I was one of the rockets that made it off the pad but experienced complications ... lucky nobody got hurt. maybe. my chute deployed in time like it was supposed to ;)
And if it turns out the internet story is a hoax instead, I don't want to know. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I found out the BBC story about the midget wrestlers vs. the tiger was a really good fake.
I comment as ken in sc, but I live part time in SC, NC, GA, and Austin, Texas. I don't go to Austin in the summer. There is not enough air conditioning in Christendom to make Austin comfortable in the summer.
I'm so glad Althouse's commenters continue to have a forum. I had made the decision to stop commenting about a week or ten days before the end, so I won't comment here, but I'm glad this blog has taken up the slack. I'll be here daily to get my allotment of commenter wisdom. I see Bagoh, Palladian, Chip Ahoy and many others that I enjoy so I'm happy. Feel the happy vibes from Wyoming as you comment.
Nope, negative, will not accept. You must comment and not just lurk. DON'T MAKE ME COME TO WYOMING TO TALK SENSE INTO YOU. On the other hand, it's much cooler at the moment than Texas..... : )
Craaaaaaaaazy shit going down in Austin tonight. Following #stand4life on Twitter and the pics and videos are insane. Jars of poop had to be confiscated!
Well, I have to reply to this. I decided to read back to the beginning of Lem's blog and saw your nice comment about me. I'm grateful for your support and for your kind words. I'm trying to change some things in my life right now. I have become a bit of a couch potato and need to get out and be more active. Ill try commenting again when I have become more like a regular human being and less nocturnal. I have been up all night many times since May and need to reset my days and nights. It's making me a little grouchy and not very fun to be around. Hang in there and I'll be watching.
I haven't deleted anything other than my own because that's what I do worry. I realized early on that I probably wouldn't make a "1/16 th" of decent blogger ... at least enough to get me elected senator of the state that sits Fenway Park.
Esa puta. dont look that up if you dont allready know.
I was feeling very good today, and I still and so I came across the river to share that good feeling with some one who gets it. someone who like you people here is not in one my "binders".
I'm glad this blog is plain, direct and designates an open thread as "Open Thread."
The first time Althouse called an open thread a "cafe" was cute (and made whimsical sense) because the open thread was accompanied by a photo taken in a cafe.
It was super-stupid every time thereafter. Especially so when you bear in mind Althouse's representations that her blog was in large part to realize her lifelong ambition to operate something akin to an artist's salon.
The Robot Toy And Other Odd Stuff On My Adjustable Standing Desk Cafe. What the fuck?
No, you dope. It's not a cafe. It's a fucking desktop.
DBQ and others who thought their comments were being removed: On this set up you might have to go all the way down to the bottom of the comments and hit "Load More" when there are a lot of comments. It is possible that you posted and it was just beyond that cut off point when you went to look for it. Given present circumstances it's understandable that we might think we were deleted. I don't think Lem would do that.
Althouse said: You have to understand why that's supposed to be a problem, and how people are scampering to fix it.
No, I don't. Fuck you.
Scampering? No they're not. Fuck you, again.
Althouse's stir-the-shit attitude really has gotten tiresome. She's quite pretentious; the crusading high school English teacher who implores us to talk back to our television sets.
The point is to live happily as we yammer pointlessly, I suppose, to be charitable to the old bag.
I don't know about amazon portals, but if there are going to be time travellers, apparently we have to build our end.
You can only go back to a past that has built a wormhole for you.
Building your own tunnel to the past doesn't work.
Also you have to be historically consistent. You can go back and shoot yourself as a baby in your mother's arms, but a sudden sharp shoulder pain will ruin your shot, scaring your mother who will drop you and injure your shoulder.
An old farmer down the road, eschewing soybeans and corn, for his final crop planted sunflowers. I don't know if a sunflower salesman got to him or if he just thought it would be fun.
So for a summer there were millions of sunflowers facing the sun.
It got harvested somehow and he retired. The farm was bought by a guy with lots of fields and tractors and corn and soybeans, who added tiles and does constant soil analysis and repair. Very tall corn results.
Thank you caplight45. I hope that is it, a glitch, with these nested comments. I posted as a reply to a portion of the thread to Bagoh20, the comments would appear for a while and then when I looked back be gone.
I apologize to Lem. Couldn't figure out why I would be banned since I have always had the highest respect for Lem, who I percieve as a gentleman in every sense of the word.
However, it is Lem's house and he is free to run the party as he wishes.
One DVD has a mistake, Bond in bed with a girl without the 30 second scene that would explain it, but it doesn't affect anything beyond leaving you wondering if you should recognize her.
The various Bonds are also a problem in the series, trying to recognize which one is Bond when there are good looking evildoers.
This all defeats your memory as well, so the thing is as new the second time as the first.
The word spread quickly: free flowers on High Street. Folks arrived in a frenzy to scoop up the blooms at the Darby Creek Nursery’s temporary location in Worthington.
They grabbed petunias and geraniums and roses, loading their cars with hanging baskets and flats of flowers. They called their friends. They took nearly everything.
They probably didn’t realize they were robbing the place blind.
“I can’t even fathom how somebody would assume it’s free,” said Jeff Turnbull, owner of the Hilliard-based nursery. “We’re a small business trying to make it in a bad economy.”
Turnbull found out about Monday night’s floral free-for-all when employees showed up on Tuesday to take down the pop-up shop. Nearly $5,000 worth of plants were gone. They discovered a note from one dubious gardener who said he had taken flowers with the understanding that they were free. He left his name and number, just in case.
Man you are reaching buddy. It's Saturday morning.
I have to be here working at the computer waiting for customers but you have the whole day ahead of you. Seriously why not go to the Dog Park and make some friends?
Lem, I understand it's your place, but please don't allow others to start the bullying here as they were allowed to unchecked at Althouse. You're better than the bullies and the enablers, both.
And I apologize to Lem if I was disrespectful. Because I respect what Lem is doing.
Because I do not want to be accused of bullying Meade. Maybe I need to drop a few thousand in the Althouse Amazon portal to get some love from Ann and Meade.
Lem it is up to you what you want. I respect you and will abide by your decision.
Back in the day Theo Boehm set up a blog and Bissage and I went after each other in the comments. It was really funny but Theo deleted it all and said he didn't want that in his blog. We both respected that decision.
Of course that meant he would have very few commenters but he was cool with that.
Anticipating a houseful of teen-agers for a couple-so weeks. Seriously, my brother's three girls will be here by dinnertime. What with them and my own teen boy, it should be lively!
You have my sympathy. I'm hoping to survive another couple hours alone with my three-year-old. (The Missus had things to do out. Hopefully she'll get home before the riots start, as she's got the only car.)
I think, if the verdict doesn't come in tonight, I may go see a movie. Perhaps you should do the same.
York, I've never seen you fail to go out of your way to be a dick! You're down-right gleeful about it, which makes it kind of charming. And I know about charm - I lived in Baltimore for a while. And if you've ever seen The Wire you know how charming Baltimore is....
No! I heard about the ending of that one. I can't afford to lose that many brain cells exposed to THE STUPID.
I'm thinking about seeing Pacific Rim instead. I love me some Godzilla movies, and I like del Torro's work that I've seen. So I may do something I haven't done in years and go see a summer Event movie.
But I probably won't. 'Cause I'm waiting until the local art house theatre shows "Flash Gordon" at the end of the month.
Seriously, Icepick, you need to hook up with a homeschool group. It's not too soon. It's a true saving grace. There are secular ones that are primarily social (/socialization). Think Park Days and outings and kids your daughter can play with and adults for you. I was slow to do that but since have taken advantage of them in both IA area and DE area.
