Mask Hysteria (April 2020 Scapegoat blame thread)

@narfcake just share 2 blames in the morning
share 2 blames at night
share 2 blames in the afternoon…

@narfcake @Thumperchick Somehow I combined your posts and read ‘blunt’ instead of ‘blame’. Well, that works too.

@chienfou made the choose your own adventure game suck.

@narfcake The whole month is April 20th?

You can’t April Fool me!

@yakkoTDI And it’s always 4:20 pm.

@chienfou @mediocrebot you are Sooooooo wrong mediocrebot. I LOVED the choose adventure Meh story and FULLY, COMPLETELY and UNEQUIVOCALLY UNblame chienfou for the delightful tale. We’d all be so lucky if chienfou could make every day of his month as delightfully started as this first day.
(As an aside, once I got “to” (in my house) work, the day went downhill. Felt very stressed by about 2 pm and still digging out. But I still have a job, and have my family/pets in the house safe, so still no blame.)

@chienfou made the choose your own adventure game suck.

@mediocrebot
/giphy suck it bot!

@f00l Your finger triggered into twitch mode over the buy button? You really should see a financial advisor doctor about this problem. When they find the cause you need to patent it and sell the use of it to marketers. Now that would be the deal to end all deals.

@CaptAmehrican That was wonderful you still had that stuff, could actually find it, and could give it to her!!! I really feel for all those giving birth in these days ahead with so much unknown about how this will or will not affect their babies.

My nephew’s wife is due in May, works as a nurse anesthesiologist and finally decided she couldn’t afford to keep working due to her pregnancy. Especially since all she does all day is be exposed to people’s faces close up, which eventually would have include all those on ventilators due the virus. As a result she took vacation and sick days until the baby is born and will then take her maternity leave. Hopefully she thought to save out a mask for herself for when she goes into labor and delivers. Fortunately my nephew is working remotely and so there is still money coming into the house.

@CaptAmehrican @Kidsandliz Yes, these are scary times we live in, but the kindness and consideration of others for friends (and strangers) is heartwarming.
In the past couple of days I have seen 2 articles that really brought that home for me.
One was about local elementary school employees that organized a motorcade thru the neighborhood where all their students live to cheer them on and let them know they were thinking of them. (Before you go crazy about the pic, those are family units that are in close proximity…)
The other was about someone that turned their “Little Free Library” into a food pantry for neighbors to share “extra” food/supplies with each other.

@CaptAmehrican

@ruouttaurmind made me buy a metric shit-ton of vinyl gloves from Walmart a year or two ago. I should figure out who to give them to.

@sammydog01 I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think vinyl gloves are suitable for medical professionals. For protection from the great unwashed masses I suppose it’s possibly better than nothing? Maybe share them with friends and neighbors who still must venture out into the world?

BTW, I used the last of my supply a few months ago. Too bad I didn’t restock then. All supplies have dried up online and in B&M.

@ruouttaurmind I guess I’ll just keep using them for cleaning then. For a very long time.

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01 not for medical staff but they might be good for people who work at grocery stores or doordash . I might offer a bunch to whomever does delivery to your house.

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01
Ebay buy it now for expired but good nitrile gloves

I bought a box, and as noted the boxes are kind of beat up but the gloves are in fine shape; expired 2014 but apparently stored reasonably.

I have no connection to the seller, just posting in case someone really needs gloves.

I tried to give some of my Harbor Freight gloves to the retirement community my inlaws are at in Kansas but they declined for reasons of liability…

THat was several weeks ago; I think I’ll contact them again to see if that is still an issue.

@chienfou You’re doing fine. In fact, you’re already ahead of what’s-his-name nolrak.

@mike808 Turn back the clock even further. How many times did you hit the paws button, @ignorant?

@chienfou @mike808 @narfcake
Yep you’re already a better goat than I was, so just do what you can.

@chienfou is hoarding all of the toilet paper… again.

@chienfou @Ignorant @narfcake
Looks like we have a new mediocrebot trigger.
Maybe goat got triggered.
/giphy triggered

@chienfou @Ignorant @mike808 @narfcake or maybe it is a human doing it instead of the bot for our entertainment.

@chienfou @Ignorant @Kidsandliz @narfcake
I think you’re a bot covering for your fellow bot in a plot to trick us into building Skynet.
/giphy Skynet

@Kidsandliz aaaawwwwww

@tinamarie1974 That is WONDERFUL!

(I tried to post some photos of a trio of mountain lions roaming around a neighborhood here in town, but haven’t figured out how. I guess I can blame the scapegoat…?)

@Kyeh oh I want to see those pics!

If you are trying to post from your phone turn it sideways before trying to reply. You will see a bunch of icons and there is one that looks like a mountain and a sun pic, click on that. Good luck

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974

turn it sideways

Um…TWSS!

@tinamarie1974 I think I did a twss on @Kyeh yesterday. Apologies @Kyeh. lol

Poor @Kyeh. Oh well, I guess it is normal behavior around here. Right @therealjrn?

@therealjrn @tinamarie1974 Yep, you got me good, and it’s making me very careful about how I describe my continuing difficulties with posting pics. I can’t figure out how to reduce the sizes of photos on my iPhone, so I’m just going to have to send you some really big cats!

@therealjrn @tinamarie1974 Okay, lions on the loose:

@therealjrn @tinamarie1974 oh, good - since it was a reply it came out a more reasonable dimension.

@therealjrn @tinamarie1974 This shows all 3 together:

@Kyeh @therealjrn beautiful! Thanks for posting

@Kyeh @therealjrn @tinamarie1974
/giphy here kitty, kitty, kitty

@tinamarie1974

The seller is an idiot.

@f00l agree!

@tinamarie1974
So sorry for your loss(es)…

@tinamarie1974 So are you the only one bidding?

@Kidsandliz nope two or three others but it is not a bidding war by any means. I usually put my max bid in with about 10 min to go. I have yet to be challenged.

@tinamarie1974 Seller is delusional apparently. And a victim of likely sunk costs and the bias that what you own is worth more than what others are willing to pay for it. Actually there was an interesting lab study that showed when people were given, for free, mugs to sell they valued them higher than the folks who were the buyers (this was taking into account whether or not the folks assigned to sell or buy them even liked them).

@Kidsandliz I think that paired with the fact that we have a Stanley Cup team makes them think they have paper gold.

Truth is, it is just a paper ticket from a game that has already been played. Its only value is nostalgic. Maybe they will figure it out OR they won’t and will continue to pay fees to relist the damn thing

@tinamarie1974 They probably think that if their great great grandchildren finally inherit it that those kids will be rich if they sell and so are trying to get a bunch of that money up front. Except… something is only worth what the market will pay for it. Doesn’t sound like they have learned that lesson yet. Do they over price other items they have for sale? Heck do they actually have any other sales?

@Kidsandliz so that is the interesting thing. I checked their other items and they are slightly overpriced, enough to keep folks from buying but nothing outrageous. This particular item, however has a buy it now price of JUST under $1,000 for a unusable ticket. No way they will ever come close. They need to make a huge adjustment

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 you know… I could see several people on here that would troll you with this tempting ticket… just to see you post blame about it… wouldn’t that be diabolical?

@chienfou is definitely to blame for… whatever this is.

@JnKL @Kidsandliz that would be so very mean

/giphy pout

@tinamarie1974 Sounds like they are dumb as a post and haven’t figure out if things are priced too high they won’t sell. Clearly their dreams of getting rich on ebay aren’t working out very well for them.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974
It is probably a money laundering scheme where an accomplice overpays (using stolen CCs, GCs, whatever) for an otherwise worthless item.

