what_is_blather_supposed_to_be E see: the_intellectual_decay_of_blather questions posed: if blather was an experiment, was there some sort of hypothesis? any amount of outcomes that blather was supposed to be? did anyone ever say that blather had to be only poetic deep writing? are there any rules that should be enforced on blather? please comment if you will 030306 ... megan ahhh. a newbie. blather is infinite, as long as you make it that way. don't let anyone tell you differently. 030306 ... Nathan88 why do u think all posts are poetic...look deeper and you will find much much more 030306 ... Nathan88 Look...3...with this 4, none poetic blathes...coincidence, i think not! 030306 ... E why do you think i am a newbie? perhaps i have been here years, which i have. i was simply posing a question to the complainers of the group, inquiring what they would want, since blather doesn't seem to be "right" for them. 030306 ... E and nathan, i did not say that i thought blather was all deep and poetic. i was offering an example of what other people might have wanted. 030306 ... E and, please, fix your grammar. 030306 ... Freak blather_is_blather and that is all it is supposed to be. Words. Lots and lots of pointless meaning less nonsense. blather. 030307 ... Nathan88 fIcks my gRamOr???...i kan tIpe howEvare i wood lIk two 030312 ... lost blather is supposed to be anyuthing you want it to be. for me it is a retreat to be stupid to express my real self and feelings. 030312 ... splinken blather is supposed to be a trampoline. 030312 ... splat blather was meant to be a pink horsey that i could ride on whenever i wanted. But then daddy sold it :( 030312 ... your father I have bad news for you... not only did we get rid of the horse, but when we had no food, we actually had it for dinner. Sorry if this causes any inconvenience. 030312 ... User24 E: click your own name on a blathe to see how megan knew you were a newbie. E: blathe is an online community, and, for better or worse, thieves, poets, bullies, philosophers, sociopaths, musicians and whores live here. There is conflict, love, fear and knowledge. There is what you create, there is what you destroy. Blather is what you are, for you are Blather. 030501 ... phil a shape. 030501 ... Dafremen What do YOU want blather to be? Answer that, and you'll know what it's supposed to be. 030501 ... E No, User24, I've been here quite a while, thankyouverymuch. Also, I more or less comprehend the forum that Blather has become, but my question simply asked if there was an original intention to Blather. 030502 ... p2 i think E has a valid question/point if blather is an experiment what is the hypothesis? or at least the question that it is trying to answer? or is it more like, "hey let's do this and see what happens?" user24 i think you are too advanced you think so "out of the box" that the simple concept of changing a name seems to escape you i am in awe (no sarcastic_delimiters) 030502 ... p2 btw the only ones that can answer this are the blather_gods so therefore as in real life i expect no satisfactory answers to my questions 030502 ... E And how appropriate that Blather is full of Philosophers that wonder about such unanswerable questions all day... 030502 ... philsheeshshutthefuckup it's an experiment to see what shape this will take when left at your mercy. 030502 ... Grace i really dont know and since im leaving i couldnt say.. 030502 ... joda I get the impression it's just a place I can spew the instantaneous things that come to mind when i read a word. Any word. 030502 ... doggy ciao Blather is not your home. Get a life. How can you come here and treat it like just another sloughy old chat room? The design of blather is distinct. Try reading just old blathes and see how nice it is. I think one day when you're older and wiser, you might look back on blather and see how foolish you were. 030503 ... doggy ciao And to be anthropological about it (as you asked) read Dallas and whoever else's blathes. They weren't setting up playdates or testing out their blog novels. 030503 ... pointing out hypocrisy THAT'S irony... 030504 ... doggy ciao I realize it's ironic. I don't think it's hypocritical. 030504 ... Dafremen It's snobbish. Put a password blather if it is to fit a certain community's definition of acceptable. Might I suggest the entire Illiad as an appropriate password? What was it Homer said? "Doh!" 030504 ... User24 p2, E asked how someone knew (s)he was a newbie; I presented an answer. I am very well attuned to the concept of changing names. I may as well reveal it all now. There is no-one on blather but you and me, I have created all the other blather personalities in an attempt to perform psycho-spying on you. Only two computers have ever connected to blather, mine, and yours. Thankyou very much for being part of this experiment, I now know everything about your psyche, having evaluated you in several different moods, you appear willing to talk about certain things to certain people, reserving other topics for other groups. Let me ask, did you never suspect us to all be one in the same? (only joking, obviously, but it would be weird if blather consisted of me and only one other person... (or you and one other person.)) 