Serious Questions For Chewers

You realise that this is going to crash and burn, right?

I'm not trying to derail or flame, it's just my honest opinion.

Batten down the hatches folks, a flame war is comin'

We can rarely (not ever, ultimately), get people to be what we would like, or to act the way we would always prefer. One person's humorous aside is another's off-topic digression.

There's a lot of distinctions on these boards that ultimately seem pretty arbitrary to me. It feels like about 1% percent of the discussion on these boards is really about film, and the rest of the discussions touch on a lot of peripheral subljects that aren't really about the films we watch, but other stuff.

This used to bother me, but doesn't really anymore, as I think it's pretty natural with anything. To be less vague, I'm a musician, and when I go to a local show, it's always been the case that the first three or four rows of people are interested in the music, and the rest are people who just want something to listen to while drinking and socializing. It's the same with most music mags: they're not so much about the music as everything else, salacious stories, recording tips or whatever. I don't think that many people that come here really come here for serious in-depth film discussion.

I don't mean that like an indictment either; this is just a place for movie news, interviews and reviews, and talking about stuff. No big thing. I hope no one thinks I'm complaining, cause I'm not.

How do so many of you get angry at words on a screen?

To paraphrase Sir Laurence Olivier:

I have not been this angry since I came to the CHUD message boards!!

I believe in Gotham City.

Humor.

JohnShade,

How come whenever you come across a person or persons on this board who you disagree with, your standard response is not to debate things reasonably, but to vastly misconstrue opposing side's argument and set yourself up as some kind of martyr of free speech, heroically defying the radical liberal mob that holds sway over the revolutionary factory that is the Chud.com message boards?

And btw, Milette's funny. Doesn't mean he's always right, but he just is. Them's the breaks.

JohnShade,

Were you Towelie or Fishy Kotex?

What's The Frequency, John??!!!!

I'll take this opportunity to call myself out, and admit that Helix is not as bad as I had previously made him out to be.

Hey, I don't give a shit, man. I was just curious, since you obviously know some of the people here pretty well for a newbie.

You can't bring back the past and you can't change it, but what you can do is influence the present. I agree there isn't at much debate here as there used to be, I've been here since 2004 and there are people who been here a lot less time and have way bigger post counts. Thats because I only tend to post in threads that interest me or have a good discussion in them.

Ok so people miss the days of debate, then do something about it. Don't turn every other thread into a flame war because someone has pissed you off.

I'm just really talkative. If y'all talked as much as me, we'd be awash in pornstar conversation, I'm sure. Trading baseball cards and whatnot.

Conversation is not all we'd be awash in.

Do you not think that your and Millete's tendency towards snarky one liners might have had something to do with this?

Granted I've not been here as long as most, I've been actively posting since early '04, but it seems that you and Helix have no love for any movies at the moment and just exist to bitch at people.

This isn't a thread about 'calling people out', poopoodle. If you read Charlie's post carefully, you'll pick up that the tone isn't aggressive. He's not looking for a fight. He's asking Molti why he's acting the way he does and giving molti the space to respond. The difference in tone can be seen by the lack of 'you're a tool' at the end of his post. Charlie's trying to see if we can all handle a critical conversation about ourselves without degenerating into namecalling.

Exactly.

Fightin' words.

This is what PMs are for, not public threads. Have a problem with someone? PM the bastard and take care of it, otherwise you're just looking for attention. At least that's how I see it.

So where do we go from here, poopoodle? Do you leave again or do you detail what it was that pushed you from the boards? Perhaps your experience will show others what effects their actions can have. If you are going to stay, maybe that is the thing to do.

Not that anyone asked, but here's my two cents on the matter:

The whole "why do you do this when you can do this" matter with regards to Molti is equally applicable to Mr Faraci. He is by and large the biggest, most outspoken and gigantic prick on the boards. But, because we accept that he is out to provoke a lot of the time and because he is a moderator, its tougher to call him out on it. Besides which, he is also an excellent writer. In many ways, I think the fact that he can be such an arse often makes it all the more surprising when he writes a piece as well-considered and well-written - not to mention balanced - as his piece on Paradise Now.

