What I don't get is the number of folks who have obviously decided that Rick is batshit insane (much as Matthew was, bless his cotton socks) but continue to argue with him. Seriously, what a waste of your time. Arguing with someone's crazy online persona. Go do some press-ups or something. Anything but sit here and respond to his posts.

Know that crackhead who wanders around downtown? The one who waves his dick at passing cars? Why don't you go up to him and try to talk him around to your world view? You don't because he's batshit insane and you know it's a waste of your time trying to talk sense into someone who is batshit insane.

Apply this incredibly simple logic to the internet.

tommydski wrote:What I don't get is the number of folks who have obviously decided that Rick is batshit insane (much as Matthew was, bless his cotton socks) but continue to argue with him. Seriously, what a waste of your time. Arguing with someone's crazy online persona. Go do some press-ups or something. Anything but sit here and respond to his posts.

Know that crackhead who wanders around downtown? The one who waves his dick at passing cars? Why don't you go up to him and try to talk him around to your world view? You don't because he's batshit insane and you know it's a waste of your time trying to talk sense into someone who is batshit insane.

Apply this incredibly simple logic to the internet.

Well, somebody who is batshit insane is about to become the #1 poster on Electrical.

Bad sign.

So-called "Ricky Bobby" will never be banned from the PRF. Do you know why?

Minotaur, did you ever consider that Clocker Bob/Rick Reuben might actually be Steve's sock-puppet, a wild 'n' zany alter-ego Steve uses whenever he wants to let loose on another poster without his words being attributed to Steve Albini, the respected musician and professional recording engineer?

Think about it.

You do the research, examine R-B's phraseology, his general political leanings, the timing of his posts relative to Steve's, etc. and see if you don't come to the same conclusion...

PJ wrote:Well, somebody who is batshit insane is about to become the #1 poster on Electrical.

Bad sign.

Why do you even care? Just don't read his posts and don't reply to him if you don't like him. I understand why you do not like him. That's fine. Ignore him. It's genuinely that simple.

I have come up with a Clocker Bob Diet -

Don't read his posts.
Don't quote his posts.
Don't reply to his posts.

Try it for one week. Start today. So simple. This goes for everyone who has this problem.

tommydski wrote:What I don't get is the number of folks who have obviously decided that Rick is batshit insane (much as Matthew was, bless his cotton socks) but continue to argue with him. Seriously, what a waste of your time. Arguing with someone's crazy online persona. Go do some press-ups or something. Anything but sit here and respond to his posts.

Look, Rick may hate my guts, and I may disagree with 95% of what he says, but I would never say that his posts have no value. In fact, I really appreciate his presence here, and I'll tell you why:

For all of the blustery rhetoric, for all of the needless name-calling, he will respect you enough to go toe-to-toe with you on any argument you choose. He'll give it some thought. He'll look online for evidence to back up his position. He gives you enough respect to meet you on your own terms and honestly try to get to the heart of the issue.

Point in case: that Texas Vigilante Justice thread I started a while back. Go read that thread if you're interested in seeing a truly productive and fascinating discussion, one which came to a clear result. That Illegal Immigration thread was another one. And I admitted that I was wrong after the Vigilante thread was all over. But I really appreciate that Rick will give a bunch of effort to actually responding to your posts. And it's threads like those that make me stick around here.

I like most of the members here, but only a handful have provided me with truly thought-provoking discussions which have made me see the world differently. And Rick is undoubtedly a member of that group. I like that he is similar to me in that he doesn't give a flying fuck about whether the whole board hates him. In fact, I think that he and I are probably the two least-liked members on this forum.

RickyBob is like a pitbull man.

NerblyBear wrote:Look, Rick may hate my guts, and I may disagree with 95% of what he says, but I would never say that his posts have no value.

I agree. I've defended Rick/Bob on any number of occasions and I've been heckled for it too. I like the posts that don't feature abusive language (few and far between these days, sadly). Read back my post -

tommydski wrote:What I don't get is the number of folks who have obviously decided that Rick is batshit insane (much as Matthew was, bless his cotton socks) but continue to argue with him.

I am saying, if you think he is batshit insane, don't argue with him. Simple!

I just think he's a guy with a keyboard. In real life I'd buy him a drink same as anyone else I've ever met.

Say, does Burial create the music that seems to always be playing in any DSW I go into on my age-long hunt for a good pair of boots?

It sure sounds like it.

Because THAT shit is some gooood shoe shopping music. Especially the dub crinkle (sp?) takes on holiday tunes this season past.


Plus, Ladies and Gentlemen, have you heard of the Symphonic Yes musique espectacular?


This,

dear friends,

is clearly

not

art.

Rick Reuben wrote:

Colonel Panic wrote:Minotaur, did you ever consider that Clocker Bob/Rick Reuben might actually be Steve's sock-puppet

Cut it out. Minotaur has already talked himself into enough delusions in his time here.

Steve is a great writer, and I might subconsciously ( or consciously ) mimic his style occasionally, but I've been writing the way I do for over twelve years. I could point you to posts I made to Usenet in 1995 that look like something I wrote yesterday.

There are a lot of good writers here. I've made that point. We're lucky to be part of a forum that is a cut above most of the internet, as Steve said. In what other forum are you going to find both a Kerble and a Marsupialized?

Unfortunately, it's difficult explaining to some people that this quality is born in the freedom to write whatever you want without respect to sacred cows. People ask for freedom, but I wonder if they really grasp that freedom is unlimited? Once you set barriers, you no longer have freedom, you have authority. As soon as these people recognize that the only thought crime is suppressed thought, they'll learn to view a diverse world with less fear.

Yeah, I was just kidding. Although I don't always agree with your reasoning or your inflammatory tone, I think this forum would be a less interesting and entertaining place if you suddenly left.

And yeah, this forum is most definitely a cut above your average Internet community.

Colonel Panic wrote:
And yeah, this forum is most definitely a cut above your average Internet community.

Unfortunately, I'd imagine that this is saying extremely little.