Monday, October 8, 2012
Monday Meet and Greet
Ok, so it's probably too early for this (the original was months after the Slacktiverse started), and at this point we all likely already know each other, but as I was going through old Slacktiverse threads I noticed the Monday Meet and Greet thread and it seemed like a good idea to me.
Here are some questions adapted from the original:
1) How did you find the community?
2) What are your favorite types of posts or comments to read?
3) If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would it be?
Here are some new ones:
4) What topics would you like to see posts on?
5) What sort of open threads would you like to see?
6) What would make you more comfortable posting here?
7) What's your least favorite type of insect?
8) If you had to describe yourself in dactylic hexameter, how would you do it?
9) At what point do you think I ran out of good questions?
10) How would you go about taking over the world?
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Mildly more seriously, we're in a new place. We're continuing what has come before, but at the same time we're starting over. So take this thread as an opportunity to start over. Introduce yourself as if the rest of us know nothing about you. Take nothing for granted and just say who you are.
Who knows, we might learn something about each other.
As a side note, don't forget that we have forums and that I updated the weekend post this morning with Sarah's contribution.
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1) I actually found Fred's Left Behind deconstructions multiple times as I had read the books of my own free will and found the deconstructions somewhat interesting, but I never stuck around.
ReplyDeleteThen, somehow, I came to read ako's brilliant "Children of the Goats" at Right Behind and realized that ako was still a regular commenter at Slacktivist.
I came to the comment section of Slacktivist for one reason only, to ask ako if she would write more Children of the Goats. Sadly she never did, but I stuck around.
I was fortunate enough to go to the Rally to Restore Sanity and meet Fred and others in person.
When the blog moved to Slacktivist and the Slacktiverse was born as a result I stayed in both communities. Sometimes I was barely there because depression is, well, depression. But I've always tried to avoid completely losing touch, which is why I'm here now.
2) Honestly, no idea. Surprise me. Though I do seem to have a fondness for deconstruction.
3) Someone who doesn't know how to self-describe in one sentence.
4) Everything.
5) See the first two sentences of 2)
6) If I felt like there were more other people commenting too.
7) Earwig.
8) By looking up where the stresses fall because I have no ear for poetry.
9) When I started making them up myself.
10) Still trying to figure that one out.
1) How did you find the community?
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning, there was The Autism Crisis. (It's not nearly as anti-autistic as the title makes it sound.) From there, the link-trails branch off, blossoming into the whole of the Internet. I followed many of those branches, finding out where they led. Sometimes passing through, sometimes staying.
I am unsure exactly which link-trail led me to Fred's Left Behind decon. Quite possibly more than one; I've visited many places that tell of the horrors of Christian extremism and many that tell of the horrors of bad writing, sometimes both at once.
2) What are your favorite types of posts or comments to read?
Fiction. Peeks into other people's normality, so different from mine. Stuff. Things.
3) If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would it be?
Not very good at succinct descriptions, perhaps especially of herself.
5) What sort of open threads would you like to see?
Chocolate or pumpkin?
(Or chocolate-covered pumpkin? I don't think I've ever had chocolate mixed with pumpkin. This should be fixed.)
6) What would make you more comfortable posting here?
I'm not good at starting conversations. I'm much better at responding to others. Which makes me feel kind of guilty when things are quiet and I don't know how to fix it.
7) What's your least favorite type of insect?
Right now, fleas. Poor itchy doggy. I'd pet him comfortingly, but I don't know if they're contagious cross-species. *pats him carefully on the head, as the fleas don't seem to be there*
8) If you had to describe yourself in dactylic hexameter, how would you do it?
Even after reading the part of the Wikipedia article where they explain what it is, I'm still not sure what it is.
9) At what point do you think I ran out of good questions?
Eleventy.
10) How would you go about taking over the world?
Hive mind? Might be interesting to be the hive-queen for once rather than the drone I usually end up as in dreams.
1. cjmr's husband said, "You should try reading this blog, Slacktivist, I've been reading. I think you'll really like it." That was fall 2003. I commented first, so I got the better handle.
ReplyDelete2. I like reading deconstructions. I like reading about holidays of other nations/religions and the traditions associated with them. I like reading about liturgies. I don't like flamewars.
3. Frazzled woman always trying to put all my eggs in too small of a basket while burning the candle from both ends.
4. See 2.
5. Open threads that use ambiguous sentences to ask questions, because they tend to go everywhere. I did my senior thesis on whether foreign language learning helps subjects identify ambiguity in their native language better. (Answer: maybe) Twenty years later I'm still collecting ambiguities.