The same goes for Molti, though I don't think he 's anywhere near as caustic. If he wants to have a laugh and write fluff or discuss Dudikoff movies as though they were Gielgud, then fair play to him. At least he can string a sentence together and, when he wants to, write as well as anyone else can on these boards. I also think Moltisanti is genuinely pretty amusing. And he has genuine character.

Let me set my thoughts straight. I don't actually think Devin is a prick, just that sometimes he acts like one. He infuriates me, but I have respect for his opinions, no matter how much I disagree with them (e.g. as good as Running Scared surely is, I doubt it is actually a BETTER MADE FILM than Batman Begins, merely a more enjoyable and surprising one for Devin) because he is a good writer with regards to film.

Moltisanti sometimes goes below his station when he makes humorous comments, but he's never let himself down as much as I have. And most of the time, he has a distinct and amiable personality on these boards. While he is undoubtedly the king of B-Movies and DTV fare, he is also very adept at writing thoughtfully about all levels and genres of film, as Charlie pointed out. And I agree - if this was a genuine grievance, you should PM him rather than call him out in public. After all, where's the guarantee he would even read this thread? I think when there are guys like fabfunk and anyname strolling (trolling?) around, this thread kinda becomes moot.

No, he's not. Contrary to popular myth, nobody has ever been banned for arguing with Devin.

Sackley, Devin has pointed out a few times before, he's not a mod, and has no admin powers on this board. In my(low post count) opinion, we put up with Devin's snark because A)He is an excellent writer/reviewer for the site and B)When he's calling someone out in his typical prick-like way, he's usually right. It's infuriating when you're the target of his shit, but it's rarely unfounded, if often unneccesary.
As to Fett's initial post topic, I think sometimes an initial post can leave little room for discussion anymore. Not to mention when discussions do occur anymore, they seem to be more populated by low post count chewers, who have a lot less experience on these boards. I think the high post counter's have had so many long discussions on these old boards (old, especially in terms of the internet) that any more the only effort they see fit to put forth is a jab here or there. Or maybe I'm pulling all of this out of my ass, I will say, I generally post more in the music forum than anywhere else, and I've noticed that in there, aside from topics on Tool, who seem to bring the snarky out, decent discussions are still abundant. And the Tool comment wasn't directed at you Fett, you still seemed to want a decent discussion in that thread.

Why do these threads always end up being about Devin?

He's really like the Sword of Damocles of this site, isn't he? Hanging portentously over all we do and say.

I actually don't think this is all that bad an idea for a thread in theory: having a sort of forum for posters to try to resolve conflicts amicably, or at least respectfully.

Whether that'll happen or not, is anyone's guess. It does seem like it has the potential to become quite the Pandora's Box, though.

I've actually noticed Devin being much nicer lately.

Anyways, I think this topic is odd. There are lots of intelligent people on this board who could do 'better' by using less wise-cracks and being serious about film talk. But lets not pretend serious film talk always gets us somewhere. You can try and talk about certain films you like, but often times you'll just be ridiculed for it. I'm not complaining, mind you, just stating the way it is.

So is Moltisanti going to answer the original question, or is he just a pussy?

I had a similar experience though not with Nick personally but I do feel that discussions on these boards are all too often one sided. I actually enjoyed my days debating Devin because though I hardly agreed with him (Zoolander) he had the courtesy of intelligent debate and repartee. That has been a rare commodity here for sometime. If I want to slag through childish antics I'll spend my day at my kids junior high school.

I was originally here for film discussion and those have for the most part deteriorated to the vocabulary of a drunken fraternity.

A good example is the current thread for Bugsy Malone. I clicked on it thinking there might be an interesting discussion for one of my favorite films...no, of course not.

