immodest proposal

[harkrider]

originally posted October 5, 2006 to the official Liz Phair Forum, in response to moderate bitching about immoderate moderation.  I forget the orginal thread title.  WHY WE SUCK would fit.

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Near as I can tell, THIS is the only Liz Phair Forum we've got.  So let's make it work.  Sure, I suppose there are those other Liz Phair message boards.  The 9thdegree comes to mind (and only because I went back and read old posts in which it was referenced).  But it seems to be on ice at the moment, zipped up safely on a single 3.5 floppy.   I like to think of it and other things Liz Phair as being in cry-o-sleep, patiently awaiting a brighter, enlightened future, where they can be unthawed and properly appreciated.

Phair or not, this is the only forum in which I've ever personally participated. Well, there was that time I needed advice on how to unfuck my carburetor, and subscribed to an automotive forum, but that's a whole other story. Anyhow, despite my monogamous relationship with this forum, I recognize that it falls short on many dimensions: 1) functionally, 2) aesthetically, and 3) structurally. Note that these categories do NOT take into account the content contributed by the members. Here I'm talking about the medium itself, not the media. I suspect that you (Jason) are disgusted more by the content, and yes, some of it is garbage, but that's a subjective problem, and more a symptom than a disease.

Of these three major problem categories, number three is the most serious. The forum lacks structure. Yes, I know that forums are expected to self-organize by design, with threaded conversations imposing order, but four buckets (or troughs) obviously aren't sufficient to inhibit fossilization, whereby relevant posts end up buried along with the cruff, organized chiefly by the passing of time.

So what happens?

Firstly, the same old shit gets posted because people don't bother to enact an archeological dig on what appears to be, at first glance, the Liz Phair Landfill. (I actually prefer to think of this as the Liz Phair Fossil Record, but it smells more like a landfill, so let's call it what it is.)

Secondly, because they failed to utilize the search function (which isn't very good), the locals go Liza Minelli on their ass, kick them in the nuts (or the box), and send them reeling back whence they came.

Thirdly, it happens again tomorrow, or next week.

But it's not all bad. We (and I use "we" loosely, myself not being here when the earth cooled and God created this forum on the 9th day, or whatever) have achieved some notable goals. Here's a quick report card:

1) Use the word "cunt" as every part of speech in the English language. A+
2) Same as #1, but with the word "bitch" and its manifold permutations. A+
3) Same as the above two, AND (for added difficulty) constrained only to signature lines. B+
4) Introduce newer fans to Phair's older work. B-
5) Promote her music in general. B+
6) Discuss obscure aspects of her music (e.g., Gunshy -- "Sea Monkey do Monkey..." I never got that until someone pointed it out.). B
7) Proliferate Girly Sound. B
8) Vent. A+


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originally posted to the LPF by acidmouse, 10-5-2006

[TrampolineFrSpace]

This was a good post.  It's good that you saved it.

I kinda got a little depressed today.  I guess that X-ray's comments about how happening the forum was in 2004 and the revelation that QP was spending time in another forum got me to realizing how LP Forum is slowly dying.

For awhile I have noticed some of the oldtimers seemingly come out of the woodwork, but the damage to the Liz Phair chat section by the purges seems to be having the effect of discouraging discourse.

When we had all of the SPAM, it might have been hard to notice that we were losing and the posts were way down.  Now that the SPAM posts are removed, you can clearly see that the activity seems to have dropped off.

I guess that I might be imaging it, but maybe not.