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Spin Doctoring

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16:21 / 23.07.02

The gun has been jumped.

Word of untimely demise seems to be getting out.

Only thing is, Barbelith may not be closing next week. This leaves us in a position somehwere between Mark Twain ("news of my death has been greatly exaggerated") and Schrödinger's cat, in terms of the face we present to the world.

Thoughts:

(1) We've got lurkers. We see the same names every day and forget that there's a whole silent audience for the board. Helloooooo, Roxane, Heidi, and all the rest. Pull up a chair while you can.

(b) Some information containment/damage control might be necessary—setting the record straight, clarifying the situation.

(III) Ellis ain't half smug sometimes.

Parties beside the obvious ones do care what happens to this place. How should we handle the question, should it arise?

16:36 / 23.07.02

Has anyone heard from Tom? This sounds to me more like Andrew trying to stir up trouble with rumors than anything else. The best was to deal with this sort of this is with a brief but pointed statement from the Man In Charge.

16:37 / 23.07.02

Well... until we're advised one way or another, we are existing in an odd 'Schrodinger's half-dead cat' limbo; that's the reality of the situation. We can't limit the information spread until we have some idea which way the axe is gonna fall.

But yeah, it's faintly heartening to know there are ripples. You're right about Ellis, though: he ain't half smug. For a fat bloke.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

16:37 / 23.07.02

No, Ellis isn't Spider Jerusalem, he wants to be the fucking Smiler

I don't think we can/should have an official position, but just say what happened as concisely as possible, and without unnecessary emotion, at least until the hammer drops. Then we go out and kill people.

With kindness of course.

17:07 / 23.07.02

Where's the "maybe" coming from? It sounded like a definite thing last night. 'Course I can't find the thread, but has Tom said anything about giving it some more thought?

17:09 / 23.07.02

You can't find the thread because it's been deleted. Which indicates to me that some second thoughts are taking place.

Meanwhile, on the WEF, Andy raised his head above the parapets, and our Warren, God bless him, came through:

Ah, I was hoping you'd come out so the people can get a good look at you.

I threw your video in the bin. You're a prick.

With any luck, you'll do some necessary growing-up in the next couple of years and get past it.

Until, then: yes, fuck you. You want to be taken seriously? Act like it. That's all it takes.

Which I think we've all wanted to say, at one point or another.

17:10 / 23.07.02

You can find the thread by searching around a bit. There's a link both in this forum and the creation.

I don't know where the maybe is coming from either. Looked pretty final to me too.

17:15 / 23.07.02

The 'maybe' is a speculative one, based on the fact that Tom's deleted the thread. We don't know whether he's deleted it because he's having second thoughts about closing the place or because the self-centred whingeing, sniping, mealy-mouthed platitudes and urgings to 'GET A FUCKING GRIP' were pissing him off. Who knows?

So we're waiting for further clarification, really.

Regards Ellis's treatment of Andrew, I'm pretty sure we have said that stuff to him - in several forms, from sugar to acid-coated. Difference is, as you say, we don't have the All-Powerful, All-Censoring Dictatorship ethos here to rapidly enforce such an approach.

Yet.

Murray Hamhandler

17:28 / 23.07.02

Gone but still readable here.

As for me, I'm pulling the covers over my head and going back to sleep, pretending it's all just a bad dream.

18:00 / 23.07.02

Perhaps if we keep our fingers crossed, Fade To Black really will hang onto him. I suspect there wouldn't be enough 'friction' there to keep him happy but y'never know.

18:07 / 23.07.02

i tell you, it really did do my heart good to see heidi macdonald's strongly stated unhappiness ("Noooo!") to the demise of barbelith... especially considering the criticism and harsh slagging she took in a couple threads about vertigo.

knowing that peopple like that value this place so highly should make us all feel good and charge us up in trying to figure out how to fix things. i know we've mentioned it in other threads, but can't we get "proactive" and figure out a way to distribute responsibility, letting tom take it easy but maintaining our world here?

18:07 / 23.07.02

Come on, Deric, you're usually such a positive guy! Keep the faith.