I hate "Anonymous" posters. I have no problem with people wanting to keep some anonymity, but choose a unique handle solely for the purpose of avoiding confusion.
I wish that homeschooling had been a "thing" when my daughter was young. Homeschoolers have such a good support system today and access to all sorts of good curriculum. We did our best to expose her to all kinds of enlightening things that she wouldn't see or learn in school. Museums. Movies. Books. Lots of discussions to try to encourage critical thinking. She got to spend 4 months during 5th grade, traveling through Mexico and Central America with my Father and Stepmother in an RV (Dad writes travel books and it was a trip to review and update). In addition to keeping up with school work, she was tasked to write a journal and compare the people and ways (culture) to that at home. The journal is hilarious and very perceptive. I think I did pretty good job :-)
There is nothing more important than raising your children to be intelligent, responsible, individuals.
I doubt Althouse would feel the need to comment here, she has her own blog. She made it clear she does not choose to engage in discussion with her former commenters anymore.
I have detected at least seven anonymouses. They steal the cheese and runaway, dropping their little turds behind them. The life of an anonymouse has its perks.
okay. I'm going to bite. I was a lurker at Althouse, and I've commented a few times here as Anonymous - but I don't want to be associated with the Anonytrollips. Probably won't comment much here, either, but ... no 'trollip association wanted, tyvm.
If Palladian catches this remark, maybe he will vouch for me. I was moved to email him when all the crap went down previous to the Professor closing comments, and it appeared he was going to stop commenting.
My kid is the son of a man, my husband, who proudly wears a T-shirt that reads, "I Break Warranties."
Son is also an only child/first born of two first-borns who were (and are) older parents who had been around the block many times before he came into the world.
He is one tough cookie, believe you me. By nature, by upbringing, and of necessity--so to speak. ; )
I don't have a big emotional investment. I got used to reading and commenting at Althouse for a while. I can get used to doing something else and might be better for it.
I'm curious though because on most counts Althouse's behavior didn't make sense even in terms of her own self-interest. She had worked for ten years to build up a high-profile blog with a thriving commenter community. That's not easy to do.
Then she ignited two huge flamewars with vile attacks on commenters and most men in general that led to such vituperation she closed comments off for an indeterminate period.
It's hard to see how this is a win for her. It was easily avoidable and, as a law professor, she had the self-control and the smarts to do so. Yet she didn't. Nor has she explained why to anyone's satisfaction.
It was also an odd breakdown of decorum for a prominent law professor, and as someone at the time pointed out, would have likely gotten a male law professor canned if he had attacked women as Althouse attacked men.
One can only assume that the meltdown was psychologically driven. I've speculated she's a sociopath. I can hardly know for certain. That's my glib way of saying that I think there's something wrong beyond the ordinary going on.
I just may do that because for some darn reason, this has been swirling around in my head since I wandered in here:
Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same You wanna be where everybody knows Your nma
You wanna go where people know, people are all the same, You wanna go where everybody knows your name.
Full Lyrics never actually aired Making your way in the world today Takes everything you've got; Taking a break from all your worries Sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away?
All those night when you've got no lights, The check is in the mail; And your little angel Hung the cat up by it's tail; And your third fiance didn't show;
Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name, And they're always glad you came; You want to be where you can see, Our troubles are all the same; You want to be where everybody knows your name.
Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee's dead; The morning's looking bright; And your shrink ran off to Europe, And didn't even write; And your husband wants to be a girl;
Be glad there's one place in the world Where everybody knows your name, And they're always glad you came; You want to go where people know, People are all the same; You want to go where everybody knows your name.
Where everybody knows your name, And they're always glad you came; Where everybody knows your name, And they're always glad you came...
And ya never know... could be fun. For Lem's sake! Cheers!
Creely23.I am not the anonymous who responded to you earlier. This is the second time you've brought this up. Freeman Hunt told you that you were probably wrong the first time you put it out there IIRC. This type of internet diagnosis makes you look small and mean. Please take this as constructive criticism. I usually agree with your take on things, but you are way off the mark here.
You say sociopath like it is a bad thing. Seriously, I have no opinion about what is the cause of the current kerfluffle or am going to speculate outloud about another person's mental conditions.
However, people should realize that there are many levels of sociopathy or psychopathy and not all of them are Ted Bundy bad. Many are fully functioning members of society...>Hello Obama. Most CEO's of successful companies are psychopaths to some extent. It is a helpful trait in their line of business. Who knows, maybe this is a positive trait for academia or sections of academia. I'm pretty certain that it is for many competitive scientific fields. Shockley would be a good example.
I do have to say, that I had noticed that Althouse had been getting progressively more and more irritated by her commenters. I don't really blame her. Sometimes it must have felt like trying to ride herd over a bunch of unruly first graders.
AnonX: Being told I'm wrong, even by you or Freeman Hunt, doesn't impress me or stop me. Being thought small and mean by someone who won't even put together a pseud doesn't bother me either. Nor am I blowing my cool shrieking loser, splooge stooge and the like, as Althouse did in her own name in her own house.
I find it an interesting question and I'm not asking in an offensive way. If it's not your meat, so it goes.
But this is an open thread in a blog started for ex-Althouse commenters after her epic blowout seven days ago, so it's germane.
Creely23. I am an ex Althouse commenter also. I stated that I usually agreed with your take on things, perhaps I have misjudged you. You speculate on a person's sanity on a public forum as if it is nothing at all. What does that say about you?
I notice that there are a lot of people who have this assburners thingy which can be confused with being a sociopath. It is getting used as an all purpose catch all for people who are all messed up. It is even making into sitcoms like with Sheldon in "The Big Bang Theory."
It seems like too much work to be so out of touch.
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/07/12/mental-health-break-7-12-2/ You mean this? Sully is dead to me after his attacks on Palin. Ann, being such a feminist, did not defend Sarah very much.
Creeley, here's some of my brilliant insights from Mirror:
"I think the marriage was an invitation to some to get nasty. The constant haranguing of Meade for being a house husband being the biggest sticking point. And of course it rankled some that Althouse would be the recipient of such nurturing :)
But my general point is not about politics. I think the big picture is that blog comment sections morph through time and can become ugly. I think a lot of this is a reflection of Althouse's prickly personality.I don't hate her, and I do admire her in some ways. She is a puzzle and enjoys it.
deborahJuly 13, 2013 at 12:53 PM PS, your point about the Wisconsin protests/Walker support doesn't register the same with me. It made her more popular with her commenters, in general, for going against unions. It also raised her profile. But from an internal view for her, it could have swelled her head and/or made her question her allegiance to liberalism.
She has her meltdowns over deeply held liberal tenets, such as the Obama tape released right before the last election, the recent DOMA ruling, and her upset at the Reason dinner.
I think she was suffering from a growing massive cognitive dissonance with regard to her dislike of her some of her commenters. For example, I think the Hippo pool post was a pot shot. She alluded to it in a comment to Freeman after she closed the comments:
"Ann Althouse said... La la la.
"Comments on this blog are restricted to team members." 7/7/13, 6:20 PM
Ann Althouse said... If you hit the view button, you get to a page where people actually can view comments.
That will demonstrate to you what the problem was.
Remember that video the other day about the hippo enclosure, the one where each fresh pool immediately became the hippo toilet?""
The sociopath/narcissist angle is probably unfair, and it's just as easy to say she's a pain in the ass like my one sister.