030505 ... p2 phil as someone whose answer includes "left at your mercy" you shouldn't be telling anyone to "shutthefuckup" it's contradictory you're saying we can do as we please but we should do as you say user24 your logic is flawed simply clicking on a name and finding only a few blathes does not mean the person is a newbie and unless you asked megan why she thought e was a newbie your answer did not answer e's question about megan's assumption furthermore, i would surmise that megan thought as she did simply from the question posed by e's blathe but again, since i haven't asked megan personally this is only a guess 030505 ... p2 oh, and if you really ever did figure out my psyche you'd probably stop talking to me 030505 ... User24 lol. 030505 ... E This is getting very complicated... 030505 ... lo blather is according to me the crap that spews out on a daily occasion that you would normaly apologize for in a normal conversation (i'm sorry just blathering or as i like to say blah blah blahing). i would suppose for everyone it is different. some people might pop out poetry all the time some people might talk about dressing chikens in underware or some people may have thoughts on big issues or ideas, so on what have you. all of it is important but unimportant. so blather is to me the place where you shouldn't have to apologize for just letting all that stuff out of your head and into the general poulation. 030505 ... pointing out hypocrisy "What do YOU want blather to be?" "[His opinion is] snobbish" 030506 ... stork daddy if blather was supposed to be anything specific other than what it was now, well then the lack of constraints imbedded within the system would make their attempts a failure. however, i make an assumption on the basis of the efficient design of this website that any inability to control the "quality" of the writing is not due to any insufficiency as programmers but rather due to the difficulty programming concisely an expression's value when such value changes with context. it's obvious even the human brain has trouble with such programs as we often waver on which expressions are valid or liked by us and often cannot say why one is preferred over another. i can only surmise that the creators of blather knew they had no choice but to offer a forum as applying values to not single words but applying meaning and value to their connections is something which should be left to the users and not the program itself. in this way though we did not program blather and cannot change its basic structure (or if you invert the perspectives) its deeper structure, we are in some sense the codebearers in that we can change the aspects of it which seem most important to its users. We can also make use of the links to "create" programs of our own as many have tried to do with the blathermaze. It can only be assumed, however, that if the intention of the creators was elitism they failed. They easily could've put in some mechanism where if an entry got enough negative clicks it would be deleted from the database. I won't posit their intentions, but I can say safely that if that was their intention, they did not accomplish it as i'm free to not only make completely worthless statements, i can repeat them over and over again using my friends miss cut and mister paste. It very well could've been an experiment to see what happens when there are no clear standards limiting our communication and if we are capable of escaping the standards we learned elsewhere at critical times in our life when they were the rules we had to obey to get what we needed. Blather might be a test to see if we can see the use of such standards and the original reasons they arose and have been and continue to be applied and then apply them to ourselves in this forum. Whatever the nature of the experiment, as an experiment it is terrbily open-ended and has very few control variables. It hasn't been given to any specific population other than those with access to a computer, the number of which grows everyday. There aren't any language limitations, any words that aren't recognized. Blather seems to be leaving the laboratory open and watching what crawls in. Any hypothesis will have to be a backwards reaching and not forward reaching one. There are many hypotheses that would make sense: that blather's average entry will start to resemble the level of communication and context of its average user. Or perhaps that a single anomaly will change the way the rest of blather is operated and appreciated by its users. That there will be some sort of middle ground. Whatever the hypothesis is, the initial structure of blather is fixed. The only questions can be concerning what function the users will find in it, which function the users will designate as its primary one. Did they expect a blather