Your wish is my command...

[crow]

As many have noted, my overwhelming interest in all things spiritual, has had some effect upon our forum.
Some like it, others don't, which is only to be expected.
And so, for those who don't: I plan to offer far less of such material. Be pleased
And for those who did like it:  feel free to PM me for an invite to a place where such conversations are the norm.

FFS, this is a deathmetal site, not a friggin' church.
Absolutely!

[death metal black metal]

If people are freaking out about too much of it here, I ask why they're not posting something else. Armchair critiques are ass...

[Tesner]

I've been lurking here for a couple of months now, and you're the poster I most appreciate here. I've went from not understanding anything you say, to not understanding most things you say. I was looking forward to the day when your outlook is no longer alien to me. I never had to warp my thinking so much for a person.

[Vigilance]

The spiritual stuff was your best contribution.

[crow]

The spiritual stuff was your best contribution.

That was a revealing comment. I had to ponder it for a bit.
Seems to me, anything I write is spiritual, because given who I am, it can be nothing else.
The intellect likes to divide things up into categories, whereas spirit sees it all as one thing.
Remember that huuuuuuge government warehouse at the end of 'Raiders of The Lost Ark'? Full of crates and stuff?
That's the inside of peoples' heads.
Mine is more like an empty plain, with sky overhead. Mostly sunny, but sometimes a storm.
Little chance of buffer overflow.

[crow]

I never had to warp my thinking so much for a person.

Haha
Sorry about that. It's not deliberate.

[Vigilance]

The spiritual stuff was your best contribution.

That was a revealing comment. I had to ponder it for a bit.
Seems to me, anything I write is spiritual, because given who I am, it can be nothing else.
The intellect likes to divide things up into categories, whereas spirit sees it all as one thing.
Remember that huuuuuuge government warehouse at the end of 'Raiders of The Lost Ark'? Full of crates and stuff?
That's the inside of peoples' heads.
Mine is more like an empty plain, with sky overhead. Mostly sunny, but sometimes a storm.
Little chance of buffer overflow.

I am of the opinion that experiencing the whole system and comprehending its parts are complementary faculties. Often but not necessarily at odds with each other.

[death metal black metal]

Crow,

I appreciate all that you've done for this forum. You kept it alive when it fell into disrepair.

A forum does not belong to anyone. It is a product of people coming together. Without users posting content, and keeping conversation up, it turns to heat death.

At that point, all that can be done is to shut it down and redirect traffic to the blog.

Brett

[crow]

Well, that's nice. It's not like I've gone away, though, or anything.
Ever see that movie "Flyboys"? That hero guy with the Nieuport 17, with "Je vois tout" on the side.
I feel like him, sometimes.
He died, though

[aquarius]

Is death not just a part of life's spectrum? Is life not just one big litmus test?

The world of immaterial forms i.e. the world of the spirit, runs through this life/death spectrum like the stitching together of fabrics to create beautiful garments. These things are inseparably connected; Life, death, spirit and beauty.

In this sense, the words of crow are more at one with the true spirit of death metal than most of these wimpy CD collectors could ever be.

[death metal black metal]

In this sense, the words of crow are more at one with the true spirit of death metal than most of these wimpy CD collectors could ever be.

I agree. Having dealt with them recently, I am reminded of how good it is to be free of that mentality. Hoping to make life significant by collecting things is pathetic. Whether it's beanie babies or mediocre metal doesn't matter much.

[crow]

My wife used to sell beanie babies when beanie babies were the big thing.
She managed a toy shop, in London, and witnessed the utter fanaticism exhibited by collectors of such things.
Big money, avarice, back-stabbing and outright criminality, for some silly soft toys!
The actual manufacturers were the craziest megalomaniac cult personalities of all.
Not all collectors are so outrageous, of course, but it is astonishing where such pursuits can end up going.

[death metal black metal]

And just five years later, beanie babies were worthless.

I think that while forums would be optimal for discussion, they also attract the worst types of internet user at this point: the person who basically has nothing going on but job, resentfully dealing with their families, and owning stuff.

Where some might see them as places for discussion, for others they're entertainment. A way to pass the time. Truth and honesty optional.

[crow]

That is, indeed, the nature of forums. The consumers outweigh the contributors by a considerable margin.
And second to the consumers come the debaters, who like nothing more than to destroy while engaged in an obsession to win.
Which is why a decent admin is essential, while at the same time, being essentially impossible to find.

[death metal black metal]

Most admins are abusive people who are picked because they are abusive, which means they're (a) obsessive and (b) unafraid to crack down quickly on bad behavior. They're basically looking for an excuse to beat someone's ass. Bouncers.

The art of being a good admin is near-dead at this point... it's equal parts stewardship and contribution.

The problem is that as of this writing at least forums seem to attract the dregs of even the intertard audience.

What to do?

I favor a popular uprising toward contributing more quality material. I tried to do that today. If even three people emulate that, this forum will have a different life.

If not, I think it should become a monument to the past.