BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Don Firth
Date: 19 Jul 04 - 06:55 PM

The problem is that there are some people (and I use that term with reservations) who hide behind anonymity, or an equally anonymous "handle," and say things that, were they to make such remarks to someone in person, the next thing they'd be doing is crawling around on the floor looking for their teeth.

That kind of anonymity brings out the true nature of some people (once again, the term with reservations):   foul-minded, foul-mouthed bullies who are much too cowardly to face the consequences of their utterances, so they make them anonymously in places like this. It's obvious that these—well—people (although I really hesitate to classify them has human beings) have managed to find their level. Right about crotch height.

The Mudcat seems to have become infested lately with some particularly nasty parasites.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 19 Jul 04 - 07:25 PM

How about ignoring that sort of post completely. If there was no reaction at all there is a possibility that the person in question would give up and find another forum to bother. It is rather frustrating tryng to follow what could be an interesting discussion only to have it spoilt by this type of thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Grab
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 09:35 AM

Yeah, I'm one ugly son-of-a-syllable, boy...

Grab.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Once Famous
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 10:44 AM

i agree with Brucie. why do people have to insult someone's wife?

Believe it or not, I do draw the line. Using a fake name or a handle seems to be what most do here. I would never use my real name in this or in any forum as Don Firth does. Good or bad, why would anyone want to expose their real self to the world as someone who even remotely associates with all of this quirkiness.

Don, I've not done it, but wouldn't it make you feel weird if someone did a Google or Yahoo search on your name and it took someone here to Mudcat or wherever else you post and everyone saw all of YOUR very real self co-habitating with many usual Internet varmints?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: GUEST,Mother Superior
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 11:09 AM

Martin dear, The rabbitskin mitten you masturbate with does not, in law, constitute a wife.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Once Famous
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 11:16 AM

Well, then pull out your dildo and stuff it up your scabbed genitals and say a few Hail Mary's for me, dear Mother superior.

Better yet, pray to your plastic Jesus you are out of your misery soon.

OK?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: GUEST,Fred Miller
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 11:24 AM

My computer crashed a few days ago. Anybody know what happened with the favorouter mudcatters thread?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 11:50 AM

It probably went off the page if no one contributed to it. Do a refresh for a week to look for it again.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 12:09 PM

Hey you guys. I just gotta tell you the truth. I get fed up with the things people say about me on here so please start being nice to me. I am really such a lovely guy and I do not mean most of the things I say. I want you all to love me.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: GUEST,El Pope
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 12:31 PM

El huésped Martin Gibson,

Usted es tan inútil como tetas en un toro. Todos saben que Marty anuncia bajo su propio nombre. El tiene las pelotas que no lo hace.

Take that you dumb shit.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: JennyO
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 12:37 PM

Just in case anyone is wondering about El Pope's Spanish, here's the translation:

The guest Martin Gibson, You are as useless as teats in a bull. All know that Marty announces under its own name. It has the balls that do not do it.

Would Babelfish lie?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 01:30 PM

Marty, it doesn't worry me to use my real name because, unlike some others, I don't post anything that I would be ashamed of.

And as far as anyone looking me up is concern, it happened just a few weeks ago. An old friend did a google search on my name and found me here on Mudcat. He registered as a member here solely to use the PM facility and sent me a PM with his e-mail address. I e-mailed him and we got together for the first time since 1985. He's a former guitar student of mine and a very good friend.

Perhaps I'm gullible and foolhardy, but I can't see any reason why anyone would want to do me any harm. And if it were to ever happen, I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 02:35 PM

The overwhelming majority of people who post on the Mudcat are people anyone would be happy to be associated with. The right way to see the occasional persistant pillock is that. they help people to appreciate the fact that most Mudcatters aren't like that. Thank God.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 02:37 PM

In fact, Marty, although you say you find my writing boring, it seems that there are others who don't. A few people have read things I've posted here and apparently liked what they read because they offered me opportunities to write for print publications they're associated with. I have over a dozen magazine articles published. Some for pay.

So you see, there are certain advantages to using one's real name. And, of course, to writing things that you're not ashamed of.