red? A node world? a stork daddy? Who can say, but their questions concerned us, since their program hasn't changed much since its inception. And in short, we are their answers. Perhaps there was no question, and they were hoping we would provide the question and that their project would be the answer. In an open-ended situation like this, the speculations are rampant. All that can be said for sure is that if they intended a forum that was content specific or in which the users could create limits to what the database would or wouldn't accept, then they failed. If they intended an open forum in which each voice is valued equally by the database, and where any control the users exert over content must be through the more traditional methods of human information management such as self-regulation, editing and alienation of those who do not meet the standards, well then they succeeded. This is all that can be said meaningfully about blather. That if we wish to posit the "best" uses it is capable of, we may, but that does not change its base structure. A piano can play chopsticks or mozart. And the piano is never to blame, because the piano is built for human fingers. 030506 ... - -fin- 030506 ... E Bravo! Thank you for answering my question. 030506 ... Dafremen There is little or no hypocrisy in pointing to the man with the picket sign and the petition and asking him to get off his high horse and let it be. Were the man to have it his way, blather would be only what HE wants it to be and not what YOU want it to be. (Unless of course you happen to be him or one of those who happens to want of blather what he wants of it.) 030507 ... IKC 56-80 blather_is_blather 030507 ... stork daddy dafremen...it's been settled. so for once...and i say this with compassion in my heart...shut up...your wife needs a poem...now go quickly...you're running out of days! 030507 ... User24 blather was supposed to be an online pizze ordering shop, but something went wrong. 030508 ... philsheeshshutthefuckup http://blather.newdream.net/ 030508 ... phil IKC 56-80 puts it best 030508 ... Dafremen Stork daddy: It's been said, but I will repeat it here for posterity. You have no jurisdiction on this side of the screen. Your Scorpio "intellectual power" fantasy remains where it began. On your side. I believe Kontrol is waiting for you to come over and play. "Shut up" indeed. Blather is, and always will be...blather. Even the censors have a voice here. How can that not be a beautiful thing? (In a twisted sort of way) 030508 ... jimmyjoecorndog that's what i like about this place. guys like daf who play dead so that you think youve taken him out. then they sneak up behind you and punch you in the back of the head. youre a trip man..in a good way most of the time. 030508 ... the indulgent ascetic all of this trying to dissect blather is alot like trying to understand life itself. you can't, really. the entire process of trying to do so is way too subjective to be realistic and is about as productive as masturbation, but ultimately a lot less satisfying we lose the enjoyment of the life we live if we spend too much time trying to analyze it, we lose our appreciation for what blather can be if instead of just riding the waves, we just constantly keep taking lab samples of this funky blue ocean 030508 ... Dafremen Well said. Oh and thanks corndog do0d. It's nice to know that someone's been watching...and getting it. That's what it's there for man, enjoy_the_show. 030508 ... stork daddy i'll never understand why everything someone else does must somehow be related to their astrological sign in your mind, as if that's the number one cause of people's annoyance with you. daf, i haven't seen any sort of pattern there, i'm fairly certain all 12 signs are equally annoyed. but if you insist it's because i'm a scorpio, go right ahead. but remember, i lie about a lot of things, and my birthday might just be on that list. it's a shame no one else can see how absurd that would make your comments. oh and by the way...i am jimmyjoecorndog...muahaha 030508 ... User24 not wishing to piss you off or pretend to understand everything about your behaiviour, Dafremen, but... People -generally- start talking about star signs when they can't attack any other part of the opposition, as if the fact that they are X sign explains their behaivior, in a "oh, it's so pitifull that he's acting in this way, he can't control his star sign" way. Maybe I just see it that way because I'm a Sagittarius. ;p 030508 ... Dafremen It's funny User24, stork daddy. It used to infuriate me when people spoke like that..I'm a man of logic, an engineer by trade and a computer geek since I was 9. Now, however it amuses me because I've seen the pattern repeat itself so often. I'm only 3 years into my studies and the results have been incredible. The change in my ability to relate to other human beings has been drastic. I understand them now. Before they just meant pain and unpredictable behavior(explaining, in part, my early love for