TruthTeller's Ghost

[bluenix]

I thought I'd post something written by the now fabled TruthTeller that seems pertinent to the unrest some here seem to be feeling.

 

[blockquote]What I like about this forum is that it's a pretty diverse collection of reasonably smart people with VERY divergent personalities - thrown into this bizarre pit of discussion, debate, frivolity, sex and prostitution - and if there were universal agreement, or even an absence of aggressive confrontation, I probably wouldn't like it nearly as much. It's the combustability of it that makes it interesting to me, and, knowing that I attack plenty, I never mind being attacked, and certainly never take it personally. It's probably just a personal preference, but I actually think that people learn more about topics, and about themselves, when their opinions (and themselves) are attacked, even angrily or with hostility.[/blockquote]

 

Amen. Or, a negative post here is a negative post. It is not the decline and fall of Western Civilization.

 

Carry on.

[Guest Les]

I loved TT and we need him back...please!

[Rick Munroe]

>I loved TT and we need him back...please!

 

I was IM-ing with him today (using my free version of AOL Instant Messenger, which pisses him off because he has to click to "accept" my IM's), and I mentioned the Message Center to get a reaction from him, but he was more interested in telling me about his new fondness for square dancing. I think he's moved on! :+

 

Bluenix: I'm all for argument, debate, and even angry dispute...but not when it's constant & just for the sake of being hurtful. When we have that, we lose members & the site gets boring.

[chrismac]

>Bluenix: I'm all for argument, debate, and even angry

>dispute...but not when it's constant & just for the sake of

>being hurtful. When we have that, we lose members & the

>site gets boring.

 

I agree. That's the fine line there. As I said in another post, other message board forums (my example being the MSS site) have plenty of hot debate, but it rarely turns into a bitchfest. Ace even created a special forum called "Politics and Religion" to handle the hotter topics, but even there - amidst the mudslinging, there's an underlying thread of mutual respect. Just when things seem to be getting too hot, someone will cut the tension with a comment like, "Idiot that you are, I'm still considering allowing you to get into my pants."

 

The really outrageous posters who come on with guns blazing and full of venom are usually trounced out by all sides. People seem to want a real debate, not a slugfest. Check it out sometime and see what I mean (I'm not always clever enough to elucidate the finer points).

 

Don't ask me why it works that way over there - it just seems to. One thing's for sure: the whole argument of how people who hire escorts don't have a right to criticize any other element of our society simply because the act is outside the frail limits of the law never comes to much, if anything at all. How refreshing.

[Guest alanm]

Sorry, I do not miss Truth Teller one bit. He is a smart man who really grew more and more interesting with each posting. But, his

strong personal attacks on other people were totally out of line.

He often left the subject behind to go after the person who posted the message. Glad to hear he has left the MC behind and is enjoying square dancing.

[Guest regulation]

Frankly, blue, I will never understand why it is that people like Rick can't just be satisfied with the right to post whatever juvenile, self-promoting crap they wish and ignore everything that is not to their taste. I don't know why, but that clearly isn't enough for them. In addition to that, they want to control what others post as well. Rick himself has recently created not one but two different threads in this section for no other purpose than to complain about posts he doesn't like and to demand that people start creating more of the material that he appreciates. What madness is it that drives people to control what others say and do? Whatever disease it is, thank goodness I have never suffered from it.

[Guest alanm]

Rick and I disagree on Truth Teller, but Rick is a valuable part of the MC. He is one of the few escorts who posts here regularly. Anyone

who does that can not avoid controversy. I am sure he has lost a goodly number of potential clients because of some of his postings.

Rick has a lot of guts and I hope he stays part of the MC for a long time. So that I do not get accused of ass kissing (not a bad thought)

with this posting, let me again say that Rick and I could be possibly be further apart on Truth Teller. TT was the only person who ever posted on this forum whom I truly detested.

