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The place for new members to ask basic questions about Barbelith

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07:59 / 23.08.06

Could some one explain some of these acroynms that are floating around barbelith for me please?
SBR, RAW, IRL are the ones that come to mind...

08:04 / 23.08.06

IRL: In Real Life, ie, off-board.

SBR: Sex/Body/Relationships. We debated having a SBR forum, and as a way to prototype this, people agreed to flag topics that might be a fit for it with this, as a testing measure.

RAW: Usually, Robert Anton Wilson. Author of the Illuminatus! Trilogy, etc.

08:32 / 23.08.06

Thanks Paleface. Muchly appreciated. I also found another one - OPB?

08:42 / 23.08.06

Orbison's Peanut Butter. Named for Roy Orbison. It's a particularly cruel and conspiratorial debate tactic that requires at least three like-minded posters to pool their efforts in order weave a spiked trap of pure wordlanguage.

All Acting Regiment

09:47 / 23.08.06

Oh and, OTM means on the on the money, honey?

miss wonderstarr

21:07 / 24.08.06

If a member changes their name, what's the etiquette for addressing them?

For instance, Haus' "real name" on here is Tannhauser, and he refers to himself as such. Every month or so, he varies the puns around "Haus". And people call him "Haus", not "Haus of Tiny Terry Waites" or something. That's straightforward.

Flyboy has changed his name a fair amount, also retaining the same "core" ~ Top Spec Flyboy, Flyboy For Mayor. But now he's called The Car You See Too Late.

Of course, one could ask the individual, but I was wondering if there's a general rule. Would The Car You See Too Late generally be called Flyboy? Is it "OK" to refer to a poster by their old name, even if the old name is no longer listed as previous, unless that contributor requests otherwise?

21:10 / 24.08.06

Good question. I tend to use 'Flyboy', 'Flowers', 'Nina', 'Seth' et al. no matter what they're calling themselves.

21:13 / 24.08.06

I'll request a remedial British in-joke lesson at some point instead.

I picked up the basics from reading a year's worth of Loaded, FHM, and Maxim (and the Guardian) back in the 90s.

And there's also this.

miss wonderstarr

21:23 / 24.08.06

Good question. I tend to use 'Flyboy', 'Flowers', 'Nina', 'Seth' et al. no matter what they're calling themselves.

I guess you wouldn't do that if they requested otherwise. Ironically, I kept the same name on here for two years with no changes, and am now doing variations on the "core" wonderstarr name ~ but as my fundamental name-change signified an identity shift for me (like burning the old suit and starting a new one), I wouldn't want to be referred to under the former title.

Calling Flyboy "The Car" would feel a bit odd to me, though, as it seems like a temporary name (I believe it's based on a current cinema road-safety advert). But if you are reading this, Flyboy, and want to be called The Car, then that's useful to know.

I was actually asking, Ganesh, because you called Tryphena Sparks "Nina", and I was wondering if that was etiquette.

21:28 / 24.08.06

I was actually asking, Ganesh, because you called Tryphena Sparks "Nina", and I was wondering if that was etiquette.

I've no idea; I'm probably very poor on etiquette. I have problems remembering who's who, especially when they're changing their name every other month. That said, if anyone contacted me and said they'd prefer to be called the such-and-such so-and-so of such-and-such from now on, I'd happily accede. If, in the next 5 minutes, they changed their mind, I'd probably be simmeringly pissed off.

21:29 / 24.08.06

I think with posters as visible as Fly or Flowers (I think I opted for 'flowers' instead of 'our lady' a long while back, but ze revolves around of the two nodes, more often the latter now) the tendency is to revert to type. I have received a shouty pm in the past from someone for using their old username, but unless explicitly stated I'd imagine it's fine, or it's at least a mistake you'd only make once.

While we're on the subject, I do still get called (or rather referred to very occasionally by) my full name, which I posted here under for two years or so; I really don't mind being called by my first name (Duncan - I actually really quite like this) or variants on the surname (Falconer) which I use presently, but I'd rather not be googleable here in future, thx.

miss wonderstarr

21:34 / 24.08.06

OK thanks! I find it interesting as I don't think I've been on a board with the name-changing option before.

21:39 / 24.08.06

It's kind of unusual, I think, but because we don't have avatars and signatures to piddle about with, that's maybe the basic default alternative.

Also, I think because you explained at some point, shortly after becoming Miss Wonderstarr, that you'd no desire to be referred to by [former ficsuit] it ceased. I know that's why I've stopped - initially, I think a few of us still called you ****** on occasion, but it's done with now.

miss wonderstarr

21:43 / 24.08.06

Actually it might with hindsight have been a better decision on my part to crash the old suit and apply again, because it's weird for me to see old posts under my name that I (strange as it may seem) don't feel much connection with now ~ but the idea of a lengthy application process would weight against that.

I appreciate your point though that someone will be referred to by the name they're best known by unless they request otherwise, and I do also appreciate ~ a lot, actually ~ the extent to which I have been accepted as a differently-identifying ID.

21:47 / 24.08.06

I think you made a particular point of changing, Wonderstarr, and explaining why. Some may have missed it, though, so you'll likely have the occasional use of the old name for a while yet.

21:52 / 24.08.06

I quite like being referred to as Olulabelle or Lula, even when I'm technically posting under other things such as Belle...whatever.

I think for you Miss Wonderstarr it's different because you explicitly asked not to be called by the old name. Nina oscillates between Nina, Anna De L and Tryphena so I tend to refer to her as Nina because that's how I know her.

I would also always call Haus Haus and Flyboy Flyboy. Unless they specifically asked me not to.

