Part 3: THE JOY OF BLOGGING

Preamble:

After the great pieces by RFE and Bkumm and the lively and very friendly discussion they engendered I had some trepidation about coming on last till I realised that the last act has to be the starring one and then I REALLY got stagefright and the Universe started to create obstacles - a train home which broke down - that was a first in this country - fatigue, persons and dogs desirous of company and time and pleasure. And then procrastination…

At my boarding school in England I was the one who didn’t START writing till the last deadline was past and I had received special dispensation to complete by MIDNIGHT. But midnight would be when I started because I knew they wouldn’t look in the mailbox till 7 a.m. By midnight we were already locked down of course and any visible light would create catastrophe, including a whacking. So I would grope downstairs in the dark, hide in a cupboard with no windows, breathlessly write like a fiend of the night, one giant gobful of breathless prose, barely paragraphed - of course no computers, no re-writes, no corrections - and win prizes. Like the “Lamb Essay Prize” [Charles Lamb, “Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare” was a former pupil and the “house” that I lived in was also named after him], for an essay written by a hundred kids in one great hall, under exam conditions, which also created that “just do it” atmosphere. The title “I would rather be a square peg than fit in a pigeon-hole”. So that’s gamahuche’s MO and if you give me deadlines I’ll test them and if I give myself deadlines I mostly ignore them.
Plaudits for RFE, Bkumm and Neo and YOU!!:

(see The Launch Of Propellertalk)

I could simply say: “I agree with almost EVERYTHING that my virtual colleagues said. Didn’t they do well? Let’s give them a big hand!! And you were a TERRIFIC audience! Thank you all for coming to the show and please tell your friends!” Make a bow, acknowledge the applause and simply step out of the limelight [my 15 mins - fortunately at my advanced age one can EXPECT a second or third helping] and wait for all the rumoured fabulous changes at propeller to occur. The sock-puppets to get socked, the spammers to scuttle back into their underground holes like roaches when the light’s turned on, and for all of you wise and intelligent Propeller-ites to look over your shoulders EVERY time you even THINK of voting on a story blindly or on an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine basis”. [Knowing that the FOUR musketeers, including the so-far invisible but for us very significant colleague and technical wizard, neophile, are looking over your every vote and recording every incident of deviance in our little black book..] Not! - but sometimes I’m surprised by the perpetrators!…

However:

I would kick myself if I didn’t make the most of this moment!

“I have a dream” has already been taken and “Change” is too nebulous a concept to run on here, so I’ll start with describing the genesis [sink opportunity, RD!] of this collaboration of ours. Conception was on a thread of Spadecaller’s, from about 2 weeks ago: “Stereotypes and Prejudices at Propeller.com”, a MASSIVE thread (181 votes and 594 comments), filed in full here with the actual labour and birth on the thread starting precisely here.

The infant initiative “No Content = No Vote” [baptised by Bkumm] was born swiftly, very much alive and kicking, with four fathers but alas, so far motherless.

Yes that IS an invitation! Female input is needed, required and desired - and definitely NOT for taking out the empties; we’ll use some sock-puppet “volunteers” for that. Do I see any socks in the air?

And then to the creation of a nice CLEAN blog-site - so far without any offers for breast-implants for robots - which is beautifully and patiently managed by neo, with the knowledge, but not the connivance of the Propeller.com powers-that-be, and to this series of articles. Access to the blog is available to you, gentle reader, as a facility to discuss all issues relevant to propeller and our use and experience of it. You’ll find it at propellertalk.com

We are NOT a faction of politically correct clones or busybodies or seeking to promote any other agenda than the “Joy of Blogging” and all the ways in which that can be protected, supported, enhanced, nourished and cherished.

We will invite creative and informational input from the Propeller management and staff but we are not beholden to them or anybody else, nor for sale at any price. [Well a few million and a quick getaway to a secret computer-free destination MIGHT create some temptation..Hint for EXTREMELY wealthy sock-puppet-masters - I LOVE islands, esp. ones that come with boats!]