[duke37]

I agree with some of your points but I think Regulation was talking to bluenix. :-)

 

Jeff

[+ deej]

>Don't ask me why it works that way over there - it just

>seems to.

 

He censors. That's why.

[Rick Munroe]

>What madness is it that drives people to

>control what others say and do? Whatever disease it is,

>thank goodness I have never suffered from it.

 

OK, now that's funny! Thanks, regulation, for contributing to the newer, friendlier, fun atmosphere.

[bluenix]

RE: Profiles; a friendly comment

 

Hey, Jeff.

 

Rather than go hunting for your post about expanding the use and content of profiles, I'm going to be lazy and comment briefly here. Hopefully, I won't get my hand slapped for hijacking my own thread.

 

It would be very unwise, in my view, to post ANY personal information in this site's profiles, because they are freely accessible to anyone who will take a few minutes to register. That includes everything from pranksters to gaybashers. Even so little as a real name and a city, and you're putting yourself at risk.

 

That's my two cents.

 

Carry on.

[Guest regulation]

>Rick and I disagree on Truth Teller, but Rick is a valuable

>part of the MC. He is one of the few escorts who posts here

>regularly. Anyone

>who does that can not avoid controversy. I am sure he has

>lost a goodly number of potential clients because of some of

>his postings.

 

 

Rick and I do not disagree on TruthTeller. Despite the fact that I was sometimes the target of his insults (and on more than one occasion was accused of being him), I found TruthTeller to be one of the more interesting posters.

 

Rick and I do disagree on one or two other issues.

 

We disagree on his right to preach a sermon on the issue of civility, as he has recently been doing. Since he repeatedly cheered and egged on his pal TruthTeller, who raised insults and baiting to an entirely new level here, and since he has insulted other posters himself, it is clear that Rick's concern with civility is not sincere, but is merely another stick with which to beat anyone he doesn't like.

 

We also disagree on the role of escorts in this message center. I certainly have no objection to those like Rick who openly use this message board to promote their business. It is true that from the earliest days of the Net the tradition has been to pour vitriol on those who try to use newsgroups and message boards for their own private gain, but I am not a traditionalist in that regard. What I do object to is the many attempts he and others have made to use the board to promote themselves while at the same time silencing their critics. They want to be a constant topic of conversation, but they also want to control that conversation so that nothing negative is said about them. Such behavior does violence to the very concept of a message board and would be rejected by anyone who valued the ideal of free speech that the Net is supposed to embody.

[Guest regulation]

>>What madness is it that drives people to

>>control what others say and do? Whatever disease it is,

>>thank goodness I have never suffered from it.

>

>OK, now that's funny! Thanks, regulation, for

>contributing to the newer, friendlier, fun atmosphere.

 

Rick, the atmosphere here remains and will remain what it always was. Your own behavior shows that. If you can't avoid insults and baiting for even twenty-four hours after calling on everyone else to do so, why on earth would you expect the rest of us to respond to your silly sermon?

 

In certain countries south of the border there is a popular expression. I don't have the necessary keys on this board to render it in the original, but it translates roughly as "He preaches a sermon in his underwear." People use this expression to refer to one who calls on others to adhere to a standard that he himself does not uphold. Nowhere is it more appropriate than on this message board.

[Rick Munroe]

>Since he

>repeatedly cheered and egged on his pal TruthTeller, who

>raised insults and baiting to an entirely new level here,

 

Actually, I have posted here in the message center that I thought he went too far with the unnecessary personal attacks, but that I did appreciate when he spoke the truth (from his viewpoint) about a variety of topics. He started out vicious but eventually became one of the more respected posters here. And I never "egged" him on. Actually, I didn't even post anything supporting him until right before he "resigned" from posting.

 

>and since he has insulted other posters himself

 

I've never done that. I don't insult other people. I think that people who toss insults at others have no respect for themselves, and self-esteem is something I have in abundance (or excess ). I do apologize if anything I've ever posted was taken as an insult to anyone else, including you.