Regrettable Juvenilia

23:46 / 24.08.06

I tend to always change my name back to something with Flyboy or at least Fly in it every other time I change it - i.e., it's always in the 'prev' tag even if it's not in my current name. See: G For Gundetta, although I did like that one. I think the only exception to this was when I was calling myself Petey Shaftoe...

The only think I object to being called is "FB". There is no captial B in Flyboy! I'd be like calling Ganesh "GN" or Falconer "FC".

12:04 / 25.08.06

The only think I object to being called is "FB". There is no captial B in Flyboy! I'd be like calling Ganesh "GN" or Falconer "FC".

Not quite the same thing though eh? Fly and boy are individual free morphemes - albeit not in your name. People could be forgiven for initialising these to FB in a way they couldn't with GN for Ganesh.

paranoidwriter waves hello

12:22 / 25.08.06

I usually try and use the members whole current screen-name because, similar to Ganesh, I find it difficult to keep track of who's who, or who was who. But sometimes a screen-name is a pretty long phrase and including it in full within a sentence can almost change the post's meaning and / or make a post hard to read for others.

e.g. "So, paranoidwriter waves good-bye, shut up, OK?"

Mind you I called 1 "Alex" by mistake yesterday and felt a bit bad afterwards, but I try not to ask for too many mod' requests (even if it doesn't always look that way) so I haven't corrcted it. (hope you don't mind, 1)

Feel free to call me p.w, pw, PW, or paranoidwriter; just please, don't call me paranoid (please?)

12:31 / 25.08.06

I called 1 "Alex" by mistake yesterday and felt a bit bad afterwards.

I wouldn't worry about that PW. I only turned into '1' because my finger slipped on the keyboard (I actually meant to be '11!23!' and it wasn't the best idea in the first place.) Normal service will be resumed shortly.

miss wonderstarr

06:54 / 25.09.06

I keep getting a shimmery, slightly spooky sound effect every 15 seconds or so on Barbelith, like: "shiiiiish", really quietly. Maybe I've just had my speakers up for the first time on this site? What the what?

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

07:29 / 25.09.06

OH JESUS CHRIST IT'S LOOSE AGAIN

nah, I used to get that too. It went away after a while. Have no idea what caused it.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

08:30 / 25.09.06

The only drawback to using people's current names is that, because this isn't livejournal if you go back a few years and check a thread it's sometimes fun to work out who said what.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

08:09 / 03.10.06

How does the length string for username work? I can get 30 characters in the field, but then I see things like this username and wonder if perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

ONLY NICE THINGS

08:15 / 03.10.06

Longer names were chosen before the character limit was imposed and have not been changed since, basically. If and when they are changed, they will be limited to 30 characters.

11:54 / 03.10.06

The Greenland thing...whadupwidat?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

12:08 / 03.10.06

The so-called Greenland Posse (misnamed because only one of them, I think, was actually based in Greenland) was a group of about 3 people. Not sure of the exact number because there was much multi-suiting and sharing of suits ect. They formed a l33t psychic task force that was going to save us all from the bloodsucking shapeshifting pedophilian (sic) lizards that run the world when things got "shit-fanny" ie. the apocalypse came. Which was always going to happen next May. Well, okay then, maybe next June. Well, possibly November. Well, it's going to happen sometime, all right?

They were noted for posting enormous screeds of text on the subject of lizards, numerology, food adulteration and conspiracy theory. Any attempt to suggest that this was a load of bollocks would be met with accusations of stupidity and of being in league with the bloodsucking shapeshifting pedophilian lizards.

At least one member could detect the lizards by smell.

pointless & uncalled for

12:15 / 03.10.06

I thought it was that they could smell a nonce from like a hundred yards.

ONLY NICE THINGS

12:16 / 03.10.06

That's a crude deceit, 'Nesh, and you know it. It was the paeds ze could detect by smell. They have a special odour, you know. The only way to save the children was to have teams of psychics, I imagine dressed like Judge Dredd, smelling people and terminating the guilty.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

12:18 / 03.10.06

I'm not 'Nesh. You need to recalibrate your smell-o-matic.

12:22 / 03.10.06

The Greenland Posse was indeed a loose collective of at least three suit-sharing Europeans:

Laila, female, beeyootiful bisexual model, lived in Amsterdam and could (psychically) smell paedophilians: alien shape-changing lizards from Planet X.

Bendt, male, gayer, lived in Nuuk and had a bit of a thing about me allegedly drinking urine and was, for some reason, convinced he'd die before his 40th birthday. I quite liked him.

The third one, whose name and location I can't recall, was male. He knew a lot about biochemistry, and posted a fairly credible hypothesis based on dairy products causing bone malformation. I kinda hope he got that published.

There was also Wai, the sort of distant Charlie (of Charlie's Angels) figure. I don't think she posted, but her nutritional know-how (much of which seemed based around a fruitarian or paleolithic diet) was oft-quoted.

The result was a sort of peculiar conspiracy mash-up which, at its height, encompassed the aforementioned Annunaki, complex food chemistry, the evils of vaccination, psychiatrists being bastards (bit of a perennial, that one), the origins of traditional gender roles (female = protector of children; male = shagger of everything everywhere), dietary/geographical spread of paedophilia and the practicalities of Spotting A Paedophile (essentially, men who're comfortable around children, and men who're uncomfortable around children).

I feel quite nostalgic about it all.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:25 / 03.10.06

I feel quite nostalgic about it all.

It was a more innocent age.

12:25 / 03.10.06

Oh yes, and the desirability of psychic death squads to hunt down and terminate paedophilians (presumably paedophile reptilians).

pointless & uncalled for

12:26 / 03.10.06

If nonces are reptiles then I reckon I could spot one easy because the odour of a terrarium is pretty distinctive.

12:28 / 03.10.06

It was a sort of mooted War Against Terraria, then, I guess.

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