Hate doing these because I inevitably leave people out and feel bad about it, but I’ll do a few that deserve more press:
Gustavratzenhofer: Easily the wittiest poster I’ve come across in cyberspace. I’m talking Chris Rock in his prime funny.
Blatham: One of the sharpest wits you’ll ever run across. He leans predominantly left and dresses like Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.
Finn d’ Abuzz: Another laser-sharp wit. He leans predominantly right. He delivers a hell of an argument; even when he’s wrong… but it often goes unappreciated that his positions are usually a whole lot more nuanced than most of the Right-wingmen.
Joefromchicago: Has gotten plenty of press, but so what. This guy argues so well that I’ve long suspected he deliberately chooses the wrong side with frequency because he enjoys the challenge. Finn’s equal in instant wit; but the opposite side of the political spectrum.
Francis: Does indeed exist. He’s a Frenchman who is exceedingly polite (like most of the Europeans on this board) and is better versed in English than most of the Americans here.
Phoenix: Contrary to Joe’s assertion, is a far truer representative of Objectivism. She studied with Rand herself back in the day and knows quite a few of the major players.
Setanta: A mixed bag to be sure, but impossible to ignore. He’ll trade mud-shots with the most offense of trolls in one thread, while fascinating his readers with a serious talent for expressing his intimidating knowledge of history in spectacular fashion in another. Don’t cross him unless you enjoy a heated exchange (as some of us do, from time to time.)
H2O Man: Probably among the most ignored posters on A2K (including by me, most of the time) but that doesn’t seem to bother him one iota. It seems he can be the most helpful person on A2K, however, if you’re having water-softener problems.
Thomas: Probably a race between him, Sozobe, and Robert Gentle himself to be the most widely respected poster on A2K. Him and Soz are both clearly brilliant, thoughtful, and can deliver potent arguments in a completely dispassionate matter that makes anyone stop and think. Our founding father, Robert, can do the same, but is absolutely deadly if he’s in a mood to trade blows. I still chuckle when I recall the day he told me not get my Ayn Rand jammies in a bunch, while going off on me for going off on him. (I don’t care who you are; that’s funny!) Anyway, all three of these people will eventually make you glad you’re here at some point or other.
JustBrooke: is an angel from heaven. She is an abuse survivor who has helped a multitude of victims through their pain and saved more than a few of them first hand. She’s brilliant, tireless, and endeavors never to ever offend anyone, with the possible exception of the most despicable among us (Hawkeye10.)
There are tons of other posters here well worthy of mention; but I just don’t have time to do the literally hundreds of posters here I’ve come to greatly respect. Cheers.
@Butrflynet,
No, he is retired! (smiles)
@edgarblythe,
jjorge, give me strength -
when we first knew him, he lived in Rhode Island and started poetry threads, and much ado re the irish of which I am a whisp. He is enamored, as I remember, of Brazil? kind of like I go spouting on about Italy. He was a progenitor of our poetry forum and I hope he comes back. He was among us who met in San Francisco in 2004. We all went to City Lights (?) - I'm not checking my spelling - together, and he and I and a couple of others shared a taxi ride with a russian driver making us fly over the streets like Bullitt, air flipping, - though not as fast - while the driver and JJorge talked russian poetry. Glorious experience.
@ossobuco,
Time for me to say I don't want to shut anyone off from the camaraderie here.
Stop with feeling isolated, you're part of the mix.
@OCCOM BILL,
Gotcha, O'Bill. Cool review.
You're not bad yourself. You do get heated, but who am I to point that out. I always read what you say, and tend to listen.
@JPB,
JPB wrote:
and eoe. She's ex-Chicago now in Atlanta, I believe. A no bs kinda lady who tells it like it is. And it usually is just like she tells it.
eoe is classy. Don't know how I missed her.
@edgarblythe,
Me either.
Eoe knows advertising and design and running such a business. She has a lot to add re personal ethics but not in a formal way, more a storytelling or questioning way. Of the people I like personally, even though just on the net, eoe is up there. I
never not read what she says.
@tin sword arthur,
tsa
good to see you.....(again!)
My apologies, Margo. You have been on this thread from its inception, but never got added to our list. I think because I saw your name on here a number 0f times, I may have assumed you had been included already.
@edgarblythe,
Margo was missed, oh, criminy.
Talk about hogswallop, this is just wrong. I love Margo, dearly, and I think, she, me.
@ossobuco,
I remember my first conversation with Margo. On Abuzz it was. Something about Granny Smith apples really coming from Australia - not New Zealand nor Washington state. We finally decided the economy would be best served by shipping each other labels, and save the transportation costs of shipping apples and oranges halfway around the world.
@ossobuco,
I adore Margo though I take her as crabby, which is a good thing.
Signed, Ms. Pincers
Thanks, all...I'm not too sure about the crabby bit, though!!!
I wasn't worrying about being missed - there's always someone with decent aim! I have been here a while, though - I think I was member 61 or 62 when it started.
And Roger's correct - Granny Smith apples were first developed in Ryde, a suburb of Sydney, not far from where I work, or live
@margo,
ok, ok, you are not crabby. How about discerning?
@dadpad,
i've been back a bit since the end of the semester....so will ikely stick around till september and then maybe more sporadically again.
it seems to me you good people missed littlek, the naturalist extraordinaire and the kindest soul around. maybe i didn't read close enough.
Has anyone mentioned Seaglass and Merry Andrew? Very interesting couple whom I met in San Francisco with another interesting poster, Roxxxanne, among several others. Merry is the epitome of courtesy and chivalry, and I love reading his posts. Seaglass is a more 'in your face' type of gal, another one who calls it as she sees it. Both have hearts of gold.
