Have you noticed lately? Rant alert!

[East]

I understand your point but I have to say in general this is one of the nicest gay sites in terms of giving advice (and I can prove it)...and a lot of the newbies just have bad manners when they don't even bother to come back to a thread and thank the people who took time out to help them...or comment...or help anyone else.....

[meridannight]

regarding the anonymous threads --- i made one. it was because the information presented on the thread was a lot more delicate. i needed 100% honest feedback, one that wouldn't get modified by the aspect of who you're responding to and/or what you know about that person. and also because it included some major detail about me that is kind of identifying to the right people under the right circumstances. ergo, anonymity.

[CarGuy65]

OK I wish I could grasp the concept of quoting the above but that tech challenge is following me way to close tonight. So.........
Twist managed to say in a few words exactly what I mean. Thank you.
Camfer, you need to say sackface pathetic thread a few more times. But I do agree with the bumper sticker saying. I work with the public and often wear the shirt that says "I can only be nice to one person a day....today is not your day and tomorrow doesn't look good either"
Meme Virge, I wouldn't say it was directed towards you but it kinda was. Sorry, I am not singling you out there are a few others as well. With that said, I noticed lately you have become ummm... less tolerant. Funny and entertaining a great deal of the time, but the way some of your replies come across makes me wonder if someone pissed in your Lucky Charms. I still have a great respect for you and look forward to reading what you have to say but sometimes I think wow where did that come from?
Bowyn, I agree that the "anonymous" feature has been overused lately. Like you said if the topic seems a bit trollish or just doesn't warrant a reply simply move on.
East, I agree with everything you said especially the last part

I have gotten some great advice from our members in the past and yes I have even used the anonymous feature for a couple of questions.

[Virge]

CarGuy........... you never have to use the word "sorry" in anything you say to me. No need to apologize. Like I said I'm glad you brought this up! I'm all about being here to help others as much as I can. There are times I read new topics in here and give them 24 or 48 hours thought before answering so I am sure I say the best thing I can. But then there are some that don't require that.... Remember two things when you think I'm making a comment when I'm mad. I very seldom get mad. I can only remember one post in the past few weeks that made me mad. The rest of it is for entertainment and to keep things form being monotonous. Lots of the quirky advice I give is me paraphrasing great authors, philosophers and thinkers that would bore everyone to death if I did it seriously. I just rewrap it in warped humor the same way I give my dogs their pills wrapped in sandwich meat. Anything to make a bitter pill taste different.

Also I need to find the link to something I posted about a month ago and get it to you... It has a lot to do with this. I'll be looking.

And the rest of me and my craziness on here can be summed up as "everyone will follow a clown because they think he's on his way to the circus." < That's from a stupid play from Voltaire we had to do in high school.

I really believe GS would be better off without the anonymous option... or at least possibly limit it to the 50 post period everyone goes through. That would encourage newbies to interact FIRST and possibly get past the need to use it. --------- but that's just me.

[meridannight]

or at least possibly limit it to the 50 post period everyone goes through. That would encourage newbies to interact FIRST and possibly get past the need to use it. --------- but that's just me.

uh, this is confusing to me. does it not require 50 posts now? i kinda remember it told me i needed > 50 posts before i could post anonymously and that was just a month ago.

and i really don't see what the big deal is. honestly.

[Bhp91126]

Just wanted to chime in and I also noticed a definitive uptick in requests for advice by anonymous or first time posters who then never get back to the thread to reply/elaborate or even thank people. Frankly, I'm very disappointed by that. My solution for the last 2 weeks or so is to just not reply.

I really, really appreciate how friendly this site is and how welcoming to new members. So if you have nothing nice to say, come sit by me, I can take it and fire back.

[Camfer]

Yes SHOMan I don't know how to do multi quotes either. Stevie is the king of those. Maybe he will teach us!

Maybe we can just abbreviate sackface pathetic thread since it's so hard to type, even though it's such a useful term.

SPT
SPT
SPT
SPT

There I got it 5 times in one post!

I can even define it so when newbies search the term on GS, they get a definition.

Sackface Pathetic Thread (SPT) n. An anonymous thread in GS that is anonymous for no reason, asking a question that frequently has been asked and answered, or could not be answered from the information provided.

Examples include, "Will I ever find love?" "My BF wants a pet." "Why can't I find a BF, I'm on Grindr, Scruff, and OKCupid?" "Can boring guys get dates?" "Is my str8 roomie gay?"

[ChadCoxRox]

If you do not or cannot appreciate the value of the anonymous feature I challenge you to either accept that it most certainly has demonstrated value for many others or just let it go and refrain from drawing attention to the aspects that annoy so many of us out of respect for the value it does provide for others.

Sometimes we need to get out or our own way or fet the guck over our chosen perceptions for the betterment of community both longitudinally and in the here-and-now.

As for quoting here's my down and dirty on that...

The "+" sign lets you choose multiple posts to quote in one reply. The "+" is only needed to quote more than one post in a single reply. The quote button is for just a single post to quote in a reply. Once you have the post(s) you want to quote in your reply text box you can break it up anyway you desire by simply entering "quote," enclosed in brackets, before and after each section with the end of section bracketed quote having a forward slash in it, like this

this will be a single quoted section

. Hope this is clear enough... (woops! after I posted I see my example actually quoted -- duh! so it's [,quote,] section [,/quote,] without the commas).

I love this thread and the ideas presented. I agree with all the reasoned thoughts and suggestions. I especially like how over time I've learned that some come and go, opinions do as well, while the structure and value of GS as a deliberate forum designed and maintained by Andy has worked well despite multiple attacks and plenty of bullshit along the way.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

[CarGuy65]

[QUOTE=Virge;490217



I really believe GS would be better off without the anonymous option... or at least possibly limit it to the 50 post period everyone goes through. That would encourage newbies to interact FIRST and possibly get past the need to use it. --------- but that's just me.[/QUOTE]

I would not go that far as to eliminate the anonymous option. I believe some members on this site may have a legitimate question that they want to ask without people knowing who they are or possibly judging them (that NEVER happens...right?) or just looking at them differently. I may have to use it again in the future...who knows.
I also thought you had to have at least 50 post to be eligible to use the anonymous option. That may be a glitch in the system.

When I first came on this site I had just separated from my wife (she cheated) and decided to be who I always thought I may be and had a lot of questions. I received a lot of great advice from some great members, many who are no longer with us. When I met my current boyfriend and hopefully future life partner / husband?, I had even more questions and to it felt like family here and it still does but to me it seems that lately some members seem to be getting real short with the newbies.
Think of it this way. What if someone like Twist or Gideon or Virge (when you all were newbies) for that matter got scared off by a member who was not so nice in a reply and went away. That would be a great loss to all of us.
If you don't feel it is a legitimate post or a topic that has been beat to death, Move on to the next topic. Let's give these newbies a chance. They may just end up being productive members. Just sayin!

I think I may have finally figured out the quote thing????

[CarGuy65]

Whoops, Guess I didn't figure it out.