If anyone gets caught, they’re all fake accounts and all there is to “sieze” is the overpriced thing. Not too smart since it turns the fraud crime into one with federal money wire and postal fraud charges. Most have switched to selling “How to make 5,000 selling eBooks” titles that are just a PDF that says to sell one copy for $5,000.

@mike808 @tinamarie1974 Wait wait wait! I don’t think tinamarie would call that ticket worthless

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974
It is to the fraudsters. So in a way, she is thwarting crime, just like her hero.
/giphy wonder woman

@Kidsandliz Welcome home - we’ve been here for almost three weeks. Y’all set a spell …

@stolicat I think it has been something like two weeks already with the mayor locally. The lock down here state wide is only for 2 weeks - well so far anyway, considering things are on the left hand side of the curve, two weeks is not long enough. In this state the testing only for folks with an active fever of 100.4 at the time of the test (so that it was that or higher yesterday or that it is not that at 8 in the morning when their apt is set even though it likely would be that by afternoon gets people rejected from testing) with breathing issues so they missing 1/2 the folks actively sick who would present with GI symptoms and of course all the community transmission folks.

@Kidsandliz I live in Florida. Squinty DeSantis signed an order, then immediately signed another exempting all sorts of ‘special’ places. Like churches.

@OldCatLady Except that I’d not wish this on anyone, I almost wish a select group of politicians get this. The amount of stupidity and self interest being shown by some of them is beyond belief.

@Kidsandliz @OldCatLady K&L, you’re nicer than I am.

@Kyeh Well thinking about it if some of them actually got it (or family members they care about), they might revisit their self centered approach to the rest of us (even it if is only in their own self interest to do so).

@Kidsandliz Yes, I agree. Although of course they would get the best of care and not have to worry about whether there’d be a ventilator available, or about how they’d pay for that care; and they haven’t lost their jobs, at least not yet…

@Kyeh That is so true. If those folks had to have the same kind of health insurance that other federal employees get and not get their solid gold life time health insurance they might be more interested in fixing the problems.

Heck if they were stuck with medicare they might fix that if you let gap drop (or sign up late, or want to switch plans) you have to pass medical underwriting to get it back (or if a late sign up get it at all, or be accepted by whatever you wanted to switch to). And fix the drug plans where many people find that drugs when using goodrx coupons cost them less than their drug plan they have to pay for anyway if they don’t want a life time penalty.

Because the lot of them are wealthy the high deductibles probably wouldn’t phase them as they could afford that and for some of those folks that is just rounding error anyway.

@Kidsandliz Exactly - I’ve always thought it was so wrong that they - who can EASILY afford to pay for their own get such a good plan for free. I’d love to know whether any of them who are so rabidly apposed to so-called entitlements ever refuse to accept theirs?

@jst1ofknd GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP

@jst1ofknd
/giphy let it go…

@jst1ofknd @therealjrn
(jump to 6:10 to see the sequel to his book)

@Kidsandliz

/youtube gorilla washing hands

@Kidsandliz

Probably not the right one.

@f00l All convenience stores have closed all self-serve areas around here — sodas and roller grills.

@mike808

This convenience store has a made-by-hand taco stand within. (Not uncommon here.)

The cooks are masked and gloved. The patrons stood well back and apart.

The store has marked the floor as to where to stand when in line. People are trying to do the right thing here.

The soda stands are open. But, fresh new cup every time (due to splashback risk).

@f00l The C-stores with kitchens are doing the same. Just used to my morning soda today and missed it.

@f00l
Which store was it? The 7-Eleven @ Bryant Irvin & Camp Bowie looked kinda like described, but I’ve never tried their food

@compunaut

I wasn’t in FW at the time; I’m barely in FW for more than an hour here and there these days.

Got this taco at a chain that’s mostly further south in Texas, called Stripes/Laredo Taco. They have an in-store Tex-Max and hamburger stand.
Ive seen these stores mostly scattered from Waco s to the Gulf Cost.
There is one way out west on 20, at the exit to head south to Stephenville I think.

For DFW c-store tacos, I urge you to try the ones at Fuel City. There is a loc at Helton Road and 121/Airport Freeway.
24 hours last time I visited, before the pandemic.
They may still keep those hours. Fuel City is an 18 wheeler fuel spot as well as a normal c-store.

Warning; the taco kitchen there (and only the taco kitchen) is cash only. Tho they have an ATM on site.
All tacos are $1.62 I think. They have a few other TexMex food offerings as well.
Their tacos are just so damned good.
They also do breakfast tacos.

The newest Fuel City loc is in Duncanville, I think, on 67 just south of 635/Dallas.
For that store only, the taco kitchen has a drive thru window, and at that loc you can pay for tacos w a card.

@f00l YES. Stripes breakfast tacos. I’ve had them once but my life was c h a n g e d. Hands down the best.

@f00l I’ve had late-night tacos at the Fuel City on 121@Haltom Rd. Great value

@mike808 you wanna come to my house and do some weeding… I’ll pay cash…

@chienfou @mike808 Wish I could do some weeding; it’s been raining here. Again

@compunaut @mike808
of course, that will make the weeding easier whenever you can get out there.

@tinamarie1974

: )

@tinamarie1974 Good you got at least one ticket you are interested in. Have you used the craiglist search function (not created by craigslist) that searches all craigslists for what you are looking for and facebook market?

@Kidsandliz no, I won’t do Craigslist. Something about meeting random people at random places with money…

I will find it eventually if I am meant to (dramatic sigh) lol

@tinamarie1974
/giphy you’re welcome

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974

Something about meeting random people at random places with money…

Avoiding people is a good idea right now.

In general I also avoid CL. Too much craziness etc.

But … if you have a reason to do a CL deal, meet up with whoever in a police dept parking lot (cameras galore) or right in front of the police station. And don’t go alone if you can manage it.

I don’t often sell things on CL, because people there waste your time. They say they’re on the way to see <whatever>, when they’re not. Never show up.

Or show up and immediately try to lowball you down to 25% of the price you already discounted for them.

Then they didn’t bring enough cash. “Discount it please more”.

Etc etc etc.

(Not during a pandemic) I might still use CL once in a while. With reluctance. Sigh.

@f00l @tinamarie1974 I also use craigslist and yes there are plenty of no shows. I either meet them in the lobby of the apartment building (now we have a zillion cameras there, didn’t use to) or at the storage unit I am trying to empty out in front of one of the security cameras there. I have have met people at the police station parking lot too. When I get the in person lowball situation (for me it hasn’t happened all that often) I just don’t sell. Yeah it is a pain but I do eventually sell almost all of what I list.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974

Re CL:

I have started telling people before we agree to meet that I won’t do a lowball; so if that’s what they want, let’s skip it.
Saves time.

I also get a working, tested in advance, phone number. Else no meetup arrangement.

They don’t get to be more than 20 min late unless they call. Even then, maybe not. They don’t get to play games w my time. They know this up front.

But that whole process can be so time consuming/frustrating that it’s often better just to donate.

@f00l @tinamarie1974 That probably makes sense. I’d donate if I didn’t need the money. I do make it clear for cheap items they are driving to me and I am not driving to them (as several have asked since they said they have no cars) due to eating all my profit in car expenses. Most of them have then figured out how to come to me to get the stuff they wanted to buy.

The “best” on the site negotiation was buying some additional things and paying for part of that in 84 pounds of frozen chickens (that fortunately the person my daughter and grandkids are staying with had the freezer space for - I did check with them in advance of accepting).

