Not-So-Mith'd Opportunity: Random Banter # 222

[Honest Tiefling]

Really? I find that 'color' seems too short, and has the end chopped off. 'Colour' is much more visibly pleasing (not to mention that it is a better colour.)

Bah! The color coordination of 'colour' is off for me.

I have a suspsicion that neither of you know why I like traffic lights, no matter where they've been.

I have a suspicion that I certainly don't. But I'm just going to assume until informed otherwise that you enjoy taking long drives along scenic routes in some sort of classic car.

[Bartmanhomer]

Hey I actually notice in this forum when people multi-quote from other people it usually indicates an argument.

[FinnLassie]

I have a suspicion that I certainly don't. But I'm just going to assume until informed otherwise that you enjoy taking long drives along scenic routes in some sort of classic car.

I mean, that'd be nice but I'm terrified of driving due to multitude of traffic accidents and car crashes I've been in and caused myself. But I'm just a mere fan of Monty Python.

[Teddy]

I once worked at a bank where the servers were in "the Bunker". When I first heard of it, I thought it was just a grandiose name for a very secure area of the building where I worked.

But no, it was called that because the bank had purchased an actual WWII bunker to place all their servers in. Unfortunately, I was never allowed to visit (in fact, I wasn't even told where it was). The very secure area of the building I thought was "the bunker"? To this day I've no idea what was in there, but it was considered insufficiently secure to store the data, even though it was far and away the most secured access place I've encountered in my professional career.

They weren't kidding around with security, is my point. Which meant that when things broke on weekends or at night, I had to debug through the phone. Or drive to the office. No remote access for me or anyone.

Grey Wolf

We have a separate network for actual military secrets, but those are mostly just secrets we designed ourselves, or exact specifications for things we were contracted to make. Militaries tend to be rightfully apprehensive about sharing the secrets they create themselves, even if it can be somewhat frustrating when we ask for actual use cases and get none.

And old bunkers are quite priced as data centres, since they're easy to maintain a stable climate in. An old complex outside of town long served as a newspaper and magazine (heh) archive for the university library for many years, but was recently sold off to some company that made a server hall out of it.

Hey I actually notice in this forum when people multi-quote from other people it usually indicates an argument.

Well, people tend to chop up other's posts when they want to make it clear what different parts they're addressing. This of course happens during arguments, where it's hard to look convincing if you quote a giant wall of text and respond with a giant wall of text, but also in longer conversations in here where a single paragraph may spawn two paragraphs of response, but much more seldom none. It used to be much more frequent in the past, when most Banterites were high school or college students with lots of free time at hand. And there simply were more of us.

[FinnLassie]

Good grief, Teddy, you now remind me of the wall-of-text monstrosities from the past... I do not have the patience to quote the same way I used to 5-6 years ago, indeed.

[Anonymouswizard]

Bah! The color coordination of 'colour' is off for me.

On the other hand color feels too short, like it can't fully describe an essential part of life (eh, unless you're completely colourblind?)

Although there is only one spelling that is complete, utterly, and always 100% wrong. Which is when people talk about Light Amplification by Ztimulated Emission of Radiation.

Hey I actually notice in this forum when people multi-quote from other people it usually indicates an argument.

I don't know what you're referring to.....

In all seriousness, yeah it's a technique to make it clear which part of a post I'm replying to. It's why I chopped up our nondecietful infernally heritaged poster's post at the beginning of mine, I was only replying to one line and wanted to make that as clear as possible (even if 95% of people reading my reply would immediately get that anyway).

[Bartmanhomer]

We have a separate network for actual military secrets, but those are mostly just secrets we designed ourselves or exact specifications for things we were contracted to make. Militaries tend to be rightfully apprehensive about sharing the secrets they create themselves, even if it can be somewhat frustrating when we ask for actual use cases and get none.

And old bunkers are quite priced as data centres since they're easy to maintain a stable climate in. An old complex outside of town long served as a newspaper and magazine (heh) archive for the university library for many years but was recently sold off to some company that made a server hall out of it.



Well, people tend to chop up other's posts when they want to make it clear what different parts they're addressing. This, of course, happens during arguments, where it's hard to look convincing if you quote a giant wall of text and respond with a giant wall of text, but also in long conversations in here where a single paragraph may spawn two paragraphs of response, but much more seldom none. It used to be much more frequent in the past when most Banterites were high school or college students with lots of free time at hand. And there simply were more of us.

Yes and arguments lead to name-calling and trolling until the mods and the admin gods intervene.

