From: russ@math.okstate.edu (Horatio "Random" Hellpop)
Subject: Re: FurryMUCK Pins Down Space Madness? :)
Keywords: furry, random gang, etc
Organization: Aggie? What precisely is an Aggie?
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 15:27:21 GMT

In <1992Oct15.175903.23797@wixer.cactus.org> claire@wixer.cactus.org (Claire Benedikt) writes:

> It's extremely hard to just swallow this stuff though.  I mean, having
> someone who is talking to you on the phone put his hand over the mouthpiece
> and repeat something you just said to the folks in the room to the tune
> of their uproariously laughter is *not* exactly flattering.  In fact, 
> it's downright embarrassing.  For the person quoted and for the person
> quoting.  But even if you are offended and remain offended, it doesn't
> hurt to try to see the 'Why' of things.

Claire knows the difference between private and public conversations.

It's clear that nobody has the damndest idea on  ANY side what they're talking
about, and just like to type, you know?

Mud wars.  Get serious.

> I don't believe Random or Jerry_Cornelius or Rhodesia or Ozymandias really
> give a f*ck.

This is the only reasonable assumption I've heard since the bloody topic
started.

Let's all read and learn something.  When you say:

Space Madness people are like _THIS_

you invite Random to come sneer at you.  Now, this may be what you're after,
and if so, hooookay.  If not, you may leave off with claims that the piece
of code that I run on a port on a sparcstation influences people.

Ha.
Flipping.
Ha.

Anyway, it's early.  I'm rambling.  But I read this post, and though it
meant well, it's certainly throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  Person
A thinks Grod did something nasty (which I thought was something fairly
uninteresting) and accuses Grod of everything from pig sodomizing to putting
ketchup on his eggs.  Person B, C, D, E, F, and Z, all played by Claire, of
course, defend this by saying "no no, Space Madness people are all vile".

Hey, thanks.

If I had to find an overwhelming difference in the two muds, I could name about
two.

Difference 1:
	Given attitude.  The only thing Claire said I found truly spot on
(except that this bores the hell out of me) is that Space Madness people are
rarely serious.  This is true, not because "all those damned dinos are alike",
but because once you enter into an atmosphere of everyone cracking each other
up, you typically either join in or leave.  This is fine.  I personally log on
to my own mud just to get some laughs.

Difference 2:
	Administrative.  You want a post removed on a bulletin board?  I
consider whether I think it's beyond the bounds of taste, and if so, I remove
it.  On the spot, no trial, no inquiry.  If wizards are corrupt, don't limit
them, fire them.  If the owning wizard (read God, if you must) is corrupt,
you have a problem.  If you get on, and decide I am, you know your options.
But bureacracy annoys me, and I think my regular users agree with that.  The
result is that a lot less time is spent brandishing our legal system so we
can get back to having fun.  (Oo, imagine that.)

Sure, the quote thing is a common joke.  Now, let's see the common application,
which Claire was misleading about.

[some conversation about something or other, in which someone complains about
something being difficult]
Player_A says "Hard?! It's not hard!"

Public conversation (so, no, Claire, your phone analogy DOES suck), with a
statement that strikes somebody as mildly amusing out of context.  So for
a laugh, about a day later, somebody pops that quote up, some people get
a chuckle, and we go back to our regularly scheduled political debate/roast.
(For those of you who think a roast is a flamewar, go back to school.)

Now, this has turned into a lengthy and boring post.  So boring, in fact,
that I hope it has imparted on you the same sense of "yawn" that the lot
of you have been giving the world at large, except those people who LIKE
to be the object of generalized flames because it gives them a sense of
gang unity, that is.

Therefore, can we call another boring stupid wannabe-mud-war to a close,
or do I have to sit and write up 200 lines, next time?

Random
bored enough to post
not too proud to do it

-- 
---------------------===Comedy!  Sudden, violent comedy!===--------------------
Russ Smith -- russ@math.okstate.edu  |  "This is the Nineties, Bubba, and
  Don Random of the "Random Gang"    |   there is no such thing as Paranoia.
What a pinhead! Does he not fear us? |   It's all true." -- Hunter S Thompson
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.tiny