Wow...Slow Here

It is not slow when you start a thread, Bella.

I recently retired after working for 35 years at the same government agency. I am hoping for grandchildren. Only one of my four children is married.

I'm just waking up (heh). I'm taking a social media class; I need to credentials to get hired, I figure. RP and I are still in Boston.

nAAH. I still hang around mostly for the science , cooking, and art. Seems though, that scence is nothing more than a culture war. Cooking is less and less; and ART, forget it. We get people wantig help on paintings they own and they don't even post the pictures.

Same old nastiness and verbal abuse , infrequently interspersed by wonderful acts of kindness and care.

Welcome back, Bella.
Yeah, it's slow. Lots of acid 'conversation' between posters, something I have never understood and hope that I've avoided.

Start some threads, I'll chime in.

Joe(Ding)Nation

In my opinion, it might be part of the cultural norm for those that may subscribe to a macho self-image? Outside Manhattan, macho behavior is still very valued for status amongst some males, in my opinion.

I'd blame the weather. Look:


This morning's view of the backyard.

http://able2know.org/topic/195102-1
This place sucks -

I say it sucks, but it's my second home.

As long as the core of fun and thoughtful people are here, I'll probably stick around, though I lurk more than I used to. The spamming is more annoying than that vitriolic bs in particular. I can avoid that easily. I hate being forced to be stepping over the constancy of the spam bots.

I am still here, though not as much because my restaurant keeps me busy, This is still a good place for debates of the bar brawl variety, though the crowd continues to thin. A lot of people who wanted A2K to become more Facebook and did not get it went to Facebook. Not sure why we get so little new blood, probably though because of the verbal nastiness and the personal vendettas.

I think the forum layout takes some getting used to, I usually click on "My posts" which takes me to a list of all the threads that I've said something in, and later I also click "New posts" which includes posts by other people.
Incidentally i'm a member of a number of other net discussion forums but most are spoilt by bad heavy-handed control-freak dimwit nazi moderators.
At least A2K allows free speech, so that makes it one of the best forums around at the moment..

Wand I'd disagree most strongly. If what you're saying is true then amongst 100,000 participants no one goes camping, has had a toothache, ever makes a typing mistake, is a pantheist, uses Google, often uses "thumbs down," is in the least interested in the psychological causes of crime and war, has a garden requiring watering, etc etc etc

Very profound observation Romeo. A2k has to be the very most liberal forum of its sort

I belong to a woodworking forum and whenever som douche bag wants to start something ITS A WOODWORKING FORUM, the mods shut em down. That's just good manners not heavy handed Nazi -like tactics.

Yea Man I could write a book on the subject. One reason however is that I do tend disquieting or irksome. On some such though I've been threatened with expulsion for some of the most innocent behavior: Misspelling word for instance, posting the same message in another forum, or merely suggesting to another participant that if he doesn't approve of my postings he shunt read 'em

Lets get this party started. Shirley Bassey - Get The Party Started (Official Video)

A lot of people left for Facebook. I was hoping that once the elections were over people would migrate back over here to discuss things but they didn't. I don't know what they talk about on Facebook, or how Facebook would even work as a forum for debate so I stayed here because I like discussing things with people who challenge the way I think about things.

It is much smaller than it used to be but I've found that there are actually things that people I never suspected that I would agree with, that I agree with. Its funny because even though we agree it's usually for very different reasons. I like finding that common ground.

I did quit posting for a while when the people I usually agree with started being kind of nasty when I didn't agree with them.

I do not have a positive prognosis for this forum. I think the over abundance of testosterone makes it difficult for non-combative folk to be here.

Perhaps, simplistically, the neighborhood, rather than gentrifying, became a haven for those that prefer a mean street culture?

Also, in my opinion, there seems to be some on uni-cycles doing figure eights.

I'm not even sure Neanderthals would want to post?

I get a kick out of the multitudes of passive aggressive Brits. They cant make a bold statement without mucking it up with all those vapid qualifiers.