That's why I have to turn to IMDb instead. Really sad.

And yet another thread turns AWESOME. Thanks, JenGe.

I had a feeling we hadn't heard the last of the Bugsy Malone thread. You might not remember my input there JenGe, but I wasn't wowed with the film as a child. Is it really worth a second look, or do you have to have liked it as a kid to enjoy it?

And Slater, to be fair, was this thread really going that great before JenGe's comments?

I'm not sure we should do this here or take it to the Bugsy Malone thread but it's one of those odd out there films again. There really isn't anything else like it that I can think of. I discovered it as a pre-teen and was enchanted by a kid run world. Discovering it as an adult might not have the same effect since we are already running the world. It also is sappy sweet by today's standard. Almost over the top sappy.

Is it me, or is this the first time a thread here has been derailed from being a person to person conflict into a movie discussion? Reminded me of the ancient "Went to a Fight, and a Hockey Game Broke Out" joke.


I think Charlie has a interesting idea here, but his initial question did seem almost a personal attack,unintended as that might have been. Personally, Molti has a high level of semi-amusing posts, but I've seen him hold his own in actual film discussion as well as anyone.

I realised as soon as I posted that I had put that Devin was a mod, knowing that he wasn't. For that, apologies. My point still stands though.... I think.

You ever sell those CDs, Poopoodle? There was some good stuff in there.

Man, so much for the reasoned discussion, no flaming stuff.

"Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out," indeed.

Hey Charlie,

i actually think this is a pretty neat idea for an ongoing thread.

Granted there's the temptation for it to turn into a free-for-all blood-letting, but I think it would be cool to have a forum where everyone can give perspective on an issue.

My only worry is that two people would start a discussion, and then other people would jump in and choose sides and it would be like a turf war. It would be cool if we could have a special moderator for a forum to keep things under control (an arbitrator of sorts), but I'm sure the mods here are already have their hands full, and probably no one would be willing to abide by arbitration.

Sometimes I think this site needs its own Magna Carta.

And yeah, I know that he did attack you first.

The fact that you're a whiny little shit that's desperate for attention is what makes you a tool.

Was that your LAST POST EVER?

Poopoodle, making a big play of 'not going to see ep 3' and then going to see ep 3 doesn't go ever well. It suggsts attention seeking, and patronising posing. It is offensive to those who would seek to take your posts at face value. It suggests that we can not trust your posts and, on an MB where your posts are all you are, that means we can not trust you.

Saying this is your last post and then posting is very much the same.

Hey poopoodle,

I apologize if I came off like I was taking sides. Let's put it this way; in the context of this thread, you attacked him, and then he attacked you back, which was all I meant to speak to. Since I probably wasn't even around whenever all this initial wackiness happened, I can't speak to that at all.

I would just say, (and I know this is so totally none of my business but what the hey), if you guys could just take a long series of deep, cleansing breaths, maybe you'd realize that there's room for middle ground. Unless y'all really get off on the vitriol and insouciance.

So, hopefully, no hard feelings.

Man, what a whiny little shit.

Hey Brad Millette.

I have a question for you, if you have a minute.

I was just in the Tootsie-defamation thread, and I noticed that you requested the initial poster be banned, and it looks like he/she has been.

Are you a moderator, or administrator or something?? I'm just curious cause I don't really understand how the policing of the site works (I did look through the FAQ before I asked, but I haven't seen anything that really addresses the do's and dont's of posting at CHUD or who the admins are, although I'm probably looking in the wrong place).

And is there a thread on the site that delineates what sorts of things will get you banned? I'd love to get a response on this if you get a chance.

No, I just know that guy's posting style by heart. He's a specific case. He rejoins on a near-monthly basis now. CreepyThinMan, TheThing, NinjaHamster, KingdomOfHell. All the same guy, near as I can tell. I have no administrative powers here, nor do I want any. I just happen to be able to pick that guy out right off the bat every time he oozes his way back here with a new ID.