Also, I don't at all mind "co-habitating" (don't you mean "cohabiting"?) with the "usual Internet varmints" who frequent Mudcat. With the exception of a few "varmints" (variant of the word "vermin"), I find most Mudcat habitués to be interesting, knowledgeable, informative, and friendly. Not only that, where else could I converse with people all over the world? Amos in San Diego, McGrath in England, Wolfgang in Germany, CarolC in Alabama, DougR in Arizona, Bobert in West Virginia, Foolestroupe in Australia, etc. Even converse a bit with Jean Ritchie and old friend from decades ago, Sandy Paton. Rather than a collection of "varmints," I find Mudcat to be one of the real miracles that modern technology makes possible.

You know, Marty, I think there is a remote possibility that you might actually have something to offer if you ever gave yourself permission. And if it's really true that you're "fed up with the things people say about me" and "I do not mean most of the things I say here so please start being nice to me," then there is a very easy way of bringing that about. If it's really true, that is, and you're not just trying to jerk people around. Wouldn't it be nice if people actually liked you and valued your comments and opinions? All you need to do is stop acting like a pubescent barbarian who has recently discovered his and other people's crotches and start acting like a mature, happy human being that you claim to be "in real life."

It's that simple.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: DougR
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 02:46 PM

Hey Kevin, what the heck is a pillock?

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Once Famous
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 03:05 PM

Don, I really don't have to act any way that you want me to. I am my own man and you are your own girlie man. I didn't write that stupid guest, Martin Gibson post as my cookie is always on. You are gullible, don you old fart.

there are people here who like what I write also. Have more friends than you or many could ever realize. Some of them encourage me to say things to you and I don't really always mind being their mouthpiece. I respond to plenty of PMs from my friends here all of the time.

Some have found my pull no punches, total lack of political correctness quite refreshing and I hear it all of the time. Others I know feel that some of the old guard psuedo intellectuals have gone stale and really are quite boring and full of themselves amongst other types of fecal matter.

So Don, I'm in it for the long haul to keep in check just how off the wall that the world could be, to show that polital correctness is out of control, and to continue with another angle on life. One that could give you sometimes a nice dose of what life in the big city is like.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 03:27 PM

colour=red, size=really big   HELLLOOOO!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: SINSULL
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 03:38 PM

jOhn,
It is about time you showed up here to rescue your thread from creep. How is the taxi driving going?
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 03:41 PM

There you have it, Doug. The perfect example. In England, Marty would be the quinessential pillock, a model for all aspiring pillocks to emulate.

Marty, hope springs eternal within my breast. I keep trying to give you chances to rise on the scale of evolution, but you just don't seem to have the capability. 'Tis a pity.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 04:14 PM

Pillock - a dismissive term indicating a degree of contempt for the person referred to. Similar to jerk, but with more mocking overtones.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Once Famous
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 04:24 PM

Don, stop trying to emulate pillocks and try to ejaculate them instead.

You write like classic literature's worst nightmare.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 04:35 PM

jOhn you're a diamond geezer. Such a way of putting things in perspective.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 06:18 PM

Martin. I have to say that from your postings on here, I would have thought that Classic literature would be the last thing you had been in contact with. Be Blessed.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 06:19 PM

"You write like classic literature's worst nightmare."

Thank you, Marty! That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 06:20 PM

OOOps sorry Don. Didn't realise the implications of Martins compliment. Be Blessed.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: akenaton
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 06:26 PM

Strange how Doug is the only person in the world who doesn't know what a "pillock" is ??

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 08:09 PM

Actually, GS, I think we were probably operating under similar assumptions: that Marty's idea of classic literature is to be found in publications like Penthouse Forum or Hustler. Ordinary (non-classic) literature, he finds on the walls of rest rooms around Chicago.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 09:57 PM

I doubt that akenaton - I don't think it's that common an expression across the Atlantic. No shortage of candidates, but I think they'd call them something else.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Once Famous
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 10:23 PM

The only thing that I saw on a Chicago rest room wall was, "for a good blow job, call Don Firth,"

Georrgiansilver, ooops, you're a fuck-up.