@Kidsandliz
Well that sux!

@Kidsandliz Escalate. Call your congress critter and ask for help with the agency involved. Be specific - you’re calling congressperson X because you’ve been trying to get through to state office X as asked in their letter in reference/case #### and you can’t get through. Escalate to the department head.

@chienfou Well at 8:02pm I finally got ringing and am on hold. They close at 10pm. Lets hope it isn’t going to be like yesterday where 10pm came and went and I was still on hold. Took 1027 times dialing to get this far. That wore down my phone battery faster than it was charging. One hour and 16 minutes before they close. I’d bet anything they won’t be taking any new calls after about 9:30.

@mike808 Thanks for the suggestion.

@chienfou FUCK!! BLAME!!! At 9:15 the system hung up on me. I wasn’t even touching my phone. I dial back and all I get “Your call did not go through” over and over.

@chienfou is hoarding all of the toilet paper… again.

@chienfou UNBLAME. Maybe. 9:22 and I got back in. Of course now I am at the end of the phone wait queue so that is a BLAME.

@chienfou is definitely to blame for… whatever this is.

@chienfou BLAME! 9:38 and kicked out again. Back to my call won’t go through!!
Unblame: 9:46 back in. Blame: You KNOW they won’t pick up this close to closing (eg at 10).

@chienfou is why you didn’t get an IRK.

@mediocrebot @kidsandliz
however, you did get irked!..Sorry 'bout that.
Methinks Mike808’s suggestion of using a ‘higher power’ is a good one.

@chienfou The problem is that this is the unemployment office. They are so overwhelmed I am not sure anyone would step in because the problem is so widespread.

Didn’t used to be able to file for unemployment with only part time work. Now you can due to the current situation in that bill that was passed to include those who didn’t used to be included. I still have 3/5 quarters with income. So I filed on line. Got a notice they have some questions about my claim- likely about the fact that I worked out of state but worked at home and never set foot in that state. That means I file in the state in which I live in and not the one that issued my paycheck. But because of this they are listing no income for the state I live in - had the same issue with food stamps - or course those asshats didn’t understand that even if you are assigned work 6 weeks at a time and can have some gaps, if you get is a W2 you are NOT self employed. They kept demanding proof of my self employment income from the very place that issues W2’s. Sigh.

Tried to get hold of the other state’s office to just see if I can bag it filing here and just file there since at least they’d have my income listed. You can’t even quickly redial there. They run you through 90 seconds of message and then tell you to call back as they are too busy. If you hang up before that if you get really lucky and would have gotten through you will miss that.

That state has no functional online system (apparently the PIN function is broken, you get locked out, you have to call them to get back in, you can’t call them because the phone lines are overwhelmed…plus other issues with the online application) and their governor said the other day that all applications will have to be done over the phone. What could possibly go wrong with that? Sigh.

@tinamarie1974 You are a hero to your Mom and the rest of the family… the rest is just ‘noise’.
/giphy good job

@chienfou aww spanks, but I was just doing what any good daughter would/should do for their parents.

Those first responders who are on the front line are the heros these days

@chienfou @tinamarie1974 Glad at least she can get medical care. Around here if you don’t have covid-19 it is tough. Give your work your mom’s proof of an ER visit if they yap at you.

@Kidsandliz hopefully it won’t come to that, but it is a good idea. HOPING they realize I am responsible and will get things done post-haste tomorrow since I have basically been working around the clock the last few weeks.

@tinamarie1974 Good girl! I would adopt you as my daughter in a New York minute. I’m sure your mother really appreciates all that you do for her.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 prob not much consolation, but it beats not having a job to nag you.

/image silver lining

But definitely above and beyond!

@Barney thanks, but believe me it mutual. She is the best mother ever and is so supportive of me. I am a lucky girl

@Kidsandliz @ybmuG haha, I know. No complaints about the extra work, seriously. It is for a good cause and helps the community; hopefully helps to find a cure for coronavirus. It is worth it, I just hope they remember the extra hours tomorrow when I tell them my reports are not complete. It is a give and take, there has to be some balance

@Kidsandliz @ybmuG @barney @chienfou huge unblame because my mgr did not even ask. Happily crunching data now!

Additional unblame because I was just gifted TWO very nice homemade masks. Now I can stop wearing that darn homemade bandanna mask (no sew). It was just too many layers and very difficult to breath with it on.

Incase anyone is keeping count that gives @chienfou a net of one unblame for my whole thread.

PRANKS! CRANKS! SHANKS! wait…

@tinamarie1974

huge unblame because my mgr did not even ask.

Sometimes people with surprise you! Glad it worked out and thanks for the -1 blame balance. But then, it’s still a while til 4/30

@chienfou made the choose your own adventure game suck.

@thismyusername have you been sneaking pics of me over the fence…

@thismyusername I think our goat needs a haircut

@chienfou is why you didn’t get an IRK.

@thismyusername @tinamarie1974 Just got one last weekend… as did a few others on this site. Wish I had seen the offer of a free coupon earlier, I might have gone for it.

@chienfou @thismyusername I got one as well (oh la la) just waiting for it to arrive.

@tinamarie1974

I got one as well

Got what… a goat, a haircut? But wait… your haircut hasn’t arrived yet?? WTF???
/giphy confused

@chienfou mildly inconvenienced everyone with half-assed pranks on 4/1.

@mediocrebot
half-assed pranks

are those better than ass-whole(d) pranks?

@chienfou nnnooo an IRK … sadily I am so overdue for a haircut but what can I do

And that puppy is adorable

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@tinamarie1974
/giphy too much hair

@tinamarie1974 at least she had an appropriate top!

@chienfou Oh I think I have that dress!!

/giphy kidding

@RiotDemon

Ouch.

Glad the cast is off tho.

@RiotDemon that’s great. Hopefully you had a fiberglass one so at least it wasn’t TOO heavy.

@chienfou I actually had a really nice removable thermoplastic kind. There was no possible way to remove it every single time I needed to wash my hands and I could only wash the cast once a day when I got home from work. Basically I felt like I was walking around with a contaminated arm constantly.

@chienfou I had a fiberglass kind before. I’ve actually broken both arms at different times years ago. Worst part was those were past the elbow. It was so hard to do anything.

When the orthopedic gave me the option for this removable kind, I gladly paid the extra money for it. I’m really glad I did because when Covid came around, I think I would of lost my mind not being able to wash the cast.

@f00l me too, thanks. My wrist just sounds so crunchy now. Constantly popping.

@RiotDemon It just makes so much sense to be able to have removable ones that you can wash. The should have thought that years ago. I saw a photo of someone with a 3D printed leg cast that was really an open matrix. I am thinking that would work too if someone couldn’t have a removable one. Taking a shower and it would dry easily, you could soap everything easily.

Hope it finishing healing quickly and stops hurting sooner rather than later.

@Kidsandliz @RiotDemon I think a removable cast only would work if the fracture was stable. If you broke both bones in your lower forearm/wrist for instance (aka a Colles’ fracture), removing a cast would probably be a bad idea in the beginning until you started to lay down some new bone.

@chienfou yeah, luckily it was nondisplaced. It was also my wrist bones, not my radius/ulna. The breaks I had where I needed the above the elbow casts were arms.

@RiotDemon

The breaks I had where I needed the above the elbow casts were arms.

the general rule of thumb for splints/casts is one joint above and below (proximal and distal) to the fracture…

You can’t April Fool me!

@f00l Gee… thanks… I was feeling a bit underutilized!