[Rick Munroe]

RE: Profiles; a friendly comment

 

>It would be very unwise, in my view, to post ANY personal

>information in this site's profiles, because they are freely

>accessible to anyone who will take a few minutes to

>register. That includes everything from pranksters to

>gaybashers. Even so little as a real name and a city, and

>you're putting yourself at risk.

 

That wasn't Jeff's point. He clarified in that post what he meant by personal information: "Not the things we shouldn't share with strangers on an internet board but rather details of what makes them tick what makes them horny and what has happened in their lives to get them to this place."

[Rick Munroe]

>"He preaches a sermon in his underwear."

 

YUM! And does he have a big ol' juicy hardon and is there a very noticeable precum spot right at the head? In that case, I think I will go to church after all.

[Guest regulation]

>And I never "egged" him on. Actually, I

>didn't even post anything supporting him until right before

>he "resigned" from posting.

 

And that somehow doesn't count? Please don't be ridiculous.

 

 

>

>>and since he has insulted other posters himself

>

>I've never done that. I don't insult other people.

 

And calling NiceGuy a blackmailer doesn't count? Or making false accusations against posters like me and Unicorn as you recently did? You seem to think that everyone here suffers from the same malady as the protagonist in "Memento." Not satisfied with insulting our personalities, you also insult our intelligence.

 

>I do apologize if anything I've ever

>posted was taken as an insult to anyone else, including you.

 

I find it hard to take your words "Be damned" as anything but an insult, Rick. Is there some other way to take them? But if you really want to apologize, I can tell you how to do so. Cease your hypocritical preaching and be honest enough to admit that you want to beat up on anyone who doesn't help you promote your career.

[Rick Munroe]

:7

[Guest regulation]

>>"He preaches a sermon in his underwear."

>

>YUM! And does he have a big ol' juicy hardon and is there a

>very noticeable precum spot right at the head? In that

>case, I think I will go to church after all.

 

 

Never mind church, Rick. Go back to high school. Other than this message board, that's the only place humor like yours is still appreciated. :-)

[bluenix]

RE: Profiles; a friendly comment

 

>That wasn't Jeff's point. He clarified in that post what he

>meant by personal information: "Not the things we shouldn't

>share with strangers on an internet board but rather details

>of what makes them tick what makes them horny and what has

>happened in their lives to get them to this place."

 

Clarified? Go look at the boy's profile. Or have I been gulled?

[Rick Munroe]

>Never mind church, Rick. Go back to high school.

 

I've actually done that & it was really fun. I went to my high school reunion & it was so cool to see the shocked looks on everyone's faces when they'd look at my name tag & not recognize me at all. You see, at graduation, I was a skinny long-haired boy who didn't even shave yet (I don't think the word "twink" was in vogue at that time but that was me!), and now here I was 15 years later, a "sexy stud" (yes, I showed up in classic escort-wear: tight T, even tighter jeans, and boots...I couldn't resist). I can't wait for the 20th reunion...perhaps I'll do that "sermon in the underwear" thing that you mentioned. (I'm like Cher; I'll have to top myself.)

[DaninWA]

(I'm like Cher; I'll

>have to top myself.)

I'd pay to see that! Now, when will I next be in New York....?

 

Dan

[Guest Joey Ciccone]

>It's probably just a personal preference, but I

>actually think that people learn more about topics, and

>about themselves, when their opinions (and themselves) are

>attacked, even angrily or with hostility.

 

What an asshole.

[Rick Munroe]

>What an asshole.

 

I'm blushing. Is there ever any post that doesn't include a reference to my anatomy?

[Guest 7Zach]

The quote from TT is too funny. It might as well be a public service message that should one be attacked personally for his opinion, it will allow that person to "grow", and therefore, I assume be a better person. I think back now to all the tireless effort TT made to make this world a better place.