On the other hand, for the first time today I read her without thinking 'what are the commenters going to say; what am I going to say, etc. I skipped some, read some, and followed links to the interesting one about rectilinear vs circular. I have two links from there saved to read. I agree with DBQ above, also. What a bunch of crap to have to wade through everytime she went to write...'what will the commenters say?'
I said this somewhere within the Diaspora, can't remember where, but I think she just got tired. Blogging takes its toll, and it's especially challenging to interact with readers on the sustained level she did. In the years that I read the blog, she would periodically have little piques of exasperation and complain about the commenters - little things sometimes, like going off topic too often, or not understanding her posts and taking the conversation in the wrong direction. (There are people like that on some of the email listserves I subscribe to. They take the time to write posts berating everyone else for drifting off topic on a thread.) But the last couple of weeks, the comment sections became unwieldy and populated by a lot of crazy insults. Like a bunch of drunks arguing, someone said. When you're already tired, it doesn't take too much to push you over the edge and make you snap.
The Anchoress blog used to take periodic comment vacations, too. It worked for her blog, but she was rather explicit as the reasons, calling out comments that upset her. Perhaps that will work for Althouse, too. Guess it depends on how much she hates us.
What's with that Andrew Sullivan blog? He's got two interns, Does he actually write it anymore? Or does he just the rain maker? He's got more staff on the masthead of his blog than the New Republic. Why does he need a poetry editor? Or a general manager? It's a blog, for crying out loud, not a magazine. Amazing. And scrolling through the posts, it looks like it skews toward porn.
I keep thinking of that Althouse thread a while back, the one where New Yorkers said they didn't care about meeting celebrities, and would mention all the celebrities they didn't care about meeting.
All the backlash to Althouse seems like that to me. So many folks getting offended and angry at Althouse, with so many of the comments talking about how they didn't like her in the first place. Everyone taking it all so personally: who Ann voted for, what bit of advice she had for men, all while dismissing her for being crazy or a she-woman man-hater.
I guess that's why the comments shutting off sort of makes sense to me. Talking about stuff gets quickly frustrating when everyone makes it into some sign of mental illness, or personal sin, or psychosis, like having a different opinion has to be branded with some sort of social crime. It's what liberals have mastered and it's strange to me when otherwise rational folks (shout out to the INTJs!) get ego vapors and pout.
The commenters at Althouse are much more like her than they'd ever admit, with a few exceptions. Especially the ones that get all worked up about her, and it's when their precious egos get mildly bruised they prance around outraged, feigning nonchalance while obsessed with putting that Lady back in her place. Because glass-jawed egos have to have everyone in their place in order for them to feel strong again.
Then the comments get filled with pouty people with their arch-nemeses of the week, some flouncing off to nurse their egos elsewhere.
Meanwhile, other commenters that kept up the banter, adding a good insight from a crazy range of specialties, kept it going for a while. Nothing personal, Ann could have her own opinions or votes they could disagree with, part of life is disagreeing with people.
It became so personal, all the time, an ego orgy that got out of hand, bodily fluids everywhere, just a mess. No more fun.
Why would someone feel a need to keep putting up with that?
I miss it because it was a good outlet for my conservative side, and a place where I could just make a joke sometimes, mostly for my own sake. And I miss it because I actually appreciated Althouse's blog sketches, working out her thoughts in an open forum for response. I learned a lot from her and appreciated the wide variety of interests she brought to the table, creating a great forum to muse on all sorts of different subjects.
Now I've made it feel like A Very Special Episode in which one friend gets invited to the cool kids party and part of going involves having to insult all her old friends.
My response is to write way too much and now I feel better, thank you. And thanks, Lem, you've always been great commenter I appreciated, precisely because you didn't bring your ego, you just enjoyed the dance for what it was.
And yay for my comment posting! (seeing my words in electronic print helps me feel important). It wasn't working the first couple of days of trying hereabouts.
Oh, and I also suspect that the "no comments" policy was being discussed at Meadehouse for a while, for a number of different reasons. The recent brouhaha was just the trigger that made it happen.
Writing for an audience and commenters is different than writing out of one's own musings. Maybe it was a bit of restoring the first love of blogging that really is at work. Maybe it was felt that changes needed to be made to keep from burning out, and ending the perfect attendance record.
DBQ: I'm layman-knowledgeable on sociopathy, which isn't saying much, since the authorities don't seem to have all that great a handle either, so I've run across what you say WRT CEOs etc. I did read the Forbes article when it came out and recently thought further about sociopathy on the occasion of Jobs's death.
It's an interesting subject and they are an interesting, if frightening, people.
The classic qualities of a sociopath are that they don't experience empathy or remorse, and consequently they are not deterred from manipulating people and hurting them.
I can find a lot of Althouse there.
However justified her annoyance with some commenters, she still had no call to become so thoroughly nasty and vicious before she slammed the door.
There is safety in being anonymous. Let's not pretend that there are not some very vicious people in the old Althouse commentariat. Some of them have commented here on Lem's blog and the other spinoff blogs. Haven't you noticed?
The sociopath/narcissist angle is probably unfair, and it's just as easy to say she's a pain in the ass like my one sister.
deborah: Where/what's the Mirror?
I'm still not sure what the great taboo against the S-word here is. From what I read, there are about as many sociopaths in the population as gays. That means everyone knows some, even if they don't know what they are.
One of the things I found interesting about Althouse was her probes into the deeper reality behind the surface of people and events.
Doesn't anyone find it curious that a bright, thoughtful, professional should blow away a community she spent ten years building with such vicious public displays?
You see sociopathy in Althouse, yet make no mention of several of her commenters who truly displayed text book symptoms. One of the fatal flaws of most commenters there was, they did not notice, they did not care, if the sociopath was on the correct side politically. That was shameful, yet so few felt shame.
Creeley, I think your idea of how things went down is totally inaccurate.
(1) She wasn't vicious. (2) She didn't turn off the comments because of the disagreement. Specific trolls showed up reposting their comments over and over. Should Meade be forced to spend his entire day monitoring comments and deleting posts that are being reposted several times a minute? Of course the comments were turned off.
But the last couple of weeks, the comment sections became unwieldy and populated by a lot of crazy insults. Like a bunch of drunks arguing, someone said. When you're already tired, it doesn't take too much to push you over the edge and make you snap.
sydney: To be sure, but as I keep saying, Althouse is a professional. She is expected to handle things even when tired. Or find a way to back off, get rested, then return.
She did not have to do what she did. She chose that.
Also, the comment section wasn't something that just happened to her. It was an environment she shaped and it reflected her.
I kept wondering when she would tell people to calm down and be civil. But other than bouncing whoresoftheinternet, she never did anything. She fostered an uncivil climate.
I agree with this, and I'll add that it didn't go unnoticed that there were people egging it on, people encouraging others to take things as personally as possible, framing things in the worst possible ways, pushing people to vent and hate and build up grudges.
Someone will almost certainly chime in, "Althouse started it!" Even if one thought that were true, and I don't, what difference would that make? Taking advantage of an event to manipulate people into hating each other, into bringing out the worst in themselves is wrong.
I hope we can all be reconciled, one to another, in the end. Our conversations on that blog sometimes brought out the very best in each of us.
"Our conversations on that blog sometimes brought out the very best in each of us."
Yes! And so often, a topic would come up and there would be someone with just the right background or specialty. Or someone who would write something so perfectly (as you so often did, Freeman). That's why it's not the same with just Althouse. At it's best it was like jazz, with different players adding just the perfect phrasing to the mix. Althouse is still playing the chords, but there's no other instruments there that put it to the next level.
"One of the things I found interesting about Althouse was her probes into the deeper reality behind the surface of people and events."
