How karma at MobileRead works

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by NatCh

I dunno. The play didn't seem at all like a compilation of verse. I think it's more likely that the playwright had come in contact with the title (possibly indirectly) and liked it, so he used it.

I'm not sure I'd really 'recommend' the play, per se. It was about a group of actors who were trying to tell what amounts to a basic boy-meets-girl-etc. type of story, but the playwright (yes this was a character in the play, he sat in the audience) kept changing things. The play started as a greek tragedy, changed to something quasi-Shakespearian (complete with an advertising ditty to the tune of "Greensleeves"), then morphed into a plain old present-day cocktail party type venue, then moved on to something modern-interpretive, and finally ended up with one character, alone (it increasingly lost characters as it moved from phase to phase), on the stage in a shrinking spotlight trying desperately, and unsuccessfully to somehow make the playwright happy so she wouldn't be left alone in the dark.

The stage manager and director (my part) were characters too, 'til they quit the show in frustration (the mercury line was one of the director's), but they were up on the stage. There was one scene where the actors run amok through the audience pretending to stab audience members with their rolled up scripts ... I think it was the transition between the Greek and Shakespearian variants.

Thinking back on it, it may have been a comment on the evolution of theater and a prediction of what the author saw as a possible eventual outcome of that pattern. Or it might have been a comment on the amount of power writers (should?) have over productions. Or the guy could have been writing it on a bet ... while drunk.

hmm... sounds strange, definitely interesting ! the description reminds me a little bit of "Six characters in search of an author" by Pirandello, if it's anything like that it's worth reading...

On the emotifaction issue, I tend to try to write as much nuance into my posts as I can, but I make liberal use of the smilies to reinforce that. I figure I'd rather be understood, and I don't always have an hour to devote to a single post. I also like to use them to indulge in my dry, twisted humor, while still communicating clearly that I'm joking.

Besides, I kinda like the little guys.

personally, i was refractory to smilies for a long long time, they seemed superfluous and lazy to me, for illiterate people who didn't know how to write. then one day i got into an actual *fight* with a guy i was working with, because i had made an unusually laconic reply to one of his mails (not even a joke that wasn't obvious : a serious reply) and he had interpreted it badly. while i was trying to straighten everything out, he said to me, "and you didn't even put ONE SINGLE smiley !!" and this guy was an otherwise intelligent and litterate person... (if a bit oversensitive !)

since then, i use them, especially on forums where people don't know me personally.

i have to say though (for once, not being silly at all), that it is a real pleasure to read this forum, where most of the people are unusually articulate and eloquent... the absurd posts are ironically among the best examples of this. every time i see someone use a polysyllabic word i get a little thrill, having also seen forums where no word had more than 3 letters because even if it did the people would write in telephone sms code... it makes a nice change from the rest of teh interwebz ! (for good measure !)

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i have to say though (for once, not being silly at all), that it is a real pleasure to read this forum, where most of the people are unusually articulate and eloquent... the absurd posts are ironically among the best examples of this. every time i see someone use a polysyllabic word i get a little thrill, having also seen forums where no word had more than 3 letters because even if it did the people would write in telephone sms code... it makes a nice change from the rest of teh interwebz ! (for good measure !)

That's possibly my favorite aspect of MobileRead: the fact that it isn't a viper-pit like so many (read: this is the only one I've ever seen) forums out there. It's something I value highly, and defend and promote energetically. It's also the real reason I use smilies, it helps avoid inadvertent offense, given or taken.

The only thing sadder and more pathetic than a flame war, is one that nobody actually starts, but rather just sorta happens. (sigh)

[Cthulhu]

Interesting how pointing out that sometimes people can be a tad insensitive or overly ironic can unleash such massive torrents of vitriol.

While arguing for clarity in one's posts, I have single-handedly called forth from the depths unmitigated meanness.

Yowza.

No person stoops so low as when they lower themselves to the ad hominem attack.

And in a thread about Karma, no less.

In other news, some fools with the self-confidence level of unnamed Mobile Read members have begun to in "Giga-Yachts"

[RWood]

Now I rather favor the dancing and jumping little guys ...