On the other hand colour feels too short like it can't fully describe an essential part of life (eh, unless you're completely colourblind?)

Although there is only one spelling that is complete, utterly, and always 100% wrong. Which is when people talk about Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.



I don't know what you're referring to.....

In all seriousness, yeah it's a technique to make it clear which part of a post I'm replying to. It's why I chopped up our nondeceitful infernally heritage poster's post at the beginning of mine, I was only replying to one line and wanted to make that as clear as possible (even if 95% of people reading my reply would immediately get that anyway).

There are so many threads that I want to refer to but I'm not going to mention any threads because I don't want to open old wounds.

[2D8HP]

...I was only replying to one line and wanted to make that as clear as possible (even if 95% of people reading my reply would immediately get that anyway).

I think that's a good practice, especially when one is responding to a post just above your post, though it's good to have a quote to avoid confusing readers as to what you're responding to (in case you're shadow monk'd).

But I also think bluetext to indicate sarcasm IS AN ABOMINATION that I would never use, and if I was SO VILE as to wish to FLAUNT THE SIN!!! of committing sarcasm I'd POSSIBLY use a different method of indicating my CRIME OF AN ACT OF!!! sarcasm, were I SO DASTARDLY!!! Also, doing colo(u)rs on my phone is more of a hassle than ALL CAPS AND EXPLAMATION POINTS!!!, so mountain of salt.

[LaZodiac]

Good grief, Teddy, you now remind me of the wall-of-text monstrosities from the past... I do not have the patience to quote the same way I used to 5-6 years ago, indeed.

This is an extremely relate-able mood. Even more so given like, 70% of the time these huge huge wall of text, actually hitting the text cap monsters, were from people talking about stuff I had zero interest in, with people who I had less than zero interest in.

Y'all remember how it took you guys (no one who is currently active on the forum, honestly, just bringing up old memories) like a week and a half to bother explaining what The Stig was in a way that didn't just make me feel like a stupid loser?

[Anonymouswizard]

I think that's a good practice, especially when one is responding to a post just above your post, though it's good to have a quote to avoid confusing readers as to what you're responding to (in case you're shadow monk'd).

I tend to work on the idea of maximum clarity anyway, and so the splitting/trimming posts bit comes from that (it's why I'll almost always quote when giving a direct reply, the alternative is I may use @[user] if I'm replying more generally).

This partially comes from school English lessons. All the way through primary school I loved English, but was put in the bottom group for it because none of the teachers had any idea about how to interpret my writing. As in I'm fairly certain my year 4 teacher would have given me a 2c* if they'd thought they could get away with it. It all boiled down to 'I don't understand it, therefore it must be wrong', despite the fact that for the years where reading age was measured I was in the highest value they allowed. So for reading I was ranked highly, for maths I was ranked highly, and so on, but my English grades suffered because of it.

When I went to secondary school I ended up going to the largest comprehensive school nearby (unlike my siblings who all attended grammar schools in the next county over). This school, by virtue of serving about half the surrounding villages and having an attached special education unit was very experienced with dealing with High Functioning Autistic pupils, and almost immediately my grades in English were raised to slightly below average.I got my diagnosis at the end of year eight, where my grades jumped up a couple of letters again as the teachers knew exactly what to look for, and the entirity of year nine the idea of clarity in written was driven into me during my personal advice, unlike some of my classmates still getting advice on technique (in fact I had practically no problems grasping PQC, unlike some of my classmates). By the time year nine ended I was selected as one of the students to make up the top group for English (consisting of about one in five pupils), as well as for maths and science. To be honest I was shocked, I still based my ideas about my proficiency from all those 3s I'd gotten back in year 4.

I went on to pull out solid Bs in both my English Literature and Language GCSEs, as well as a C in my English Literature A-level (roughly equivalent to a C in first year college in the US if I've remembered correctly), and I'm fairly certain that one of my teachers for GCSE and A-level was disappointed when I went on to do Engineering instead of Literary Criticism.

Well that was a bit of a ramble. But in short, learning to write for maximum clarity made a shocking difference to my academic career (the ability to write efficiently and fairly legibly in script also did, those who had stuck to print in their handwriting couldn't keep up with exams).

Actually, that bugs me, why is the tendency to write in script/cursive getting so rare? A lot of the people I've met who haven't gone to university, and even a minority who have, tend to write in print or block capitals and struggle to write legible script. I really don't think it's got anything to do with the rise of computers, in my experience when you're my age high computer literacy and ability to write script go hand in hand.

