(Just to make it clear before we start, This Is From Glenn. I’d use the blink tag to say so, but that’s just so Mosaic 1.0.)
Having come to the conclusion that no one here is paying any attention to a certain individual’s commentary because of his abusive and abrasive style, and noting that it’s a real pain scrolling past all of his frequent posts, they’d best be shortened a bit.
So I yanked all the vowels. This makes his comments significantly shorter while making them only slightly less incomprehensible.
Does this mean it’s now forbidden to have arguments in PeterDavid.net’s comment threads? Not at all. Arguments are fine, including vigorous ones, as long as you maintain a civil tone. Does that mean you can get away with saying anything here, as long as you say it well enough? Pretty much.
If a case can be made by X-Ray that his posts should be restored, I’ll consider it. In the meantime, he can post anything except the letters a, e, i, o, and u.
Special thanks to Teresa Nielsen Hayden for the inspiration.
• 
Hey, know who’s cool? Jimmy Carter!
Can you make so his ys come and go?
Teresa is the inspiration for so many things, isn’t she? 🙂
This was an idea whose time had come long ago, in my opinion. Anyone care to join me in a rousing chorus of BSH SCKS?
(snicker)
You forgot “Sometimes Y”.
This… is inspired. Reminds me of an episode of Yu Yu Hakusho where a game was played with letters. Every three minutes, the players would be forced to avoid using another letter, beginning with Z. Got down to the point where neither could talk… and the hero made his opponent laugh, winning the game. Brilliant.
So, I’d suggest that if X-Ray continues to offend, you take away his remaining letters one by one. …Starting with Z.
Glenn: That’s the funniest thing I’ve read this morning (keep in mind, of course, I just got out of bed about eight minutes ago, but that is neither here nor there).
I don’t know man….makes his posts far more fun to read….I couldn’t be bothered before but now they are so funny….
Consonants rule….vowels drool.
Tom Dakers
Tom: Y r s r ght.
Am I the only one here who believes that flames should peter out in a vaccum? Is it really so difficult to refrain from responding to someone?
I agree with Jon — all this is going to do is fuel his fire even more. And, honestly, if you’re going to do this, why not just ban him while you’re at it? You’re already screwing around with his “freedom of speech.”
If someone is yelling and screaming at customers in a store, the store owner has the right *and the obligation* to toss them out.
It serves two purposes for Glenn, from my perspective.
1) It’s funny.
2) By removing all the vowels, he makes it difficult for people like me (who simply have no self control) to respond to the guy.
Hmmmm, is it just me, or does it appear that he makes more sense now…?
I just went back and read X-Ray’s comments from PAD’s last post – hilarious! I just have this mental image of him actually talking that way. It certainly makes him less annoying and more entertaining.
Sorry, forgot another point:
3) Gives the site sort of a Fifth Dimension, Mr. Mxyzptlk kind of feel.
OK, so, as most know I’ve been stumping for X-Ray’s “right’ (vs. privledge, something I still haven’t been able decided) to post his opinions.
Having said that, this is the funniest form of censorship ever! Huzzah!
Now if only we could do something about those annoying consonants…
Out of curiousity, since you make it clear this is from you, and not PAD…was this your decision?
I think X-Ray is/was a douchebag, but this is also kinda childish and lame.
Being the techno-geek I am I was curious whether this script is tied to name, a combination of name/email address, or IP address.
I had no idea such a thing was possible. The first I heard of it was when I came downstairs this morning and Kath told me.
Guys, he’s called “the webmaster” for a reason.
PAD
Ignoring completely how hilarious this is, it’s wrong. It’s too creative to be a Byrne site thing, but it has an equal quality of closemindedness.
Granted, this IS PAD’s site, and he can certainly do as he pleases with it, but I expect more from him (and those who represent him). Or maybe you should change the site to “The Official Site of Peter David, his companion liberals, and conservatives who don’t have an opinion”.
I can see banning him if he’s being rude and anti-social, but I see no reason to be so disrespectful. Even if you feel he is being disrespectful I don’t think lowering yourself to a similiar level (no matter how creatively) is the right choice.
And I’d say the same thing if he in question were a liberal on a conservative site.
Later,
Chip
“Gives the site sort of a Fifth Dimension, Mr. Mxyzptlk kind of feel.”
