The Drabblecast

normsherman wrote:If you quite posting I'll quite Drabblecast... how bout that, huh?!
you're move my friend...

Oy! I'm here, I'm here! I will definitely cry if you quit Drabblecast (even before your fans come after me with pitchforks and killer worms). Sorry, F5iver, it's the sleep deprivation (although I'm perfectly willing to believe that i was misunderstood, 'cause I'm a little punchy right now).

ROU must certainly not weep. No weeping DC forums.

Regarding social filters and tape worms... Bwahaha! See, this sort of thing is why you will one day rule the world.

normsherman wrote:Abbie, F5iver was definitely referring to the Escapepod anti-Norm faction

If you quite posting I'll quite Drabblecast... how bout that, huh?!

Abbie, I was so completely referring to the flame wars at EP. I can't allow you to quite posting. I have that authority. You may not be aware that I have crawled into your ear and attached myself to your cerebral cortex and I am now in charge of your emotional center, but my species couldn't survive if you knew that, could it? So don't quite.
Have some pie, (I like pie) and some coffee and type, dang it. Type like there's no flame wars and the world is in a 6.5 billion-person group hug and type!

I think you people are quite nice people! All the love and acceptance flowing around here.

Don't quite, all right?
(oh, and don't start getting mad at me now, because I'm making fun of Norm and the rest of his flock, misspelling 'quit'. As a foreigner to your language, I think it's pretty funny to see that I'm not the only one having problems with that)

xXx Love y'all

F5iver wrote:Abbie, I was so completely referring to the flame wars at EP. I can't allow you to quite posting. I have that authority. You may not be aware that I have crawled into your ear and attached myself to your cerebral cortex

Aw cool! While you're in there, could you impart some of your 100 character story super powers? 'Cause they're amazing.

zZzacha - making fun is what we do, right? And no one can murder English spelling like a native speaker. I ought to to know. The language has put out a restraining order, but I keep using it.

Regarding EP - I vote for crushing, preferable with a Hellaphant.

I woke up this morning with EP on my mind, noticing Norm's second episode intro and now a whole thread devoted to the subject.
And then it hit me: Norm really is a transfer student at Sci Fi High. So I posted a link to the Bbardle on the blog.

One flame in particular really pissed me off...a post that gave goatkeeper grief for criticising an episode, saying that now that Norm cohosts, goatkeeper has lost his right to participate in the forum. The poster said Norm deserved to be fired for his criticism.
I think even if EP agreed with this a**hole's point, then they still should have stood up for Norm, because it was their job to tell him about any and all rule changes when they offered him the position. Well, I guess that poster was probably the author's little sister, so I shouldn't call her an a**hole...

But that brings me back to how like being a transfer student at SciFi High this is. Some of the most critical posts are from people who have like 79,000 posts, with high exalted titles. Reminds me of the WoW episode of South Park, with the zitty blob guy who conquered the game.

Except I don't want us to become zitty blobs to combat him.

We really have a very healthy, non-dysfunctional family atmosphere here at DC, nurturing and supportive, goodnatured and positive. As Jack Nicholson said to Helen Hunt, DC, You make me want to be a better man.
As for the Bronx Bombers, let's hope they stay over there.

strawman wrote:One flame in particular really pissed me off...a post that gave goatkeeper grief for criticising an episode, saying that now that Norm cohosts, goatkeeper has lost his right to participate in the forum. The poster said Norm deserved to be fired for his criticism.

Yeah, I saw that one, too, and thought, "What kind of a community is this?" (I hadn't gone on EP's forums before.) Apparently, Norm needs a better-disguised sockpuppet to express opinions on the stories...'cause it will be instantly obvious to everyone casually dropping by from Asamov's that goatkeeper is the host of the podcast.

After poking around a little more, it seems to me that EP has a lot of whinny forum goers. I remember that recently they had to completely shut down comments on their Wordpress blog because it was too accessible to drive-by flame bombers. This was before Norm even started. I also remember that feedback included complaints about story selection at the point when the listeners thought it had changed hands. In fact, story selection had changed hands months before, but as soon as listeners knew Steve wasn't selecting the stories, the complaints began.

strawman wrote:We really have a very healthy, non-dysfunctional family atmosphere here at DC, nurturing and supportive, goodnatured and positive. As Jack Nicholson said to Helen Hunt, DC, You make me want to be a better man.

Yep. What makes DC special is the sum of the differences.

(As far as the Escape Artists community goes) It's a bigger tent, with more people under it, and since a set percentage of the population test positive for A-Hole inevitably there is more flame to go around. I am sure on average their intelligence and rationality matches ours, its just with that inflated bell curve they suffer more members of the fringe.

There's no winning forum wars. Anonymity, the lack of nuance and tone in written arguments, the tendency towards wild misinterpretations, the limited intelligent of the average troll, things fall apart. The more you take it to someone, the more entrenched they become. Hell, I'd still be stuck in some circa 1994 AOL chat room if I wanted 'win' any one argument. Can't sweat the haters. Especially the internet ones.

Perhaps...

