To be a member or a guest?

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: GUEST,me again
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:58 AM

Well, Joe and gnu, I've looked all over and around my computer and I can't find any hidden cameras, so I think I know the answer - maybe sometimes people are just bluffing.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 11:50 PM

LOL! Exactly.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: gnu
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 11:49 PM

Join up and I'll PM you the answer.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 06:36 PM

Can Joe tell whether a mudcatter has logged out in order to post anonymously, or logged out in order to allow another guest or guests - guests of the logged out mudcatter - to use the mudcatter's computer to add a post of their own?

---

I'll never tell... ;-)
-Joe-

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: GUEST,Martin
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 11:42 AM

Stay anonymous guest. That way you can safely hide behind closed doors accountable only to your own paranoia.
By the way don't trust anyone .....you never know.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 02:40 AM

Who's this "Frost Queen," Garg? - is that the part Schwarzenengger played in that Batman movie?
-Joe-

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 10:05 PM

"the others"???? Meaning what? I have no experience of any "others", so I don't even know what it is I'm supposed to be scared of here...

I'll tell you what I'm scared of. Old age and physical deterioration. Those are things worth being scared of, not the silly-ass stuff that goes on here.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: bobad
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 10:02 PM

The ol' paranoia acting up again tonight, guest?

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 09:52 PM

This place is just like the others - and perhaps, worse.

Be SCARED be VERY SCARED!!!

You can e-mail and chat all you want through a variety of other, more secure/anonymous sources, and you can establish friends from MudCat, just don't use MudChat, or your real name, address,e-mail,birthdate,telephone,or ISP. Use your common interests.

Do not be lulled into a false sense of security by Mr. Joe Offer (realize that he, too, also was an employee of "Thye Frost Queen" and any Aszlan comforts may only be a donkey in lion-cloth.)

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 08:37 PM

I am a guest solely because w3m crumbles the Cat's cookies. However, I always sign off with my real name & real email address.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: The greater the love, the more false to its object. :||

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 05:59 PM

That's just the sort of mealy-mouthed, fuzzy-headed, liberal bleeding heart truly moronic *censored* thing I'd expect you to say, gnu, you stupid *censored* *expletive excised*. *censored* puppies! *censor* e'm. They all oughta be ground up and..oops!


I forgot to log out first. ;-D

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: gnu
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 01:41 PM

I can dig it, though, Joe. It was nasty here for a while. Some members would rather post as a guest at times than get slagged for saying puppies are cute.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 01:34 PM

I think most people here feel it's more polite to use a consistent name. Unless your post is totally objective and innocuous, an ominous tone is added to your post if you use no name, or inconsistent names.
It used to be that registered Mudcatters rarely logged out to post anonymously, but a number of Mudcatters have broken that tradition lately. That's a shame - it seems to me to be a betrayal of trust.
If you know a person by name, you tend to feel more comfortable and trusting.
I think that kind of trust is a worthwhile thing to cultivate here.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 01:28 PM

That'll be Bobert he's just released a new seedy under the name of Sidewalk Bob.
G.☺

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Kaleea
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 01:14 PM

Ooooh! A secret society. Groovey! uh, except, umm-I thought I saw some kinda seedy looking people going in the backroom.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: gnu
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 01:09 PM

Shhhh!!!!!

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Wesley S
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 12:36 PM

And besides - you have to become a member before you can be allowed access to the super secret "other" Mudcat forum for cool people only. No riff-raff allowed. Insiders only.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Dave Wynn
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 12:32 PM

It's a Cafe. The coffee and dohnuts are subsidised for members!. Good coffee too.

Spot the Dog

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 10:23 AM

Thanks, Peace and Bill D. I've tried telling Internet Explorer not to block cookies from mudcat.org.   We shall see.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Mar 06 - 02:03 PM

leenia...somewhere, your browser has been told not to 'remember' your cookie between sessions...gotta change that. Different browsers, slightly different places.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Peace
Date: 16 Mar 06 - 11:50 AM

Reset your cookie. Log out. Reboot your computer. Log back in with your name and password. That should work.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 16 Mar 06 - 11:35 AM

I'm a member, but everytime I post, I get the Guest designation. Don't know why.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: The Shambles
Date: 16 Mar 06 - 08:14 AM

Proposal for members only posting of BS

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: The Shambles
Date: 16 Mar 06 - 08:11 AM

Hypocrisy in anything whatever may deceive the cleverest and most penetrating man, but the least wide-awake of children recognizes it, and is revolted by it, however ingeniously it may be disguised.
Leo Tolstoy

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 Mar 06 - 05:58 AM

"There was great excitement in the palace and the Emperor's clothes were the talk of the town. At last the weavers declared that the clothes were ready. Then the Emperor, with the most distinguished gentlemen of the court, came to the weavers. Each of the swindlers lifted up an arm as if he were holding something. "Here are Your Majesty's trousers," said one. "This is Your Majesty's mantle," said the other. "The whole suit is as light as a spider's web. Why, you might almost feel as if you had nothing on, but that is just the beauty of it."

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 16 Mar 06 - 02:09 AM

If you're a member, you can sign guests into the club.
If you're a guest, you can't sign a member or other guests in, unless you're a member of a "Guests only" club, of course, in which case you arre in fact a member...
Wait, what was the question again?