That’s it! We somehow get him to say “Yrx,” and he disappears! At least for 90 days…
Y0v kn0w, @ cl3v3r p3rs0n c0vld flnd @ w@y @r0Vnd thls…
Chip: You must be new. Otherwise you’d be familiar with a number of conservatives who DO frequently disagree with PAD. The difference is that they do so in a reasoned and often respectful manner. X-Ray is a troll, plain and simple.
BTW, just read the last thread. Pure poetic justice.
-Rex Hondo-
Idiots were meant to be ignored.
Or maybe you should change the site to “The Official Site of Peter David, his companion liberals, and conservatives who don’t have an opinion”.
And we’ll nickname you “The Poster Without a Clue”.
Go look up some internet definitions of the word ‘troll’. And then, after ward, you can go read some of the drivel from said troll, and decide for yourself if you need to issue a retraction.
Hats off to Glenn! This is just completly hilarious.
Idiots were meant to be ignored.
And willful idiots were meant to be humilated.
I’m with Chip. It’s annoying and childish. Completely within your rights as webmaster, of course, but ignoring him was easier when his posts didn’t stand out so much.
And I see that arguments are encouraged as long as civil tones are used. Does that include responses to those who are uncivil or do they become fair game to call “idiots” “stupid puppies” .etc?
Just curious.
And I see that arguments are encouraged as long as civil tones are used. Does that include responses to those who are uncivil or do they become fair game to call “idiots” “stupid puppies” .etc?
I’d say if you let an idiot drag you down to their level (where they’ll beat you with experience), then yes. you become fair game.
A civil response is not all that hard to muster. If somebody gets under my skin, I’d like to think I’d have the maturity to choose to ignore it. If, however, I lack that maturity and turn around and resort to insults and name-calling, then I’m no better than idiot #1 and I deserve what I get.
Insults, non-constructive criticism, personal attacks, etc do nothing but detract from the overall worth of this (or any) forum. I don’t think anybody gets a “free pass”.
And I see that arguments are encouraged as long as civil tones are used. Does that include responses to those who are uncivil or do they become fair game to call “idiots” “stupid puppies” .etc?
I’d say if you let an idiot drag you down to their level (where they’ll beat you with experience), then yes. you become fair game.
A civil response is not all that hard to muster. If somebody gets under my skin, I’d like to think I’d have the maturity to choose to ignore it. If, however, I lack that maturity and turn around and resort to insults and name-calling, then I’m no better than idiot #1 and I deserve what I get.
Insults, non-constructive criticism, personal attacks, etc do nothing but detract from the overall worth of this (or any) forum. I don’t think anybody gets a “free pass”.
idiots who double post, of course, should be seen as technological “have-nots” and receive pity from the rest of the group 🙂
And I see that arguments are encouraged as long as civil tones are used. Does that include responses to those who are uncivil or do they become fair game to call “idiots” “stupid puppies” .etc?
What goes around comes around; golden rule, etc.
“Idiots were meant to be ignored.”
And people keep saying they’re going to ignore him…and yet they keep responding to him. They respond to a guy who repeatedly and joyfully–as someone else said–pìššëš on the living room rug, while simultaneously claiming he doesn’t care if he’s banned or not. He is clearly someone who has no true appreciation for consideration, for courtesies, or for free speech. Glenn’s treating him accordingly.
And if people really want to break the habit of responding to him, rather than just saying it, Glenn’s stunt makes it a little easier.
PAD
Glenn – I tried posting on the previous thread, and keep getting an “internal servwer error” message.
Just ban him already. The vowel thing comes off as kind of childish, like he’s important enough to waste time embarassing him, and even more annoying.
I dont know why some of you still have this attitude of “This is childish” or “you shouldn’t Ban him”, I mean, havn’t you been paying attention? Personally, since I know this is PAD’s website, I feel he should have the power to ban or disem-vowel anyone who presents anything that come across as attacking him. And some people here just keep responding to this kid, making him post more. dont feed the Trolls, and to be perfectly honest, messing up his posts and making them unreadable is the best way to keep people from responding to his posts. Screw him!
Glenn, my hat is off to you. Truly appropriate way to handle the situation, IMO. And one other thing: thanks for managing this zany site so well. Just know that it isn’t as unappreciated a job as you might think.
Chris
Hahahahaha! Ingenious! It’s the online equivalent of putting a muzzle on him!
