By the way. I do think that part of this is caused by the old frustration leads to aggession theory. If only the Rockets would start playing ball or make a big splash during the offseason.
Manifestos? Silly? Interesting. See spot run. Better? " Men that know nothing talk about everything." Hell, that could even be true. It is possible that the greatest hitter of all time wasn't Williams or Ruth, but some guy on a farm in Idaho who prefered fly-fishing. Abstract suppostion is interesting, but at the end of the day plebian wits like myself are left admiring the minds of other simpletons like Shakespeare, DeVinci, and Newton who were constrained by the worldy desire to actually account for their arguments in a temporal sense rather than prove little but remain convinced of their own superiority.
No, it just annoys me that your posts are too damn long - to make a long story short. I have tried to hint that for a while without addressing you personally, but I guess it is clearer just to say it. The first thing they taught us in law school was to NOT write novels, but rather to try and get to the point. Maybe that is why I am easily irritated when I see someone getting caught up being too enamored with his own writing. I worked in the academic field myself and had to correct exams and when you read the 50th exam and have someone who just rambles on and on, you will know what I mean. I also studied political science (bachelor equivalent) and there it was a lot worse, people would just not stop rambling without getting to the damn point. I don't think my responses to anything you posted were consistently negative, though, at least that was not my intention. It is entirely up to you how you write your posts, I am just making you aware of the fact that I (and some others) can just not read it all, and therefore the probability that the points you are trying to make will not be addressed increases. Regarding the war, I have a hard time making up my mind what is right or wrong. I was rather undecided before the war, but now I think the US have to go through with it and gut it out in Iraq, even though I feel it will come at a steep price and the loss of many more people who were thrust into that situation. And I absolutely agree with glynch that I want either a big splash or the season to start already .
1) Have marked many a paper. Have even written some, and the opinion you have of my writing was not reflected by those who read them. 2) Will have to agree to disagree, I suppose. I feel that the length of my posts was also reflected in their substance and quality, aside from the odd drunken post. It does interest me that you have made this evaluation of my posting while admitedly skipping most of them, but I suspect that you would have come to the same conclusion irrespective of what posts you read.
The BBS is like a Maxim magazine--two or three sentences then its on to a new article- just get to the point and everyone will be happy.
I’m going to defend Macbeth’s long windedness. It seems to be a tendency of us Canadians on this board going back to the days of GiveYourHeadAShake. I think it may come from an appreciation of the need for context. (This could be a product of our relatively more multi-cultural (rather than melting pot) values, but in truth I’m not sure why this seems to be a characteristically Canadian thing.) Context defines the meaning and so providing a robust examination of the context a point is made in is an effective and considerate way to make an argument. How often have you seen someone respond to one of Macbeth’s posts by saying, “there’s nothing I can add to that.” Clearly he has presented a well thought out and complete argument in the mind of the responder. The penalty for doing this is that it takes a lot longer to wade through than some of the other arguments presented here, like bamaslammer’s for example. There is a practical tradeoff, of course, but I appreciate the effort and attention Macbeth pays to making a well thought out and presented argument.
Since it is easier to grade based on quantity than on quality, many times people will give higher grades and more favorable comments for more quantity, especially if they are not very good themselves, which I think is wrong (in addition, my writing style and length of my contribution on a BBS tends to be different than in an academic essay)... Besides, you do obviously have writing skills, that is not what I am disputing at all. I am just asserting that your posts are often unstructured and not getting to the point (you say yourself that they are merely the record of your thoughts at the time of writing, and in my opinion this clearly shows) - and yes, I have probably read most of them, that is why their length annoys me. People are polite, so a lot of them will not tell you what I just told you, even if they think so - and you will surely have noticed who were the ones who applauded the long posts and who were the ones who did not. As I said, it is meant as constructive criticism and not as a personal attack. I have gotten to know you as one of the nice guys in chat and on the bbs, so I have no reason to attack you. If you think it is great to write really long posts with the same style you have been using, up to you. Last post by me on this .
A message board is not a class in college, and it's not a Journal or Treatise, so the same standard of quality does not prevail. Most want bite size thoughts, snacks not 7 course meals. Readers naturally like to have the page broken up into manageable pieces, not too difficult to follow. They want something they can glance at and get in a few jumps of the eye. Breaks help that. Short sentences help that. Long paragraphs with few breaks and byzantine points most often result in readers scrolling to the next post. When in doubt, cut some out. We usually say too much, not too little. I can't speak for anyone else, but I am unlikely to read a post which is margin to margin and fills the screen.
Wait I missed this one...if the Rockets kick ass in the post-season we'll all be having BBS keggers in the street regardless of political affiliation. That my friends is what it is all about.
1) I am not going to get into too much detail, as this is already bordering on the absurd, but let's just say that my academic responses could hardly be accounted for by a desire to award quantity over quality. 2) Again, not my experience. I don't think that politeness accounts for the strongly positive responses my posts have received in the past...I'm not talking about fairly insignificant stuff like the Best Poster votes, I mean actual posted responses, or posters I don't know E-Mailing me just to complement a post. Maybe my memory is being selective, but I don't think so. It actually susrpises me to have to defend my posting in here. I had thought that I was generally considered quite a good poster and effective debater, and I thought that most everyone understood the motivation for the length wasn't an ego trip, but rather an effort to be responsive and respectfull about the issues at hand. I am not blowing my own horn here, merely responding to the point made that my posts are rambling, incoherent excercises in listening to myself post. I recognized the intent behind the thread you started a while back about poster effort and motivation at the time, but I think that you have to admit that the responses did not reflect your opinion.
You really are being silly MacBeth. At first I thought that TJ, xxx, Smeggy and rimbaud could help in the manner of straight eye for a queer guy. This isn't the case. Admittedly, "you're in academia and schtuff", but even academics (most of them that I know actually) can get carried away in their love for their own thoughts (grizzled, in a way, was trying to point this out to me a few mos ago). Don't take SJC's comments so personally! Have I read any of MacBeth's work? Yes, and I've agreed with the author several times. Have I ever skipped over your posts? Certainly (we all skip over things just based on time, the fact that heb is an ass, etc. etc.). Try to stop taking yourself so seriously. You are on a rah rah site. Certainly there are websites where middle aged liberal arts professors such as yourself can make up stuff re: ev psych in Shakespeare. rah rah! ps, I'm off to speak to the grad school advisor tomorrow morning re: my application to schools in the UK. Do you think that you could 'dun tell me about' before I speak with her? I'd hate to come across as being sophomoric or anything.
to debate about debating is truly profound... in all honesty, this is one of the most intriguing threads to come around in a long time. i wanna see where this goes, because right now, i'm doing a lot of this: at least it ain't politics.
I agree with this and would like to point out that when brevity is called for, MacBeth is generally very good at practicing it. When an explanation is necessary, he usually provides it. Keep it up, MacBeth, I still read the vast majority of your "manifestos."