Or then again:



I could go on, but that would be

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

... some fools with the self-confidence level of unnamed Mobile Read ....

Hey! Who you calling "self-confident?"

If it's me: I much prefer the term "arrogant" due to its greater accuracy. Of course, you understand that's only because "hubris" doesn't have an adjective form.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Hey! Who you calling "self-confident?"

If it's me: I much prefer the term "arrogant" due to its greater accuracy. Of course, you understand that's only because "hubris" doesn't have an adjective form.

Yes it does: "hubristic". Also an adverbial form, should you ever find yourself wanting to say that someone is writing hubristically .

I find it interesting that "hubris" has come to mean "unwarranted pride" or "arrogance" in English. The original Greek word meant "violence".

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes it does: "hubristic". Also an adverbial form, should you ever find yourself wanting to say that someone is writing hubristically .

I find it interesting that "hubris" has come to mean "unwarranted pride" or "arrogance" in English. The original Greek word meant "violence".

Come to MobileRead ; expand your vocabulary.

[Cthulhu]

@ Harry: Most of the more prideful folk in life spawn violence, either by the hubristic to make themselves feel secure (thinking of a letter 'twixt V & X) or those around said hubrists.

on the subject of overcompensation,
@ Natch: pardon my attempt at wit. Meant to imply that people with low self-esteem often lash out at others, and those self-same people often attempt to console themselves/fool others with extravagant purchases and ludicrous belongings. Hence, people with so much money they commission ugly boats with private jungles aboard or they re-purpose old destroyers as nautical playthings.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

on the subject of overcompensation,
@ Natch: pardon my attempt at wit. Meant to imply that people with low self-esteem often lash out at others, and those self-same people often attempt to console themselves/fool others with extravagant purchases and ludicrous belongings. Hence, people with so much money they commission ugly boats with private jungles aboard or they re-purpose old destroyers as nautical playthings.

Oh! Now I get it: People with more dollars than sense?

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes it does: "hubristic". Also an adverbial form, should you ever find yourself wanting to say that someone is writing hubristically .

I find it interesting that "hubris" has come to mean "unwarranted pride" or "arrogance" in English. The original Greek word meant "violence".

Thank you! Now I know what I am: I am hubristic.

Except I thought it meant "the arrogance of pride," guess that's what I get for getting my definitions from novels.

[desertgrandma]

How I got all that Karma.....not complaining, mind you, I can use all I can get. Heck, too bad we can't give REAL positive Karma to people we see on the street.......thanks to those of you who have 'tapped' me....

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

How I got all that Karma.....not complaining, mind you, I can use all I can get. Heck, too bad we can't give REAL positive Karma to people we see on the street.......thanks to those of you who have 'tapped' me....

ooh, i would love to have a real life karma stick... of course, for real life i would really need to have negative karma capabilities as well... i've got a whole list of people i would use that on. bill gates is at the top, my landlord is not far behind.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

How I got all that Karma.....not complaining, mind you, I can use all I can get. Heck, too bad we can't give REAL positive Karma to people we see on the street.......thanks to those of you who have 'tapped' me....

Because there are a bunch of people who have been throwing karma around willy-nilly lately. They've basically made the karma number meaningless.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Because there are a bunch of people who have been throwing karma around willy-nilly lately. They've basically made the karma number meaningless.

I have to agree. karma swapping has just ruined it for all those who have been helping others and posting well made eBooks.

If you karma swappers want to put things right, please PM the moderators and let us know that you are a karma swapper so we can put your karma right so others who actually deserve it can enjoy the benefit of a job well done.

[vivaldirules]

Yes, report yourselves, you scoundrels! How dare you click a button that sends a tiny bit of joy (and absolutely nothing else) to someone for reasons that only you can say! Doing so makes it impossible for those who want to count their thank you's to compare themselves with the masses. How could you be so thoughtless? I'll go set up the stocks right now so we can flog a few before sunset, shall we?

By the way, please reset my karma to zero and if it should ever rise, I'd be very pleased if you would reset it again. Better yet, just remove it. I'd be very happy to simply express or receive thanks in posts and PMs.