Cato Badger

@Dee: I acknowledge the sense of your opinion, and to be quite honest I had not really considered the aspect of SL members that simply lurked in these forums *without* signing in. I made the probably erroneous assumption that if you were an SL resident, you would sign in and would be able to see *all* forums. On balance I think I would still prefer that sensitive threads like Strengthening the Community should benefit from some protection, but I am possibly not the person best placed to interpret the motivations and wishes of those who bared their souls. Perhaps, though, others might have done so if they thought that driveby lurkers from outside SL would not be able to point and laugh, although I am not sure how many of those visitors the forums see. It may be like being prepared to sunbathe topless on a public beach, but not if your brother's friends are there!

If you are only interested in provoking constructive discussion or obtaining informative responses then using several disposable alts (assuming individual avatars were retricted) would offer a convenient mechanism for creating threads. The problem of over-initiating threads only arises when, and because, an avatar thinks that they might advance themselves in formally recognised status if they create enough threads that generate traffic that is acknowledged by the ranking algorithm. While the calculation the algorithm uses is non-transparent and creation of threads and posting is unrestrcted, you will see the symptoms of public annoyance, of gaming of status, by those who have the time and the inclination.

@Jazleen: Those programmes don't seem to be on when I get control of the TV handset. By the way, you do realise that oe of the frequent postes amongst us is a veteran of such shows, apparently. (Not giving away anything about her rl that she has not posted in these forums already by the way, but not posting her name just in case.)

/me wonders if the mere act of posting to this thread (and association with the cognoscenti therein) is sufficient to elevate mere Residents to the moral high ground?

@Suspiria: You asked "How is limiting thread posts and limiting blog posts apples and oranges?" Well, the essential difference is one of control processes. Initiating a thread can be made to require a certain rank, and the location of posts and number can be controlled independently of posts to a thread, the vectors of which can be separately stored and accumulated. Completely different criteria can be applied to imposing restrictions or allowing privileges in one or the other operations, which is of particular import since the spammer seems only to be working currently at the level of creating threads, rather than posting to existing threads.

@Suspiria: You said: "Leonardo da Vinci was ridiculed and persecuted". I think you may be mixing him up with Leonardo di Caprio, as da Vinci's only serious criticism came from a bunch of invading French soldiers who used one of his sculptures for target practice. Now *that* is what I call *active* criticism of the arts.

@Suspiria: You asked "Was Picasso revered in his lifetime as a great artist?" Actually Picasso's talents were first recognised in 1900 - when he was 19, and he certainly was revered during his lifetime

@Azura: I knew Google spoke Klingon but I didn't realise it spoke Latin!

So I'll ask again if there is anyone here been promoted and speaks English?

@Talismere: Thank goodness for someone in the Vanity thread with a sense of proportion. Except that was my point - I am not sure if the aspect ratio of your images as displayed on my screen (it might be my problem, or the software, or just the way your files are uploaded) makes you look a bit skinny. Didn't you like the comparison with Julia Roberts? I know she isn't famous for her action roles but *that* attractive and *that* rich - it could only have been a compliment. I'd step into her shoes anyday. Cato

This thread is intended to offer a place for forumites to announce promotions beyond the serried ranks of Residents (of whatever type, Honred, Dishonorable etc) and to present themselves for congratulation and recognition of the services that they have offered to the forums. I have started this because I noticed that Venus Petrov appears to be a Member now, and I can't remember her being one yesterday, although I may be mistaken. Step up Venus and explain why you think you have been acknowledged as making a significant contribution to the community!

@Azura: There are many ways in which you might do this, saying "one of my dear ones" or "Azura's beloved clan" etc (a problem is that Latin treats 'family' as female and 'friends' as male by default which messes up the way in which an adjective can easily be associated with the two concepts) but the way I have suggested it keeps it simple - and unless you meet any real nitpicking Latin scholars or time-travelling Roman plebeians (the hoi-polloi in Rome spoke Greek) it should be good enough. I wouldn't use 'dilectus' as you originally suggested though, because it has a secondary meaning of 'conscript', with the implication of 'slave' - unless of course it's applicable!

Creating mindless uninspiring unprovocative threads here is the equivalent of churning out plywood cubes as seats inworld. It's "creative" but it's pretty unimaginative. Having said that, I enjoy the creativity that a multi-cultural multi-lingual community can offer in the way of neologisms. malapropisms and general word-bending, much as I enjoy Abba's deeply meaningless lyrics. So what should I say to the OP for instigating this discussion? It's obvious: Bravado! Bravado!

There are two types of people that sound enthusiastically cheerful. The insincere ones and Torley. Enjoy the one in a billion experience while you can! Cato

@Ishtara: I can't believe that you are advising people to avoid stress! Here! In the official SL forums! Where you yourself have been exposing yourself to manifold stresses for the last year or so at least! Get on that exercise bike and get out of these forums NOW! For your own good! Cato PS Apologies for all those potentially stress inducing exclamation marks. I have been told that I don't suffer from stress but I am a carrier of the disease. Sorry!

An article in Wired magazine said you could join for free, with the subtext that although the virtual world was sold on the basis of the delightfully constructed user content, that it was a great place to get your rocks off if you were a fat geek living in your mother's basement. I was suffering from self-esteem problems at the time and thought it would be a great place to meet people that would improve my self-confidence, by demonstrating that however badly off I thought I was, there were people with bigger personality problems.

@Azura: what is the sense of the phrase? Words in Latin have different endings depending on their grammatical role and if you are trying to say "This is a present to my beloved family and friends" that would be stated differently from "This is one of my beloved family and friends". I would use the root words familia for family, amicus for friend and carus for beloved, and if you are tight on space I wouldn't even bother with "my" as this is presumed. Reply and I am sure that we could find something appropriate, although simply "familia et amicae carae" might do the trick.

@Busty: OK, I'll believe you (though thousands might not.)

Hint #10: Don't drink water (Have you SEEN what fish do in it?)

@Ruby: The conventional wisdom is that zomg was OMG typed by the iincompetents who could not only fail to find their backside with both hands, but missed the shift key and hit the Z key. Feel free to create your own meme by inserting a Z anywhere you think might make you an internet legend.

@Genn: Thank you for your sensitivity. Cato

Give them time to get their house in order. It must be difficult for Lexie to break in a new set of mods who don't yet understand the culture or have a feel for the history of the forums. But they are showing initiative - they have even invented a new violation. **POSSIBLE HARASSMENT** Cato

@Carole: May I, on behalf of your acolytes and admirers in this and previous forums, welcome you back and hope that your circumstances are now such that we will be graced by your presence here in the future. Cato

My bad. It's only if you mistype it with an 'i'. Silly, nevertheless, eh? I think I'll RIC myself to bring it to the attention of the Mods.

Nope! I didn't make a typo. This forum's dictionary has been corrupted and seems to think that any syllabled beginning with 'f' and ending with 'ck', *whatever the vowel* is rude. Let's try a,e,and o as well, since they resemble various antipodean and Irish pronunciations: fack, feck, fock.