What values do we share?
 

The dwellars are a diverse bunch. We cover the left to the right of politics. We've got Catholics and pagans. All income levels. Name a topic and we've got people on either side of the fence.

But that's unusual for a group. Most groups end up having some core beliefs that define the group. People who don't have those core beliefs tend not to stay.

I'm wondering. Do you think there's any values that most of us share?

No spam!

witty banter

We like argument, witty banter,and no spam!

We all speak English , and the conversation tends to be superficial . I would say that the general ethos is that of the mainstream American who wrongly flatters himself , or herself , as being educated . There are a few Brits on the side , and the occasional Australian . It is a very white community . DanaC has felt threatened on at least one occasion , and I know why .

I see little real concern for others . I see a certain obsession with psycho-babble . Navel-gazing .

I see humour , talent , and fun too , within these limited parameters .

No we don't.

We value Monty Python.

Exactly Happy Monkey . Everything is sewn up . One can argue amidst the sewing , but I would hardly class that as argument or thought .

tons of people are cool and tons should really go fuck themselves. Savvy?

I freaking hate Python.

So do I Kitsune , for I have never objected to a lizard in the bidet .

Perhaps most of us do not dislike lizards ? Could that be a rallying point ?

Chuckle!

Come on, now; you only say that to make yourself feel better. You might as well put a banner up (hey! It could be your signature!) that reads: "I'm desperately clinging to my formal education in hopes it will provide me with some kind of social worth. Love me for my superiority, worms. Please?"

Actually, I may make that my signature. I need to get sum edgukayshun furst.

Or were you not referring to formal education itself, and just calling everyone stupid for the hell of it?

It seems fairly polarized to me.

yes , I think so too.







What we value as a community :

As a community I think the cellar appreciates straight shooters and no bullshitters. You can be dumb or smart. Debate and disagree. Possess a sense of humility and humor and I value those who do not try to change all of the above by bringing in condensation so that people no longer are in possession of any of those characteristics but are arguing and putting people down indiscriminatly.


I am honored to be a part of a community where discretion is the better part of valor. I have a hard time with hypocrites I am trying to work on that. I just don't appreciate people being called psychobabblers and navel gazers whilst the person accusing uses those very same methods.

I think that you are being far too emotional about an objective remark , AlternateGray .

What do you mean "we" white man?
(After a weekend spent at the pool, I'm even farther from white.)

I never once said 'we' , Pie . For all you know , I may be as black as the ace of spades .

I like cereal. Is that a value?

We all value our internet connections.

We enjoy this form of communication and this way of being social.

We read well.

We think Buddug should fuck off.

I mean that I did not say 'we' in the context of colour , only in terms of language .

( As you can see , I managed to consult my lawyer between posts )

I think we've been called undereducated, racist, shallow and self-absorbed, but I'm not sure. I was too busy trying to cipher onto 5 + 9, rigging up the cross for tonight's burning, watching Springer and thinking about how handsome I am to pay attention to some other person's drivel.

Undertoad , I have just seen your message , and I have to admit that I feel slightly surprised .

Call it a preemptive headbutt. You're a bigot, and full of yourself. You won't be here for the long term. You're here to make enemies. Just leave now and save yourself a lot of time and us a lot of trouble.

I think UT just declared open season on Trolls! :shotgun:

Interesting .

Indeed...study us like the subjects beneath contempt we are!:rolleyes:

Don't be daft , Elspode .

Look...as a fellow human, I have to advise you of this much. You're coming off rather superior in your posts throughout the board. Most people here are going to find that to be darkly humorous at best, and offensive at worst.

You'll make no converts here, nor will you find opponents whom you will deem worthy of your apparently dizzying intellect. Now, if simple, heartfelt online buddies is what you want, you're in the right place. If you want snobbery and intellectual elitism, Oxford probably has a nice chat group or something, really.

I have been surprised at how few stand-up for personal property rights and personal accountability.

It reflects society generally though. You and I see the erosion of private property rights / personal responsibility as a serious breech of the dike of civilization but America has been training its citizens against our quaint notion for generations. It seems inevitable that democracy will succomb to the passions of the grasping and responsibility shifting.

The Cellar has more tolerance for free speech than many places, is that our universal value?

Either that or just plain love and tolerance of, well, speech in general. I mean really, would any of us really be here if we didnt all love talking?

How tolerant are we of those who are racists or anti-Semitic? That is tolerant as well... if we don't tolerate them we can't change their point of view. I know this because I have done it. They thrive on the feeling of being ostracized. I have recently seen a great deal of intolerance in this area a few times in here. Hating them just makes us what they are.

I value UT and Brianna's way of communicating.





That might do in real life. In real life we don't have many open mouths spouting their views almost simultaneously. This is like someones house. There is a certain standard the person that owns the house wants to keep. Do you want those people comming into your real life house and graffiti swasticas on your walls?


I am in a hurry so that wasn't probably a good example :)

I can only speak for me, but I don't come here to battle hate-mongering nitwits. Or to gently persuade them. There's a thousand different forums out there with people who are chock full of hateful and extremist views, if I should get a hankering to walk on the weird side. It's interesting to see other points of view, but this is not so much a public street as it is a... coffee shop with no coffee... and I don't know about you, but I'd be upset if a group of neo-nazi's or gang-bangers staked out my favorite hang-out place, not because they have no right to be there, but simply because there's a time and a place to have to deal with the ninnies of human nature. The cellar is not necessarily that place for most of us, I think. (I pretty much just took Skysidhe's point and rehashed it, didn't I...:( )
We could almost, in fact, change the cellar's tag-line to: "The Cellar. 99% Asshole Free." (Unless you're talking about funny assholes, of course; that's different. People pay to listen to funny assholes.)

