Roll Call...New Member On The Floor

[PoliTalker]

Hello and welcome Felex Sanders,

Hello, one and all and thanks for having me into your forum. Looking forward to getting to know you and share opinions with you. With that, I turn the floor back to the forum for a reply.

This is a wild and open forum with very few rules. I like it for the activity level, but the trade-off for this much volume of participation is the trolling and flame wars. There is ample good political discussion mixed in with the food fights, but it takes active use of filters to glean it from the chaff.

The lack of restraint helps increase activity, but also sadly acts to run off good people who don't want to deal with it. I hope you can learn to deal with the shallow in order to get to the deeper stuff.

I personally, do not tolerate being trolled because it is a waste of time and I see no upside to allowing it. I do so with stringent use of the Ignore Feature. Hence, my signature makes clear my Personal Ignore Policy:

Personal Ignore Policy PIP: I like civil discourse. I will give you all the respect in the world if you respect me. Flame on me, mouth off to me, or express overt racism, you go on my PERMANENT Ignore List. Zero tolerance. No exceptions. I won't participate in your threads, you will be banned from mine. ... Ignore the shallow. Cherish the thoughtful. Long Live Civil Discourse, Mutual Respect, and Good Debate! ps: if you like my PIP, feel free to use it. It works well.

Good luck here. I hope you find you can make it work for you, and I hope we can be friends.

[Felex Sanders]

Thank you very much for that nice welcome and coupled with so much information how refreshing. I will look into the PIP possibility and you're right, respect begets respect.

[PoliTalker]

Hello Felex Sanders,

Thank you very much for that nice welcome and coupled with so much information how refreshing. I will look into the PIP possibility and you're right, respect begets respect.

My pleasure.

Enjoy!

[christiefan915]

I started here long ago as Southern Man, changed that screen name to Damn Yankee, then briefly to a third name which I now forget, then to DamnYankee (no space, as you can't reuse and old screen name). I then created Dark Soul on a whim (a young female friend of mine christened me with that- long story) and I have been using it ever since.

On rare occasion I will log on as DamnYankee. Again, for no particular reason.

Don't forget fRight.

[ThatOwlWoman]

I see. this is my name as it appears on both my personal website and my twitter account with avatars and info to match and a first screen name for here and there and everywhere. What would be the utility or benefit of having four screen names for one forum anyway?

One thing we can do here on this forum is ban certain members from posting in a thread that we start. This is useful if you're troubled by trolls and those with personal vendettas who don't talk about politics. They're only here to follow their obsessions around and disrupt the adults when we're talking. To bypass a thread ban, some will create an alternative account ("sock"). They often get caught and reprimanded by the mods. Popeye (cough cough) and True Companion (cough cough).

Since you mentioned that your user name here is one you use on the Innernetz, I looked up some of your articles. I esp. like your recent posts on Daily Kos. Welcome! This place is sorely in need of writers of your caliber.

[ThatOwlWoman]

Why bother helping Jack? He can't even gather up the courage to pick sides.

True. He's mostly here to indulge his depraved fantasies about women who reject his sweaty and repulsive advances.

[MAGA MAN]

True. He's mostly here to indulge his depraved fantasies about women who reject his sweaty and repulsive advances.

That's a fair and accurate assessment.

[MAGA MAN]

Don't forget fRight.

Yeah, you are still afraid of that mean bastard.

[christiefan915]

Yeah, you are still afraid of that mean bastard.

[Felex Sanders]

One thing we can do here on this forum is to ban certain members from posting in a thread that we start. This is useful if you're troubled by trolls and those with personal vendettas who don't talk about politics. They're only here to follow their obsessions around and disrupt the adults when we're talking. To bypass a thread ban, some will create an alternative account ("sock"). They often get caught and reprimanded by the mods. Popeye (cough cough) and True Companion (cough cough).

Since you mentioned that your user name here is one you use on the Innernetz, I looked up some of your articles. I esp. like your recent posts on Daily Kos. Welcome! This place is sorely in need of writers of your caliber.

Well, thank you very much and I hope to elicit some intelligent conversation as well as have the opportunity to reply to same. My hopes in this forum was to find a sensible debate forum where policies, rules, regulations, and legislation can be discussed. I especially look for a conversation that would not just merely make rhetorical statements about an issue or policy or for that matter a politician but would discuss possible ideas and ventures to solve problems both domestically and foreign in nature. But here I go rattling on. My apologies. Suffice to say I am looking for the best possible outcome and hope that it is here.

Again thank you for the welcome and the nice compliments and I look forward to us conversing in the future. PS: Like your play on Innernetz.

[ThatOwlWoman]

Well, thank you very much and I hope to elicit some intelligent conversation as well as have the opportunity to reply to same. My hopes in this forum was to find a sensible debate forum where policies, rules, regulations, and legislation can be discussed. I especially look for a conversation that would not just merely make rhetorical statements about an issue or policy or for that matter a politician but would discuss possible ideas and ventures to solve problems both domestically and foreign in nature. But here I go rattling on. My apologies. Suffice to say I am looking for the best possible outcome and hope that it is here.

Again thank you for the welcome and the nice compliments and I look forward to us conversing in the future. PS: Like your play on Innernetz.

I think you'll like Politalker, who you already met, Cypress, and Oneuli. They are into civil and in-depth discussion. Several others are as well. The rest of us just holler insults back and forth. lol

[Felex Sanders]

I think you'll like Politalker, who you already met, Cypress, and Oneuli. They are into civil and in-depth discussion. Several others are as well. The rest of us just holler insults back and forth. lol

Well, camaraderie and fun are nothing to sneer at. I think they can go hand in hand in the right moments. I have a tendency to get somewhat sidetracked as well sometimes but it is usually after I have gotten to know people fairly well and know what is the line drawn in the sand sort of thing. Thanks for the information.

[evince]

I started here long ago as Southern Man, changed that screen name to Damn Yankee, then briefly to a third name which I now forget, then to DamnYankee (no space, as you can't reuse and old screen name). I then created Dark Soul on a whim (a young female friend of mine christened me with that- long story) and I have been using it ever since.

On rare occasion I will log on as DamnYankee. Again, for no particular reason.

oh man

I never realized that

dude

you have not changed one bit in the over a decade I have known you

[MAGA MAN]

oh man

I never realized that

dude

you have not changed one bit in the over a decade I have known you

I'm consistent, thanks.

[Jade Dragon]

I see. So, could someone please explain to me what is meant by a "sock?" Oh, and I was correct in my original observation, this is an interesting forum. Sounds like many of you have known each other for quite a while.

Some people use more then one account. I use one sock just to be silly, without being a jerk. Top thinks every newbie is a sock though, so she'll probably be tailing you to try, and figure that out. Don't let the haters get to you though. Just let them know their attention is flattering, if creepy.