I don't have the time or temperament to run an alternative to TVTropes, although I would gladly migrate there if someone else were tp do it.
JFerio -- I think you may have the right of it. Before the Net became mainstream, as many of you will know, there were a number of BBS networks, which exchanged messages through various means that were effective, but slow (it could take days for a message to propagate through an entire network). I was, in the early 90s, a prolific contributor to one of the largest of those networks (in both number of member systems and number of discussion boards), a system called Intelec, until it changed admins, and the new guy just went overboard imposing his personal agenda on the network. I can't remember everything he did, but perhaps the biggest one was he banned any and all discussion of abortion, which cost him almost all the participants in the Legal Issues forum. And of course there was the "disagree openly with the admin and you're banned" rule, which is always a sign of impending collapse. I walked away from Intelec after making a fair effort to reverse the worst of the changes. Anyway, the upshot is that no one remembers the guy, or Intelec any more. (Oh, he and it are both still out there; I found Intelec on the Web once, trying to exist as a Net-based hub for a "family friendly" BBS network. But it was quite obviously a pale shadow of itself, maintained primarily by a guy with an agenda and a grudge against the Internet itself.)
So yes, after I make my fair effort, and after I replace my troper page with a much shorter "he's no longer here" blurb, delete all references to my written works and put a "do not cover my work please" note in the place of the DW page, I will do exactly as you suggest -- nuke all my links and try to take my mind off it.
Sky: Yeah, you're not the only one confused and complaining. But Fast Eddie is clearly heading quickly toward "disagree and get banned" territory, so few people are pushing very hard.
Anyway, I had no chance to write to BoingBoing last night. Maybe tonight.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
JFerio -- I think you may have the right of it. Before the Net became mainstream, as many of you will know, there were a number of BBS networks, which exchanged messages through various means that were effective, but slow (it could take days for a message to propagate through an entire network). I was, in the early 90s, a prolific contributor to one of the largest of those networks (in both number of member systems and number of discussion boards), a system called Intelec, until it changed admins, and the new guy just went overboard imposing his personal agenda on the network. I can't remember everything he did, but perhaps the biggest one was he banned any and all discussion of abortion, which cost him almost all the participants in the Legal Issues forum. And of course there was the "disagree openly with the admin and you're banned" rule, which is always a sign of impending collapse. I walked away from Intelec after making a fair effort to reverse the worst of the changes. Anyway, the upshot is that no one remembers the guy, or Intelec any more. (Oh, he and it are both still out there; I found Intelec on the Web once, trying to exist as a Net-based hub for a "family friendly" BBS network. But it was quite obviously a pale shadow of itself, maintained primarily by a guy with an agenda and a grudge against the Internet itself.)
So yes, after I make my fair effort, and after I replace my troper page with a much shorter "he's no longer here" blurb, delete all references to my written works and put a "do not cover my work please" note in the place of the DW page, I will do exactly as you suggest -- nuke all my links and try to take my mind off it.
Sky: Yeah, you're not the only one confused and complaining. But Fast Eddie is clearly heading quickly toward "disagree and get banned" territory, so few people are pushing very hard.
Anyway, I had no chance to write to BoingBoing last night. Maybe tonight.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.