*I don't know if this system is still used, but up until year 9 the grading system I was used to was a number followed by an a, b, or c. Higher numbers were higher grades, and within a number a was higher than b which was higher than c. I think the idea was that for the average student your grade was roughly equal to your year, but it's been over a decade since I had to care.

But I also think bluetext to indicate sarcasm IS AN ABOMINATION that I would never use, and if I was SO VILE as to wish to FLAUNT THE SIN!!! of committing sarcasm I'd POSSIBLY use a different method of indicating my CRIME OF AN ACT OF!!! sarcasm, were I SO DASTARDLY!!! Also, doing colo(u)rs on my phone is more of a hassle than ALL CAPS AND EXPLAMATION POINTS!!!, so mountain of salt.

Of course, because sarcasm is the lowest form of humour and therefore somebody as distinguished as yourself will never sink to it.

[DataNinja]

Actually, that bugs me, why is the tendency to write in script/cursive getting so rare? A lot of the people I've met who haven't gone to university, and even a minority who have, tend to write in print or block capitals and struggle to write legible script. I really don't think it's got anything to do with the rise of computers, in my experience when you're my age high computer literacy and ability to write script go hand in hand.

I feel like, at least for my area, it was deemed less important for the curriculum. Heck, my one year of it being taught- 3rd grade - my teacher was entirely inept at doing it. We did things letter by letter... but it was so abysmally paced, that we were doing the last 4 letters of the alphabet on the last day of class. Certainly wasn't taught properly.

The only reason I can do any cursive at all (not at all beautifully, however), is because my mom forced me to write several paragraphs of the stuff every day that summer. By the time I got to 6th grade, the majority of the class couldn't even read it.

[Anonymouswizard]

I feel like, at least for my area, it was deemed less important for the curriculum. Heck, my one year of it being taught- 3rd grade - my teacher was entirely inept at doing it. We did things letter by letter... but it was so abysmally paced, that we were doing the last 4 letters of the alphabet on the last day of class. Certainly wasn't taught properly.

The only reason I can do any cursive at all (not at all beautifully, however), is because my mom forced me to write several paragraphs of the stuff every day that summer. By the time I got to 6th grade, the majority of the class couldn't even read it.

Ouch, that is terrible.

My school had an interesting system. When you began you could only use pencils, and you learnt to write print with them. Then in I think year 3 (might have been year 2) we were taught to write in script, with the basics taught in one lession. Then just handwriting practice every week until by year 5 everybody could write in script. Plus you could use a pen in everything but your maths book once you've mastered script, and boy did I hate sharpening my pencil (these days I only use mechanical pencils).

The annoying thing is, once you're competent in script it becomes significantly faster not only to write in it but also to read it. It's stupid, but by year 7/8 I'd started to lose the ability to read print, because I exclusively write in script, and these days writing in print is a real effort for me because I've been writing script almost exclusively for 15 years. Despite being one of the slowest in the class to actually master script my handwriting is now relatively clear.

And I'm now remembering my old gaming groups, and the trends with people's wirting. Those who wrote in script invariably had neater character sheets, with the exception of dyslexic players, and one person left so much space between their print letters that it got hard to tell when words stopped.

Maybe I'll upload an example of my handwriting for you all to laugh at in revenge for me disparaging others'.

On an unfrelated note, felt tip pens make the worst sound in the world.

[Peelee]

Yes and arguments lead to name-calling and trolling until the mods and the admin gods intervene.

Not at all! An argument is just a disagreement. The most important thing during an argument is to stay civil and address what you think is wrong with what the other person is saying. It's only when you stop being respectful, or stop trying to answer the other persons points that the argument starts to break down. But as long as both sides engage each other honestly and make an effort to understand the other person, there's nothing at all wrong with argument. Arguing can even help you grow as a person, because nobody is right all the time.

[enderlord99]

Not at all! An argument is just a disagreement. The most important thing during an argument is to stay civil and address what you think is wrong with what the other person is saying. It's only when you stop being respectful, or stop trying to answer the other persons points that the argument starts to break down. But as long as both sides engage each other honestly and make an effort to understand the other person, there's nothing at all wrong with argument. Arguing can even help you grow as a person, because nobody is right all the time.

I... think you might have "arguing" confused with "debating."

Arguing is like debating, but angrier.

[Peelee]

I... think you might have "arguing" confused with "debating."

Arguing is like debating, but angrier.

Nah, that's only if the participants choose to be angry.

[Tvtyrant]

I... think you might have "arguing" confused with "debating."

Arguing is like debating, but angrier.

I always thought debate meant having formal rules, argument was ad hoc, and a fight was emotional/personal.