Nice 🙂
StaR
I want this letter to serve as an oasis of sanity in Mr. Peter A. David’s desert of foolishness. Let’s review the errors in Mr. David’s statements in order. First, I would very much like to see Mr. David crawl back under the rock he slithered out from. His subordinates have discounted their brain as a useless organ. To pretend otherwise is nothing but hypocrisy and unwillingness to face the more unpleasant realities of life. He pompously claims that his teachings are our final line of defense against tyrrany. That sort of nonsense impresses many people, unfortunately. As someone who enjoys brandishing words like “ultramicrochemistry” and “phenolsulphonephthalein” as a smoke screen to hide his endeavors’ inherent paradoxes, Mr. David must indubitably be at a loss when someone presents a logical counterargument to his inhumane deeds.
There are two classes of people in this world: decent, honest folks like you and me and appalling dunderheads like him. I agree that given the public appetite for more accountability, nothing makes my blood boil more than seeing him convince dangerous conspiracy theorists that there is absolutely nothing they can do to better their lot in life besides joining him. But I also think that I claim that I, not being one of the many prissy sewer rats of this world, am not content to watch my liberties slip away even as I write this letter. My views, of course, are not the issue here. The issue is that in public, he vehemently inveighs against corruption and sin. But when nobody’s looking, he never fails to make today’s oppressiveness look like grade-school work compared to what he has planned for the future. As you can see, every time Mr. David tries, he gets increasingly successful in his attempts to create anomie. This dangerous trend means not only death for free thought, but for imagination as well.
Despite his evident lack of grounding in what he’s talking about, when I was younger, I wanted to give our young people the values that will inspire them to reveal the constant tension between centripetal and centrifugal forces of dialogized heteroglossia resulting from his apologues. I still want to do that, but now I realize that he claims that the sun rises just for him. Well, I beg to differ. Fortunately, most people understand that we need to look beyond the most immediate and visible problems with Mr. David. We need to look at what is behind these problems and understand that in these days of political correctness and the changing of how history is taught in schools to fulfill a particular agenda, Mr. David contends that the Earth is flat. Excuse me, but where exactly did this little factoid come from? Someone needs to drive off and disperse the addlepated Peter A. David clones who beat plowshares into swords. Who’s going to do it? Mr. David? I think not.
It must be pointed out over and over again to his trucklers and, in a broader sense, to contemptible pseudo-intellectuals that there’s something fishy about his comments. I think he’s up to something, something impertinent and perhaps even conniving. I can only keep our priorities in check if his army of incorrigible flag burners is decimated down to those whose inborn lack of character permits them to betray anyone and everyone for the well-known thirty pieces of silver. One indication of this is the fact that if I were a complete sap, I’d believe Mr. David’s line that children should get into cars with strangers who wave lots of yummy candy at them. Unfortunately for him, I realize that if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem.
Considering that once Mr. David accepts responsibility for the problems he’s caused, the focus shifts from who is responsible to what each of us can do about it, I find it almost laughable how he remains oblivious to the fact that I have a New Year’s resolution for him: He should pick up a book before he jumps to the feeble-minded conclusion that he is forward-looking, open-minded, and creative. He is driving me nuts. I can’t take it anymore! It must be nice to live in Mr. David’s little world, where the sun shines, the birds chirp merrily, and reality never rears its ugly head. That concept can be extended, mutatis mutandis, to the way that he is, you might say, overly anxious to reduce human beings and many other living organisms to engineered products and mere cogs in the social machine. I’ve said that before and I’ve said it often, but perhaps I haven’t been concrete enough or specific enough, so now I’ll try to remedy those shortcomings. I’ll try to be a lot more specific and concrete when I explain that what I wrote just a moment ago is not the paranoid rambling of a cranky wacko. It’s a fact. What Mr. David doesn’t realize is that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Of course, if Mr. David had learned anything from history, he’d know that the worst kinds of biased derelicts I’ve ever seen often take earthworms or similar small animals and impale them on a pin to enjoy watching them twist and writhe as they slowly die. Similarly, Mr. David enjoys watching respectable people twist and writhe whenever he threatens to rifle, pillage, plunder, and loot. He is out to put twisted deviants on the federal payroll. And when we play his game, we become accomplices.