Re relations with “Head Office” I have had nothing but good experience and some very nice unsolicited feedback, even when I’ve erroneously got my knickers in a twist through a miscomprehension. Yesterday to Bkumm’s thread one whom I had never encountered before (Shay) posted the following:

“I’m with you on this and, IMO, this story and the feedback it’s getting is what makes propeller such an awesome site. You only see real members commenting right now because we real members are the ones who care for this site and where. And I hope that everyone here will advice of the article and leave adolescent behavior for myspace and facebook.”

I could not agree more, especially about the “real members” aspect! Where were the “others” last night and on RFE’s thread? At the very end of last night one did appear - one that I’m not familiar with, who made a short pitch which provoked perhaps the only neg on the thread, apart from Bkumm’s inadvertent neg of RFE! [sheesh - with friends like these who needs enemies :)]

We four [so far] PUG’s [propeller user’s group - NOT pug-nacious b**tards, nor to be confused with re-pugs] do all know each other, only virtually, so far; we definitely all respect each other; personally speaking, especially since a lot of my “work” work is solitary [not as in confinement, nor as night-guard at the municipal parking-lot] so working with colleagues like these has been a joy for me.

We are also a varied bunch in terms of geography, life-experience, interests but I believe I can speak for all of us in saying that we all share the desire for propeller to be a safe, healthy and above all interesting and entertaining environment because we want to hang out here, make friends, and ESPECIALLY natter about almost anything under the sun and till the cows come home and write hideously turgid prose full of mixed-metaphors and wild non-sequiturs and purple passages of alarming shades.

Well that’s my take and I must admit to not having authority to represent all of us on the precise details. Dark beer or light? Can I say BOTH, guys?

Anyway they’ll have their chance in a while when this gets posted and they can descend like vultures and pick the carcass of my effort to pieces. As can you! I already know the time of the slow train to Siberia. It hasn’t changed since Communist days. BORING it must not be! nor dominated by one kind of thinking or any kind of political correctness.
Lively debate, rapier-like wit, sense and empathy, tolerance and acceptance are all highly encouraged. Antagonism and hostility are not to be frowned on but creative put-downs are so much more elegant and potent than the “that’s horsecrap” variety.

The rules that Propeller already has should be respected because by becoming a member one is contractually agreeing to abide by those rules. And those laws of human intercourse are valuable. Even virtual corpses need proper burial and I’ve seen a very few instances of virtual assassination..
Commercial Break:

[btw the following happened a while ago and has now disappeared - sorry to disappoint you]
OH MY GOD! I just flipped to the prop front page and the top story as of this moment is
“NEW HOT !! dana jacobson sex tapee” [sic]
posted by the redoutable
dfgsdfgser
assisted by his friends:
jioshwejndfsm
swlskdoje
sdfpsjdklf
sdpfjsdk
sdflpowej
spdofjksl
dfgoishdfj
lasopkjeur
sdfpolwjei
dskfjijlkfd
fsiuhsdkhk
sdfjilske
kijlreso
lopashett
dfgsdfgser

Sunk, so far, by me and Oscar, with whom I seldom agree but who posted some wonderfully moving posts about eagles a while ago..
Oh and my inbox just offered me a weight loss program.
Enough said..

Or perhaps I should end with the words which a good friend in London, an anarchist, dope-smoking and very respectable -seeming MD, put on a banner outside his house at election time: DON’T VOTE: DON’T ENCOURAGE THEM. THEM as far as Propellertalk is concerned means the people who don’t contribute anything TO Propeller except mawkish or misbegotten or half-baked junk or plain bs. with the sole purpose of personal financial gain.

P.S.:

Votes are free, votes are easy, votes cost you nothing but remember that whenever you vote for garbage the jewel of your being shines less brightly. We want you here in all your humanity; the time that you waste in voting for people who could care less about you removes you from the very community in which you have chosen to be. A virtual fight with your Propeller nemesis is more worthy than surrendering to the blandishments of the people who vote and virtually NEVER comment!

Thanks for your time! Thanks for being here!

If you love it or hate it let us know and lets look forward to some great stories, some great discussions and some great friendships.