help me out here

Of course . . .

Ahh, the pancakes comments.

Some inside jokes never die.

^^The bridge collapses on them. It's right there on page 134.

Edit: Correct use of the "^^" *** Edited 4/27/2006 5:30:24 PM UTC by a_hoffman50***

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I havent seen a "playa" post in a while. The 'confrontational' post was from me, you know the *other* black guy....

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Please accept my apology Jeremy. All those “black” screen names look the same! :-)

This illustrates a fault of mine… Most of the time I do not even know who I am responding to. I usually just counter or support the argument, not the person. I do not take any of this personal! I’ve come to recognize certain posters from their screen names, but still do not remember day to day who argued what. I only remember Jeff because he has my name. Otherwise I would not know his arguments from AgentMooshHostylJeremyGatorssuckGonchPlayaPeabodyCharlesJanmyfavoriteliberalSwooshI’mdone…

*** Edited 4/28/2006 1:18:45 AM UTC by Jeffrey R Smith***

I'm the gay one.

And I like Moosh, Does that make me gay?

LOL, Moosh....I nominate that for post or the year, man :)

Of course we all know in coaster circles that certainly doesn't make one a minority!

I think your ok, Chuck. I like Moosh a lot too, but according to my pregnant wife, I'm not gay! *** Edited 4/28/2006 1:47:12 AM UTC by Peabody***

^ Congrats Jeff! I guess the stress surrounding the NO wedding had no effect on the honeymoon? ;)

P.S. I'm the green one. :)

I joined Coasterbuzz on May 29th of 2001. I watched people post stupid topics and watched the other members make fun of them and watched some topics get closed. I was actually a little scared to post at first. I didn't want people to make fun of me and I was not terribly educated about roller coasters at that time.

After a few months of reading I began my own post. Jeff added to the discussion and I knew that I had his approval for the topic. I was relieved.

I don't know what has happened since then but the troll population has certainly decreased. It also seems that there are a much smaller percentage of repeat topics, topics that fail at stimulating the Coasterbuzzer's creative juices and entillect, and certaibly not nearly as many topics that fail to be humorous or entertain in any way at all.

The quality of Coasterbuzz has improved during the 5 years I have spent here.

gator: There's only so much to do when you don't have power for 4 weeks ;)

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LdScotsman said:

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Jeff said:
Back when we used telephones on the wall and gas cost 95 cents.

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Hehehe, that was only like 10-15 years ago too. Buncha old farts that's all some of us are.

Tom

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Actually it wasn't that long ago. The year that Volcano the Blast Coaster opened at PKD (98'), I payed somewhere around .85 to .90 a gallon at the truck stop where rt. 301 comes into 95 (an exit down the road going north from PKD). It was probably even cheaper in some parts of the country.

Back to the subject at hand, the problem is that there are too many personalitiy types trying to mingle at the party, who probably wouldn't hang out with each other in everyday life. It's absolutely true that almost all of us say things that we probably wouldn't say if we were in the same room together.

It probably wouldn't suprise people then that my favorite section of any newspaper is the editorial section (or in a magazine the readers comments). Why? It's because people are doing exactly the same thing that we do on here everyday--they express their opinion back to someone else's comments, events or column/s and sure, many times it's not done in the most friendly of ways. That's life.

As an example, we had a virtual flamewar going on in my community paper last year. A conservative subscriber started to write in and protest the liberal bias of the newspaper in their editorial pieces. It got to the point where every week he was writing in something else (usually very long) to protest the bias of the paper or to reply to something a reader wrote back opossing his view. It got real ugly.

Lastly, I'll sum up why people may have not read the Terms of Service. If you buy software, download shareware, update your operating system etc., they want you to read though paraphraph after paragraph after paragrah of legalize. Most people don't have the time or desire to read through the whole thing (not that the TOS is that time consuming), so they just click accept. Of course, problems can occur down the road when your office gets raided and Microsoft busts your butt for having 500 copies of Microsoft Word, but no site license. Saying "I didn't know I couldn't make 500 copies off of our one copy won't work."