computers.) You will never know until you look into it yourself. It's that simple, and REALLY, with people popping off every day about what a load of crap astrology is, you'd think one of them at least would have done so. Unfortunately, the ones that have simply become absorbed, as I have, in the study, or start out with the intention of disproving it rather than objectively studying it to see if there is anything to it. There are patterns that are undeniable. Sag, the skeptic..along with Virgo, Gemini and Pisces. (And those with strong Virgo, Pisces, Sag or Gemini influences in their natal chart...as I have in mine. Yes, I was a HARDCORE skeptic.) These four are the mutable signs and the tendency towards skepticism that they share was an interesting pattern that I stumbled on about 6 months back. I thought about it for quite awhile, spoke with various people (many of whom were complete strangers) and they all seem to support and confirm my observations. Each of the four have their own reasons for skepticism, however, which is an interesting thing in and of itself. Sag - The idealist, the optimist, learns early on that life isn't the Disney tale that childhood had promised. Open and honest, they are beaten back by a world that doesn't want to hear the truth. Many grow cynical and bitter about society in general, which only serves to reinforce their rebellious natures. They are natural explorers, philosophers and teachers, and so quickly learn many of the harsh realities of a hypocritical world. The idealism is always there though, often displayed in acts of activism in support of the underdog and kindness toward animals. In animals (particularly dogs and horses) I think that Sags find a kindred spirit, one that is open and honest and loyal..everything they wish that other people would be. Gemini - Gemini is the wandering child, the toddler who has learned to walk and now must see everything. Gemini still has the child in him and keeps that for his entire life. Gems are always searching for something, because there is something that they feel will finally satisfy them. Unfortunately, more often than not, when they see things that they are unfamiliar with, they see them as they wish they were, and not as they actually are. It isn't until they have obtained the thing in question that they realize...this isn't it either...and they move on to the next thing. This is true of things, relationships, places. It is this constant stream of disappointments that lead Gems to be skeptics. They soon learn not to believe their hearts or their eyes, for fear of feeling that empty, disappointing feeling. Pessimists are rarely disappointed and often pleasantly suprised. Virgo - Virgo is the perfectionist, the analytical realist, who seeks to dispense with the world's flaws...one at a time. With Virgo, the dream of a perfect world is soon shattered by the realization that the world is not a perfect place and that most people take their helpful advice as criticism. They become skeptical of the world in general because it does not desire to be perfected. In addition, Virgos are of the Earth element. Earth people (Capricorn, Taurus and Virgo) are very much plugged into the material reality. Their senses of smell, taste and touch are usually very sensitive and refined. Earth people then, "believe it when they see it." Since the senses are so very important to them, they find it hard to believe that anything which cannot be proven with the senses is real. Mathematics was one of the great liberators of Earth people, because it allowed them to see with their own eyes, in a logical manner, those things which can't be sensed directly..atom structure, string theory..etc. Pisces - Pisces is the romantic dreamer, the escapist. Pisces people are very empathic, practically absorbing the emotions of others and feeling them in a very real way. Since the world is full of pain, Pisces people learn early on to keep their distance, to run away in order to avoid feeling the pain of others. They live in their dreams instead. The world of imagination is their home and everything beyond it's confines is suspect. They are usually shy and reticent, not generally drawing attention to themselves if they can help it. They are also EXTREMELY generous. This can be an origin of their skepticism. Early on, Pisces people may run into those who tend to abuse their generosity. Their emotional natures run deep, like all of the water signs (Scorpio's are the most intense, Cancer's are the most visible) and when they are betrayed, it hurts, VERY badly. Pisces people learn to be wary of others, both to avoid being taken advantage of and to avoid absorbing their pain. I personally adore Pisces people, because once their trust is secured, they are the most caring, funny, understanding people you'll ever meet. I have no desire to attack anyone. I believe I agreed not to do so. I am simply presenting things that I believe are more likely than not to be true based upon my observations. Deny it until the cows come home...perhaps