As far as classic literature goes, how does anyone know what I've read. Actually, Holden Caulfield would probably be proud of me.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 05:13 AM

More proof Martin that you know so little about the people you taunt.
If you want to wind something up...buy a clock with a winder. You might have more success.
Love your posts though... Would imagine you are a really nice guy underneath the facade. Be Blessed.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Peace
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 11:42 AM

It's hard to say that ten times fast.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: M.Ted
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 12:04 PM

And, once again, Martin shows off what he doesn't know--

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 12:14 PM

WAKE UP! Georgiansilver IS Martin Gibson.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Peace
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 12:27 PM

Never mind "wake up Georgiansilver", wake up little Susie. Right.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 01:38 PM

Martin Gibson and I are worlds apart "GUEST". I am who I am and what you see. He is a fake by his own admission and treats people totally differently than I do. You however are hiding behind the "GUEST" guise as so many people do, who make bold statements that they cannot justify. Be Blessed anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: GUEST,fred miller
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 10:49 PM

whoever soured the Favorouters thread and got it deleted sort of pisses me off, since it was a little less mind-numbingly boring than this one. Good lord this should certainly be a little more fun than ragging on about the barbed persona Martin G likes to adopt online. So what? It could be more to my taste, but I suppose it's going to be more to his. Fine.

Some of my favorite catters are Jimmyt, Ebbie, Nerd, John from kansas, carolc and jts, blackcatter, little hawk, Ellenpolly, leprechaun, kimc, and whatshername, whatshisname, and also whatshisname. Some of these are people i've had snits with about things, but those are also people I feel I've got to know a little, whose names I remember, and whose posts I often like to read.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Peace
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 10:54 PM

Your name should be on that list, too, Fred. IMO, you are one heckuva thinker.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Nerd
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 08:10 PM

Thanks, Fred!

I would also rather talk about favorite mudcatters than people who piss me off. But on the other hand, some of my favorite mudcatters often DO piss me off, like DougR. And Martin Gibson himself.   I mean, who could not be amused by some of MG's comments, and pissed off by others?

By the way, as to whether Martin Gibson is "Real" or not, there's a classic of sociology by Erving Goffman, called "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life." His essential argument is that we are all acting roles most of the time. The version of us that most other people see is not the "real" us or the "complete" us, but a role. Martin Gibson is one of the roles acted by his creator. He is not "completely unreal" (whatever that may mean), but he is only a projection, a role, being acted by his creator.

Certain things MG certainly has in common with his creator. I believe the creator of MG is really Jewish, for example, from sentences like

Don, what I forgot, you haven't even imagined.

But of course, it's possible that MG is just a very well-created role.

In either case, I long ago decided that MG just says what he says to be funny and yank our chains, and since then he's gone from being someone who pissed me off to one of my favorite mudcatters--because it's usually amusing to read a thread he's in!

Other favorites: Bobert, Fred Miller, Wolfgang (who keeps both sides honest on the political threads), Sandy Paton, Kytrad, and the late lamented Rick Fielding, among others.

'Catters who piss me off? Life's too short

(er, that's too short to be pissed off, not too short to list the 'Catters who piss me off!)

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Once Famous
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 09:14 PM

Another one who actually gets it!

It's cool to have impact.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: GUEST,fred miller
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 12:45 AM

or whatever.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 07:59 PM

But why do people or at least one person want to appear cool to themselves by playing such a provocative role? Is it the real person we are actually seeing or is it just some projection? I wonder if people actually know the impact the role has or could have on others and more importantly on themselves...who knows??
Be Blessed.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 08:48 PM

Thanks Don and Fred.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Once Famous
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 10:31 PM

Georgiansilver

Really, what the fuck is the difference? There's only a few here like yourself that ponder or "wonder" the impact.