Creeley, I meant Chip A's Althouse's Looking Glass.
You make a good point. The magnifying glass is upon Althouse now. As I said yesterday, narcissism would be a closer match IF anything.
Althouse has done many kind-hearted things on her blog. She's not a monster. She's a woman putting it out there and taking a lot of flak for just being human. She was accused of not having friends, when we know that Irene and Nina are at least two of her friends. None of this precludes the fact that she can be a pain in the ass at times (can't we all?), and is always ready for an internet rumble with other bloggers.
Her least attractive feature is posting pictures that she knows will incite negative and cutting comments. That should have been beneath her.
"Doesn't anyone find it curious that a bright, thoughtful, professional should blow away a community she spent ten years building with such vicious public displays?"
Shit happens. This has been snowballing for years. She was not acting in a vaccuum. She and her arch-nemesis here are cut from the same cloth.
Freeman Hunt, Meade is a big instigator. He went after Fred4Pres with no basis and when it was pointed out to him refused to acknowledge it. I have not commented at Althouse, since I started blogging (with a few minor exceptions). They can shut down comments if they wish, it is Ann's blog. But when the Amazon commissions dry up, she should not be whining (or wine-ing) about it--it is a given that would happen.
This is a self inflicted wound that Ann and Meade thought up. And the only reason for commentators is apparently to monazite her blog. Nothing wrong with that (I encourage free market capitalism)...but then the customer is generally right. And if they choose not to go there anymore due to lack of comments...oh well.
It's nice little blog you have here, Lem. I'd hate to see anything happen to it:
"Lem it is up to you what you want. I respect you and will abide by your decision.
Back in the day Theo Boehm set up a blog and Bissage and I went after each other in the comments. It was really funny but Theo deleted it all and said he didn't want that in his blog. We both respected that decision.
Of course that meant he would have very few commenters but he was cool with that.
261 comments:
1 – 200 of 261 Newer› Newest»Oh, the mockery - it burns!
I never said I knew what I was doing.
I have no experience. lol.
Sounds like one of those nights.
I was one of the rockets that made it off the pad but experienced complications ... lucky nobody got hurt. maybe. my chute deployed in time like it was supposed to ;)
I have to go out... will follow on the phone.
Sum Ting Wong Here...
WOW!
And if it turns out the internet story is a hoax instead, I don't want to know. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I found out the BBC story about the midget wrestlers vs. the tiger was a really good fake.
Man, I'm still bummed about that last one....
Well that's a fine how do you do. Lem fires up a blog, invites all the cool people and no one tells me. Ha! I found you anyway.
I will not be ignored!!
Hope you're all well.
Vice President of the 'glad to be here' club.
I comment as ken in sc, but I live part time in SC, NC, GA, and Austin, Texas. I don't go to Austin in the summer. There is not enough air conditioning in Christendom to make Austin comfortable in the summer.
I'm so glad Althouse's commenters continue to have a forum. I had made the decision to stop commenting about a week or ten days before the end, so I won't comment here, but I'm glad this blog has taken up the slack. I'll be here daily to get my allotment of commenter wisdom. I see Bagoh, Palladian, Chip Ahoy and many others that I enjoy so I'm happy. Feel the happy vibes from Wyoming as you comment.
Nope, negative, will not accept. You must comment and not just lurk. DON'T MAKE ME COME TO WYOMING TO TALK SENSE INTO YOU. On the other hand, it's much cooler at the moment than Texas..... : )
Craaaaaaaaazy shit going down in Austin tonight. Following #stand4life on Twitter and the pics and videos are insane. Jars of poop had to be confiscated!
Apparently state troopers are locking prolifers into empty offices for their own protection. Prochoicers are hooting, screaming, pushing--nutso.
Hey Lem I heard a rumor that you deleted some comments by Dust Bunny Queen. Is that true?
Well, I have to reply to this.
I decided to read back to the beginning of Lem's blog and saw your nice comment about me. I'm grateful for your support and for your kind words.
I'm trying to change some things in my life right now. I have become a bit of a couch potato and need to get out and be more active. Ill try commenting again when I have become more like a regular human being and less nocturnal. I have been up all night many times since May and need to reset my days and nights. It's making me a little grouchy and not very fun to be around.
Hang in there and I'll be watching.
Big Daddy is watching you Lem.
I haven't deleted anything other than my own because that's what I do worry. I realized early on that I probably wouldn't make a "1/16 th" of decent blogger ... at least enough to get me elected senator of the state that sits Fenway Park.
Esa puta. dont look that up if you dont allready know.
I was feeling very good today, and I still and so I came across the river to share that good feeling with some one who gets it. someone who like you people here is not in one my "binders".
Maybe I'll blog about it maybe no.
I have to go I'm using an unsecure computer.
Madison Downfall...
Lem: I think the blogspot server is acting funny. I could swear some of my comments disappeared today too, only to reappear later.
Thanks for your efforts.
Props to Evi on a brilliant Downfall job. Keep up the good work, my cow.
Holy frig...
I just came over here to promote Madison Downfall at Evil Blogger Lady blog.
I see le vache est plus de vit.
Anyhoo funniest Downfall evah!!!
If I delete comments That action would prove Althouse course of action appear necessary.
Its up to us. How do we "behave" w/o any filters or handlers?
It behoove us to look the way we want to appear.
But, let it be clear that I only speak for myself.
As far as I know, deleting a comment leaves a mark (comment deleted or comment deleted by, depending on how you got to comments).
Blogger sometimes forgets comments recently.
It's probably some race condition where a link winds up lost, or an emergency fixing of inconsistent pointers by deleting of stuff.
Khadijah trouble posting comments at the over 200 comments post I think it is blogger.
Erg. I had trouble .
Althouse Said Yoko Ono, promoting her new book "Acorn," which is like "Grapefruit," a book I think is quite wonderful.
Empson says the Japanese never quite get quite, thinking is means completely, though the Chinese have no trouble with its performance.
It contradicts the childish excitement of wonderful. But as you can see, I am not excited. The cozy mood.
If you are not Japanese.
I'm glad this blog is plain, direct and designates an open thread as "Open Thread."
The first time Althouse called an open thread a "cafe" was cute (and made whimsical sense) because the open thread was accompanied by a photo taken in a cafe.
It was super-stupid every time thereafter. Especially so when you bear in mind Althouse's representations that her blog was in large part to realize her lifelong ambition to operate something akin to an artist's salon.
The Robot Toy And Other Odd Stuff On My Adjustable Standing Desk Cafe. What the fuck?
No, you dope. It's not a cafe. It's a fucking desktop.
"I have to go I'm using an unsecure computer."
Well, my computer may or may not be secure but I can say for sure that the guy using it is an insecure commenter.
Noticing the ordinary is harder than you'd think.
An artist is one who does it once, stylizes it and and then mass produces that.
A philosopher does it on different things from scratch.
Doberman noticing weed.
You can play the 007 Bond DVD series more than once. The plots are chaotic and unmotivated enough so that it's new the second time.
LLL might be Lem's Learning Levity or the Lenstra Lenstra Lovász basis reduction algorithm.
DBQ and others who thought their comments were being removed: On this set up you might have to go all the way down to the bottom of the comments and hit "Load More" when there are a lot of comments. It is possible that you posted and it was just beyond that cut off point when you went to look for it. Given present circumstances it's understandable that we might think we were deleted. I don't think Lem would do that.
Evi's website makes my computer lock up. Nuts.
The Blogger software is definitely truncating the ends of some subthreads at times.