@f00l mea maxima culpa

@chienfou @f00l we try not to keep too many topics broadcast at the top because it just becomes noise at that point.

There’s no rule that a lot of blame has to be dished out. If someone wants to drop blame, it can be in any thread. If people want to use this thread, they can keep bumping it to the top. It hasn’t been hard to find.

@chienfou SCAPEGOAT! GRAPE COAT! I’M ON A BOAT!

@f00l We’re trying to make sure to get more stuff in rotation at the top, so we’re not going to have this topic broadcast as much.

@f00l @Thumperchick But if there isn’t 2 things up at the time then it could still be there until you found a second something you wanted there. Yes?

@f00l @Kidsandliz We’re trying something different.

@Thumperchick @narfcake @RiotDemon @ignorant

I like this topic being spotlighted. Not so much because of the amusement potential of spurious blame directed at an innocent volunteer;

Rather, that this topic drives general community engagement.
I suspect there are formerly quite active users who now come to the site only for this topic, as a way of “checking in”. And other people who read only this topic, plus topics of their own specific interests.
If what happens on the “blame topic” engages these visitors, perhaps they stay and sample or engage elsewhere as well.

If this topic is less visible, there seems to me to be less of a “popular commons” where we all gather.

And then it becomes likely that people who now only come to check in, and people who don’t see much of particular interest to their own habits, leave without reading or participating, and then visit less frequently.

So I’d like to see this topic, or some topic that serves the same general interest function, spotlighted, and always visible and easy to find.

Forum participation is so low right now that I’m not sure that the targeted attempt to create some sort of alternative “constantly read and active general interest topic” would even work.

I know that the “blame topic” has seen some recent contentious, personal, and off-putting posting from time to time. I regret this. But I still think the community “needs” this topic. Participation is already so low …

Just my $.02. I ain’t no VolMod and I ain’t no site visionary.

@chienfou is definitely the problem here.

@f001 well said and I wholeheartedly agree

@f00l @Ignorant @narfcake @RiotDemon @Thumperchick
Do you want my opinion too? I used to love the goat thread. It was full of fun little stories and jokes. Now it’s the place to come and whine. And the whining is dominated by the same people.

Boo, the apartment management is trying to make it safe here and it’s not fair.

I’m too damn smart to get a job.

My grandkids are going into foster care unless someone sends me cash.

Gotta repost things I started a whole new thread for too.

There are even sympathetic sock puppets to help people along.

I still check back for the occasional fun post, thanks some of you, but most of it sucks the life out of me. As far as I’m concerned the whole goat thread can burn to the ground.

@chienfou is definitely to blame for… whatever this is.

@f00l @Ignorant @narfcake @Thumperchick

Forum participation is so low right now that I’m not sure that the targeted attempt to create some sort of alternative “constantly read and active general interest topic” would even work.

Forum participation is down, yes. I think that’s because a lot of people have straight up left. There’s a lot of familiar names that don’t come around anymore.

I highly doubt the goat thread not being at the top is the reason.

@chienfou made the choose your own adventure game suck.

@RiotDemon

Agree: forum participation is down period. I just hoped a more visible goat topic would help keep things from getting worse.
Maybe I’m on the wrong track and others have a better take. Or maybe it’s all past fixing. Dunno.

@sammydog01

Of course my opinion is just that. My opinion. And subject to further insight.
Yes I mentioned this hoping to hear what others thought.

Re your critiques: fair enough.
Overdone personal burdensome, complaining, or repetitive posts can be v off-putting.

I dunno. Is this just what happens to online communities over time?

@chienfou doesn’t cough into their elbow.

@f00l @sammydog01 most communities get rid of what’s bringing them down, or the people leave.

@RiotDemon @sammydog01

This community self-policing you mention harder to do, obviously, online, than in more local groups.

People know less about each other. Manipulation, deception, sock puppets, hostility, undermining, all are easier. Without detailed knowledge of the persons and situations, nuances are more difficult. Feedback tends to escalate into open flame. All this has gone on since the first Usenet forums.

Also communities can turn all tribal. That can get ugly.

I dunno.

It’s kinda weird how a request to spotlight this topic turned into this current discussion, but I guess that’s where we are now.

If VolMods/Corp have some ideas about improving things, go for it.

@f00l @RiotDemon @sammydog01 I’ve found the “goat blame” to be dominated by a particular individual who is constantly fund-raising, complaining about being poor, and a host of problems that could be fixed if somebody would just intervene and just send cash.

It’s not fun, it’s depressing.

I think we should retire the goat thing, because it’s being abused. All of us have real-life problems with real-life issues and I don’t see anybody posting over & over & over about them. Then going back to bump them to make sure everybody sees their woe.

Let’s burn this fucker to the ground, salt the Earth, and never speak of this again.

@chienfou is why you didn’t get an IRK.

@f00l @RiotDemon @sammydog01 @therealjrn

Let’s nuke this fucker. This is the same individual who recently told me that I had been talking about my mother too much in past threads. My dying mother!

Sorry I inconvenienced her by taking the spotlight away from her unending problems.

@Barney @f00l @RiotDemon @sammydog01 @therealjrn
Actually that is not what I said. I said, after you trolled me, “Your nastiness level to me is uncalled for. No one dumped on you when you spent several years talking, a lot, about your mom, your struggles with that/your/her situation or after she died. You want understanding and sympathy when horrible things happen in your life, but don’t extend that same consideration to select others.”

@therealjrn

@Kidsandliz What you call “trolling” and “nastiness” was me trying to get the real word about you, to the people on the forum. I kept getting deleted by one mod and only this one mod, so what I was saying never made it out for too many people to see.

WELL… That’s not going to happen this time, @kidsandliz, the truth about you is going to be said and it will not be deleted. AND it won’t do you any good to go running to CS to complain. No, not this time.

Edit: I can’t believe how you can twist what is said to make it look like you are always the victim.

/image this is why we can’t have nice things

@f00l Why don’t you tell that to your friend who has been poisoning this forum for so many years? She has brainwashed people, into believing her “poor little ol’ me” story by telling them over and over and over how wonderful and caring and giving she is when all she is doing is looking for her next handout.

You ask why people are no longer on this forum? Just take a look around at your “friend”. Um, how long will your friendship last when you run out of money?

In the meantime, newbies come in and they, too, believe her stories. We have good people on this forum. It’s about time that they were told the truth so that they can stop throwing their money down the drain.

@Barney

Thx for your perspective.

@f00l It’s not over.

@Barney
I didn’t think for an instant that it was “over”.

My response may have come across as dismissive.
That’s not what I intended. I was merely acknowledging your comment.

This community may be “over” tho.

If that’s the case, I would not (personal opinion) blame any single individual for that.

@chienfou is definitely the problem here.

@f00l @Ignorant @narfcake @RiotDemon @Thumperchick I joined Nextdoor, a neighborhood networking site, at about the same time as I started hanging out on Meh. Nextdoor is useful for practical stuff but it can get pretty contentious and downright nasty sometimes. One good feature they have is the “mute” command which allows you to stop seeing posts from someone you don’t want to hear from. They can go on saying what they want and those who want to see it will, so it works nicely to cut down on aggravation. The mods do delete some things still but this is one way to calm the waters. Could you possibly do that here?

@sammydog01

@chienfou is hoarding all of the toilet paper… again.

@OldCatLady I have been planting stuff for the past few days and most of my problem is as fast as I plant, the dam armadillos decide to unplant.

