Don't ya just love it...

[grampster]

Art puts a sticky on THR reminding everyone there that APS is available for general tug O' war, conversation, inquiry etc that is off topic at THR.  The first
thing that happens is a new member with a nasty, confrontational disposition bad mouths APS.  Boy was that post ironic.  I think most of you know who I mean.

I don't know about the rest of you, but APS has been a lot of fun for me.  Generally informative, humorous, serious, boring, and a host of other descriptive adjectives.  Shoot, I was down after a serious surgery recently and spent many hours fending off boredom by jumping around on the various boards, APS probably the most prominent.  So....

I have found the conduct of members to be good natured for the most part, emotional at times, but nothing in the way that would cause me to shake my head in disgust very often.  The exception is when a round, squat, mishapen, ugly creature that normaly lives under a bridge shows up and tries to bait folks.  What usually happens is that regular and not so regular members have a little fun with the critter.

What say you?

[yci]

I lurk here just as much as I did the Roundtable at THR.  Certainly find all the posts and discussions amusing and worthwhile.

[Preacherman]

The exception is when a round, squat, mishapen, ugly creature that normaly lives under a bridge shows up and tries to bait folks.

That's why, even though APS is unmoderated for the most part, we can still remove these nasty creatures when necessary.  It's only been required for three users so far, and we only plan on doing so in the most egregious of cases.  One very recent example comes to mind...

[K Frame]

But he was so much fun to play with!

[Paddy]

The occasional

is to be expected and is the exception rather than the rule.  It is funny, though, that someone talks smack about APS over on THR, then immediately shows up here with an OP.

[Guest]

Life is like one big human zoo.

All sorts of critters, some are cute and cuddly, some are mean and nasty. Some are downright funny to watch, others are downright facinating. Some one does not understand, takes a bit to figure out what makes them tick. Still one can learn from all these various critters , may not like them, still one can learn something.

Internet - well the Internet and forums are nothing more than what we have had forever. Folks getting together sharing a common interest(s) and interacting.

The old guys sitting in benches playing checkers, whittling - talking about politics, kids, honey-do's, weather, and trying to figure how best to fix a car, get rid of a weed, or talk momma out of doing wallpaper in the kitchen.

Ladies, having quilting bees, discussing how to con the hubby's into doing the wallpaper, getting grandkids to eat veggies, and what in heck can be so interesting about a guy taking apart a lawnmower he found for $10 that won't run.

Kids on the playground, discussing the new cereal, coolest tennis shoes, and did you notice the teacher was wearing one blue sock and one brown one?.

In any group - some don't fit in.  One guy cheats at checkers, and then lies when caught. One fella gets offended when he is asked for the umpteeth time to watch his blade while whittling.

Ladies get offended when a lady keeps on whining about about being beat up by her  old man- she will not listen and disrupts the fun atmosphere of doing a quilt for charity.  

Talk of divorce after 25 years of marriage is - horrors, if the fella wants a Trophy Wife, hell hath no fury like a bunch of women. If the same  group of women suggest the lady is nuts for wanting to leave a good man and share perhaps it is HER hormones acting up, well that ladies group is just plain nuts and don't know nothing and leaves the group...badmouthing them as the slams the door on the way out...

Kids have bullies, to deal with, kids  get upset when parents tell them to do chores for extra money for that new toy they want. Kids take sides on the subjects and more inner groups are established.

Some groups just ask a person to not come back - nicely. Other times they are shunned and ignored. Some folks leave a group, and rightly so. Then again sometimes they talk bad about a group asked to leave from, lie about the reasons they no longer hang out with the group - cannot accept being crtiticized and thus have to qualify reasons for their actions.

Internet just speeds this up, and involves a bigger group  of folks to participate is all.

[SalukiFan]

I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of APS too.  Maybe everybody doesn't always see eye-to-eye but I think most do get a lot out of hashing things out.  Sometimes the debates get heated, but people here are generally very civil and willing to dialogue about things.

The analogy that sm uses that APS is like a town is fitting. Personally, I've gotten a chance to debate interesting issues, compliment people on their chickens, read about community members' sicknesses, children, marriages, etc.  There's bound to be some people who have a special way of getting on your last nerve but as long as people generally stick to the basic ground rules, very, very few people get run out of town on a rail.

[Nightfall]

I challenge anybody to find a better behaved forum on the internet, that is virtually unmoderated. Despite some drastic differences in opinions amongst members, APS remains an enjoyable visit, which speaks to the quality of it's participants.

[Guest]

I agree..there are very few regular participants I flat out don't like, quite a few I don't agree with most of the time and some that I'm quite attached to. Still, out of all of them, I can't think of anyone I don't respect here. Which is kind of a welcome change from the real world, eh?

[Antibubba]

A town?  An unincorporated one, perhaps.

[280plus]

THR and APS are the only places I go. I've hung out at several others in the past (ebay and a heatig forum) but the flamers and cliquies turned me off. I'm spending more time here lately though. I was finding it tougher to come up with topics that had to involve guns. This forum gives us a chance to get to know more about the other sides of the people we've come in contact with at THR. And as Grampster replied to my first post here, at APS the cream of THR rises to the top.

[P95Carry]

Dick - I don't drop by here that often - too much time needed on other places but - I have been (pleasantly) surprised to see how smoothly for most part things go.

It IS possible for a lotta folks to get on with courtesy and manners - just now again an idiot will appear to potentially spoil it for others.

Oleg was very gracious providing this venue - it does pretty well take the place of roundtable - and it's good to see so many old friends come and go here too.

[MaterDei]

Three booties huh?  Hmmm...  wonder who they were.  I'm pretty sure I know who the most recent one was.  I never responded to his recent post because I didn't really understand what he was trying to say.  

Grampster, I like it here too but I still miss RT.  The level of activity is very small her compared to there.  I always appreciated the incredible breadth of knowledge that THRers had on any subject.  It was amazing.  Somebody would ask the most arcaine question that I didn't think anybody would have any knowledge of and within hours there would be MANY knowledgeable responses.  It was very cool.  Maybe in time APS will come to that point but I doubt it.

Sheesh, Barbara.  I'm with fistful.  I kind of like Art.  To each his own I guess.  

[Antibubba]

Actually, MaterDei, I like the lower intensity here, and the lower activity.  It's a farther orbit out than RT was, and therefore, less heated.  I think a lot of THRers would come off the General and Political forums ready to go at it.  The folks who gravitated here are no less serious, but, coupled with the fact that threads disappear off the front page more slowly, there seems to be more (and more precise) thought put into postings.  I also think we have a little more leeway here-we're still moderated, but since we're under a lot less public glare than THR, we can explore ideas that antis, blissninnies and sheeple might misconstrue (to use a few of the terms that those selfsame would misconstrue. ) It's not that the ideas and logical explorations are necessarily bad, but that we "members" know the lingo and the culture-and that most of us are comfortable with the exploration of new and disturbing ideas (In case anyone hasn't noticed, this is not a stupid group of people).  I feel I can be less guarded here.