From the Lounge Chair

[Aravis]

Sit back, relax and talk about life.

[Aravis]

I have been a complete insomniac lately. Having perused several sites and blogs on the off chance that something was updated or a new comment added, I find myself at a loss and a bit bored. Does this ever happen to any of you? I can't sleep, but for once wish I could. Oh well.

I'll try reading some more to see if that helps. I hope you're all either sleeping peacefully or enjoying your day.

[RobertGraves]

We have a 14 month old. Need I say more...

[Arancaytar]

Having perused several sites and blogs on the off chance that something was updated or a new comment added

I did that all the time in the beginning, and it drove me near insane. Now I have newsfeed notifications (with Opera; I don't know if other browsers have that feature), so I don't have an excuse to check all those sites every ten minutes.

Need I add that all of a sudden the spare time I have for more productive pursuits has tripled?

[RobertGraves]

I can honestly say I never get bored. No time as it is and whenever I have a spare moment there are a stack of old hobbies and pursuits to pursue. I tend to be a do-er, if I have time I start something/a new project. Really, I need more time on the couch (not that couch).

When I am online I am always doing work with the distraction of music, email, posting and surfing making it all the more palatable.

[Wyndham]

I've had a problem sleeping recent Aravis. Kitchen renovations. Two months without cooking facilities, to date. Its fun for the first week eating frozen lasagna every night, but after sixty days, I'm starting to feel like the star of 'supersize it'.

When I can't sleep, I go and sit on the porch, have a drink of water and smoke. That usually puts things more or less right (provided indigestion isn't the issue).

[Wyndham]

Heah. Anybody else actually been barred from Readersplace? My links are all dead, here and at home. I can't get back in. Thought I would, to see what was up. Alas, Windows says I'm forbidden to enter. Rather Soviet, all in all, for a benevolent dictatorship.

Don't mind really. In fact, in case you hadn't recognised the signs, I'm really boasting. Robert, I understand, isn't a person there anymore, but still has access. Guess that makes me public enemy number one -- the arch-traitor Wyndham!

If, somehow, you guys know this isn't so, don't tell me. Why would you want to burst my balloon? I've been kicked out of better places, by better people; but this is the first time I've ever been dangerous (. . . well, I did have one married friend once back when I was single . . . ).

[Arancaytar]

What is this Readersplace, and why do people get banned from there?

[demgoddess]

Aran...I was just about to ask the same thing, but you beat me to it. Glad to know I am not the only one in the dark!

[Arancaytar]

Well, at least I actually found the Readersplace after a brief search on Aravis' blog.

www.thereadersplace.com/

Still looking for whatever might have occured that caused what currently seems to be a mass banning of members...

Edit: So yes, I've found Aravis posting as late as yesterday. So whatever has happened in this brief time?

[Wyndham]

Aran, I expect that many of the things that might provide answers have been deleted.

In brief. Readersplace is the most recent incarnation of something that's been about for eight years (to my knowledge anyway). Its a site where people post about books, and reading in general. One long lived feature was something called 'current events'. Many here were chums there, throughout as you might have gathered from introductions.

Last week, the management of that site posted a poll asking member what to 'do' about current events. Appears that some members were upset about the 'tone' of posts. These were not so much disrespectful, but I think, unacceptable in content. Robert, myself, Aravis and some others, are great sceptics re: the possibility of victory in Iraq, and had been mighty disappointed regarding the result of the recent election. Indeed, I think most of us had been disappointed by the election previous! As I say, we'd hung about there, and at its predecessors for some time. Some of our posts had been, perhaps, over-aggressive in a partisan way, but I think, nothing that you wouldn't find in mainstream media. Some appear to have considered them actually 'anti-American'.

Management made it clear that it was a 'benevolent dictatorship' and would do what it wanted regardless of the poll. Faced with the poll, most here wondered really what the problem was, and were mighty shocked when the result came in: '19 eliminate current events', '9 retain', with '1 absention'. Some (me for one) were mighty put out, and not only because of the closed mind set illustrated by the poll, but by some incidental features accompanying it -- 14 new members admitted to a community of 52, the week of the poll. 100% voter turn out for those members who had logged in that week. Hell, the fact that the thing was even on the table, as most of those here were among the most active members of readersplace in general -- Aravis, for example, was an ex-administrator. Robert must have posted 1000s of times. It was all very . . . Soviet.

The upshot was that Aravis established this site as an ark of sorts. A place where those of us who didn't feel comfortable at Readersplace any longer could continue our discussions amongst ourselves, and with other open minded persons. Some remain members there. Some, I think, intend to quit. I, at least, appear to have been expelled, probably for my last, farewell post, no doubt deleted since.

Glad to see you guys here. Feel free to say anything you like. No NKVD here.

[demgoddess]

Wyn...thanks for the explanation/background info. Since the election, I have noticed an increasing propensity of the American right to label anyone on the left as "unpatriotic" or "anti-American," which has both annoyed and mildly scared me. Are we heading towards another Alien and Sedition act? Nevermind that things like closing down a current event forum seem to indicate a lack of respect for "free speech." Or at the very least, an unwillingness to see or hear about the world from any perspective but your own, which to me seems to go against the spirit of free speech.

In any case, thanks again for filling in us newcomers.

[Wyndham]

Demi. Music to my ears. I'm glad that you concur with thoughts here re: free speech. Flabbergasted, and excited that you know what the Alien and Sedition Act was! The Readersplace thing, then, was not really Soviet: more Creel Committee. If you weren't so unreasonable, and anti-American, you wouldn't make us, make you shut the hell up . . . SO SHUT THE HELL UP (oh, you should be aware, as well, that this is NOT censorship, so that the attempt to call it censorship will be absolutely censored, and dealt with as sedition).

[demgoddess]

Of course it's not censorship. They were just helping you to know what is appropriate to talk about and what you'll be expelled for saying. Really, it's almost a public service

[Wyndham]

I certainly consider myself righteously, and rightly, chastised; almost enough to crawl back and make a full confession.

Although not American, I have been infected with an anti-American virus, and sought to spread it to comrades. I have conspired with, and given comfort to the arch-traitor Robert Graves who, while also not American, has called into question the abilities of the Leader of the Free World. I have pondered carefully the posts of Aravis, and Tenarke, read their links, and boggled with them regarding current policy and electoral results, contrary to decency and such as might produce discontent . . . I request that I be generously readmitted, but only so I can be ruthlessly re-expelled, once again . . .