you are right, but then again...having read what I've written here and in many other places, only YOU know what is true of you. Astrology is about probabilities, not predictions or mind reading. No two people are the same, I can think of at least one blatherer's chart that serves as a perfect example of how SUN SIGN based astrology can fail us at times. This individual is a Sun sign Capricorn, but has heavy Aquarian influences throughout their chart. As a result, they are not particularly stable, not necessarily organized and more eccentric than most Cappies. There is still that devotion to career though. There is still that focus on reputation and appearing well to those in their social circles that it seem almost all Cappies share. I'm not too weak to attack, gentlemen, I simply choose not to. If you see my observations as an attack, you have, once again, misjudged me. If you see my observations as a cop out, without having looked into this yourselves...who really copped out? It seems that blather is also a forum for sharing. 030509 ... Dafremen Scorpions, on the other hand, are suspicious by nature. It's a defense mechanism, to protect their extremely sensitive hearts. Some can seem like the cruelest and most heartless people you've ever met. It's a ruse. Revenge on a cruel and heartless world. 030509 ... stork daddy anyone born into this world without defense mechanisms is ill-equipped reguardless of their month of birth. i don't think anyone who knows me personally would call me one of the most heartless people they know. if anything, it's my heart which keeps me nine of ten times from saying the heartless thing i do have in mind just in case. i've heard your various arguments for astrology, it just doesn't vibe with my personal observations, nor is there any sort of cause behind it that makes sense in the way i've come to appreciate cause and affect. I mean, it's strange enough that the position of the stars would affect the brains of those born in certain months in predictable ways reguarding something which would seem beneficial to be earthbound like personality, but that the affect would be probabilistic too makes it even harder to ferret out what's really going on. I can't possibly be so misled as to say that there aren't any x factors in the formation of personality or that every aspect of the human psyche is known, but i can say that certainly there are theories which are more interesting to spend time trying to proove or disprove than this one. Look, i read the papers "astrology" and i read your blathes on it. I just find when you have put it out there, i haven't agreed completely. there are some catch all statements that work for me, and a couple of catch 22s. If i say i'm a non-emotional person, you'll say it's just hidden deep...either way, it doesn't really concern me. If you can give me a point of view that helps me to relate to myself and the world around me better, I'll go with it even if it is just a useful fiction. So please tell me...what's a scorpio to do? 030510 ... Dafremen So you think that astrology teaches that the positions of the stars affect personality? Then you obviously HAVEN'T read what I've written. Astrology teaches no such nonsense. Astrology uses the positions of the planets as sort of a clock to tell where we are at in the universal cycle. I used to wonder if it were a gravity thing, but I don't necessarily need to draw a direct physical correlation anymore. We are made of earth...so is everything around us. What we call instinct in animals, that invisible influence that creates the phenomenon which we call the "mating season" in nature (a perfect example of one of the patterns repeated during these cycles) represents mass cooperation with these cycles by all of the creatures on Earth. Except us. We fight it..go against the flow. There are, however certain things that we have little control over. These are the traits found in humanistic astrology (the study of human behavior and its relationship to planetary positions.) see also: daffy's_astrology_faq 030510 ... Dafremen Oh and FINE stork. Try this one on for size: Many scorps tend to keep things in locked boxes. Most would prefer to have a lock on their door, their closet, everything. As they get older, they develop the habit of keeping a rather large ring of keys. (My friend biglizrd, who I have known for almost 15 years is a perfect example as is my wife's supervisor.) Scorps like to keep their secrets and they like to know everyone else's. This, again, is one of their ways of keeping the world from sneaking up on them and hurting them. Or how about this? There is something about the ocean, pictures of it and being near it that draws many scorpions. almost every scorp has an almost non-stop sex drive. (No it's not just cuz yer young and full of piss and vinegar...if yer a Scorp, chances are the chances are, you will remain very horny for most of your life.) Many Scorps have prominent noses and bushy eyebrows. Also those with Scorpion ascendants often will