You can watch it on YouTube (although I am not sure why that is happening to you on my site, it is a blogger platform).
YouTube link
Althouse said: You have to understand why that's supposed to be a problem, and how people are scampering to fix it.
No, I don't. Fuck you.
Scampering? No they're not. Fuck you, again.
Althouse's stir-the-shit attitude really has gotten tiresome. She's quite pretentious; the crusading high school English teacher who implores us to talk back to our television sets.
The point is to live happily as we yammer pointlessly, I suppose, to be charitable to the old bag.
Classroom discussions abound.
Althouse said: Note how the word "suspected" is slipped into the text further down.
Nothing was "slipped." There's nothing sneaky going on. It's perfectly obvious and you're not clever or helpful in pointing out the obvious. Fuck you.
They used the word "suspected" the same as teh word "alleged."
There's no conspiracy, at all. Fuck you, again.
All right, I'm done with this experiment.
It's not fun, frankly.
I don't know about amazon portals, but if there are going to be time travellers, apparently we have to build our end.
You can only go back to a past that has built a wormhole for you.
Building your own tunnel to the past doesn't work.
Also you have to be historically consistent. You can go back and shoot yourself as a baby in your mother's arms, but a sudden sharp shoulder pain will ruin your shot, scaring your mother who will drop you and injure your shoulder.
Fuck you, Mitchell.
Althouse notices quinoa.
An old farmer down the road, eschewing soybeans and corn, for his final crop planted sunflowers. I don't know if a sunflower salesman got to him or if he just thought it would be fun.
So for a summer there were millions of sunflowers facing the sun.
It got harvested somehow and he retired. The farm was bought by a guy with lots of fields and tractors and corn and soybeans, who added tiles and does constant soil analysis and repair. Very tall corn results.
Some people jump in ass first.
The dog alerted. We're gonna have cut down all this corn, and do a thorough search.
A study finds that viagra cures jet-lag in hamsters, according to Radio Derb, Oct 8, 2010.
2007.
So what do you think of Madison Downfall?
Thank you caplight45. I hope that is it, a glitch, with these nested comments. I posted as a reply to a portion of the thread to Bagoh20, the comments would appear for a while and then when I looked back be gone.
I apologize to Lem. Couldn't figure out why I would be banned since I have always had the highest respect for Lem, who I percieve as a gentleman in every sense of the word.
However, it is Lem's house and he is free to run the party as he wishes.
When you find yourself walking around with a jar of poop, it is time to re-examine the direction of your life.
It's seems like a blogger glitch. So don't sweat it Lem.
On no Rh you have your dog smoking pot.
That's what Meade does before he molest him.
There are plots?!
What does added tiles mean? Regular clay tiles?
(I chew soybeans and corn too)
Sis, Saint Croix and Chip Ahoy have also started up new blogs to fill the void.
And SC is better?
Tiles are just drainage, usually plastic pipes these days, to get excess water out of the field fast.
Anybody know how to turn off the word verification?
Rumor and innuendo put to rest. All is well, Big Daddy said to relax. Lem, you got that? Big Daddy not gonna put out a hit on you now, relax.
Continuity dept is in charge of plots.
One DVD has a mistake, Bond in bed with a girl without the 30 second scene that would explain it, but it doesn't affect anything beyond leaving you wondering if you should recognize her.
The various Bonds are also a problem in the series, trying to recognize which one is Bond when there are good looking evildoers.
This all defeats your memory as well, so the thing is as new the second time as the first.
I am glad to see Lem's blogging. He is perfect for it.
Don't forget Crack's contributions too!
You should get back into it too Meade. Then you and Ann could have a Charlie McCarthy act.
No way Lem would ever ban you DBQ. You're awesome.
"This comment has been removed by the author."
BWAAAA-HAAAA-HA-HA-HA!!!!
Meade spit it out bro.
You have to go to the design on the dashboard and you can fix it.
It is just too darned easy to hurt someone with the internet:
The word spread quickly: free flowers on High Street. Folks arrived in a frenzy to scoop up the blooms at the Darby Creek Nursery’s temporary location in Worthington.
They grabbed petunias and geraniums and roses, loading their cars with hanging baskets and flats of flowers. They called their friends. They took nearly everything.
They probably didn’t realize they were robbing the place blind.
“I can’t even fathom how somebody would assume it’s free,” said Jeff Turnbull, owner of the Hilliard-based nursery. “We’re a small business trying to make it in a bad economy.”
Turnbull found out about Monday night’s floral free-for-all when employees showed up on Tuesday to take down the pop-up shop. Nearly $5,000 worth of plants were gone. They discovered a note from one dubious gardener who said he had taken flowers with the understanding that they were free. He left his name and number, just in case.
What is wrong with people?
Were you about to say Troop is really Crack, or Crack is really Troop, or they both are Mary or President Mom Jeans?
How has Titus been? Meade, were you Titus? That would explain a lot.
Plenty.
Man you are reaching buddy. It's Saturday morning.
I have to be here working at the computer waiting for customers but you have the whole day ahead of you. Seriously why not go to the Dog Park and make some friends?
Is this an Ohio thing?
Oh and by the way I am not Crack.
He is a Negro.
Lem, I understand it's your place, but please don't allow others to start the bullying here as they were allowed to unchecked at Althouse. You're better than the bullies and the enablers, both.
I know they don't have any in Madison but you can find out about them in National Geographic.
Or maybe catch an episode of "Cops" on Fox.
Just sayn'
Because cruel neutrality is just that, cruel.
And I apologize to Lem if I was disrespectful. Because I respect what Lem is doing.
Because I do not want to be accused of bullying Meade. Maybe I need to drop a few thousand in the Althouse Amazon portal to get some love from Ann and Meade.
Lem it is up to you what you want. I respect you and will abide by your decision.
Back in the day Theo Boehm set up a blog and Bissage and I went after each other in the comments. It was really funny but Theo deleted it all and said he didn't want that in his blog. We both respected that decision.
Of course that meant he would have very few commenters but he was cool with that.
It is up to you amigo.
Oh and one more thing.
Boston sucks!
I here the President of these here United States self-identifies as black, and his father is from Kenya.
Yes, keep calling Lem amigo to show how much you respect him.
Inga, are you afraid to post as Inga? Or is that Meade?
That video is nothing less than absolutely, totally, fucking brilliant! LOL times eleventy!
If I was a betting man, I'd take that bet, Meade.
Who the hell is that nagging cardinal bird?
Jeez did they police commenters at L'Althouse like they seem to do over here?
I respect all of my amigos even if they are not in this country legally.
Otherwise who would do my gardening and....errr....nevermind.
btw cardinals are fierce,
fierce like Dianna ross and in the Cher kind of way.
So flame"boy" 'ant".
It seems they have to control everything.
They are funny that way.
Well he was born a Negro than be became black but then he changed into an African American.
But I prefer to think of him as my friend the Negro.
Just because I like to say that I have a lot of friends that are Negros. Just sayn'
Anticipating a houseful of teen-agers for a couple-so weeks. Seriously, my brother's three girls will be here by dinnertime. What with them and my own teen boy, it should be lively!
I think I will wait to hear what Crack has to say about it there Meadey.
That will tell the tale.
Trooper, imagine what "anonymous" would think if they saw what you called people over at your joint. They'd have an attack of vapors, for sure.
I'm starting to feel like Meade and Trooper have switched accounts - like in a bad episode of Star Trek.
Seriously Iceman. I mean when do you ever see me be politically correct?
Meade is just pulling that "how dare you say that card" that politically correct types love to pull on you.