6. I have some posts running around in my brain I'd love to be able to post completely anonymously.
7. Whatever the heck it was that ate every single one of my broccoli plants down to nubbins.
8. Very badly.
9. That last one was a bit sketchy.
10. Kittens. Kittens and chocolate.
I have some posts running around in my brain I'd love to be able to post completely anonymously.
DeleteI don't know if there's really a way to do that. It's simple enough to post thing under the "Slacktiverse Authors" account, which would be anonymous to the readers, but getting to that point is another question.
You can't just send it into the Slacktiverse Authors email, because that's a group address shared by multiple people and thus not exactly anonymous. If there's someone you trust you could send an article to them and have them send it in saying, "Friend who wishes to be anonymous wrote this article, please post it," but you're still telling someone it's from you.
So I have no idea. Maybe Ana does?
I have an email account for anonymous submissions to things (also doubles as a spam trap for when I have to give an email to things I don't want to give emails to), so that's always been my solution for submitting things anonymously.
DeleteIf people don't want to snag a throw-away gmail address, they could write me or Chris or some other person they trust, and we could forward it -- minus identifying information -- to the Slacktiverse Author email for an admin to format and post.
Alternately, I've been giving the Slacktiverse Authors account information to people who have posted frequently and are considered trustworthy members of the community. If someone was *already* a Slacktiverse Author, they could post anonymously under that account. However, that does require some upfront investment as we're not able to give that account out to anyone and everyone for various reasons of board security.
So, there are ways, of varying levels of effort on the part of the submitter.
1) How did you find the community?
ReplyDeleteYou know, I cannot recall. Someone, somehow, pointed me to the Fred Clark Left Behind deconstruction, and I lurked for *forever*. I don't think I actually spoke up until the Patheos move, and then to offer my postings as new content for the site.
2) What are your favorite types of posts or comments to read?
I enjoy the posts about other religions, especially the pagan/wiccan posts. Those are lovely. Really, I like all of them, though.
3) If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would it be?
Fruitlessly combining laser-like focus with an attention deficit disorder.
6) What would make you more comfortable posting here?
Alas, my issues are less with comfort and more with time. I will try to be contributive, nonetheless.
7) What's your least favorite type of insect?
Jumping ones, like crickets and grasshoppers. I hate those.
8) If you had to describe yourself in dactylic hexameter, how would you do it?
Poorly, ironically.
10) How would you go about taking over the world?
My own cult. Unfortunately, no one would join.
Even after reading the part of the Wikipedia article where they explain what it is, I'm still not sure what it is.
ReplyDeleteLatin and Greek poetry is based on syllable length instead of syllable stress, so to convert those metrics to English poetry you just substitute "stressed syllable" for "long syllable" and "unstressed syllable" for "short syllable".
Dactyl means finger, which has one long bone and two short bones. Thus a dactylic unit of poetry is long-short-short. Or, in English poetry, Stressed-unstressed-unstressed.
Hexameter means six units per line.
Which seems simple enough but the syllable length in Latin in Greek really is basically long is twice as long as short. The common comparison is half notes and quarter notes* and as anyone who does music can tell you, one half note can take the place of two quarter notes.
A unit (foot) will always start with a long, but sometimes the short-short that follows is replaced by another long. The only exception being that the last foot in the line (the sixth) is pretty much always long short short.
This kind of variation is necessary because otherwise it'd get damned repetitive pretty fast and dactylic hexameter is epic meter (think Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Evangeline) and those things go on forever.
And, as a reminder, in English it's stress not length so if there weren't variation it would just be ONE two three, ONE two three, ONE two three, and that's a Waltz and no one wants that.
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Have I made you more confused or less confused?
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*Quarter notes and eighth notes, depending on the time signature you prefer.
Uh, in case it wasn't obvious, that was me. I must have logged into the group account to check mail or something and then never logged back out again.
DeleteAnd, I messed up.
DeleteSee this:
The only exception being that the last foot in the line (the sixth) is pretty much always long short short.
That's wrong.
It's the second to last foot of the line (the fifth) that is almost always long short short. The last foot of the line is almost always two syllables. The first is long, and the second doesn't matter because if it's long it's long and if it's short then the pause at the end of the line makes it so it might as well be long.
That would have been easier to write. I kept feeling like it should be long short, it's hard to end on long short short. But oh well. :)
DeleteSorry, it's been a while and I got rusty.
DeleteI mean, technically, going long short short all the way is dactylic hexameter too. Long short short is a dactyl, hexameter just means six to a line, any variation around that foundation is going to be dactylic hexameter (Shakespeare writes in iambic pentameter but that doesn't mean every foot is an iamb) so what you wrote still counts, and is impressive for doing so, it's just that I messed up when describing the traditional form.