[Bartmanhomer]

Not at all! An argument is just a disagreement. The most important thing during an argument is to stay civil and address what you think is wrong with what the other person is saying. It's only when you stop being respectful, or stop trying to answer the other persons points that the argument starts to break down. But as long as both sides engage each other honestly and make an effort to understand the other person, there's nothing at all wrong with argument. Arguing can even help you grow as a person, because nobody is right all the time.

Now I know how adventurers in RPG feels about it:

Barbarian: I say we kill the monster.

Cleric: No I say we reason with the monster and be civil.

Rogue: I agree with the Barbarian, we should kill it.

Wizard: I agree with the Cleric we should reason with it.

*Everybody is arguing about this situation.*

[enderlord99]

I always thought debate meant having formal rules, argument was ad hoc, and a fight was emotional/personal.

I guess? Maybe it's arbitrary.

[Peelee]

Imean, to be fair here, if the smartest and wisest party members are wanting talk to it, they may be onto something.

[Honest Tiefling]

I always thought debate meant having formal rules, argument was ad hoc, and a fight was emotional/personal.

Huh. What state are you from? This is pretty much what I would say, in that an argument doesn't have to be heated, just two people trying to convince the other?

Imean, to be fair here, if the smartest and wisest party members are wanting talk to it, they may be onto something.

But in most systems, the smartest and the wisest character aren't usually the same person. And never agree on anything. Unless its sending in the meat shield or trapmonkey in first.

[Bartmanhomer]

Imean, to be fair here, if the smartest and wisest party members are wanting talk to it, they may be onto something.

Yes which I why I made the adventurers disagreement scenario for a point to see why the Cleric and Wizard wanted to talk to the monster because they're not killing machines unlike the Barbarian and Rogue over there.

[Peelee]

But in most systems, the smartest and the wisest character aren't usually the same person.

Theyre not here either; wizard and cleric both want to talk it out.

And never agree on anything. Unless its sending in the meat shield or trapmonkey in first.

Well that's just good sense.

[Tvtyrant]

Huh. What state are you from? This is pretty much what I would say, in that an argument doesn't have to be heated, just two people trying to convince the other?



But in most systems, the smartest and the wisest character aren't usually the same person. And never agree on anything. Unless its sending in the meat shield or trapmonkey in first.

I'm from Oregon. We are neither the smartest nor the wisdomest.

[Peelee]

I'm from Oregon. We are neither the smartest nor the wisdomest.

You really want to get into a contest over this based on where we're from?

[Honest Tiefling]

Yes which I why I made the adventurers disagreement scenario for a point to see why the Cleric and Wizard wanted to talk to the monster because they're not killing machines unlike the Barbarian and Rogue over there.

...The wizard NOT burning everything down or trying to plunder every corpse (even if it's not dead yet) for material components!? What sort of wizard is that, a wannabe-BARD!?

I'm from Oregon. We are neither the smartest nor the wisdomest.

If you are from an area near Portland, I think you technically count as living in the Bay Area given all of the people who move there.

[Bartmanhomer]

...The wizard NOT burning everything down or trying to plunder every corpse (even if it's not dead yet) for material components!? What sort of wizard is that, a wannabe-BARD!?



If you are from an area near Portland, I think you technically count as living in the Bay Area given all of the people who move there.

I think your missing the point here. And yes I know that the wizard is overpower and just about everything but I talking about that the wizard want to talk to the monster first with agreeing with the cleric.

[Tvtyrant]

If you are from an area near Portland, I think you technically count as living in the Bay Area given all of the people who move there.

Haha I'm from Portland, yes. The local culture has been largely eaten by the Portlandia crowd, but OTOH all of my relatives are selling their houses for between 3-5 times what they bought them for and my grandparents is worth close to thirty times as much.

[Insane Jeenyus]

But not as cranky as Death of Being Wrestled to Death by Steve was when he was wrestled to death by Steve.

true, that.

I have a suspsicion that neither of you know why I like traffic lights, no matter where they've been.

You are right, I just liked the sound of the saying.

Actually, that bugs me, why is the tendency to write in script/cursive getting so rare?

I personally have not been to university, like to write cursive, but do not at this time due to the nerve damage in my hands making it illegible.

[enderlord99]

I write the word "minimum" intelligibly, like a normal person.

EDIT: Wait, it was calligraphy where that's confusing, not cursive. Never mind.

[LaZodiac]

I know exactly enough cursive to sign my name in it's various permutations and have excised all other knowledge related to it from my brain because it is functionally useless in every single way other than that one particular use-case of signing my name on legal docs.