Thanks, Robert. Looks great so far!

My German dictionary gave me a "puffer" desription as "windbag".

the urbandictionary.com has many explanations. I like this one



A small, exotic dancer with a flamboyant personality.
Yo, that puffer is puffin!

I think it was a play on philforum-er. Unlikely to be the slur you took it as.

I play on words all the time and am not always aware of some existing usage.

On whether the philforum format was/is advanced or old fashioned, I've no idea, but some think so, either way.

ha

it helps to remember that we are a multicultural board, and likely don't mean to insult when using slang

Well, she started by likening the old philosophy forum to the dark ages (which, as far as I can tell, was a negative), and so I think based on that I had good reason to believe "puffer" was used derogatorily. Don't you guys think?

i thought something like that but wasn't sure

i was sure it wasn't the meaning zetherin had suggested

so did i, it's an old style board, reminds me of the sort of forums i remember from about 10 or so years ago (the dark ages of the internet) not a knock, just an observation

I'm pretty sure when people say X is from the dark ages, there is a negative connotation. It refers to unadvanced, unintelligent, or backward ways or practices.

I'll try to be less offended, but let's not cover up the truth

Ah, but didn't I read the dark ages turned out not to be all that dark, relatively speaking?

Yes, we guys think. No, we don't all agree.

Well, ehBeth is good at speaking for herself. I took it as PF er with a word riff.


Maybe you'd prefer hasenpeffer (don't make me look up the spelling).

that can be, but if you follow the progression of the discussion, all those response sort of riff off my time travel remark and beth's retro comment

so when she described the look as dark ages there is precedent to establish how she was using the term (in my opinion anyway)

by the by, i use stone age to describe something like you're saying

Let's agree that's a bit of a nostalgic forum - which I happen to like. It brings
fond memories with it - for me at least.
Others don't care for it, which is their prerogative too.

At least we all agree that Robert has been trying hard to make you philis feel
at home, with or without new/old design

I read it as ribbing but not necessarily ill-natured.

In any case, the layout is a classic forum layout from the 90's yes but we read books that have largely not changed for much longer, and novelty isn't necessarily better or worse and the style doesn't matter nearly as much as the key differences (microcosm, pre-determined forums, ability to run it differently than the rest of a2k etc).

As for a2k becoming that way it is not in the cards, but that was the point of the groups being that way. Those who like forums that have pre-determined forums and that are moderated differently can make them this way. If you don't like the big room you can make a smaller one, if you don't like free-flowing tags you can make your own forum, and if you don't like the moderation policy you can make your own.

The group layout is retro-forum style for a reason, the groups are hosted, self-contained forums and are made to look that way. The traditional forum structure works better for smaller forums (e.g. the tag-driven stuff needs scale to work well) and it's a good fit.

I can't speak on the historicity of the dark ages. What I can speak on is how the term "the dark ages" is used in this day and age.


Yes, "the stone ages" I've seen used to refer to something unadvanced or primitive, too. Although, the "the dark ages", seems to be more a notion of deterioration or backwardness (a worse state, not necessarily a primitive one).

Anyway, it's a non-issue. I'm not offended, like I said. Even though my continuing the discussion (because I'm actually interested in language and such), makes me look as though I'm on the defensive. I'm not though; I've enjoyed my time here with you all thus far.


Yes, he really has. And that's why I wanted to thank him.

darn

puffer (to me) is an affectionate term

in the platt dialect I grew up with, a puffer is a small potato pancake - that I happen to be inordinately fond of

philosophy forum members - too long to say or type

pfrs - ick

puffers - easy to type and easy to pronounce - and it has a nice connotation (to me)

who knew about all of those other definitions

certainly not this old bird

It would have made the situation a hell of a lot more interesting if you were calling us all faggots.

Thanks for clearing that up though, Beth.

Yes, me too, I read your posts that I run across, Zeth. Well, this will change as I'll run across less, and not be a philforumer (is that two m's?), in a kind of privacy and rules of discourse respect.

I hope there is continued exchange on the regular wild and woolly board.

well, then we'd be off on another language spin

in the housing co-op I lived in back in the mid 1970's, people were assigned faggots (fags for short)

those were their work duties - doing dishes, serving food, distributing clean linens

people aspired to become the fag master or fag mattress in their second or third year in the community

"what's your fag?"
"I got sheets again"

Oh, yeah, I'll still be around. I'm thinking about dipping my feet into some of the other sub-forums, like Health and Relationships. Any suggestions on some of the sub-forums that are worthwhile here?

Bingo! (an old irish catholic saying I'm familiar with)