Thursday, June 07, 2007

I'm healthy again

RANDY SPREADS HIS GENOME ABOUT WITH NO REGARD TO THE SAFETY OF OTHERS

In case you didn't know, Loyal Leaguer, Randy, and his lovely wife, The Mysterious M, have had a baby.

Congratulate Randy. He is 50% of the face of a new generation.


THE INTERWEB IS WATCHING


I can only assume that Technorati, etc... are to blame for why so many people are finding The League in reference to themselves. I had another person find me.

Here. Read the comments.

I don't know who posted the original bit about Dave Ramsey, but you've helped to make the world a little smaller.



TOTALLY LAME


Blogging about blogging is totally lame. But...

As much as I understand WHY visitors to the site may wish to remain anonymous, I'm not a big fan of anonymous posts to the comments. In a perfect vacuum, I suppose it shouldn't matter who you're speaking to, but that's just not reality.

Without exception, I like and respect the folks I consider to be Loyal Leaguers. And I think you'll find that even in the most heated debate, I tend to try to pick my words carefully when I'm talking with someone I consider a pal, no matter how far on the other end of an ideological spectrum. That's just common courtesy. Also, if I know with whom I'm speaking, I always have the option of taking the conversation off the blog and into an e-mail conversation.

But I also don't really want to block out the random folks who roll by. If they want to drop a comment, that's okay.

I'm a bit baffled by the recent exchange which took place in one of the posts. Not that someone disagreed with me, because that's par for the course, and I'm cool with that. I just had no idea with whom I was speaking, and that's a bit odd. Obviously this person became upset with me, but I also sort of felt like this person hadn't been around for some of the more colorful debates which have occurred here at The League.

At some point when someone is posting anonymously and failing to identify themselves, you don't necessarily feel as if you've got to put on the same "we're all friends here", game show host face. There are certainly times when i know exactly who "anonymous" is, but I choose to behave with some bizarre gentleman's agreement that I will not reveal the identity of "anonymous". In this case, I don't mind as much, but it does make debate a bit difficult at times as part and parcel of this gentleman's agreement is that one not reveal the identity, even when certain revealing examples could be relevant. But, as I tend to like these folks... I mostly play along.

But the truly anonymous posters...

In no small part, truly anonymous posters are a bit like a person who has crashed a party and then decides to pick a fight with the host. It's a bit baffling to me when a poster such as the one from this week's debate takes umbrage and declares I'm standing on a soapbox. While I'm writing on my personal blog.

In this instance, I sort of think that "anonymous" wasn't anyone I know. At this point I recognize the writing of most Loyal Leaguers, and, moreover, most of you know me well enough to know what my opinions are and where I'm going to draw lines and how I'm going to debate. I'm still not sure what "academic" debate this guy was trying to have, but he didn't get it, I guess.

What was most downright hilarious was the insistence that Anonymous was so busy, so pre-occupied with higher minds than my own that he didn't have time to actually debate with me. But he had time to keep coming back. And surf sites mostly dedicated to nonsense, while leaving lengthy comments.

Anonymous, I salute you.



Tori Amos and school children...

This is incredibly sweet. And with all you Leaguers dropping kids onto the face of Mother Earth, I thought I'd share a moment of brightness and hope that makes me think kids aren't just small, stinky, stupid people...

Skip to the 4:00 countdown mark

14 comments:

J.S. said...

How come those kids never got to sing anything WITH Tori?

The League said...

They do. There are three more clips. Just go to YouTube and search "PS 22 Tori"

Honestly, the kids get sort of freaked out and just kind of stare at her.

J.S. said...

Yeah, those kids locked up under pressure. By the way- small, stupid, stinky people? I guess you're not going to be looking to become an elementary ed teacher any time soon.

The League said...

hey, everyone else can take it easy on kids, but just because everyone else gives them a free ride doesn't mean I have to.

Anonymous said...

I would agree that people should own up to their comment, but is it really that different if, instead of signing anonymous, I sign my codename ? It would be different if every one signing their real names, but who cares if I am "Diva" or "Captain Anonymous" ? Either way, nobody else on the web knows who I am.

I will say the lack of accountability for comments contributes to why we see people post things they would never say to the other persons face. But I don't think it is the sole factor to why people are more abrasive via the internet. It is easy to be rude/belittling/condescening when you aren't looking in the persons eye.

Captain Anonymous

Anonymous said...

Go RHPT! Congrats!

J.S. said...

Well, I think those are more nicknames than codenames since we already know who all of those people are. At least if you sign as Capatain Anonymous then we can differentiate you from other anonymous posters (thereby making you less anonymous). Anyhoo, on my blog, I put my regular ol' name right out there for everyone to see.

The League said...

What Steanso said.

Laura said...

Hooray for Randy!

I was totally going to claim responsibility for Anonymous, but alas, it isn't me. And perhaps Captain Anonymous has come back for more?

It boggles my mind that someone would take such time to engage in an internet debate and remain anonymous. Even if you just sign with a made up moniker, that's something. I'm not into outing people with their full names if they've chosen a moniker.

I'm no Internet Expert, but in my experience, Anonymous is not the classiest, nor most intelligent, of posters.

Anonymous said...

I see that my baby doesn't get a photo on The League.

i'd sign my name but its hard typing while holding a baby

Anonymous said...

Oh, is *that* what you're holding? I thought it was [censored].

(sorry, couldn't resist that setup)

The League said...

Hey, whoa, there...! Ah, heck. I'm just jealous you beat me to it.

I was going to ask you permission before posting. I take this is inferred permission.

Michael Corley said...

Spirited debates make the internet go 'round.

At least this one never got to the poopie ka-ka stage of discourse.

But I suppose there is time yet.

And there is a huge difference between an anonymous post and a post with a name, even a code name. Internet discussion is compressing data that would normally be given in many different forms (sight, sound, non-verbal cues) and is attenuated to text with the occasional picture. To be without name is the effect of having a conversation with the Phantom of the Opera behind the looking glass, minus the singing and high production values. You're missing crucial information on the person whom you're speaking with.

Anonymous said...

Here's another lovely Google Street Finder image.

http://tinyurl.com/ywsncz