Good Discussions

With other people?

Yeah, but pretty much offline. Spent a few weeks recently in a remote Scottish village and had some great chats with some guy from the Dounreay nuclear plant, and his wife. Everything from vampires, Hibs violence and electric guitars to numerology, weightlifting and the lockdowns.

not often but occasionally, with two friends in particular (separately).

one of the best conversations I've ever had was with a stranger on a there-hour Amtrak ride. I rarely talk with strangers on long train rides, usually it's a few minutes of small talk at most, but this was really wide-ranging, interesting and engrossing. almost felt as if I was in a low-budget indie film set on location.

used to

conversations are over, on here and everywhere else. they dont allow for a fast enough accumulation of likes

last time i was in the pub i was drinking a special Jamesons i might try and get a bottle for Christmas.
it had a black label.

Better than Bushmills!

A few old friends who aren’t woke twitterati tiraders are always up for a chill outdoors and a chat. Get a fire pit going, steaks on, tinctures dosed. Only about 8 times a years so we try and make them count. Old tripping crew, burned out from Covid care, the edges are fraying

The older you get the harder it all becomes

1/2 way down to the tracks in piccadilly circus station, the landing between escalators - the point where our journeys diverge, stuck there nattering with @rewch for hours, we put the world to rights

luka said:

conversations are over, on here and everywhere else. they dont allow for a fast enough accumulation of likes

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I did warn against this but nobody listened. Coming back after my break I notice this place does feel even more chat room like and cliquey

one of the most interesting from an affective perspective isn't it. the best example of creating something out of nothing at all, and everyone feeling totally different afterwards. very much an illustration of the assemblage bit from D&G, that between the conversational participants and the environment and whatever stimulants you've got in you, together you are a machine that generates affect.

good conversational partners are few and far between. it takes time. obviously quite apart from getting old, we're in a phase culturally where for various reasons there is less dead time sitting around in rooms or walking around, which is one of the situations where these things tend to develop. phones are one thing, and the mass tendency to stay in on the internet rather than going out is another. but another is the constant and intense push to be doing specific things even for fun, to be going to the christmas market, to be eating a new food at a restaurant, to be going to this bar, to be going to a gig, to be going to yoga, to be going to pottery class, to be on a date with someone from an app, etc.

also possibly people are being deskilled in this respect. which is not to say that there was ever a period where everyone was good at talking. but it is noticeable how you can see people's ability to chat, and in particular be funny, wane over time. or get better if they've been doing something which involves spending a long time around other people.

there is a new thing as well which does shut things down a bit, which is that there is constantly the possibility of someone jumping down your throat with some argument or line that they've seen on twitter or listened to on a podcast, which is a possibly overall good addition to the world, but which does mean that on some things saying anything much is a bit too risky to bother.

My advice for sufi to save forum:

1. Disable reactions
2. Put a lower limit on posts to at least 50 words
3. Ban GIFs
4. Ban links without comment
5. Limit thirdform to one post a week
6. Ban shiels after 8pm
7. Impose an elimination poll / popularity contest where we vote off the worst poster for the next month

Why does it make you sad woops? Tell me (using 50 words or more)

why disable reactions only to implement a more draconian form of bullying and exclusion, why encourage @thirdform to amalgamate all his posts for the day into an @IdleRich style monsterpost with 20 youtube vids attached, why deprive us of your most entertaining post window after 8 and also, at least two of your posts in this very thread are well under 50 words and one is a link without comment,