Uh, in case it wasn't obvious, that was me.
ReplyDeleteIt was obvious. I was wondering why you were on the group account.
Have I made you more confused or less confused?
Less. I think I understand now. Of course, knowing what "dactylic hexameter" means--while a prerequisite for deliberately doing it--isn't sufficient for it.
1) I think I saw two or three links to it in the same week, in different places, and thought "hmm". That was towards the end of the first book. So I went and fetched all the earlier posts, and read them over a few weeks.
ReplyDelete2) Depends entirely on my mood. Sometimes I fancy warm fuzzies and the Floating Empire and people not being killed with sheep. Sometimes I want to dig into some deconstruction.
3) Aspiring renaissance man.
4) If it doesn't cause trouble again, I'd like to see discussions about the LB decon. If it does, fair enough; slacktiversal things are interesting.
7) The mosquito that starts to whine in my room just as I'm going to sleep.
8) Haltingly, but with a growing facility up to the end.
10) Memetic warfare. I'd rather reshape it so that it runs itself the way I like than have to run it myself.
I love that you actually did it in your answer to Q8.
Delete4) If it doesn't cause trouble again, I'd like to see discussions about the LB decon. If it does, fair enough; slacktiversal things are interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have a thought that's sort of coming from multiple directions at once, and this is one of them, and I'll probably make a post about it so that even people who aren't reading this thread can weigh in on the idea.
So, direction one: I know that you want to be able to talk about Fred's Left Behind deconstruction in a place that doesn't use disqus and, while I have no objections to you weighing in at my site, hoping for me to make and post a fiction fragment about so that you can say something about the original post is in no way optimal. It would be a lot easier if we just had a thread here to do it.
Direction Two: Until such time as we have enough main posts to be over filled with them, it would be good to have scheduled lower effort recurring posts.
Direction Three: People here seem to be a very deconstructiony community. If I count people who were part of it at at least one point then I can off the top of my head rattle off deconstructions of Left Behind, Left Behind: the Kids, Twilight, Narnia, Soon, Babylon Rising, Atlas Shrugged, This Present Darkness, and I know that there are ones I'm forgetting because it's too many to keep track of. Now, not everyone doing these things still likes us, but that doesn't mean people here won't like their deconstructions.
Direction 4: There probably was one but I forgot.
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Conclusion: We could have a weekly post that points out every deconstruction in the greater Slacktiverse that's been updated in the past week. All that we'd need is a list of deconstructions then it would be simple enough to, on a weekly basis, see if they'd been updated and if they had link to them, possibly with a small excerpt. Anyone who wanted to comment on any of them here could do so.
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Pros:
You, and anyone else who would like to, would have a place to discuss the Left Behind decon.
People might find out about deconstructions they'd like but did not know about.
It would be a regularly scheduled post.
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Cons:
Some of the people running interesting deconstructions don't like us. Some of them even seem to hate us to a marrow deep level. On the one hand, there's no rule against linking to people who don't like you, sometimes you have to (as in the case of "I disagree with this"), but on the other we'd be giving a signal boost to people who feel animosity toward us.
By having it be "The deconstructions" post instead of the "This one deconstruction" post it might end up being too diffuse to sustain a conversation. If you've got one person talking Left Behind and another talking Twilight and another talking This Present Darkness they're probably not talking to each other and talking to each other is what we want.
(That said, I have seen posts that link to dozens of things create decent sustained conversation, so it can be done.)
Until we get main posts going it goes even further to making this place look like a link aggregation blog rather than something worthwhile in its own right.
--
Still, I like the idea (it's my idea) and I'm hoping others would find it useful too.
I like the idea, but I do reckon it will mean a lot of overhead on the rounding up of weekly things.
DeleteMy thinking is that we'll just ask people to list every one they know of before the first time, and then right before the weekly post go to them and ask, "Is there a new post here?" if no, move on; if yes, grab link. And have a note at the end of the weekly post saying that if you know of/are running one not listed, please mention it in the comments.
DeleteBy "ask" I mean that to be an internal process, take a look and see if there is anything new.
DeleteIf there is any reason to suspect that the person you're linking to/excerpting is not favorably inclined toward you, I think it would be even more important, not less, to ask them if they mind first.
DeleteWhile I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with linking to someone without their permission on a case by case basis, if this was going to be regular weekly thing, then the deconstructors are being used to pad the regular content posts.
Even if there's "no rule against" it, using someone's output like that without at least telling them first seems... less than polite.
