Desperate to avoid work, I am seizing this opportunity to mention a recent change of attitude I have had about the question of whether Onstad reads the board. (Thank you, jl.)
Used to be, it was totally impossible for me to believe that he didn't lurk here. If there is a place where people talk about your work, how could you possibly resist reading it? Don't we all wish we could overhear the conversations people are having about us? I was positive that he had to, at least once in a while.
Then a few months ago I got a job where I write stuff and it gets published in newspapers. Which means it is sometimes on newspaper websites.
A friend of mine pointed out that at one newspaper there was a place for comments and I said I hadn't read them and had no intention to.
My friend found it totally impossible to believe that I didn't want to read the comments. I, of course, immediately thought of all the discussions we've had of whether Onstad read the board and realized, it absolutely makes sense that he would never come here.
I really, truly, have absolutely no interest in reading the comment threads. When I've occasionally read one by accident because it was right on the same screen or suchlike, I never felt like it was something I needed to see. And they weren't mean or anything - Sometimes a nice comment, sometimes someone with an axe to grind promoting their pet cause or something. But nothing that informed me or helped me do my work better. Just not worth my time.
I had another incident where I posted something on a messageboard looking for interviewees. This caused a great, fascinating Internet Kerfuffle in which my motives and personal reality were dissected and attacked. You know the sort of thing. It's sort of interesting to have it happen to oneself, but only briefly. After I had watched it get going and acquired my interviewees, I never went back to follow the thread further.
I do read (and answer) the rare email I get from a reader who bothers to write directly to me. But I have absolutely no interest in reading comment threads and such. It would just be a waste of my time and effort and, if the comments were nasty, a waste of energy being annoyed by 13 year olds from Ohio and such.
Anyway, this is a long and work-avoiding way to say, I used to be totally unable to believe that Onstad didn't lurk here. But now that I have sort of been there, I find it completely plausible.
And back on topic: I like the Philippe Times. But not on Mondays!
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Topic: August 14th 2007: DOGS WITH HOGGS (Read 6280 times)