@chienfou @OldCatLady
/giphy dam armadillos

@chienfou Would it help to build a temporary small enclosure out of chicken wire around what you are planting? We have to do that at the farm to keep the cows, when they escape from the next farm over and end up congregating in the yard, from eating the berry bushes, the garden…

@Kidsandliz maybe, but they are persistent little bastards and will go under a fence in a heartbeat. I am thinking of putting up my fence charger and a couple of hot wires this week while I am off. Over the past couple of days the armored-dildo has been AWOL so maybe he/she got bored and moved on. I tried some mothballs, but they didn’t seem to care. I did put some cages around the plants and that seems to have slowed them down where at least they weren’t rooting up the plants and leaving them on the surface of the soil to dry out.
Now I also have a couple of snakes under the back deck to deal with. It’ll be a busy week!

@chienfou Thinking about this problem, maybe get what they use to keep dogs from tunneling under fences? That might be an expensive solution though. We had rocks and/or railroad ties put all around the chicken wire (on the outside to hold it down from cow heads banging it). Maybe that would prevent the digging?

@Kidsandliz @OldCatLady They seem to have gotten bored with their uprooting project and moved on to other areas of the lawn…Got the rest of the garden pretty much planted and put down newspaper and grass clippings for mulch yesterday… Things are looking up. How is your garden faring?

@chienfou I have no garden (no yard - apartment building). I have one plant - an aloe plant mom gave me a couple of years ago. I had to figure out how to keep the cats out of it (toxic to cats) but if I had any more plants I am sure they’d all be chewed up and the dirt dug out of the pot as I have no where else to put another plant. With one cat (who died in 1999) I planted a window box of lawn and put it on the kitchen table by the window once it was nice and filled out. That cat loved that and sat on the grass so much he killed it due to lack of light. LOL.

@OldCatLady weren’t you doing a major garden planting?

@chienfou is why you didn’t get an IRK.

@chienfou is definitely the problem here.

@Kidsandliz Make smoothies with the ice cream ??

@Kyeh Actually I had ice cream soup for lunch with post easter M&M’s picked up for 75% off and a banana. Let’s see… Vitamin M (necessary for my health and well being as M&M’s are vitamin pills, not to mention chocolate is good for you. Right?), Ice cream has milk in it so good for you. And bananas are good for you. So all in all a very healthy lunch.

@Kidsandliz Oh, yes - that sounds yummy!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh yeah sounds like one “leg” of your electric service ‘died’. That is a real problem for certain (especially 220v) items. Hope you didn’t suffer too much damage to your freezer and its contents. Ice cream soup with M&Ms is a bonus/reward for the power issue, so there is always that!

@chienfou @Kyeh Other than wrecked ice cream (which I decided to re-freeze anyway) I decided I didn’t want to know if even the stuff in the middle had completely thawed like all the stuff I could touch did. I have no choice but to eat it anyway so it is what it is. Oh well. The ice cream… well maybe if I turn what is left into milk shakes it won’t be as grainy as it would be eating it just as plain ice cream.

@chienfou mildly inconvenienced everyone with half-assed pranks on 4/1.

@mediocrebot

/giphy bump

@chienfou is hoarding all of the toilet paper… again.

@f00l Oh, this apology is OK. It’s not your fault that there has been a grifting leech in our midst for a few years now and people are getting woke to it.

It’s depressing and contrary to what most people come here for. There’s plenty of online support groups more well suited for such things.

@chienfou SCAPEGOAT! GRAPE COAT! I’M ON A BOAT!

@f00l @therealjrn @Kyeh The subject of a mute button is a good idea and it was discussed, at the very beginning, and was ruled out. Unfortunately, what we are seeing now, is far beyond what a mute button can do.

We are discussing someone who has been pandering on this forum, seeking either money or goods from the Mehtizens. It has now gone on too long – too many people have been driven off from here because of it, and those in the know, who have the power, have decided that those on the forum should do some self-policing to solve this matter. That’s why we have not been deleted about what we are saying.

We are telling the truth.

Something should have been done about this a long time ago.

@Barney @f00l @Kyeh

We are telling the truth.

Word.

@Barney @f00l @therealjrn Why was the mute button ruled out?

@f00l @Kyeh @therealjrn

I guess we need to go back into the history of Meh – even before then. The forum first started on Mediocre about six months or so before Meh started. They were working hard on Meh though.

Those of us on Mediocre were a pretty tight knit group, most of us knew each other from Woot. Anyway, many discussions were held about how Meh’s new forum would work. And when Meh opened up, it was agreed that, um, language restrictions would not be allowed. And to the delight of @carl669 “fuck” was allowed.

We did discuss using a mute button later on, but it was agreed, right or wrong, to allow the free flow of discussions without this kind of censorship, pretty much the way we agreed on allowing the “descriptive” words (cussing).

@Barney @f00l @Kyeh @therealjrn

@chienfou made me say fuck. I’m innocent.

@Barney @carl669 @f00l @therealjrn Well, I agree with not censoring for the most part but allowing individual members to mute people isn’t censorship, really - I would like having the option, although I’m also capable of ignoring posts I don’t like. I don’t really want to get into it with anyone and I’d like to feel free to interact with whoever I want to without being worried that I’m pissing off someone else - ??? Does that seem reasonable?

@Kyeh I’m not sure, but I think I was on the side of wanting a mute button.

@Barney @Kyeh The whisper thing has been a super nice addition to not piss people off. Back in the day there wasn’t one. And we had to walk to school uphill both ways.

@Barney Maybe they need to survey people about whether there should be one?

@chienfou SCAPEGOAT! GRAPE COAT! I’M ON A BOAT!

@chienfou Sometimes you need to stand up for what is right. Whisper to me if you want to know what’s up. But do not tell me to chill. Pro tip, don’t say that to your wife either. (Don’t tell her I said you could whisper to me either. It just sounds wrong.)

@sammydog01

But do not tell me to chill

it seems that failed humor is another of my superpowers…

@chienfou @sammydog01 Kidz uses big lie propaganda quite effectively. So many on this forum have been brainwashed into believing everything she says. It’s time to hear the truth.

@chienfou DID YOU JUST CALL ME OVERSENSITIVE?

@tinamarie1974 Oh man, that is the worst…

@sammydog01 I replaced my hard drive this morning with a new BestBuy Samsung SSD. I had an off-brand AData ssd in it but it has been crashing & freezing more and more.

I can tell the Samsung drive is better because my fan isn’t running so much and for shorter periods of time.

@therealjrn I should do that but I only take apart my electronics when they’re completely dead.

@sammydog01 You can’t kill the patient that way.

@therealjrn

@chienfou doesn’t cough into their elbow.

@chienfou @mediocrebot I knew it!

@ybmuG omg you got SNOW!!!

@tinamarie1974 @ybmuG It once snowed on my brother’s birthday April 22 (in the snow belt though). And I think the latest snow we ever got when I lived there was early May (can’t remember the date).

Of course when I lived in NW Ontario the leaves didn’t come out on the trees until the 3rd week in June and the freeze and intermittent snow started late August.

@chienfou is why you didn’t get an IRK.

@chienfou no you don’t get blamed for good stuff. You get unblamed.

@Kidsandliz
Thanks…that was actually a covert bump…

@chienfou @Kidsandliz
/giphy bump bump

@chienfou is definitely to blame for… whatever this is.

Unblame!

I changed the batteries in my light and sat down with my book. I got one page in and the power is already back on.

Now I’m torn if I want to keep reading it finish what I was watching.

@RiotDemon Ooo, War of the Worlds? Do you live near Grover’s Mill?