Not to be hating for the sake of heating, but the primary reason for my exit from the EP forums was conflict with moderators, not other members. That is, of course, just me.

We've got kinder, gentler moderators, I must say, except for an unwarranted aversion to sock puppets. Which, I must note, screams out to be Norm's EP solution. Goatborrower could get away with saying anything he damned well pleased. Knowing Norm, I'm sure he would get his jollies by going onto the Norm thread and being the worst Norm flamer of them all.

Please don't judge all of us EA forumites by the vocal minority of AntiNorms. Like I said on those forums, I was surprized that people were objecting to Norm and that they weren't already listening to DC. There are some of those posters who do complain about everything. I remember people griping (and still do) about Podcastle because it is not like EscapePod. People were basing their opinion on a small sampling of eps run by people new to podcasting.

Now they're doing the same thing to Norm, however he is a podcasting genius. None of it will really effect what's going on. Best thing to do is give them a thread to get it out of their system and move on. I've noticed a few of you in there defending. I think that is good too. I liked Kevin Anderson's statement that he came back to EP because of Norm.

strawman wrote:Knowing Norm, I'm sure he would get his jollies by going onto the Norm thread and being the worst Norm flamer of them all.

We should all do this. Subvert the anti-Norm lobby by joining them and then behaving like obnoxious idiots. Like people who leave one-star Amazon reviews that actually make you want to buy the book, because anything that guy hates _has_ to be good.

Seriously, though, the people on EP forums do seem to take themselves very seriously (which DC doesn't), and the mods set a rougher tone. There also seem to be an abundance of the kind of people who make a first-ever post that reads something like: "I've loved this show for years and never commented before, but you have finally offended me, and I just felt compelled to come by and offer withering criticism." That, I think, is a result of the large audience.

Wow. I jumped ship at EP a long time ago, and I never visited the forums.

However the DC forums I consider home. The people here are consistently strange, and not anonymous enough to take cheap shots. I feel I've met a lot of friends here. I expect that as the audience grows, the forums will have the same h8rs, but for now it's a fun place to hang out.

Thanks for keeping me up to date without me actually dipping my toes in the criticism. i don't think I could stand listening to people other than me criticize Norm.

Did Tom just call Norm his own personal biotch?

Way to go Tommy-boy.

strawman wrote:We've got kinder, gentler moderators, I must say,

You better say that, Strawboy, or I'll toss you in the gulag.

alhilton wrote:/Seriously, though, the people on EP forums do seem to take themselves very seriously (which DC doesn't), and the mods set a rougher tone. There also seem to be an abundance of the kind of people who make a first-ever post that reads something like: "I've loved this show for years and never commented before, but you have finally offended me, and I just felt compelled to come by and offer withering criticism." That, I think, is a result of the large audience.

That's it! You hit the nail on the head.

Aww, you guys rock all of my socks, even the ones that have lost their corresponding mate and remain perpetually orphaned and alone in my drawer.
I think it'll just take time for them folks to get used to the new guy. Especially since the new guy reminds them of their creepy uncles.
But creepy uncles still give good candy.

Thanks for bein such a nice and supportive wad of people.

I've given up on EP for stories, but I wanted to hear Norm host it. So I've settled on subscribing to the EP podcast, and listening to just the intros and outtros. It's worked real well so far!

BTW, "new definition of phone sex" - Friggin hilarious!

In general: yeah, the Escape Artists forum crowd is a tougher one than here. At the same time, if you go back and read the feedback threads, there was a much more enthusiastic welcome FOR Norm than there was against his particular style of hosting.

I mean, whatever you do, you ain't gonna please everyone. Particularly if you aim to achieve something beyond "OK." But in general, with a couple exceptions, the results were quite good.

Also, let me say, there certainly hasn' t been FLAME WARS over this.

One of the things that has become a staple of the EP community is the welcome ness to post a dissenting view.. of anything.. and have it just be accepted. Thus the people uncomfortable with Norm's hosting style feel free to speak openly.

Regardless of the negative aspect.. one thing that's consistently been encouraged over on the Escape Artists forums is just being honest about you rthoughts even if they arent in the majority.

Just sayin.

:/

strawman wrote:But that brings me back to how like being a transfer student at SciFi High this is. Some of the most critical posts are from people who have like 79,000 posts, with high exalted titles. Reminds me of the WoW episode of South Park, with the zitty blob guy who conquered the game.

Except I don't want us to become zitty blobs to combat him.

We really have a very healthy, non-dysfunctional family atmosphere here at DC, nurturing and supportive, goodnatured and positive. As Jack Nicholson said to Helen Hunt, DC, You make me want to be a better man.

I love the WoW episode analogy.
And this is by far the most interesting and friendly (friendly, except during Twabble battles ) forum that I have ever graced with my presence.

I did check out the EA forums a while ago, and they bored me, just like most of the EP stories. So like others here, I have not been listening much, though I did hear the Norm episode, and a couple others that were okay (but I did not like the last one I listened to, about pirates). The intro and outro are usually the best part (except for the rare sparkling gem) of EP.