1) How did you find the community?
ReplyDeleteHeh. Somebody (might have been Trollface?) over at the snopes Urban Legends Message Boards linked to Fred's Left Behind posts as something worth reading... which they were. Also worth commenting on. Also worth exchanging comments with other readers on. ...You see where this is going, right?
2) What are your favorite types of posts or comments to read?
At the moment, I'm reading mainly for entertainment - between having kids and other projects, I don't comment anywhere nar as prolifically as I used to - so I'm in favor of things that are reasonably bite-sized. That's not to say that I won't read longer and more involved things, let alone that we shouldn't have longer posts/discussions; but, unfortunately, the longer and more involved we get, the more likely I am to skim a bit.
I like deconstructions - anything to do with the process, craft, and results of writing, really. I enjoy seeing other people's recommendations on things. I wouldn't mind seeing bits of fiction (Right Behind or otherwise) or poetry, if people are so inclined. The more... socially-minded? ...topics, like discussions of privilege, sexism, QUILTBAG issues, etc. have been extremely valuable to my attempts to become a better human being, but they also tend to be (or involve) long discussions and create a certain amount of emotional wear and tear on participants, so at this point I tend to be kind of wary about them.
3) If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would it be?
I'm a whimsical and somewhat bizarre guy who is happily married, raising two boys, and trying like hell to find time for writing and martial arts. Alternatively, "Future Emperor of Tamriel" sounds nice.
4) What topics would you like to see posts on?
Anything to do with writing, reading, or criticism; I've enjoyed people's reflections on their religious traditions; and I'd hope for a mix of light-hearted and serious topics.
5) What sort of open threads would you like to see?
I wouldn't mind seeing another round-table story...
6) What would make you more comfortable posting here?
Less sunlight. Oh, wait, it's a laptop, I can pull it back inside and watch the boy through the window.
...There, that's better. Hey, I can see the screen!
7) What's your least favorite type of insect?
Dust mites. Though since technically they're arachnids, I suppose I could fall back on yellowjackets...
8) If you had to describe yourself in dactylic hexameter, how would you do it?
Clumsily.
9) At what point do you think I ran out of good questions?
Not yet; keep going!
10) How would you go about taking over the world?
Hard to say. My army of zombie velociraptors had to be canceled because they don't distinguish between friends and foes; the wooly spider-mammoths are too hard on property and infrastructure; cloning myself to create an army didn't work because none of me wanted to be the one taking orders; the mind-control worms drop off every time they smell dirt; and the orbital mind-control ray lacks a workable GUI, not to mention the sort of software localization that would allow me to give orders to anyone who isn't a native English speaker with at least a college degree.
Check the Blog o' Doom; I'll post updates there as my search continues.
1) How did you find the community? A friend mentioned rereading Fred's Left Behind deconstructions, so I followed the link and also read Fred's Left Behind deconstructions, and then I started reading Fred's other posts.
ReplyDelete2) What are your favorite types of posts or comments to read? Ones that make me think.
3) If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would it be? I have no name.
4) What topics would you like to see posts on? Stuff I don't know about so I can learn about it.
5) What sort of open threads would you like to see? What do you do when you get bored of counting sheep?
6) What would make you more comfortable posting here? I'm not at liberty to say.
7) What's your least favorite type of insect? Stink bugs. This time of year they snuggle up in the clothes on the clothes line and it's a pain in the neck to get them to fly away with releasing their stink or them following you into the house.
8) If you had to describe yourself in dactylic hexameter, how would you do it?
Spacetime has timelike curves closed by a twisting, as our geodesics keep
moments exposed, and the past melds with future, eternal persisting. A
traveller somehow got unstuck in time, now is drifting and flittering
seconds relived and remembered anew under spirals and cycles as
time has uncurled and stretches its tendrils through emptiness. Time is a
fragile ice flower that melts, our allotment of hours and swirling to-
gether, a life lived in clusters of future and past, but no present tense.
Just don't make me make it rhyme.
9) At what point do you think I ran out of good questions? question 10.
10) How would you go about taking over the world? ice would suffice.
someday I'll learn to proofread.
DeleteSpacetime has timelike curves closed by a twisting, as our geodesics keep
moments exposed, and the past melds with future, eternal persisting. A
traveller somehow got unstuck in time, now is drifting and flittering:
seconds relived and remembered anew under spirals and cycles as
time has uncurled and stretches its tendrils through emptiness. Time is a
fragile ice flower that melts, our allotment of hours is swirling to-
gether, a life lived in clusters of future and past, but no present tense.
1) How did you find the community?