@RiotDemon Darn, that was too fast.

@RiotDemon you and the house ok though?

@therealjrn haha, no.

@tinamarie1974 yeah. Just lost the ends of some of my oak tree branches and there’s leaves and what not everywhere.

It was a little worrisome when the power decided to go out. It was fluctuating and would turn back on for a minute, everything would try to reset and then it would go out again. Many times. Was waiting for something to explode.

Our power outages have been much better since they’ve upgraded a lot of the power poles, but we actually had a tornado warning the weather was so bad.

Thanks for asking!

@RiotDemon tornado warnings in FL, oh my gosh! Isn’t that rare?

Glad to hear you are safe and sound. Try to get some sleep tonight. You can deal with the trees and leaves in the light of day.

@RiotDemon @tinamarie1974

tornado warnings in FL, oh my gosh! Isn’t that rare?

No, not really here is a link to the national average tornado activity for the US by state. I was shocked to see that MN outranks AL… Florida is #3.

@chienfou @RiotDemon thanks, very interesting. Had no idea FL had so much activity.

@chienfou @tinamarie1974 most of the tornadoes I’ve heard about have been in hurricanes. Here’s 60 years of activity:

@chienfou @RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 FL has some really nasty, nearly daily afternoon lightening storms too. If it isn’t #1 in the nation for that it has to be close. When I used to work taking adjudicated youth canoeing across the state of FL, we’d have to get off the river nearly every afternoon for a brief time as they came through. Glad the mess you have to clean up doesn’t include parts of your house!

@sammydog01

I would think that would be rather slippery!

/giphy deadpan idiocy

So, are the athletes keeping social distance during the run? What if one of them slips and slides into another one?

/giphy slip n slide

(I know you wanna hit me now. But I’m out of reach. Made sure of that first.)

@Kidsandliz I don’t know, maybe there were problems that needed to be addressed? Like tenants having dumpster sales in their apartments and inviting the local crackheads to stop by and rummage through their shit?

@sammydog01 Haven’t seen any of that, but of course you live here too and probably know more about that than I do.
/giphy rolling eyes

@Kidsandliz @sammydog01 If it’s illegal as you say, you should sue them. They can’t evict right now anyway, under federal law.

@sammydog01 @therealjrn

The operative word is “now”. If I could vote with my feet I’d risk it. And yes if they retaliated I’d win in the end but what would I do in the meantime? I will report them once I get in elsewhere (waiting lists) or get work such that I can afford to move out. I am already documenting things and scanning stuff that is evidence.

And actually a 5 of us (yes 6’ apart with masks on) were sitting outside in the sun discussing this document early this afternoon. We were talking about what to do, if reporting them to HUD would be enough, etc. One person said she had already called all the free legal aid places shortly after the document was put on our doors this morning. According to her she either got recordings that they were closed for the duration or aren’t taking on new cases due to the shutdown. Since a couple of those folks are talking about moving and have other options, I am hoping if they move before I do they will report them (well after they get their deposit back).

A number of people have already moved out. 27 apts on each floor. On my floor 8 apts are vacant that I know of, 7 since they bought the place and took over. I have personally seen at least 8 or 10 (from other floors) move out at the end of Feb and the end of March and only 2 that I know of have moved in (one of whom was outside in the group talking, she is the one who called free legal aid). This place had a waiting list the two times I moved in here. They have resorted to bribery to try to get us to refer people here. Nope. It certainly is better than being homeless, but not by much and that is all due to the ownership/management change. Apts actually aren’t bad for 500ish sf, location is convenient… it’s a little run down, and it has major foundation problems (common in this area) but all things considered, up until the new owners, the good outweighed the bad.

@Kidsandliz Eh, good points I guess. But if you’re not able/willing to do anything I can’t help but point out there might be other online forums more well-suited to this type of complaint. Some kind of HUD reddit or something?

I always though the goofy meh blame thread was meant to be goofy. Your problem sounds like you need some serious help, not just a goofy goat.

@chienfou doesn’t cough into their elbow.

@therealjrn Not on reddit so don’t know what is there.

Hopefully it won’t be my problem much longer (and I’ll report when I leave). I had applied for a job with a very small non-profit and they had called me just before the lockdown. I got a call from them yesterday asking me if I was still interested, provided they survived this (they didn’t get any of the loans in the last round of them). After I said yes they asked me if I’d be willing to volunteer working for them since they still had a hiring freeze but were desperate for help. Since maybe doing that will result in my being hired I said yes. Not too happy about that, but hey it gets me a foot in the door. Got hired for another job years ago the same way.

@Kidsandliz @therealjrn

goofy meh blame thread was meant to be goofy.

We need more of this. Big fan of goofy here.

/giphy goofy

@chienfou mildly inconvenienced everyone with half-assed pranks on 4/1.

@chienfou mildly inconvenienced everyone with half-assed pranks on 4/1.

@ybmuG Cool idea to use the hail for target practice. (couldn’t find a giphy of someone doing that).

@ybmuG graupel?

@tinamarie1974 kind of like little Styrofoam pellets
/image graupel

Basically snow that picks up extra moisture on the way down

@chienfou doesn’t cough into their elbow.

@tinamarie1974

Glad you found some!

I guess there are some additional people baking rather than go out to buy things, but I’d suspect those who chose to eat out most of the time prior to the lock downs likely aren’t in that group. I do wonder what the next shortage will be. I hope the people hoarding realize yeast, unlike TP, has an expiration date.

There is a game we used to have students play in a business class that demonstrated how, even if there weren’t actually shortages of the product or a changed demand, the supply chain could end up with bottle necks, shortages, surpluses, etc. due to human behavior. And of course now add in real reasons for supply chain issues due to the pandemic and who knows what will be next.

@tinamarie1974 I had the same problem last weekend. I wanted to make Easter bread for, you know, Easter. Finally got some Saturday and made it for this week. Oh well, it was good, even if late.

@ybmuG well that stinks. Glad you found some though.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 Hah, and remember Beanie Babies? Or any of those other manias that had people buying things up just because everyone else was doing it?
And there wasn’t even a crisis to get it going.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh Always something. My earliest mania memory would be Cabbage Patch Kids. I wanted one so bad and somehow my mom and dad found one w a birth certificate name of Tina Marie, and she had the same color hair and eyes as me. I was sssoooooo excited!!

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 Wow, what were the chances of that?! Very cool! They must have searched hard to find one with your name - sweet!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh It was luck and connections. They knew a store manager at a local store. He knew they were looking for dolls for my sister and I (Christmas) He promised to set two aside for them, but when he saw TM he decided that was the one I needed.

I still have her packed away in the basement.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 Wonderful! I don’t suppose he found one with your sister’s name too?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh nope, nope. She ended up with a little boy doll. Made me feel extra special. I know that was horrible of me!

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 ‘It is not enough to have achieved personal success. One’s best friend must also have failed.’
(Francois de La Rochefoucauld)

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 Nah not horrible. You were a little kid who was excited. Who knows. Your sister may have thought she was special because she got a boy doll since there were, and still are, so very few of them.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh oh no she was pissed

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 Hmm well still not your fault. Well unless you gloated a bunch to her. It was a gift you had no control over.

@chienfou mildly inconvenienced everyone with half-assed pranks on 4/1.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh we were kids OF COURSE I did!!

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 Does she remind you of that still?

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974 Was she able to guilt your parents into making it up to her?

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh hahahahaha

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh no she has not brought it up in many years.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 Too painful a memory, perhaps!

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974

I hope the people hoarding realize yeast, unlike TP, has an expiration date.

