Goodbye, Cruel Fora

[mahagonny]

Friends, it has been a pleasure to commiserate and argue with you these many years. I joined the old fora in 2009 or so, if memory serves, and it would be difficult to overstate how helpful this community has been as I have moved through my career. They say that what one does online isn't "real life," but I have many happy memories of this place (and the old place) that suggest otherwise. I will miss it.

With love (and a bit of hate, for one or two of you),

Writingprof

Aside from his razor sharp logic, the most endearing attribute of Writingprof's was his humor, a too rare commodity.

One of the most striking and validating things I read on this forum, for free, was from Writingprof, who stated it plainly. That is, that these days, it is considered racist to notice certain things that are going on our midst. It was worth hanging around for that one alone. If I had to take a guess, I doubt that his opinion of the depressing ubiquity of the knee-jerk left among the professoriate was improved by the experience here.

[polly_mer]

Take some time off or just skip certain threads.

The speech police are out in force and that's just rough all around.

Consider putting certain posters on ignore for a while.

[mleok]

Consider putting certain posters on ignore for a while.

Is there actually an option to add posters to an ignore list? I've seen that feature on some other forums, but not this one.

[downer]

Consider putting certain posters on ignore for a while.

Is there actually an option to add posters to an ignore list? I've seen that feature on some other forums, but not this one.

It is in the dropdown menu in "Profile > Modify Profile."

You still see the posts of the people you are ignoring in the quotes of them by other people you are not ignoring.

[mahagonny]

Consider putting certain posters on ignore for a while.

Is there actually an option to add posters to an ignore list? I've seen that feature on some other forums, but not this one.

It is in the dropdown menu in "Profile > Modify Profile."

You still see the posts of the people you are ignoring in the quotes of them by other people you are not ignoring.

Writingprof's found the ultimate solution.

As for ignoring the cancel culture and the anti-racism religious movement, here and in real life, the question presents itself to me and others like-minded: do you get more peace of mind by ignoring people who are poisoning us, or by doing your part to oppose them?

[polly_mer]

I'm a hell of a lot more worried about people who are underinformed about:

* risk
* science
* defense
* technology
* basic quantitative reasoning
* the difference between physical laws, emergent behavior in human society, and written laws

than any of the academic foolishness related to the games of being woke or anti-woke.

Stop fooling around in academic games and engage with the education that matters.

[mahagonny]

I'm a hell of a lot more worried about people who are underinformed about:

* risk
* science
* defense
* technology
* basic quantitative reasoning
* the difference between physical laws, emergent behavior in human society, and written laws

than any of the academic foolishness related to the games of being woke or anti-woke.

Stop fooling around in academic games and engage with the education that matters.

It's foolishness if either (1) it is effectively opposed by common sense argument to get over the silly slavery/Jim Crow segregation guilt fixation, an opposition that could, hopefully, emerge from wider America or if (2) the wokelings and the antiracists end up fighting among each other about who should get what portions of reparations and special consideration and on what basis, causing disintegration of the alliance. If neither of these things happens, it's pretty serious stuff.

[little bongo]

"Speech police"? Pish foo.

Writingprof wrote with some verve and intelligence. Was he funny? Sometimes, in the same way farting loudly in church can be funny. But more to the point, he consciously played the troll role, and perhaps he found the fora not welcoming that behavior. That's not necessarily a bad thing. And he will land on his feet somewhere else.

[apl68]

"Speech police"? Pish foo.

Writingprof wrote with some verve and intelligence. Was he funny? Sometimes, in the same way farting loudly in church can be funny. But more to the point, he consciously played the troll role, and perhaps he found the fora not welcoming that behavior. That's not necessarily a bad thing. And he will land on his feet somewhere else.

It was frustrating to me to see someone capable of writing with verve and intelligence wasting his time performing as a troll.  He could have probably made some worthwhile contributions if he hadn't gone down that blind alley.

[mahagonny]

One thing I appreciated about Writingprof in contrast to so many in the academic life was his honesty around one particular issue, adjunctification. As with many topics, he hinted that he had thought about it quite a lot, but affected a halfway engaged relationship with the forum, so the posts were terse. (Shades of Prytania2). Yet never as far I as recall would have been niggardly enough to begrudge adjuncts a union (and neither did our old conservative friend Pry). As regards adjunctification, he didn't whine about the defunding of higher education, that discussion being a rationale for vastly increased hiring of part time faculty. Whereas obviously whoever decides to publicly fund higher education does not force anyone thereby to maintain a two-tier labor system of ever widening disparity, and he would have noticed that, and not being on board with much of higher education's particular style of viewing itself as benevolent, just quietly accepted the status quo. The icing on the cake was the mix of cynicism and libertarianism.
And yes, I absolutely believe (do I dare go here?) that legal abortion makes his heart sick. When something quacks and walks like a duck and has feathers and a bill, it's a duck.