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Mamoosh said:
I'm the gay one.

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But *I* am the only gay in the village!

/obscure? hopefully not for everyone

LOL matt. Nice to see another LB fan here.

Peabody, didn't Rock Hudson have kids? I can't remember. ;)

Tom Cruise does ;)

Getting a bit off-topic here. Don't hijack.

Busted! See, even folks who have been around for a while need moderating sometimes. (Does that put us back on topic?) ;)

Congrats Jeff.

On topic - I think there's a good bit of confusion between people who get nailed for posting incoherently or stupidly and people who get nailed for not knowing something.

Something like "Knoebel's is a snoozefest" is obviously trying to assert a point of view with no intention to generate good discussion.

Something like "I can't find diaster transport" could possibly be an attempt to start good discussion or at least procure relevant information (or maybe it's just darn lazy).

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Peabody said:
What about the time when someone would constantly sign up with 4 or 5 different screen names and start lots of threads where he would talk to himself? I could go on and on.... ***

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I talk to myself in the real world, why can't I do it here?

As I have said before, here at CB the newbies are required to ride with the over the shoulder restraints down and in the fully locked position, while those who have been around for awhile get to ride standing up in the back seat. Nothing wrong with that. If you stick around long enough and behave yourself, you too will get the ride ops to cut you some slack.

My hope is, than when the new and improved CoasterBuzz makes it's way onto a computer near you, that there could be a section for Q & A. That way if someone has a question like "I just found a melted snow cone under the seat of my 1976 Pinto and I know that I bought it at an amusment park several summers ago. If I post a picture of it, will someone help me figure out where it came from?" or "When I was a kid I rode a ride at the local church social. It was red and went in a circle. Can someone please help me remember what it was?" they will have a place outside of the active forum to ask. This way, those that want to be helpful to the less informed can, and those who don't can ignore them. *** Edited 4/28/2006 8:27:06 PM UTC by Kraven the Raven*** *** Edited 4/28/2006 8:29:43 PM UTC by Kraven the Raven***

^^Why do we Andy's think alike? You said it better than I could. There have been obvious trolls on here lately, and I understand why you sometimes have to shoot 'em down right away. I also understand to a certain degree the laziness argument, but I also understand what it is like to be new.

Edit: Darn grammar stuff, I should probably check that before hitting "submit" *** Edited 4/29/2006 3:40:09 AM UTC by a_hoffman50***

People sometimes need to be reminded that at one time they were new here too. At sometime in your past, and very likely sometime in your future,you will be the new person again. It might be at a job, new neighborhood, maybe even a coaster event.

It's bad enough being the newbie without someone coming along trying to belittle you and make you feel like an ass. You wouldn't like being treated that way. We've all gone through it, so why do it to someone else here?

If someone does something you think violates the TOS, why not just send a "thoughtfully worded" private message setting the person straight instead of showing them up in the forum. Just be nice about it. Being antagonistic will only get the same response. Before you know it, the thread becomes a pissing match with 50 posts basically exchanging "are toos" and "are nots."

Of course, sometimes the best way to send a message to someone who starts a dumb thread is to leave the replies at "0." Only the extremely dense won't take that hint after the first 2 or 3 tries.

Now some advice to the newbies: don't come in here acting like you know everything and are going to teach everyone else all about coasters and amusement parks. I guarantee there is at least one person here (and probably many more) who knows more than you in any subject you care to bring up. So don't spout off mindlessly thinking you're impressing everyone.

We're all here because of our common interest, so try to make it as enjoyable as you can. Be open to the fact that you WILL learn a lot, by reading what others say. It's not just about what you have to say.

I'm sure most of you will have a lot to contribute to this site, so take it easy and be yourself. Not everyone is going to agree on every topic-- that's what makes it a discussion forum. Of course, if being yourself means being an ass... well, those things tend to take care of themselves around here.