I come here to deal with intelligent, reasonable, funny people, most of whom seem to have a good deal of common sense- and whose opinions differ from mine, often, but not to the point where I reject them out of hand (e.g., declarations of racial superiority of any sort... except the Jews. Israel rules.) Unless you're highly charismatic and articulate, you've got to have a little in common with someone, be able to build up the trust, before you start the brainwashing. :3eye:

Which reminds me, the membership drive for the Freemormons has started. Check your free will at the door, please.

No that was a great example. :idea: You made the little light bulb turn on over my head. It actually explains a lot, I think.

Why we tolerate diverse views - maybe not extreme views, but diverse.
As a culture we act, or come to act as a guest in UT's web site.

Why did the rowdy AGers upset the oldtimers - If someone crashes your dinner party and starts walking on the tables and insulting guest, you'd be upset too. I think someone actually made a comment along this line at the time.

Why is UT tired - He doesn't just host the cellar, he is the host (of the virtual dinner party). That's tiring.

So now I wonder if UT planned this or if it happened organically?

I suspect someone could make a doctoral dissertation out of analysing this and how the environment was created.

Who did I upset? And I beg your pardon, I am not rowdy. I don't think I've insulted anyone since I've been here... but I could be wrong.

AudioGalaxy, not AlternateGray.

For a second there, I felt important. In a naughty sort of way.

Heh, sorry 'bout that.

Y'know, I think someone did a swap on the original Buddug who showed up in this thread:
Is it just me, or has Buddug changed a bit? :crazy:

Maybe it's a tag team. :D

Weird. Just downright weird. The punctuation has stayed the same, but aside from that, has anyone savvy noticed a change in grammar or anything? Maybe it's her husband... Nah. :neutral:

What I said before is perfectly coherent with what I said more recently . I have simply gone into more detail . And I include myself in the pack . I am white , my converation is superficial , I no doubt think I am more educated than I am . I can be humorous and talented within those limited parameters .

What's wrong with that ?

Then we only tolerate those who agree with variations of what we believe in. Intolerant.

It is clear to me that everyone on this board shares a strong desire to be heard.

A large majority also wishes to be understood.

Some of those choose listening to others in their search to find willing ears, thereby reinforcing the hopes of the first group, and the cycle repeats.

yeah good one and.....

We value the ones who read and rarely post. We want to be those people too.Reading and not posting so much. I think maybe if those people would post we would sit back and read awhile instead.

The Cellar: Where we can all agree to disagree; yet, love is in the air.

Excerpt from the song Love Is In The Air:

"Love is in the air
In the rising of the sun
Love is in the air
When the day is nearly done

And I don't know if you're an illusion
Don't know if I see it true
But you're something that I must believe in
And you're there when I reach out for you"

:thankyou: all, NoBoxes.

I wish to ammend my earlier post. I stand by those remarks with respect to the part of the population of this board that takes part in the posting.

There is another part of the population of this board I had overlooked, not being a member myself; they are known as guests. Those lurkers are certainly part of the family, but demonstrate no desire to be heard here. I can only guess about the values they share. Perhaps they're shy, or lack confidence in their opinions, or maybe they agree so completely with the posts that nothing further need be said. Just guesses, all.

But I overlooked them before and now I include them. Why are they here, what values they hold, much less share can only be know in the past tense, when they post and tell us, thereby saying goodbye to the mysterious passivity of the land of the lurkers.

I think about twice as many people read as post, at this point. I agree that they are valuable and interesting and I wish we knew more about them.

Y'all should know that the high numbers of guests listed, are about twice as high as they should be, because at any given time we are being spidered by Yahoo! and Google, and those spiders look like guests to the system.

Yahoo! in particular seems to have no clue that the threads from 2002 do not contain any new information, so they just boldly re-spider the entire site a lot.

Now you're generalizing the Guests. I think some of them (a lot?) just have no interest in participating here as they wind up here after googling something or another and just read whatever it is that was returned as a search result.

I'd also wager a good guess that many guests come to see the IotD, that's what got me here.

Then, obviously, there are those that do come back (frequently?) and lurk. For those, yes, I agree with what you said, we cannot know what it is that is keeping them silent. Shyness, lack of confidence, agreeing completely, it may all very well be. They could also just not be interested in actively participating, they're happy with reading some bits here and there
and then going on to someplace else.

Boobs seem to be a common value here.

I come read without logging in until I find something I wish to respond to. Even while composing a post, I get logged out and have to log back in to post it.

So it often looks like I'm here as a guest...even when I'm here surfing...which is a LOT :cool: .

I try not to run my mouth when I have nothing much useful to say, so I'm not a high quantity poster (luckily for you all!).

Stormie

Oh, and I have boobs as well.

"It's all about the dowas."

Hi peeps! Was a lurker but now a poster.

Should the tolerant tolerate the intolerant? Of course not! That's how the nasty buggers get into power.

I follow Nature's dictum; variety, variety, variety! But just like in Nature, when something gets too big for its boots something else comes along and undoes its laces. Nothing like falling flat on your face to ruin pomposity and seriousness.

One life, use it or lose it. And allow others to do the same!

Hi, Tin Man! Welcome! (I have to be the Official Greeter as xobruce is probably still a-bed ;)

Dowas ROOOOOOOOOCK!!!