Wretched social outcasts have exerted care always to use high-sounding words like “phototelegraphically” to hide Mr. David’s plans to open the floodgates of fascism. And I can say that with a clear conscience, because Mr. David claims that he can substitute breast-beating and schwarmerei for action and honest debate and get away with it. That claim illustrates a serious reasoning fallacy, one that is pandemic in his claims. Then again, someone has been giving Mr. David’s brain a very thorough washing, and now Mr. David is trying to do the same to us. Let’s just ignore Mr. David and see what he does. He has called innocent children insipid prima donnas to their faces. This was not a momentary aberration or a slip of the tongue, and hence, we can safely say that he is guilty of at least one criminal offense. In addition, Mr. David frequently exhibits less formal criminal behavior, such as deliberate and even gleeful cruelty, explosive behavior, and a burning desire to make my worst nightmares come true. There can be no doubt that if one accepts the framework I’ve laid out here, it follows that he commonly appoints ineffective people to important positions. He then ensures that these people stay in those positions, because that makes it easy for him to wipe out delicate ecosystems.
I unquestionably assert that nothing would make Mr. David happier than to see me go crazy. Deal with it. I predict that quicker than you can double-check the spelling of “unextinguishableness”, people will generally agree that he has a near-legendary lack of common sense, decency, and manners. This is a prediction that will not be true in all cases, but it is expected to become more common as time passes. I don’t get it: What meaningless self-inflicted psychological trauma is he going through now? I mean, his attitudes have kept us separated for too long from the love, contributions, and challenges of our brothers and sisters in this wonderful adventure we share together — life!
Although some quasi-disreputable paper-pushers concede that Mr. David suffers from a pathology of delusion, they invariably deny that it has long been obvious to attentive observers that Mr. David’s quips are the direct result of a policy of abandonment and neglect. But did you know that collectivism is a weapon of paternalism? He doesn’t want you to know that, because he has a problem not only with civil rights but also with the legal responsibility and accountability as to what is considered appropriate behavior. Let me rephrase that: His list of sins is long and each one deserves more space than I have here. Therefore, rather than describe each one individually, I’ll summarize by stating that if I have a bias, it is only against irresponsible bottom-feeders who contravene decency. Inasmuch as I disagree with Mr. David’s accusations and find his ad hominem attacks offensive, I am happy to meet Mr. David’s speech with more speech and, if necessary, continue this discussion until the truth shines. Let no one say that Mr. David’s recommendations are good for the environment, human rights, and baby seals. No, this is pertinacious oligarchism and must be regarded as an attempt to call for ritualistic invocations of needlessly formal rules. To put it another way, perhaps one day we will live in a world where good people are not troubled by fear of shiftless trolls. Until that day arrives, however, we must spread the word that Mr. David has announced his intentions to incite young people to copulate early, often, and indiscriminately. While doing so may earn Mr. David a gold star from the mush-for-brains mandarinism crowd, time cannot change his behavior. Time merely enlarges the field in which Mr. David can, with ever-increasing intensity and thoroughness, cause riots in the streets.
To simplify, I, not being one of the many rapacious, treasonous degenerates of this world, am not trying to save the world — I gave up that pursuit a long time ago. But I am trying to treat the disease, not the symptoms. Mr. David has never satisfactorily proved his assertion that profits come before people. He has merely justified that assertion with the phrase, “Because I said so.”
A trip to your local library would reveal that his inclinations reek of Trotskyism. I use the word “reek”, because ever since he decided to stonewall on issues in which taxpayers see a vital public interest, his consistent, unvarying line has been that he would sooner give up money, fame, power, and happiness than perform a mumpish act. For the most part, Mr. David deserves exemplary punishment. Still, we mustn’t let Mr. David strip people of their rights to free expression and individuality. That would be like letting the Mafia serve as a new national police force in Italy. Now that this letter has come to an end, I truly hope you walk away from it realizing that Mr. Peter A. David’s bedfellows amount to nothing more than atrabilious sadism enthusiasts riding on the back of a social fungus attacking the body politic.
Is there ANYTHING better than creative retribution?
No. No, there is not. This is akin to the feeling of being in love. :sigh:
Elaine: yes, she is.
To everyone else: it seemed the most equitable solution.
>>>>>Cl@ssˆ1c! !!
>>>>>A1s0 funn¥!!
C0ns3rv@t1v3s!
Rn 4 yr l!v3s!!!!!!
Any chance you might let him keep the vowels, but remove the other 21 letters?
How did ‘y’ make the cut? Or can you set the filter so that it removes it only sometimes?
Glenn, Great Idea! Thanks for not only making me laugh out loud, literally, but for finally achieving an interesting way of handling this entire situation! Kudoos!!
Michael: still getting the Internal Server Error message?
Hermann: leaving the vowels only makes it impossible to discern any meaning at all. At that point, I’d just ban outright.
Man, that is so sweet.
S0 SW33T!!!