ReplyDeleteThe original Slacktivist: via TV Tropes. This incarnation: somebody used it to access my blog.
2) What are your favorite types of posts or comments to read?
Ones that make me think of things in new ways.
3) If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would it be?
"Ian Pérez does not know if he cares or not". Alternatively, "Ian Pérez is deathly afraid of finding out he's only been pretending to be a good person all this time, or worse, that he's been successful."
4) What topics would you like to see posts on?
Neil Degrasee Tyson. Revenge. Revenge, the TV show. On a more serious note, sex as a social marker of success.
5) What sort of open threads would you like to see?
I dunno.
6) What would make you more comfortable posting here?
Getting free massages while I'm doing so.
7) What's your least favorite type of insect?
The ones who appear on my body uninvited. How rude!
8) If you had to describe yourself in dactylic hexameter, how would you do it?
Badly.
9) At what point do you think I ran out of good questions?
The point when I stop being able to provide snarky answers.
10) How would you go about taking over the world?
I dunno, but it would probably involve a Death Note and too many Long Island iced teas.
1) How did you find the community?
ReplyDeleteLong time reader of Slacktivist, occasional commenter. Reader of both Ana Mardoll's' ramblings and Stealing Commas, and very occasional reader of the old Slacktiverse. I'm either Francis or Francis D there - and have a week old blog of my own. (Two posts so far - although the most recent is over 2000 words long - and hopefully in the next couple of days I'll have my deconstruction of the Parable of the Prodigal Son written up).
2) What are your favorite types of posts or comments to read?
Ones which make me see the world in new ways.
3) If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would it be?
Who's asking me this and what do they want to know?
4) What topics would you like to see posts on?
Things I wouldn't consider even looking out for because I don't know they are there.
5) What sort of open threads would you like to see?
Isn't the point that they are open?
6) What would make you more comfortable posting here?
Pass.
7) What's your least favorite type of insect?
Either mosquitoes or ones that make annoying noises at 3am.
8) If you had to describe yourself in dactylic hexameter, how would you do it?
Someone who considers Dactyllic Verse structures do not fit English well
However I think it ironic "Iambic" is itself Dactyllic
(I think. Iambic is one of those words I've only read rather than spoken...)
9) At what point do you think I ran out of good questions?
Sunday night?
10) How would you go about taking over the world?
Even saying I had a plan to do that what makes you think I would tell... Ooh! Shiny!
There's a blog! Hooray! I just don't have the hang of the forum thing. Also I would very much like to join The Author Collective.
ReplyDelete1) How did you find the community?
I...dont' really remember? It was the LB deconstructions, and it was probably in 2008? I was around for some feminism and abortion related flamewars between people departed. I lurked for a while before commenting, and then I after I started I felt like I never shut up.
2) What are your favorite types of posts or comments to read?
I am kind of a religion geek? I love to find out historical stuff about religion and discuss influences of art/media/politics on religion and culture and vice versa. Analysis/deconstruction/close reading is good too. And smacking down extremists and jerks. And talking about food.
3) If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would it be?
I'm gonna have to come back to that, I think. Or, wait. Maybe old-school DFA style? "I'm a Thai-speaking*, country-music-listening, coffee-liking, UCC-raised, fanfiction-addicted, beer snob, science-fiction-and-fantasy-loving, pansexual, depressive, soccer-playing, UU, Heathen, environmental geologist/rookie science teacher, socialist geek mom." (and I approve this message)
*at a 6-yr old level
4) What topics would you like to see posts on?
ReplyDelete5) What sort of open threads would you like to see?
A: See answer to 2)
B: Link roundups are good
C: Rountable-ish things?
6) What would make you more comfortable posting here?
Low expectations. Open threads are good and collaborative posts/roundtable thingies, or some kind of book/movie/article response thing?
7) What's your least favorite type of insect?
Lice! If they're not insects, they still win.
8) If you had to describe yourself in dactylic hexameter, how would you do it?
9) At what point do you think I ran out of good questions?
I like them but that poetry thing is killing me. It makes me realize I left out "perfectionist," "procrastinating," and "panic-attack-having" in the list above.
10) How would you go about taking over the world?
I would not do that. I would be like Pepper Potts in Iron Man II where I know how to be a good boss but I freak out about it.
Alternately, like, mind-control rays or magic or something, and I would create a perfect, static world devoid of free will, and realize what I had done and then kill myself/enable the heroes to destroy it? But not really. That's just more like a story idea.
A more interesting question to me is: given the ability to take over the world, how would you change it to be in line with your goals and values? So, maybe that's a good question for an open thread later on.