Why don't you worry about when you are going to get laid next?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 11:36 PM

I used to worry about that a lot, Martin...but there are actually better things in life than sex! (yeah, I know you don't believe that for a minute) :-)

I sure don't worry about it these days. It's great being single. I kid you not.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Nerd
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 11:36 PM

I wouldn't put it in quite those terms, but Martin is being sensible. The point you could draw from Goffman is that there is no sense wondering if you're just seeing a projection: you are. You are ALWAYS seeing a projection, not "the real person," even if you're talking in real life, let alone on the internet. Furthermore, I would say this has to be a dialogic performance. It's even more true on the internet (which did not exist in Goffman's day) because you experience so much less: no facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, quality of voice, etc. So all you see are words made up by a person. Any "person" you construct out of those words is as much your invention as his.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: GUEST,Fred Miller
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 11:47 PM

Well Gs, I like some of Martin's posts when he has something to say, but don't enjoy his routine postings(I KNOW, Martin, You don't care, don't give a whatever, yes, I get it, done got it, am watching re-runs, thanks).
   Except I always do enjoy the part of the routine where he tells people he doesn't care what they think of his routine, online persona, manners, style, humor, whatever. I think I like it because it's a question he keeps answering that nobody keeps asking him.
    When you or I ask a question like you have, correct me if I'm wrong, we are not asking Martin, or "Martin" whether he cares what we think, or even really addressing him at all. Why would we? It's more like an open question to absolutely anyone else--even anonymous guests--and addressing a dismal, recurring phenomenae, like say, We're getting some bleak weather here aren't we? One isn't asking the dull grey skies if they care what we think about them, or addressing the question to them.
    That's why I enjoy the way Martin always and very predictably butts in right there to answer, always naively supposing anyone cares WHETHER he cares what we think. Different people find different things funny, that's the side of MG that amuses me. That, and his other, genuinely interesting posts, his take on folk music in general, and his musical knowledge and tastes.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 12:15 AM

well, Mr. Nerd, sir...you are, of course, technically correct. We see textual representations of some 'person'.....but some represent themselves in a pretty real approximation of what they are in reality.

I have MET a whole bunch of Mudcat folks RT, and it is my observation that those who are willing to be known RT are pretty much like their online personas. (there are several who are a 'bit' more bashful RT, and who actually express themselves better with time to think and type)

Now, it might be that Martin Gibson, aka ******** *. ************ in his supposed 'real' persona as a Jewish bluegrass musician from Chicago, is a well-liked and friendly fellow, but I sure wonder at the inner self that thinks it a great experiment and good fun to foment the amount of rancor he persists in spreading around this forum!

Everyone views these words on a screen a bit differently...some treat every 'persona' seriously, and *some* act as though none of these characters are really real, and assume their Don Rickles shtick of gratuitous insults is only a play-party game. They are so dead wrong it is scary! There are REAL people on the end of every post, whether you ever expect to meet them or not. It IS possible to do real damage with insults and put-downs, and no amount of laughing & shrugging is going to change that.

"Martin Gibson" is clever, bright, fast with the quip and has a thick skin....but I suspect that he is not a guy I'd care to be stranded with on a desert island.....not that he cares, anwyay...

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 12:20 AM

Yes, we are all seeing projections. It can be interesting figuring out what is really behind them, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Blackcatter
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 12:35 AM

"He may be a son of a bitch," US President Franklin Roosevelt is reported to have said of Nicaraguan dictator Anastosio Somoza, "but at least, he's our son of a bitch."

That's our MG.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcatr people waht piss you off?
From: Nerd
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 01:45 AM

Good one, Blackcatter!

Goffman would answer BillD by saying that we have no way of knowing whether anyone on Mudcat is anything like the "real person," even if we know them outside of Mudcat. All we see are performative presentations of self, here or in the real world. All we would know for sure is that the person gives very consistent performances.

The part I really don't get is this:

Everyone views these words on a screen a bit differently...some treat every 'persona' seriously, and *some* act as though none of these characters are really real, and assume their Don Rickles shtick of gratuitous insults is only a play-party game. They are so dead wrong it is scary! There are REAL people on the end of every post, whether you ever expect to meet them or not. It IS possible to do real damage with insults and put-downs, and no amount of laughing & shrugging is going to change that.

I could understand you saying it's wrong, but "so dead wrong it is scary?" It sounds as though you're saying there are people here so fragile that an insult from someone who is essentially a stranger is likely to have serious psychological consequences. This may be the case, but such a person is an accident waiting to happen and should probably stay away from anonymous internet forums!