Seamus

OK, now I remember...if you're a member, you can PM bona fide big stars like me and Clinton Hammond and Kendall and Alaska Mike and Jed Marum who wouldn't normally give you the time of day if you greeted us on the street or e-mailed us, or even phoned us.
But we (don't we guys?) take our Mudcat superstardom very seriously.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: number 6
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 10:50 PM

"Why by a book when you can join a library?"

.. because you don't know who might have read the book before you.

sIx

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Peace
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 08:11 PM

That's a good Italian accent, Bill.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 07:56 PM

that's a naught, so's you'd notice.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 07:55 PM

"0"

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 07:53 PM

451!! Ohhh, a hot one!

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Peace
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 07:27 PM

"451"

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: The Shambles
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 07:11 PM

Why by a book when you can join a library?
Ricky Gervais

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 07:03 PM

But at least you know he's the same person - and it means that it's possible to balance off in your mind the posts and the topics where he is more likely to communicate courteously.

Looking at all the handy aspects about having a membership it's hard to see any signifucant reasons not to. You don't get ever spam via the Mudcat.   Unless you get your email address you nevwer get emails from Mudcatter either. I suppose it woudl be possible to get PMs from othwer Mudcatters which were a nuisance, but thats never happened to me, and I'm sure that if it became a problem fro anyone the offenders would be shuty down.

So come on in, the water's lovely. But if you decide not to, than do please try to stick a name or label after your "GUEST", even a temporary one for a particular thread perhaps, to make it possible to have a conversation.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 06:38 PM

Well the last person I remember encouraging to join and become one of us was Martin Gibson!
So it's no good asking me again!
Giok

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 06:07 PM

I would rathed be dis-guested than dis-membered.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Peace
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 06:05 PM

Gembers are not common either. However, due to the . . . .

98

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 06:03 PM

Muest Gemberships are quite rare, and accordingly, are highly valued.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 06:00 PM

I think you should be a gember or a muest.

Dare to be different.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Peace
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 05:59 PM

48.5

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 05:57 PM

Yes, I can testify that I've just been impersonated, on another thread, by a very sick individual.
I was once a member but when I came back, after a computer breakdown, I found I'd been 'de-membered' and procrastinated over joining up again. After the 'impersonation by a psycho' incident, though, I think I'll have to join again - but will dream up another name.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: GUEST,Martin gibson
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 05:18 PM

No, he is the fart of the community.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: number 6
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 04:47 PM

Yeah ... whether he likes it or not Clinton is part of the community.

Good post Ebbie!

sIx

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 04:42 PM

For good or bad, as a member one develops a recognizable personality with interests, views, quirks and foibles and, on occasion, buttons to be pushed that are unique to oneself. As a member you are part of a community- as a Guest, it is much harder to feel a part of the Mudcat.

I have noticed, Clinton, that you are a member. :)

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 04:41 PM

The only conceivable reason not to become a member would be the desire to remain totally anonymous. There are no hidden costs or promotional emails to worry about.

The only disadvantage to becoming a member is that people sort of get to know who you are after awhile (or at least think they do), and that can lead to repetitive crap and arguments with various people who just don't like your style, and that can get annoying sometimes. But it's a minor problem, I'd say.

There are no financial or procedural or technical risks involved in being a member.

The only thing you will achieve as a result of member status is that you will be clearly identifiable AS you whenever you post something. That's it. Period.

Example: You can always post as "Guest, the idiot"...but then some other Guest may also post as "Guest, the idiot" after awhile when people have gotten to think they know who YOU are, and he may pretend to be you and further say that he hates Jews, blacks, and women and is in favour of child pornography. Then a lot of people will jump to the conclusion that YOU are a racist, anti-semitic, sexist, criminally perverted pig. That can be damned inconvenient, even though nobody knows who "Guest, the idiot" really is...

But, if you become a member and have a member name, such as "Charlie the Tuna", then no Guest can anonymously log on as "Charlie the Tuna"...they can only log on as "Guest, Charlie the Tuna". This will be a signal that they are an impostor. Thus your reputation will remain relatively unsullied when they claim to be you and admit to performing grotesque acts upon young penguins or something like that. That's about all there is to it, really.

Members have more credibility than Guests because they are more identifiable.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: number 6
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 04:23 PM

Exactly Peace .... so why not become a member.

And it's free too ... and that's hard to beat these days.

sIx

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 04:23 PM

AS a member you can join in the auctions as well.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Peace
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 04:20 PM

Become a mamber. Then you can post as GUEST whenever you want. As GUEST, you can't post as a member--unless it's as GUEST(member name). That has happened and on occasion GUESTS have posted as members. Sometimes it gets handled and sometimes not. FYI.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: kendall
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 04:19 PM

As a member, you can also get into the Mudcat chat.

Subject: RE: To be a member or a guest?
From: Crane Driver
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 03:46 PM

And, of course, there's the reason membership was introduced in the first place - it prevents anyone else passing themselves off as you in contentious discussions (contentious? here? never!)

If you post as Guest(whatever), there's nothing to stop someone else also posting under the same name, and you might be held responsible for anything they might say.

It happened, apparently, which is why membership was introduced.

Of course, if you're not likely to meet other mudcatters in person it probably doesn't matter too much.

And I've also never had any unsolicited emails or spurious bills as a result of my membership of mudcat.

Andrew