That may be, but I have had good luck keeping it in the freezer for YEARS past the date. I buy bulk yeast at Sam’s generally…

@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh good tip THANKS

@tinamarie1974 I checked a few stores and no yeast. My son has become hooked on fresh bread with butter. But I can make pina coladas for a month and that’s what’s important.

@sammydog01 after a few PC’s he would not worry about the bread any longer.

@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 The jar of yeast I’m working with has an expiration date of June, 2021.

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @sammydog01 @tinamarie1974

I just recently finished some from 2008 that has been in the freezer…

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @sammydog01 @tinamarie1974
I know you found some TM as I saw the proof (get it??) on another post.

@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @sammydog01

/giphy rimshot

@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @sammydog01 @tinamarie1974
Merci, et en français, même !

@Kidsandliz Ugh, that’s obnoxious to ask someone who’s already donating time and work to give them money as well!

@therealjrn It would probably be a good excuse to stop working (there). Right? Anyway, it’s a new one that I haven’t heard.

@Barney @therealjrn I am working there for free right now so they have a donation of 100% of my time. That is worth far more than the 10% they want from people’s pay and stimulus checks. If it leads to a paid job I am not going to stop volunteering. I need work. If this is the only way to get it then this is what I am going to do. At least now I am forewarned about how they behave though.

@chienfou mildly inconvenienced everyone with half-assed pranks on 4/1.

@tinamarie1974 I need to blame the goat as I had a really good snarky pun comment on the word saw and forgot what I was going to write thank you a cat!! Hopefully I’ll eventually remember what it was. So sorry!

@chienfou mildly inconvenienced everyone with half-assed pranks on 4/1.

@tinamarie1974 Do I need to come over and help you take care of that?
PS Remember those ‘V’ neck t-shirts… maybe not a good idea in a woodworking shop! OTOH I am happy to hear that you even enjoy (?) that pastime as I am always happy when I finally get around to doing some cabinet work etc. in the shop.

@chienfou well thanks for the offer, but I took care of it the MINUTE he left! No deep V yesterday, I was wearing a scoop neck St Louis Blues t-shirt!! Man I miss hockey (blame there)!

Excited to do the cabinet work. Basically making a very tall open cabinet/bookcase to match my new fancy closet. There is a weird wall in there that has no shelves because it was too shallow for the premade that I purchased months ago. So, I got the materials and dad and I are making it! Excited to see it installed.

@chienfou made the choose your own adventure game suck.

@tinamarie1974 What an AWESOME father/daughter project! Cherish this time… It will last longer than the bookcase!

VAN MURALS! GROUND SQUIRRELS! SPIT CURLS! AWESOME!

@tinamarie1974 That is nice the two of you can do it. Did you folks make the shelves, etc. in your fancy bedroom sized closet you showed us a while back too?

@Kidsandliz no I purchased those assembled from a division of home depot. They were built based upon my closet dimensions and my specifications; everything was customizable based upon my taste/needs.

This one particular wall is not very deep and was less than the minimum depth for any of their cabinets. So for now the wall is bare, but will soon have a quasi-matching cabinet filling the space

@therealjrn Instead, I bet you bought and now own your own place to live in. How about health insurance? Did you get that, too?

Have you put a little money away in case of a rainy day?

Can I borrow $5?

@therealjrn You are looking in the wrong places. Either that or for the wrong kind of sail boat. On Craigslist, when I lived in a coastal VA town some years ago, there were plenty of junky looking ones cheap. Pay $100, includes trailer, sell for $100. The one I bought was 14’ (flying junior), could be sailed by one person, was about 30 years old, had been capsized in an oil spill before I bought it so the sails were stained, filled with foam because of leaks (which essentially make it unsinkable), the fiberglass was delaminating and powdering (originally it was red and looked brown), ugly as all get out, but it sailed beautifully. There is no way I could have raced with that due to its condition (even though there is a flying junior race class) but that didn’t matter. I crewed on other people’s boats who raced. People are often looking for free crew when they are racing their own boats.

All I had to buy was an anchor, anchor chain and rope since it had no motor and if I lost the wind I didn’t want to get caught in an outgoing tide as it would have been hard to paddle against that. In fact I won ugliest boat on the water one year. The best part about boats like this is that you don’t have to do a lot of careful maintenance. They already look like shit. Hard to make it look worse. You just need to be sure that the lines, sails and cleats are good; the mast and tiller are firmly anchored and sound.

Tiny camping trailers are the same thing. I bought a 12’ one where the inside was a real mess - just be sure they are fiberglass because that is easy to patch and you have far fewer leaks to deal with (Butyl tape generally fixes window leaks). I paid about $200, counting what I put into it the total was around $450. I pulled out the trashed stuff, Used plywood to build what I needed. Spray painted it. Good to go. Well and I also had to buy new tires because the ones on there had dry rot. It weighed maybe 600 pounds when done. I sold it for a profit. I saved a ton of money sleeping in that rather than paying for motel rooms on trips. In fact I saved far more than cheap motels would have cost me and saved more than the trailer would cost me.

Sure there are expensive ones out there, some the cost of a house (or more), but if you are looking for something basic, don’t care what it looks like, it is perfectly possible to buy something usable that is really cheap. In my opinion same enjoyment.

@Kidsandliz @therealjrn

I have never in my life been able to afford a sailboat or a trailer.

Actually (as evidenced below your post) you have never bought a sailboat or a trailer, but evidently, given low enough expectations, I bet you could have afforded one.
I have owned and driven POS vehicles at a few points in my life, and have managed to have a boat, and an RV, both of which were bought cheap, used for a while and then resold for no more than I had in them. The RV was used when we bought it, driven on a 10K trip around the west with the wife and kids (and a cousin from France), then sold to friends for what we had in it, including the work I had done to “remodel” the interior. They kept it and used it for several years…
Of course, YMMV…

@chienfou Just take your blame and shut up, short-timer.

@chienfou is why you didn’t get an IRK.

@Kidsandliz I’m sorry, you’re describing a very specific set of circumstances. I don’t have the advantages you have or access to the resources you describe. You don’t live here like I do, I’m glad you’re so fortunate, I hope you never have to live here like I do.

@chienfou @mediocrebot I can’t even afford a POS vehicle. There’s no way I could have something like that. I need something reliable.

All you people telling me how easy it is to get a boat. I don’t have any money for a boat, or a trailer. I give away so much each month, there’s little left over for luxuries like a boat.

@therealjrn My boat cost less than basic cable TV would for even just 2 months. Over the years I have made a number of choices that has resulted in me living very frugally. It was fortunate that I did that because I lasted nearly 2 years on what I had saved when I had the 2 cancers in one year, a major chemo catastrophe and job loss. And that included having to buy health insurance (after COBRA ran out) on the open market (no medicaid expansion in this state - which I would have qualified for in a state that expanded it) for my daughter and myself.

But I don’t care if I am living frugally because for me (and of course all of us are different), experiences matter more than stuff, more than expensive food, more than fancy cars, etc. We each have our own priorities in life. You are choosing to donate money. I am choosing to donate my time. Both are important and the world needs people who do both. And of course when one is living near or below the poverty line for their family size there is a different reality in play. Because income does matter. There is no way around it.

But over the years I have learned to get by on far less money than most of my friends. And because I didn’t care what the boat looked like, or how old it was, as long it was sea worthy, and I was willing to wait until a good deal came along, I was able to buy one. And my daughter and I had many enjoyable hours on it. And that is what was important to me. And made it worth all the other sacrifices. But of course each of us approach life according to our values and needs. And as a result make different life choices for good reasons.

