YES WE ARE ALL CONTRIBUTING TO YOUR SALARY BY COMING HERE AND CLICKING ON SHIT SO DON'T GET TOO HIGH-HORSE

was that tragic?

But, seriously, why are only men called abusive names and women are exempt?

As opposed to Mr. Poe, who always is an ignorant slut ... (SNL reference)

Put your big-kid pants on and get over it.

COMMENT DELETED - OFF-TOPIC

We'd rather not moderate your comments, but off-topic, gratuitously inflammatory, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate remarks may be removed, and repeat offenders may be banned from commenting. We never censor comments based on ideology. Thanks to all who add to the conversation on Slog.

The literal soapbox has been replaced by a metaphorical one but it's ability to project the insecurities of ignorant people remains unchanged. The scale is just larger.

In conclusion, comments should be removed from Slog=completely. Stranger staffers cannot handle the burden of comments any longer, for they are all self-conscious "professional" wimps.

,.|..

But what do I know. I'm apparently on the secret persona non grata list that the Stranger staff keeps and most of my comments are now ignored. Will the next step be the "ecce homo" treatment where my comments are removed? Will I have to resort to sock puppetry? Am I too annoying, or not annoying enough?

Just as some Slog writers and some Slog posts annoy the fuck out of some of commenters (hello), some commenters and some comments annoy Slog writers. Fair's fair, kids.

Signed,
Mr. Poe's #2 Jew

Was it Ezell's Chicken?, because I gotta tell you, after hearing it's praises sung here for so long I finally took my life into my own hands and dodged the bullets to try my first taste of Ezell's a few weeks ago, and it left me unimpressed... (Certainly not any better than the chicken at the City Market used to be back in the day...)

So Paul Allen is buying The Stranger?

I really enjoy the smart (and smartly scathing) comments, and I always appreciate the links to things I've missed or might be interested in. All in all, I've learned a lot from some of our commenters.

Now, that is not to say that I don't find some of the tropes down here in comment-land to be tedious—even tragically boring at times. But hey, sounds like you all find us to be tragically boring at times, too. Like the man said: Fair's fair.

Which is to say that I look forward to many more workday hours of alternately entertaining, infuriating, and boring each other.

I like it, but I don't think it's an apt comparison.

If we register, will we be able to choose avatars? Please say yes.

At least it's not as bad as what passes for comments on neocon-central at the PI and Times ...

Oh, really? What changed between Super Tuesday and now?

@28 Next up, the tragedy of the commoners.

polls will be less prone to abuse.

spam is limited.

opportunities for commenters to network amongst themselves arise (personal messaging, being able to get an RSS feed of ecce homo, etc.)

you could also go one step further, and let the users decide what posts appear on the front page. digg style thumbs up thumbs down. or personal browsing preferences, so I can "mute" certain sloggers.

not to mention it would give you actual data that you could use to make fact-base decisions. when you realize how many people "mute" erica, for example, you might get around to shipping her back to the weekly.

and avatars are the shit. really obnoxious and seizure-inducing animated ones.

But to be on topic: yay, user registration! If someone takes my name before me I'm cracking skulls.

Zomgpersonalinformationcutit.

SLOG without comments would be like Will in Seattle without a Fleshlite.

We should have an opt-in period for logins so the "real" people get them. With challenge ability.

Fleshlite ... that's one of those perv things, right?

But how is registering going to help the rudeness problem?
I'm also pro avatar, but the default avatar should not be an androgynous silhouette. I hate those.

*unlike the more common hipster practice of appropriating some phrase in a completely meaningless way, as in Marc Ribot's smug announcement of his next song, "nature abhors a vacuum cleaner", which was my first "this is a trend and I hate it" moment for that particular trend, and that was something like 20 YEARS ago. So watch it people. You can do this stuff, but "Tragedy of the Comments" is your role model - it has to fit.

A repeat log-in screen would pretty much end it for me.

I love you all.

I even love those among you that sometimes piss me off, because either:

a) I meet you at Slog Happy and you are nice, well-adjusted and entertaining people, or

b) I never have to deal with you in person.

first tragedy:A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.

this implies a heroic main character with a flaw, weakness, etc.
I don't think slog qualifies as heroic and lets not talk about flaws.

second the tragedy of the commons is about too much access to a finite resource, not about misuse of an infinite resource.

What is sad and pathetic is the level of discourse in the comments. but tragedy, no.

except you poptart. I like your comments too. and a few others.

Music swells "Que sera sera!"

@ PopTart.... Keep on Truckin'. I'd buy ya a drink or three at the next Slog Happy if I didn't live halfway across the country.

The amount of time anyone can spend reading a thread is finite. If you allow an infinite number of people to write useless nonsense in a thread, they use up the limited time you can spend searching a thread for something of value.

Your definition of tragedy needs to include when everyone has good or harmless intentions but the circumstances make a terrible outcome inevitable, even though no one person can be said to have wanted to cause it. Even somebody posting one thoughtless comment isn't evil; it's not their fault exactly that a hundred others do the same thing.

So it is a tragedy of the commons.

b]you say "the tragedy of the commons is about too much access to a finite resource, not about misuse of an infinite resource."

Yeah it's not an exact fit, but similar enough - too much freedom, abuse of freedom, pain caused, so freedom gets taken away.

I'm not feeling the pain myself. Was it the sexist stuff that made people want to clamp down? Man up, people! [rimshot!]