too. Many are short and bow-legged. There are a few examples. Go look for yourself. Conduct some experiments. Surprise me for a change do0d. 030510 ... stork daddy well the fact that there's a mating cycle on earth has a lot more to do with the fact that weather patterns on earth affected when the most resources were available at certain times. Also, it's not spring everywhere at a similar time. These are at least patterns you can see have physical changes which are a reasonable explanation for the change in the temperment of animals. Why the position of the planets, which (other than distance from the sun) has no real affect on the weather or any other observable physical phenomenon would affect personality so much is still not clear to me. But if it's one of those things you just have to take on faith, well so be it. anyways...i am short, not bow legged, no prominent nose, no bushy eyebrows. Does this mean people with those traits in the family are less likely to be born in november? I seriously think when ascribing a trait like that to the majority of scorpios you could do some empirical testing. I'd be surprised to see if any large population of scorpios would show clearly more tall people than short people or more bow-legged people than normal. I do have a lot of secrets, which i'm trying to get rid of on e-bay. And with the sex...well it's strange...some would consider me an over-sexed bastard, but i honestly feel that somedays i could sit in lotus position and let it all go. Anyways, this is the same old argument we had before, and i don't really feel it's going to go anywhere. So stop being so defensive...after all...that's my job. Unless your acting out of sign is just an act right? 030510 ... Dafremen Defensive? I have nothing to defend, stork. It amazes me sometimes how easily you fall into your pattern of combative behavior. Sometimes you start out reasonably. For instance, the whole preamble in which, you, while not agreeing with what I have said, choose to respond to what I have written in a reasonable and conversant tone. Then you take a stab in the dark at my motives in an apparent attempt to have me on the defensive in your mind. Is it that you are poking around, trying to find an exploitable weakness? Is it that playing armchair psychologist is an old habit that you have a hard time avoiding? Is it that you wish to impress upon any who are still reading (doubtful though that is) that you have forced me into a defensive position? Rubbish. What on earth do I have to defend? My position on the validity of astrology? Again, rubbish. As an adult, I have little need for the approval of my peers when it comes to the question of my beliefs. I am comfortable with what I believe whether anyone else approves, agrees or not. If you sense something it is intensity and passion. I am as passionate about this as you are sometimes while you are speaking and folks think that you are angry and yelling when you really just feel passionately about the subject you are discussing. In the last 3 years, astrology has helped me, improved my relationships with other people beyond anything I could have imagined. Why wouldn't I feel passionately about SHARING this information with others? See, stork, my motives are simple: I want folks to look and decide for themselves. That is enough for me. If they find it useful, then I have paid back a debt that I owe to this ancient art. Regardless, my motives are unimportant, just as the fact that my attempts to explain how astrology might work mean nothing. What is important is the answer to the question: "Is astrological information likely to be correct and if so, of what use is it?" Rather than ask these questions, and I mean this in a completely benign way, you seem to cling tightly to the unsupported notion that there is nothing to it. I just received another request to do a chart for someone and I will do so. I do so because I truly believe that there is something here and that if they are convinced, their lives might be bettered as a result of their newfound understanding. You are intelligent stork, but I'm no slouch in the IQ department either in case you hadn't noticed. What makes you think that I would dive right into nonsense without having investigated first? What makes you think that I would waste the precious few years that I have left here on Earth studying and promoting something that serves "entertainment purposes only"? 030510 ... stork daddy okie dokie 030511 ... User24 it amuses me that nowadays, a lot of people are using blather to talk about blather, kind of paradoxical, in a way. It shows, to some extent, how, when caged for a long time, you can't cope with being outside the cage; blather has become more than a website to a lot of people, soon we'll have religious fanatics trying to purge the place of blather sinners. Oh yeah, I forgot, it's already happening. 030511 ... god it is what it is 041002 ... () (meta_blather) 041003 ... () (other) 041112 ... meta meta 051214 what's it to you? who go blather from