You have my sympathy. I'm hoping to survive another couple hours alone with my three-year-old. (The Missus had things to do out. Hopefully she'll get home before the riots start, as she's got the only car.)
I think, if the verdict doesn't come in tonight, I may go see a movie. Perhaps you should do the same.
I don't know if he is magical but one time he was over the house and he made my television disappear.
Of course I wasn't home at the time.
Does that count?
The cardinal is flipping red cards or yellow?
Hell I don't think he is even Catholic.
You won't catch Catholic guys paddling their kayak upside down.
York, I've never seen you fail to go out of your way to be a dick! You're down-right gleeful about it, which makes it kind of charming. And I know about charm - I lived in Baltimore for a while. And if you've ever seen The Wire you know how charming Baltimore is....
I suggest Star Trek.
No! I heard about the ending of that one. I can't afford to lose that many brain cells exposed to THE STUPID.
I'm thinking about seeing Pacific Rim instead. I love me some Godzilla movies, and I like del Torro's work that I've seen. So I may do something I haven't done in years and go see a summer Event movie.
But I probably won't. 'Cause I'm waiting until the local art house theatre shows "Flash Gordon" at the end of the month.
AH-AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!
OTOH....
Huh. Why did I think all this time that Lem was East-Coast based? Time stamps here indicate West.
What's with the battling self-deletions? Everyone talking backwards...*fast*? LOL.
Speaking of backwards....
How do you know a lake full of water has some douche in it?
You know gangnam style?
Well we like to call when you delete every other post reader-I-am style!
Deleting every post ever is Sippican-Cottage-style.
Seriously, Icepick, you need to hook up with a homeschool group. It's not too soon. It's a true saving grace. There are secular ones that are primarily social (/socialization). Think Park Days and outings and kids your daughter can play with and adults for you. I was slow to do that but since have taken advantage of them in both IA area and DE area.
The Open Cover now in what is hopefully an easier-on-the-eyes template.
I'll bite: How?
Anonymous,
Are you Althouse?
Chip Ahoy: have you ever made cold press coffee (at least that's what they call it at my Caribou)? If so how did you go about it? Anybody else?
Sydney, I gather that there are several anonymous posters. At this point, I'm not even going to attempt to discern them for myself
I hate "Anonymous" posters. I have no problem with people wanting to keep some anonymity, but choose a unique handle solely for the purpose of avoiding confusion.
caplight45: You might find useful this link to an America's Test Kitchen DIY forum on cold-brewing coffee.
I wish that homeschooling had been a "thing" when my daughter was young. Homeschoolers have such a good support system today and access to all sorts of good curriculum. We did our best to expose her to all kinds of enlightening things that she wouldn't see or learn in school. Museums. Movies. Books. Lots of discussions to try to encourage critical thinking. She got to spend 4 months during 5th grade, traveling through Mexico and Central America with my Father and Stepmother in an RV (Dad writes travel books and it was a trip to review and update). In addition to keeping up with school work, she was tasked to write a journal and compare the people and ways (culture) to that at home. The journal is hilarious and very perceptive. I think I did pretty good job :-)
There is nothing more important than raising your children to be intelligent, responsible, individuals.
Access to a good burrito is also very important. You gotta have that or what good is all the rest of it?
I doubt Althouse would feel the need to comment here, she has her own blog. She made it clear she does not choose to engage in discussion with her former commenters anymore.
Let's you and him fight.
Read her or don't, she does not care. It was time for a housecleaning.
Well, that is true too. AND a good Chimichanga with guacamole, sour cream, salsa and a Tecate or two. Must go grocery shopping now.
I have detected at least seven anonymouses. They steal the cheese and runaway, dropping their little turds behind them. The life of an anonymouse has its perks.
I saw this nerdy kid wearing a t-shirt yesterday. It said:
"I'm Homeschooled
My Mom Beats Me Up"
I'm gonna tell big bad Crack on you! That will tell, oh yeah, you'll see, just wait until Crack gets up for the day, he'll show you what's for!
okay. I'm going to bite. I was a lurker at Althouse, and I've commented a few times here as Anonymous - but I don't want to be associated with the Anonytrollips. Probably won't comment much here, either, but ... no 'trollip association wanted, tyvm.
If Palladian catches this remark, maybe he will vouch for me. I was moved to email him when all the crap went down previous to the Professor closing comments, and it appeared he was going to stop commenting.
Isn't it great that Lem has kept the anonymous option? I bet that anonytrollip would give him a good ride just for that alone.
You should comment for Lem's sake. You never no, it might be fun.
Troop, why are you picking on Meade again?
My kid is the son of a man, my husband, who proudly wears a T-shirt that reads, "I Break Warranties."
Son is also an only child/first born of two first-borns who were (and are) older parents who had been around the block many times before he came into the world.
He is one tough cookie, believe you me. By nature, by upbringing, and of necessity--so to speak. ; )
He wouldn't be intimidated even by you, Trooper.
I am proud of him.
So what are the theories on Althouse's meltdown?
I don't have a big emotional investment. I got used to reading and commenting at Althouse for a while. I can get used to doing something else and might be better for it.
I'm curious though because on most counts Althouse's behavior didn't make sense even in terms of her own self-interest. She had worked for ten years to build up a high-profile blog with a thriving commenter community. That's not easy to do.
Then she ignited two huge flamewars with vile attacks on commenters and most men in general that led to such vituperation she closed comments off for an indeterminate period.
It's hard to see how this is a win for her. It was easily avoidable and, as a law professor, she had the self-control and the smarts to do so. Yet she didn't. Nor has she explained why to anyone's satisfaction.
It was also an odd breakdown of decorum for a prominent law professor, and as someone at the time pointed out, would have likely gotten a male law professor canned if he had attacked women as Althouse attacked men.
One can only assume that the meltdown was psychologically driven. I've speculated she's a sociopath. I can hardly know for certain. That's my glib way of saying that I think there's something wrong beyond the ordinary going on.
creeley23 sees sociopaths. Sociopaths see sociopaths.
Who me?
I am a big old softie.
Kids and animals love me.
And I love them back.
Just not the way that Meade does.
People who have experienced sociopaths see them too.
Sounds like you've led a sheltered life or you just don't think very hard about anything.
Being funny and racist are two of the best things in the world. The third is butter!-
(Paula Deen)
Separation anxiety.
It will pass, breath into the bag.
I just may do that because for some darn reason, this has been swirling around in my head since I wandered in here:
Where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your nma
You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.
Full Lyrics never actually aired
Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you've got;
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?
All those night when you've got no lights,
The check is in the mail;
And your little angel
Hung the cat up by it's tail;
And your third fiance didn't show;
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows your name.
Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee's dead;
The morning's looking bright;
And your shrink ran off to Europe,
And didn't even write;
And your husband wants to be a girl;
Be glad there's one place in the world
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to go where people know,
People are all the same;
You want to go where everybody knows your name.
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came...
And ya never know... could be fun. For Lem's sake! Cheers!
Ack. Excuse the typos. Stupid phone.
It would be easier to not think about something if we didn't have a constant reminder in these comment threads.
Creely23.I am not the anonymous who responded to you earlier. This is the second time you've brought this up. Freeman Hunt told you that you were probably wrong the first time you put it out there IIRC. This type of internet diagnosis makes you look small and mean. Please take this as constructive criticism. I usually agree with your take on things, but you are way off the mark here.
Meade,
"He is a Negro."
I'll bet he's not.
You'll lose that one, boy-o:
It's hilarious, I just wrote that,...
I've speculated she's a sociopath.
