posted 05-06-2001 19:58            

I wanted to add my two cents worth, which are,

Cent #1- Cyd: Don't leave.

Cent #2- damn near everyone else:
Sometimes cyd's posts are hard to read, or long. They tend to be on topics far removed from what everyone else posts about.
BUT I refuse to accept the premise that "hard to read" = "bad" or that everything we post should be simple, or please everyone who reads it. WTF are we doing this for, the money? Are we afraid we'll lose our demographic?

Fuck that.. cyd balances the posting in a lot of ways. If some users don't want to read his posts, perhaps they shouldn't?

Oh, and cent #3 - Ayunami Rei:
You utterly fail to add anything to any thread in which you post except bile.
Please leave.

That's my three cents, and I hope cyd doesn't leave. Note that his humor makes much more sense if you know him personally, but so does everyone else's.

posted 05-06-2001 20:31            

he makes me sing

but i just honestly dont read some of his long posts before, but i got glasses now so it doesnt hurt to read the long posts (by anyone) so i do now....

posted 05-06-2001 22:03            

Second,
Only half of my problems with cyd was his hard to read posts. The other half was the feeling that he was talking down to me, if that is possible in a text.

My solution the first time I read one of his posts was to not read penismighteir at all anymore. I happened to click on a link for the site later and read some of the other posters again and decided to hang around. ::Most:: of your other posters are extremely interesting. The rest are at least not normally wastes of time. All others are readable.

If the big flamewar thing that was going on earlier is any indication, then cyd cant handle criticizm anyhow. If you are going to go on critisizing or condescending then you should at least learn how to handle it whent he tables are turned.

The only nice things I can say about him is that I agree with many of his political veiws, and in real life he seems to be active in many community service things.

Third, if sites need that type of balancing, then why dont marthastewart.com have eod posting how to make homemade waterpipes out of coke bottles and hot-glue? lol. but seriusly, why was there so little defense for him before?

posted 05-07-2001 00:11           

THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE IN BETWEEN "TOPICS FAR REMOVED" AND "TOPICS THAT ARE INTERESTING". ALL OF CYDS POSTS ARE EGOCENTRIC, SLEF SERVING AND OF NO INTEREST TO ANYONE BUT HIMSELF.

A THREE PAGE POST ABOUT HIS SOCIAL ACTIVITIES IS OF NO INTEREST TO ANYONE WHO REASD THIS SITE. ONE PARAGRAPH? MAYBE. IF IT WERE SOME WHT RELETED TO ANYONE BUT HIM. HONESTLY. DOES ANYONE CARE THAT HE GOT NEW JUGGLING BALLS?

AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY BALANCE? IS IT TILTED IN SOME WAY? IVE BEEN READING THE SITE A LONG TIME AND ITS NEVER FELT UNBALANCED.

posted 05-07-2001 00:35            

Now fen, lets say that the first time you went to slashdot, there was a 2 page long post with no paragraphs and little punctuation. Barring repeat recomendations, would you return?

Not a good example, but lets change the site to something like..oh... www.pissedoffbastard.com.

Lets say that you went there and found that the first post there was very hard to read. would you ever return?

I am not dissing writing styles... I'm just saying there's a fine line between making a statement and scaring people away.

Every couple of posts Cyd would say something or link to something I liked...but most of the time it was not worth wading through the solid block of text... or waiting for a 1meg pic to load on a 56k connection.

Ok. I'm done flaming a person who has stopped defending himself. I think I'll go stand in a corner for the duration of the debate.

posted 05-07-2001 03:23            

I didn't mean to deify Cyd here.. He does tend to be pompous, and obtuse, and self-centered. All of the above. Lord knows I wouldn't choose him as my roommate. But I also think he can be clever, and heartfelt, and funny. That's why I like his posts.

Sara- I'm sorry I frustrated you. I'm not trying to, but everybody was flaming cyd, and he was, well, being cyd, and I felt like a voice was missing.

I didn't think we were trying to be a streamlined site here, that fits in a certain category, and that appeals to a certain group of people. I thought we were just being what we are.. an eclectic bunch expressing their views. Cyd has been a poster for a long time, and I feel like his views are a part of our site. If Cyd wants to change the way he posts because of the feedback he's gotten, then I'm sure he will... but if he doesn't, well... I dunno. There have been many times when I loaded up the page and the top post made me wince for one reason or another. And if someone's posting gets bad, we should boot them. But what if someone's posting irritates some people, yet pleases others?

I guess it really comes down to what direction the site is to take. I never really worried that a first-timer would show up, see a bad post, and never come back. I always thought more along the lines of a quote I heard attributed to one of the writers of MST3K: "When we write a joke, we never worry whether anyone will get it. We always figure, the right people will get it."