If it comes, it comes and we all adapt. & Tom gets some blessed relief from all the hassle and we all find other ways to keep our fingers busy.

And if, thank you whichever deserving deity, we can all barble on, then Hallelujah! & take great care that Tom's pecker is kept up, so to speak.

He knows what he has built here and this big decision couldn't be in better, safer hands.

I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream...

19:54 / 23.07.02

Hey, anyone spot heidi's lime?

20:10 / 23.07.02

Deric: Not only is it still readable, but you can still post in the ghost htread as well. And in the "Hope springs eternal" dep't (crosses fingers).....

From: Andy C (RRRRRRTTTTTT) 10:59
To: The Voice Of Isaac Sher (VOICEOFISAAC) 21 of 29 37371.21 in reply to 37371.16
Recently known as Zen Bullet, Horus Lord Of Force and Fire, Tony Montana, The Knowledge, The artful Knodger, pretty much all the posts where there IS NO name, Higher than the sun , the sundance kid...

I've told Tom I'm not coming back, I've even told him where I work as a failsafe, so I think it should be alright.

If it's not, then he can run to the moon with his "I'm taking my ball in" attitude for all I care.

Like I said, lots of stuff you aren't aware of - Don't make judgements until you've at least read some of this shit first.

My mother has recieved several abusive phonecalls, for example, after my phone number was posted on the site.

p.s. God-damnit!

Ellis you cocksmoking son of a slag. You fat aging uber-geek, you sorry excuse for an artist, you...

Ah, I don't know why I'm bothering. You're only going to delete this post anyway, you yellow-bellied bastard.

That was nice.

Edited 23/07/2002 15:11:40 ET by Andy C (RRRRRRTTTTTT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edited 23/07/2002 15:27:31 ET by Andy C (RRRRRRTTTTTT)

Murray Hamhandler

21:02 / 23.07.02

"I don't understand why you're so against me yyYOU DONKEY-FUCKING BASTARD SON OF A WHORE CUNT... I mean, I've tried everything to get you to like me aaAASS-FUCKING DISEASED KNOB-END... Surely, you can tell that I'm sincere ppPPISS-SLURPING BROWN-EYE LICKER..."

If there's one thing that Andy "Tourette's Poster Boy" Calo knows how to do well, it's garnering sympathy and immediately pissing all over it.

21:13 / 23.07.02

sheesh..... how old is the Knodge? 12?

21:21 / 23.07.02

Okay, look, this isn't what this thread is for. Read the topic abstract. If you want to talk about Calo, please do so in the thread provided.

Right now the only certainty is that the Underground is up until the end of the week. Let's not let his actions consume what could very possibly be the last days of the board.

uncle retrospective

21:33 / 23.07.02

Back on topic.

I recon all we can do is say we're waiting for the final word, until then it's life as usual. If a little more scared.
It's kinda of intersting that some of the WEF's were thinking of moving here after the WEF shuts down in October. It might have been an intresting mix.

07:37 / 24.07.02

I think it's safe to say that we're not going to attempt to go to Barbelith and find a 404 without official notice from Tom, so I agree, business as usual, try to keep the threads lively and interesting, etc. That way, anyone else who swings by to look at the body will see it's still moving.

08:27 / 24.07.02

Endearingly, one of the Fade To Black posters looks forward to poaching Barbelith's "best minds". Meanwhile, Tom's little Bonsai Planet watches and waits.

I see he hasn't updated his blog either...

08:36 / 24.07.02

"It's kinda of intersting that some of the WEF's were thinking of moving here after the WEF shuts down in October. It might have been an intresting mix."

I think that'd be really fantastic myself.

09:03 / 24.07.02

The 'maybe' is a speculative one, based on the fact that Tom's deleted the thread. We don't know whether he's deleted it because he's having second thoughts about closing the place or because the self-centred whingeing, sniping, mealy-mouthed platitudes and urgings to 'GET A FUCKING GRIP' were pissing him off. Who knows?