You say sociopath like it is a bad thing. Seriously, I have no opinion about what is the cause of the current kerfluffle or am going to speculate outloud about another person's mental conditions.
However, people should realize that there are many levels of sociopathy or psychopathy and not all of them are Ted Bundy bad. Many are fully functioning members of society...>Hello Obama. Most CEO's of successful companies are psychopaths to some extent. It is a helpful trait in their line of business. Who knows, maybe this is a positive trait for academia or sections of academia. I'm pretty certain that it is for many competitive scientific fields. Shockley would be a good example.
I do have to say, that I had noticed that Althouse had been getting progressively more and more irritated by her commenters. I don't really blame her. Sometimes it must have felt like trying to ride herd over a bunch of unruly first graders.
Creeley, I answered the question in the comments at my joint, and then promoted it (along with the question) to its own post.
Stop fanning the flames, Meade. Your control-freaking on these blogs is just creepy. Make your life sweeter.
AnonX: Being told I'm wrong, even by you or Freeman Hunt, doesn't impress me or stop me. Being thought small and mean by someone who won't even put together a pseud doesn't bother me either. Nor am I blowing my cool shrieking loser, splooge stooge and the like, as Althouse did in her own name in her own house.
I find it an interesting question and I'm not asking in an offensive way. If it's not your meat, so it goes.
But this is an open thread in a blog started for ex-Althouse commenters after her epic blowout seven days ago, so it's germane.
Lem, Great start. I was told Sully took a shot @ Annie yesterday afternoon. It's actually kind of funny.
Creely23. I am an ex Althouse commenter also. I stated that I usually agreed with your take on things, perhaps I have misjudged you. You speculate on a person's sanity on a public forum as if it is nothing at all. What does that say about you?
I notice that there are a lot of people who have this assburners thingy which can be confused with being a sociopath. It is getting used as an all purpose catch all for people who are all messed up. It is even making into sitcoms like with Sheldon in "The Big Bang Theory."
It seems like too much work to be so out of touch.
It is a lot easier just being a dick. Just sayn'
I should no the difference of know and no and know.
Aw, you get what I meant.
You mean that Limey poofter? Did someone tell him Althouse has a uterus?
You first, Evi.
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/07/12/mental-health-break-7-12-2/ You mean this? Sully is dead to me after his attacks on Palin. Ann, being such a feminist, did not defend Sarah very much.
Creeley, here's some of my brilliant insights from Mirror:
"I think the marriage was an invitation to some to get nasty. The constant haranguing of Meade for being a house husband being the biggest sticking point. And of course it rankled some that Althouse would be the recipient of such nurturing :)
But my general point is not about politics. I think the big picture is that blog comment sections morph through time and can become ugly. I think a lot of this is a reflection of Althouse's prickly personality.I don't hate her, and I do admire her in some ways. She is a puzzle and enjoys it.
deborahJuly 13, 2013 at 12:53 PM
PS, your point about the Wisconsin protests/Walker support doesn't register the same with me. It made her more popular with her commenters, in general, for going against unions. It also raised her profile. But from an internal view for her, it could have swelled her head and/or made her question her allegiance to liberalism.
She has her meltdowns over deeply held liberal tenets, such as the Obama tape released right before the last election, the recent DOMA ruling, and her upset at the Reason dinner.
I think she was suffering from a growing massive cognitive dissonance with regard to her dislike of her some of her commenters. For example, I think the Hippo pool post was a pot shot. She alluded to it in a comment to Freeman after she closed the comments:
"Ann Althouse said...
La la la.
"Comments on this blog are restricted to team members."
7/7/13, 6:20 PM
Ann Althouse said...
If you hit the view button, you get to a page where people actually can view comments.
That will demonstrate to you what the problem was.
Remember that video the other day about the hippo enclosure, the one where each fresh pool immediately became the hippo toilet?""
The sociopath/narcissist angle is probably unfair, and it's just as easy to say she's a pain in the ass like my one sister.
On the other hand, for the first time today I read her without thinking 'what are the commenters going to say; what am I going to say, etc. I skipped some, read some, and followed links to the interesting one about rectilinear vs circular. I have two links from there saved to read. I agree with DBQ above, also. What a bunch of crap to have to wade through everytime she went to write...'what will the commenters say?'
I think maybe Meade misses the comments, too. After all, he was also once a member of the commentariat
Creeley,
I said this somewhere within the Diaspora, can't remember where, but I think she just got tired. Blogging takes its toll, and it's especially challenging to interact with readers on the sustained level she did. In the years that I read the blog, she would periodically have little piques of exasperation and complain about the commenters - little things sometimes, like going off topic too often, or not understanding her posts and taking the conversation in the wrong direction. (There are people like that on some of the email listserves I subscribe to. They take the time to write posts berating everyone else for drifting off topic on a thread.) But the last couple of weeks, the comment sections became unwieldy and populated by a lot of crazy insults. Like a bunch of drunks arguing, someone said. When you're already tired, it doesn't take too much to push you over the edge and make you snap.
The Anchoress blog used to take periodic comment vacations, too. It worked for her blog, but she was rather explicit as the reasons, calling out comments that upset her. Perhaps that will work for Althouse, too. Guess it depends on how much she hates us.
What's with that Andrew Sullivan blog? He's got two interns, Does he actually write it anymore? Or does he just the rain maker? He's got more staff on the masthead of his blog than the New Republic. Why does he need a poetry editor? Or a general manager? It's a blog, for crying out loud, not a magazine. Amazing. And scrolling through the posts, it looks like it skews toward porn.
When did you become so pompous and condescending Meadey?
I guess it is catching. Like crabs or something.
http://www.sitemeter.com/?a=stats&s=s17althouse&r=59
And your "bride" is a lovely, normal woman.
Delusional.
I keep thinking of that Althouse thread a while back, the one where New Yorkers said they didn't care about meeting celebrities, and would mention all the celebrities they didn't care about meeting.
All the backlash to Althouse seems like that to me. So many folks getting offended and angry at Althouse, with so many of the comments talking about how they didn't like her in the first place. Everyone taking it all so personally: who Ann voted for, what bit of advice she had for men, all while dismissing her for being crazy or a she-woman man-hater.
I guess that's why the comments shutting off sort of makes sense to me. Talking about stuff gets quickly frustrating when everyone makes it into some sign of mental illness, or personal sin, or psychosis, like having a different opinion has to be branded with some sort of social crime. It's what liberals have mastered and it's strange to me when otherwise rational folks (shout out to the INTJs!) get ego vapors and pout.
The commenters at Althouse are much more like her than they'd ever admit, with a few exceptions. Especially the ones that get all worked up about her, and it's when their precious egos get mildly bruised they prance around outraged, feigning nonchalance while obsessed with putting that Lady back in her place. Because glass-jawed egos have to have everyone in their place in order for them to feel strong again.
Then the comments get filled with pouty people with their arch-nemeses of the week, some flouncing off to nurse their egos elsewhere.
Meanwhile, other commenters that kept up the banter, adding a good insight from a crazy range of specialties, kept it going for a while. Nothing personal, Ann could have her own opinions or votes they could disagree with, part of life is disagreeing with people.
It became so personal, all the time, an ego orgy that got out of hand, bodily fluids everywhere, just a mess. No more fun.
Why would someone feel a need to keep putting up with that?
I miss it because it was a good outlet for my conservative side, and a place where I could just make a joke sometimes, mostly for my own sake. And I miss it because I actually appreciated Althouse's blog sketches, working out her thoughts in an open forum for response. I learned a lot from her and appreciated the wide variety of interests she brought to the table, creating a great forum to muse on all sorts of different subjects.