I guess I think of that as a fun way to run a website. I don't mean "piss on the readers, they don't matter"-- I just mean that a quirky site that sometimes irritates is better in my mind than a smooth pureed one that never irritates anyone.

random:
1) An auto-da-fe is the ceremony where they burn heretics. It's portuguese for "Act of faith"- I always thought that was funny.
2) Balance- surely the main page is balanced towards geekness, overclocking, /. kind of stuff? Personally, I couldn't care less about overclocking, so I skip those posts.

Maybe, in the end, the truth is that I just thought "Dorian Gay" was clever.

posted 05-07-2001 16:07            

I think I get frusterated because you're there and we're here and I chat with almost all the posters on a daily basis (except biggles and yourself).. this could naturally lead to a different opinion on matter such as these.

posted 05-08-2001 14:00         

in short, why not let people set up profiles that determine which posts they will see on the main page? not like the whole main page customization you see on slashdot, just the main news posts. doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do within the php framework already set up (of course i'm not terribly familiar with the site's publishing framework - or php despite all my friends telling me how great it is).

i'd like to again state my opposition to opposition to cyd, but at least this way if people tire of seeing posts like his on the main page they have a way to alleviate the terrible pain it causes them without boycotting the site entirely. as a side benefit, the powers what is could see exactly who is being read and who isn't in case they wish to cull the herd. certainly a better plan, in my opinion, than letting posting privileges be decided by flame wars.

posted 05-08-2001 14:35            

I've been reading Penis for about a year now, and Cyd's posts have never been my kind of thing. I read then, I followed the links, and... nothing. Cyd's stuff just never "clicked" with me. That never stopped me from coming back though.

posted 05-08-2001 17:36            

I think I stated my opinions pretty fucking clearly, if undiplomatically, in that thread... and "Cyd has to go" or even "Cyd should go" wasn't anywhere in there. ("Cyd is being a big gay drama queen," on the other hand, was definitely in there both implicity and explicitly.)

I said it then, and I'll say it again: if Cyd had just stuck to his first reply, none of this shit would have blown up. I was the irritable fuck who posted the first "ill-toned" message, but Cyd's determination to escalate, escalate, escalate - even when the other party dropped it and/or didn't reply - is what made it the great big brouhaha it turned into.

Anyway, all I'm saying is Cyd's a big boy, so if you really want to address whether he stays or goes it would probably be more profitable to address it with HIM. He's the one that has to make that decision, not AYUNAMI REI THE ALL CAPS MAN, and certainly not any of the rest of us either.

---------------------------------

(edited because I have the grammatical sk1llz of a leprous wombat.)

posted 05-09-2001 10:11         

with a filter in place, readers could avoid posts they don't like and posters could finish any arguments over the worthiness of their writing by just saying "fine, then filter it out".

posted 05-11-2001 00:49            

The filter thingy is the worst idea I've ever heard (as I don't read /.). We read this page for all the variety of posts it gets, not to just filter it out and only listen to half the people that have to say something to the world. Don't like it? Skip it. Are we that lazy?

posted 05-11-2001 01:35            

And we are also opening http://www.drunkenoverclockers.com for more of the posts like the P4 one because we understand that a good amount of our readership doesn't care that Intel bends them over and rapes them with lies. They like rape.. So we are also opening http://www.ilikedbeingrapedbyintelspricesandlies.com .. Ok that last link isn't true but drunkenoverclockers is.
but we understand that our geekyness can get a bit in depth.

posted 05-11-2001 01:48            

True about the flipping/lashing out part though. Now stop talking about it dammit!

posted 05-11-2001 02:18            

Thread 1 <== Read fully for best effect
Thread 2 <== Classic!

Sources:
Cyds last 17 posts
Moved from main page 3-30

*Editorial comment:
I personally felt talked down to much of the time. As far as "flattering myself" goes... I much prefer other people to flatter me. Doesn't happen often, so its a moment that is that much more cherished.

Also if you'll note: The reason you had to go back through seven pages to find his post was only because this started over two weeks ago. Cyd took about a 6 month break from penIs and then started posting again in March. Then stopped again once the Dorian Gay post was made and responded to by Jimbo

I also agree, however, that a poster filter isn't the way to go. Another cookie for PenIs! Another option to fit on the main page... How many posters do people really have a problem with? [/baited question]

-Chris

posted 05-11-2001 11:11         

Isn't it spectacular?

posted 05-11-2001 12:04            

(for the record I do not hate Cyd)