Sorry about that, but it's still what I thinks. The whole thing just seems the sad result of Barbelith's constant "making mountain out of molehill" approach to problems .. one of my least favourite aspects of the board.

09:17 / 24.07.02

Rizla: it's a valid enough opinion, but I'm not sure you're aware of the amount of off-board harrassment Tom's endured from a single, scarily-obsessive individual. When he says he wants Mr Calo away from his life, he's not just talking about Barbelith.

ONLY NICE THINGS

15:47 / 24.07.02

I know it's probably a bad idea to ask, but Jack - any idea what posts 49 and 50 were?

15:50 / 24.07.02

Missed them, I'm afraid. More bluster, I imagine, from one side or the other. At this point it hardly mnatters, does it?

Graeme McMillan

16:30 / 24.07.02

Ganesh: "I see he hasn't updated his blog either..."

He has now. With a comment that suggests that Barbelith may live to underground for awhile longer (well, to me, at least).

(Out of interest, the Knodge thread on the Ellis board was rather surreal, wasn't it? He posted his own phone number? Why?)

16:36 / 24.07.02

In the hope that people would engage with him. Handy hint: prefacing dialing with '041' prevents the recipient of your call obtaining your number afterwards...

17:06 / 24.07.02

No.

No.

And double no.

Our boy craves attention, and any attention serves as positive reinforcement for him, and abusive phone calls will only poerpetuate his self-image as innocent, righteous victim of political correctness gone maaaaaaad.

DO NOT CALL THOSE PHONE NUMBERS. Use your fucking heads, for Christ's sake.

ONLY NICE THINGS

17:14 / 24.07.02

Agreed. He wouldn't have given them out if he didn't want people to use them, thus contributing to his martyr complex.

(Terrifying realisation, by the way. He was/is so obsessed with Barbelith because he thought it would make Grant Morrison notice him. And that they would then become friends.)

17:21 / 24.07.02

You just now got that?

10:00 / 25.07.02

Okayyy. Just to clarify my earlier post (because I made the assumption that everyone here was possessed of Common Sense Level: Basic), it would be a phenomenally bad idea to even think of contacting Andrew - not merely because any and all attention fans the flames of his cracked narcissism but also because, through the wonder of 1471, he could obtain your telephone number. In my near-decade as a psychiatrist, I cannot think of any disturbed individual I'd like less to be in possession of my contact details.

Don't touch that dial...

ONLY NICE THINGS

10:44 / 25.07.02

Schnoogles, my sundered left brain; we knew that. But to assume that *everyone* on Barbelith has basic common sense is a little dangerous...

Meanwhile, out of curiosity, are we working on the assumption that Tom would give us another week's notice before shutting down completely or are we now in the last days? Because I for one have been awfy tardy in contacting people for post-board snchnoogles.

11:04 / 25.07.02

I have absolutely no idea. Like you, I've been too busy watching the skies for Holy Fire to do the whole dancing-with-tears-in-my-eyes PM routine. The whole situation remains equivocal.

11:14 / 25.07.02

This is the first I've heard about the site shutting down, and I think it’d be a real shame if it did close.

Tannhauser, Ganesha - Might I suggest that derogatory terms such as 'cracked narcissism', 'disturbed individual', and 'martyr complex' aren't going to do anything this late in the game other than provoke the knowledge troll into returning to ‘defend’ himself, and they only continue to contribute to the 'Us Vs Andrew' dichotomy that started this whole mess, and which the vast majority of posters here would now very much like to see the back of?

It just seems like, with the knowledge troll now gone, (apparently for good this time), these comments are only going to encourage his return. Why don’t we let that sleeping dog lie?

Just a suggestion.

Another would be to remove the mumra thread directly below this one – there’s enough insults in there to keep a libel court busy until 2012!

11:34 / 25.07.02

That thread shouldn't be deleted because if the board does stay open, people will ask, "Who is the knowledge and what did he do". We can point the person in question to that thread and most of their questions will be answered. As I suggested before, locking the thread would probably be the best idea. Do we really need people adding cheesy puns to it?

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