[eigen]

One thing I appreciated about Writingprof in contrast to so many in the academic life was his honesty around one particular issue, adjunctification. As with many topics, he hinted that he had thought about it quite a lot, but affected a halfway engaged relationship with the forum, so the posts were terse. (Shades of Prytania2). Yet never as far I as recall would have been niggardly enough to begrudge adjuncts a union (and neither did our old conservative friend Pry). As regards adjunctification, he didn't whine about the defunding of higher education, that discussion being a rationale for vastly increased hiring of part time faculty. Whereas obviously whoever decides to publicly fund higher education does not force anyone thereby to maintain a two-tier labor system of ever widening disparity, and he would have noticed that, and not being on board with much of higher education's particular style of viewing itself as benevolent, just quietly accepted the status quo. The icing on the cake was the mix of cynicism and libertarianism.
And yes, I absolutely believe (do I dare go here?) that legal abortion makes his heart sick. When something quacks and walks like a duck and has feathers and a bill, it's a duck.

It's like an immutable law of the forum. No matter what the starting topic was, you can bring it around to adjunctification and snipe at other users views within a page or less.

Please, I urge you, review the forum guidelines with respect to "baggage" and meditate on what that means.

[mahagonny]

One thing I appreciated about Writingprof in contrast to so many in the academic life was his honesty around one particular issue, adjunctification. As with many topics, he hinted that he had thought about it quite a lot, but affected a halfway engaged relationship with the forum, so the posts were terse. (Shades of Prytania2). Yet never as far I as recall would have been niggardly enough to begrudge adjuncts a union (and neither did our old conservative friend Pry). As regards adjunctification, he didn't whine about the defunding of higher education, that discussion being a rationale for vastly increased hiring of part time faculty. Whereas obviously whoever decides to publicly fund higher education does not force anyone thereby to maintain a two-tier labor system of ever widening disparity, and he would have noticed that, and not being on board with much of higher education's particular style of viewing itself as benevolent, just quietly accepted the status quo. The icing on the cake was the mix of cynicism and libertarianism.
And yes, I absolutely believe (do I dare go here?) that legal abortion makes his heart sick. When something quacks and walks like a duck and has feathers and a bill, it's a duck.

It's like an immutable law of the forum. No matter what the starting topic was, you can bring it around to adjunctification and snipe at other users views within a page or less.

Please, I urge you, review the forum guidelines with respect to "baggage" and meditate on what that means.

You've been on this thread six times already and you didn't even like Writingprof. You're more negative than me.

[Anselm]

I can understand laying low for a while or starting a new moniker but I can never imagine leaving.  Hands down the most useful advice I can get for my job is found right here, even from some of the more difficult people.

[eigen]

One thing I appreciated about Writingprof in contrast to so many in the academic life was his honesty around one particular issue, adjunctification. As with many topics, he hinted that he had thought about it quite a lot, but affected a halfway engaged relationship with the forum, so the posts were terse. (Shades of Prytania2). Yet never as far I as recall would have been niggardly enough to begrudge adjuncts a union (and neither did our old conservative friend Pry). As regards adjunctification, he didn't whine about the defunding of higher education, that discussion being a rationale for vastly increased hiring of part time faculty. Whereas obviously whoever decides to publicly fund higher education does not force anyone thereby to maintain a two-tier labor system of ever widening disparity, and he would have noticed that, and not being on board with much of higher education's particular style of viewing itself as benevolent, just quietly accepted the status quo. The icing on the cake was the mix of cynicism and libertarianism.
And yes, I absolutely believe (do I dare go here?) that legal abortion makes his heart sick. When something quacks and walks like a duck and has feathers and a bill, it's a duck.

It's like an immutable law of the forum. No matter what the starting topic was, you can bring it around to adjunctification and snipe at other users views within a page or less.

Please, I urge you, review the forum guidelines with respect to "baggage" and meditate on what that means.

You've been on this thread six times already and you didn't even like Writingprof. You're more negative than me.

What in the world makes you think I don't like Writingprof? I've never had a problem with them, nor have any of my posts here been directed at them. Nor would they be, since WP hasn't logged in since the original post.

[mahagonny]

One thing I appreciated about Writingprof in contrast to so many in the academic life was his honesty around one particular issue, adjunctification. As with many topics, he hinted that he had thought about it quite a lot, but affected a halfway engaged relationship with the forum, so the posts were terse. (Shades of Prytania2). Yet never as far I as recall would have been niggardly enough to begrudge adjuncts a union (and neither did our old conservative friend Pry). As regards adjunctification, he didn't whine about the defunding of higher education, that discussion being a rationale for vastly increased hiring of part time faculty. Whereas obviously whoever decides to publicly fund higher education does not force anyone thereby to maintain a two-tier labor system of ever widening disparity, and he would have noticed that, and not being on board with much of higher education's particular style of viewing itself as benevolent, just quietly accepted the status quo. The icing on the cake was the mix of cynicism and libertarianism.
And yes, I absolutely believe (do I dare go here?) that legal abortion makes his heart sick. When something quacks and walks like a duck and has feathers and a bill, it's a duck.

It's like an immutable law of the forum. No matter what the starting topic was, you can bring it around to adjunctification and snipe at other users views within a page or less.

Please, I urge you, review the forum guidelines with respect to "baggage" and meditate on what that means.

You've been on this thread six times already and you didn't even like Writingprof. You're more negative than me.

What in the world makes you think I don't like Writingprof? I've never had a problem with them, nor have any of my posts here been directed at them. Nor would they be, since WP hasn't logged in since the original post.

OK. You're saying it. I guess it's my fora duty to take you at your word. I don't recall you ever sticking up for his right to free speech when the mob was calling him a troll and asking others to ignore. I did stick up for him. Which in retrospect probably only made it worse for him.