Now I've made it feel like A Very Special Episode in which one friend gets invited to the cool kids party and part of going involves having to insult all her old friends.
My response is to write way too much and now I feel better, thank you. And thanks, Lem, you've always been great commenter I appreciated, precisely because you didn't bring your ego, you just enjoyed the dance for what it was.
And yay for my comment posting! (seeing my words in electronic print helps me feel important). It wasn't working the first couple of days of trying hereabouts.
Much better. I love the green faux art paper(?) banner.
Oh, and I also suspect that the "no comments" policy was being discussed at Meadehouse for a while, for a number of different reasons. The recent brouhaha was just the trigger that made it happen.
Writing for an audience and commenters is different than writing out of one's own musings. Maybe it was a bit of restoring the first love of blogging that really is at work. Maybe it was felt that changes needed to be made to keep from burning out, and ending the perfect attendance record.
That's my suspicion.
Is this an inside joke? I don't get it.
Yes, the Sisters of Mercy made sure of that. And of course I know that you know that you know the difference. No way you wouldn't know that.
DBQ: I'm layman-knowledgeable on sociopathy, which isn't saying much, since the authorities don't seem to have all that great a handle either, so I've run across what you say WRT CEOs etc. I did read the Forbes article when it came out and recently thought further about sociopathy on the occasion of Jobs's death.
It's an interesting subject and they are an interesting, if frightening, people.
The classic qualities of a sociopath are that they don't experience empathy or remorse, and consequently they are not deterred from manipulating people and hurting them.
I can find a lot of Althouse there.
However justified her annoyance with some commenters, she still had no call to become so thoroughly nasty and vicious before she slammed the door.
You speculate on a person's sanity on a public forum as if it is nothing at all. What does that say about you?
AnonX: That I'm a curious person?
Seriously I found Althouse's abrupt, nasty, unprofessional departure perplexing. Why do you think it happened that way?
Also, sociopaths aren't insane; they are different.
There is safety in being anonymous. Let's not pretend that there are not some very vicious people in the old Althouse commentariat. Some of them have commented here on Lem's blog and the other spinoff blogs. Haven't you noticed?
Yes. Besides posting as Anonymous, are you altering your writing style?
The sociopath/narcissist angle is probably unfair, and it's just as easy to say she's a pain in the ass like my one sister.
deborah: Where/what's the Mirror?
I'm still not sure what the great taboo against the S-word here is. From what I read, there are about as many sociopaths in the population as gays. That means everyone knows some, even if they don't know what they are.
One of the things I found interesting about Althouse was her probes into the deeper reality behind the surface of people and events.
Doesn't anyone find it curious that a bright, thoughtful, professional should blow away a community she spent ten years building with such vicious public displays?
"Freeman Hunt told you that you were probably wrong the first time you put it out there "
I didn't say "probably wrong;" I said it was "absurd."
You see sociopathy in Althouse, yet make no mention of several of her commenters who truly displayed text book symptoms. One of the fatal flaws of most commenters there was, they did not notice, they did not care, if the sociopath was on the correct side politically. That was shameful, yet so few felt shame.
Creeley, I think your idea of how things went down is totally inaccurate.
(1) She wasn't vicious.
(2) She didn't turn off the comments because of the disagreement. Specific trolls showed up reposting their comments over and over. Should Meade be forced to spend his entire day monitoring comments and deleting posts that are being reposted several times a minute? Of course the comments were turned off.
And the lack of shame and empathy are classic symptoms of a sociopath.
But the last couple of weeks, the comment sections became unwieldy and populated by a lot of crazy insults. Like a bunch of drunks arguing, someone said. When you're already tired, it doesn't take too much to push you over the edge and make you snap.
sydney: To be sure, but as I keep saying, Althouse is a professional. She is expected to handle things even when tired. Or find a way to back off, get rested, then return.
She did not have to do what she did. She chose that.
Also, the comment section wasn't something that just happened to her. It was an environment she shaped and it reflected her.
I kept wondering when she would tell people to calm down and be civil. But other than bouncing whoresoftheinternet, she never did anything. She fostered an uncivil climate.
Cruel neutrality is just that, cruel. That is and was a flaw in her character.
Nice to see that everyone is coming to Lem's Place!
The whole gang is back...except Titus. But I suspect he will pop in.
I agree with this, and I'll add that it didn't go unnoticed that there were people egging it on, people encouraging others to take things as personally as possible, framing things in the worst possible ways, pushing people to vent and hate and build up grudges.
Someone will almost certainly chime in, "Althouse started it!" Even if one thought that were true, and I don't, what difference would that make? Taking advantage of an event to manipulate people into hating each other, into bringing out the worst in themselves is wrong.
I hope we can all be reconciled, one to another, in the end. Our conversations on that blog sometimes brought out the very best in each of us.
To clarify, character flaws are not necessarily pathologies.
"Our conversations on that blog sometimes brought out the very best in each of us."
Yes! And so often, a topic would come up and there would be someone with just the right background or specialty. Or someone who would write something so perfectly (as you so often did, Freeman). That's why it's not the same with just Althouse. At it's best it was like jazz, with different players adding just the perfect phrasing to the mix. Althouse is still playing the chords, but there's no other instruments there that put it to the next level.
Oh, look at the language Mr. Althouse uses. Do you kiss your wife with that mouth? Actually, don't answer that. That is a disturbing image.
"One of the things I found interesting about Althouse was her probes into the deeper reality behind the surface of people and events."
Creeley, I meant Chip A's Althouse's Looking Glass.
You make a good point. The magnifying glass is upon Althouse now. As I said yesterday, narcissism would be a closer match IF anything.
Althouse has done many kind-hearted things on her blog. She's not a monster. She's a woman putting it out there and taking a lot of flak for just being human. She was accused of not having friends, when we know that Irene and Nina are at least two of her friends. None of this precludes the fact that she can be a pain in the ass at times (can't we all?), and is always ready for an internet rumble with other bloggers.
Her least attractive feature is posting pictures that she knows will incite negative and cutting comments. That should have been beneath her.
Meade, this man undoubtedly is one of those sociopaths we've been discussing.
"Doesn't anyone find it curious that a bright, thoughtful, professional should blow away a community she spent ten years building with such vicious public displays?"
Shit happens. This has been snowballing for years. She was not acting in a vaccuum. She and her arch-nemesis here are cut from the same cloth.
A few more quality individuals still need to show themselves
Freeman Hunt, Meade is a big instigator. He went after Fred4Pres with no basis and when it was pointed out to him refused to acknowledge it. I have not commented at Althouse, since I started blogging (with a few minor exceptions). They can shut down comments if they wish, it is Ann's blog. But when the Amazon commissions dry up, she should not be whining (or wine-ing) about it--it is a given that would happen.
This is a self inflicted wound that Ann and Meade thought up. And the only reason for commentators is apparently to monazite her blog. Nothing wrong with that (I encourage free market capitalism)...but then the customer is generally right. And if they choose not to go there anymore due to lack of comments...oh well.
Paddy makes me feel inferior intellectually and with my life's satisfaction.
It's nice little blog you have here, Lem. I'd hate to see anything happen to it:
"Lem it is up to you what you want. I respect you and will abide by your decision.
Back in the day Theo Boehm set up a blog and Bissage and I went after each other in the comments. It was really funny but Theo deleted it all and said he didn't want that in his blog. We both respected that decision.
Of course that meant he would have very few commenters but he was cool with that.
It is up to you amigo."
Said the one capitalizing off of Althouse's blog lol. Show yourself, 'fraidy cat.
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