing at the time. As for Chasing Amy, I'm far too emotionally stunted to appreciate the Holden/Alyssa half of the film, vastly preferring the scenes with Banky and Hooper. Mmmmmm, poking fun at comics, mmmmm... But histrionics in parking lots and back alleys? Nnnnnggh... Hey, I saw it, didn't I??
: I've also been musing about smalls', et al's, posts about the days of the Riders. I probably would've been part of the anti-Riders, had I been around at the time. If actually invited to the board, I would've fumed about it being secret, since I'm quite the egalitarian and dislike secret groups. Ask me about the "Bronzers" sometime if you want to see me rant somethin' fierce. But the Riders' board is all in the past and part of old-timers' fond, and not so fond, memories.
: And STILL no one can tell me who Mrs. Harriet Wise is! Heh.
: *Come to think of it, I started a controversy myself in my Buffy club by mocking the "Bronzers" in a post (that group being part of another site and not my club). One, a member of both, was "deeply offended" by being compared to the sycophantic minions of the hellgod Glory. But I couldn't help myself, having read far too many posts by people substituting "Oh my Joss!" for "Oh my God!" and otherwise licking Whedon's crack like no amount of KS worship I've ever seen here.
:
: ^^V^^