If you are close to the Chicago area and want to go to a Stargate Convention here is a chance for you.

Post in the "Win Tickets to Creation's Chicago Convention!" Thread.

You only have until August 15th to post and the Convention is August 22-24. and is unfortunately only open to US residents.

So go NOW.. post... I hope you win !!!!

I had the pleasure of a new experience last night. I got to be a guest on the GateWorld Podcast WOOT!!

That was so much fun!!! In the 5 or more years I have been coming to GateWorld I have been given some really great opportunities to "give back" and this is by far one of the top five :-).

Darren thinks I am a bit nuts I think LOL that I am so jazzed by the whole thing but I am :D
As a fan of the show as well as the site it is almost like getting a double boon. Not only do I get to talk about the show just like I do almost everyday online or on the phone or with folks around the coffee pot. BUT I get to do it kind of in person to folks ALL OVER THE WORLD HOW COOL IS THAT!!! [huge grin here}

So take a minute to download the August 5th Podcast and listen to the Daedalus Variations discussion and maybe some of my bits didn't end up on the editing room floor :D

If I did ok they may let me do it again...and if I sucked well.. its better to know now :D then think I will ever have a career in radio LOLOL

See ya on the flipside Gaterites :D

and don't forget..its your turn to Enlighten me..about Tame's style ;)

Over on the Forum we are trying to allow folks to talk about why they feel they can't be tolerant of other POVs as well as why they feel that others are intolerant of their own personal POV.

The only *catch* if you want to call it that is you have to talk completely from your own POV. You can't blame anyone else or say it is because so and so does this or that or *they* (whomever *they* are) make me do it. The reason there is this catch, for lack of a better word is because all too often folks are real quick to point out the flaws of others but never real quick to take a look at themselves and see how they are contributing to the problem.

So in this instance we are asking them to do just that.

I look at myself almost on a daily basis and try to determine what I can adjust or tweak to make that day for me be the best it can be. I have been pretty *real* with myself for years so for me this daily inventory no longer takes hours or even more than a few moments of introspection. I am lucky that I have learned to apply this to almost everything I face in life be it real or virtual.

Intolerance is something I know I deal with daily. In this case we are trying mightily to keep the topic just on the posters themselves and the SGA fandom. But I get amazed over the inability of some to read even the most basic of Topic directives. Or maybe they do read it and decide, "This doesn't apply to me because what I have to say is just so much more all encompassing"

So then they go on to post what truly is a note-worthy post. Then I have to delete it. Why? Because it has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Sure it addressed all the aspects of society's intolerance, it addressed why this fandom or that fandom is intolerant and it may even go on to give some great reasons why the Forum as whole is intolerant of each other. But what it failed to do was even once address the topic. Plain and simple. Sadly, if I leave that post then the thread gets derailed and all those folks that have posted ON topic and opened themselves up to deeper discussion have just been basically slapped in the face.

Is that overly dramatic? In a way yes (grin) but in a way no. For many it really is hard to not only look at themselves and recognize personal flaws, but to then state them in public or at least on a public forum. So to allow a member to come in and post something that in no way reflects the topic, in no way is reflective of their own personal issues with intolerance and goes on to point fingers at everyone with the exception of themselves is almost as disrespectful as the person who just disregarded the on topic rule.

We normally try to allow threads to ebb and flow in whatever direction they want to take. So if the topic began with "How do you like the new Space Buggy?". And has subsequently over time veered a bit to discussing the Space Buggy along with a varied amount of other Water Buggys we aren't going to jump into the thread and start deleting posts as off topic just because a member has a few posts talking about the latest in Water Buggys. Why? Because the thread tone itself and conversation has veered into that direction. So most of the time you will find that the longer a thread is around the more varied the discussion will get. the Main Topic will still be there in the center but it will have off-shoots of conversation that tie in with it but aren't always the focus.

Once in a great while though we will be staunch about a thread especially in the beginning days or infancy of the thread. Whenever that occurs you will see a continued Moderator presence as well as a continued re-direction back onto the topic. Almost a really bad case of Micro Managing as it were. We also try to be very clear in the opening post that this will be a heavily Moderated thread.

This has been the case with the Intolerance thread. It has been stated it will be heavily Moderated and it has. It has been stated that posts veering off topic will be deleted and they are.

yet folks still cry "Foul, evil doer, you are stifling my opinion". I have to laugh at that. Why do I laugh you ask? Because when folks feel the need to post something that they are well aware it is off the topic and yet they do it anyway. It is a form of intolerance as well. It is being intolerant of the topic itself. Its making the statement that No one can tell you what to do. You won't be bound by any stinkin rules. :-). It is forcing others to either be viewed as tolerant of your rule breaking or intolerant of your opinion. It just depends on the spin you want to put on it and the amount of arrogance you have over your own posts.

Most of the time the posts I have to delete are really awesome posts, they just aren't on topic. So I actually feel sad that the person spent all the time they did on it and it won't be seen. With some I have gone so far as to PM them and say, I have a copy of it and while it is not On topic here it may be elsewhere and you should search the forum and post it.

Ya know what is funny, I have never been responded to with a PM saying Oh ok cool I will move my post over there. So I have to wonder what was their motivation in writing it in the first place. Because on a Forum as big as ours there is always bound to be threads where most everything applies :-). However, since I don't profess to be a mind reader I will not ascribe any motives to them ... but as I said I really do wonder sometimes.

Since I have had this blog I have made several entries regarding intolerance overall so I really have no need to wax poetic on the subject again. This is more just me rambling for once about folks, myself and letting you find your conclusions in the end. I don't really have some grand Enlightenment this time around.
Or if I did, it might be more to the folks who can't seem to get over themselves and their non-ability to look at themselves for a change. I do believe it is the epitome of arrogance and self absorption to think you are smarter than everyone around you and you MUST educate them at every turn. I do believe folks are at their most egotistical when trying to explain to another why their opinion is so much more *righter* than everyone else's. I do not believe that academic intelligence equals overall intelligence. Some of the most intelligent people I have encountered never even went to college.

Being condescending, acting superior and coming off sounding like a pompous git are all things that come to my mind as I read some of the posts around the Forum trying to *educate* the lesser masses. Give me a *real* person posting something over a Pompous Boar any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I learned way back in Kindergarten that we are all the same, no one is better than me and no one is worse. We are all just different :-) and I like that just fine :-)

see ya on the flipside gaterites ...............

Blogs are the author's personal space and represent solely the views of the author, and not necessary those of GateWorld.net and its owner. Entries are not edited or reviewed by GateWorld before publication.