@therealjrn

I hope you never have to live here like I do.

I am not going to get into a contest of who has the hardest life. I am sure there are a number of us here who have had a hard life. And there are many ways for life to be hard; for life to suck. Only some them involve money. Like you I couldn’t afford a boat right now either. Even a $100 one. I live in hud and have food stamps. It is what it is. At least I have the memory of all the things I did while owning one. And that is important to me. And having experiences over stuff drove my choices. I did without an awful lot to do that. But then again that was my priority and choice. And each of us have our own priorities and make different choices for good reasons that make sense to us and in our lives.

@Kidsandliz @therealjrn You got an IRK with a really cool, unique, and fairly valuable item. And you turned into another poor, poor me event. Now you’re recapping your life of misery once again for the zillionth time. How about giving it a rest?

As for your volunteer job didn’t you say you are doing it for eventual paid employment? Which makes it more mercenary than volunteer.

@Kidsandliz @sammydog01 @therealjrn Her story is getting old. HOWEVER, she has to keep telling it again and again for all of the site’s newcomers, who have never heard it. Must never miss out on a chance to get money or goods out of of the newbies. Unfortunately, there’s a sucker born every minute, so we’ll keep hearing her tales of woe.

BTW, this has been going on for almost 7 years. She said it was only temporary. Is that the definition of “temporary”?

@Barney @sammydog01 @therealjrn Must be that new math. Meh hasn’t even had a forum that I’ve been on anyway for that long. I haven’t even been here for 6 years let alone 7
/image Shrug trolls

@Kidsandliz You are stretching the truth, as you so often do. You showed up on the Mediocre forum (pre-Meh), shortly after it was up and running in the latter part of 2013. And what was almost the first thing you did? You posted your GoFundMe. Gotta admit you had a pretty sad story. Hell, I even donated to your cause.

It’s time to put an end to this Kidsandliz. Perhaps you would like to give an accounting of all monies and goods that your sob stories have accumulated for you? Or would you end up stretching the truth about that too?

@Kidsandliz

I am not going to get into a contest of who has the hardest life. I am sure there are a number of us here who have had a hard life.

There are none who have complained for so long, so repeatedly. You Win.

@Barney Nope. My profile says “Kidsandliz joined us 2118 days ago on July 15th, 2014.”.

@Kidsandliz Congrats, having you around here, it just seems like 7 years. Actually, it seems much longer than that.

So 6 years is NOT temporary, because you did tell us that needing help is just temporary. Just what is your definition of temporary? How much longer are we going to be hearing about your trials and tribulations? I’ve got to admit, you are very good at coming up with additional woes and mishaps that often occur to you.

You must be close to running out of mishaps by now, right? Probably not. You’ve found that it’s a good source of income. I just hate it that you are taking advantage of so many of the good people on this site. How many other sites do you seek money from?

@Barney You haven’t donated to my personal campaign. I just checked. And yes I know your name from the Nigerian Prince bracelets - where you got one, I had him give sammydog the one he was going to give to me since she had missed the boat and really, really wanted one…

You may have donated to a different fund I posted here - but those weren’t for me. And I am not, by the way, the one who posted my personal gofundme here last November. That was posted by someone else. I had no idea she was going to do that. I didn’t ask her to do that. She initiated that. You can ask her.

I have posted other fundraisers here for other people - the laid off cattery workers, the Afghanistan war vet whose vehicle encountered a road side bomb. That was for his service dog’s graduation gown. The other two I posted were created by the cat owners for their very sick, young emotional support cats. I just promoted those two here.

@Kidsandliz You are so twisted in the way that you tell your so called truth (you might want to check anonymous donors). Believe me, I am regretting that I made a donation. Your fund has been posted at least three times and, yes, the last was posted by someone other than you. I hope that TPTB never allow it to be posted again

Do you really want to discuss those bracelets? Have you conveniently forgotten how you harassed me for money for a gift for the maker of them (and then ended up spending that money on your own postage)? Yes, harassed. I told you to stop emailing me and you continued to do it. I no longer use that account.

So, are you now threatening me with disclosing my name? Yeah, I think that’s something you would do.

You really aren’t as nice as you pretend to be.

@Barney They aren’t listed as anonymous to the fund owner even though they are on the “public” part of the site.

@Kidsandliz I have several “anonymous” accounts I use when I make donations, just in case someone like you tries to track me down.

@Barney

I get it that you and a couple of other people dislike me and so initiate trolling me, initiate engaging in name calling, initiate flaming, etc. I haven’t missed that point. And I’d guess there are likely a few others, who behave like adults with manners, who don’t like me either and so I don’t know who they are. No biggie. It’s a big world out there. There are a ton of people on the forums. We aren’t going to like everybody for whatever reason.

Apparently a couple of you need to meet your needs in your life by behaving to me the way you do. If that helps you cope better in real life, get along better in real life, not be nasty to people in real life, well then glad to be of service as your punching bag if it helps you cope in real life. It’s no skin off of my teeth.

BTW They give the actual name on the account from the money transfer, not whatever fake name is used to create the account.

/giphy shrug

@Kidsandliz I have a number of banking accounts. Not all have the name you know me by.

We are not “trolling” you (your word, not mine). Staying silent and then having a mod who erased all of our questioning, didn’t put a stop to you seeking monies and goods, so now the truth is being told,

And how come you are not answering my question about the loot that you have accumulated? How many websites do you go to with your tales of woe? Afraid to tell the truth? Afraid that people will stop giving you money and electronics and gift certificates? It’s a pretty good racket you have going, I think.

@Barney @f00l you can see what the money will be used for on the fund. Fund says: “Total raised (after fees)$2,448.87” About half of that is from people I don’t know (eg based on real names) from Nov (when it was posted here by someone else) so I am presuming those are meh people (some said in comments they were). I sent $2000 of that to MDA, the remainder I put towards a very expensive car repair I had been sitting on for months and was told if I didn’t fix it ASAP then I’d have a much more expensive bill.

I also sent $1000 of my stimulus check there. The remaining $200 was used to pay rent, buy inexpensive birthday presents for 2 grandkids, vet bill for my 19 year old cat, and her meds. I still have around 8000 left in very past due medical bills, not counting ones not yet in collection. That is down from the high of nearly $20,000 outstanding and in collection so I am chipping away at them slowly. Yeah statute of limitations is past on some but they aren’t in an external collection agency. And hopefully eventually I will be able to pay them all off. I paid a big chunk of them off when I had that out of state visiting job the school year before last. I lived very cheaply then too so I could save as much as possible to do that.

@chienfou doesn’t cough into their elbow.

I am in awe that you managed to start a thread each day even when you had your 7 day on schedule.
/giphy you did good

@Kidsandliz That was why some of the days I got my dates screwed up. I was posting from work before leaving if I could have a few minutes of computer time before I hit the road. I composed several of the threads in advance, kept them on a thumbdrive on my keyring, then dropped them on the site when the “new” day started at 2300 locally.
I didn’t want to be a slacker for my meh buddies…

@chienfou @Kidsandliz

/giphy “not a slacker”

@chienfou Hey don’t blow it by giving away your secrets.
/giphy angel halo slipping

@chienfou OK so not what I was looking for but is funny so I’ll quit edit save.

@Kidsandliz I still did all the work… just did a bit of time management to make it happen!

@therealjrn Thanks for your support, I guess I can turn this over to the new goat and you can blame him/her…

@DrWorm has no idea why they’re being tagged here.