I Love You Guys

[Dutch!]

Okay. Describe what a shortbus is.

A bus for little kids?

[Black Kitty]

Generally I stay away from threads like this. Can't please everyone so it's not a big deal if people don't like it there. So I'm not going to comment on the other stuff except to say I like the community VERY much and I've met a lot of wonderful people there. I've been having some very difficult problems at home and people have been very generous and kind there. Never have I been in such a fantastic community.

So I can't help but say something...especially when you refer to that community as the shortbus. (A shortbus, for those of you who aren't sure, is slang used to describe a lack of mental capacity. If someone says you ride the shortbus, they're not talking about the size of your car. )

Oh I'm certain it does, but when a community appears to be as largely comprised of them as dd, I flee in horror. There are good sprite comics, there are good stick comics, but some creators will use it as an excuse to create vast archives of drivel.

My impression of the DD community is that it's actually a good mix. There is certainly more sprite comics there since CG doesn't allow it but to say that it's LARGELY sprites and stick figure artists makes me wonder how long you were in the forums.

[Mercury Hat]

Okay. Describe what a shortbus is.

A bus for little kids?

Generally, it's the bus the physically and/or mentally handicapped students ride.

Guys, don't go slagging off on DD just because they're them and we're us; they're good people. Need I remind you of the reputation that Keenspace has had since it was created?

And heyo, Black Kitty. Been awhile. Shouldn't be things like this that end up dragging you back .

[NakedElf]

Okay. Describe what a shortbus is.

A bus for little kids?

Generally, it's the bus the physically and/or mentally handicapped students ride.

Mentally and physically handicapped adults also ride them, at least in some cities. They're generally a subset of the regular public transportation system, only they function more like cabs, picking people up at their houses/other places and dropping them off at their destinations rather than operating between set stops. The result of course is that no one bus every has very many passengers, so it's not worthwhile to use big busses for the purpose... if you're only ever going to have six people on a bus, then it makes sense to make the bus short...

Since my dad can't walk, they're how he gets pretty much anywhere he can't get to in his chair. (Which is why I ended up riding them back in the day, when my dad would 'drop me off' at school.)

[Orinocou]

Yup, I've also heard the connection between the short bus and Special Ed students, though it's not always the case. In the 8th grade, I took afternoon classes at the local high school, so I (and a handful of other kids) got short-bussed the distance from the middle school to the high school. Didn't stop us from getting looks and comments while we were going into the school. Then again, that could've had less to do with the short bus and more to do with the fact that we were "baby eighth graders".

You know what really bugs me? SmackJeeve's option to put a comment box on every comic's page. It doesn't make sense to discuss each page individually, but rather the story ought to be looked at as a whole.

[Dutch!]

Ah. We'd call it a minibus. Right. Gotcha.

[Corgan_dane]

This is the only online community I've ever returned to after a significant time away.

All of the rest were poo.

[Killbert-Robby]

This is the only online community I've ever returned to after a significant time away.

All of the rest were poo.

Indeed. The only other one I go to is because I've been going there like 5 years now. Only 2 forums for me.

*edit* Finally took a nice full read of the topic, and I have to agree. I've been to a lot of forums during my long residency in the internet, but I haven't stuck with many. This is one thing that I find is almost completely unique to CG, which is the maturity of the members. And I dont mean, you know, MATURE mature, I mean people who yes have their little inner child but dont go spouting "LMAO ur kitty's dead, owned". Its one of those forums where you can gripe, you can celebrate, or just piss around, and everyone reacts accordingly. Its a bunch of really cool people, and what I think is the unique-est part is how tightly nit the whole thing is : Most of the members know eachother on a first name basis, and meet up regularly in real life. It is, I have to say, like no other forum I've been on.

[Eff]

Hmm, villainized while I was asleep by the very community I attempted to commend.

The goal of this thread was not to bash DD, in spite of what resulted. In my brief experience with them, it sounds like I may have drawn some inaccurate conclusions, and gotten the wrong impression. I would encourage everyone to head over there and check them out for research purposes. I'm going to go back again and see if I've magnified the evils I saw. Here's what I'm seeing again though;

1. Thread titled "What are you wearing? " in the general forum.
2. Another one called "What is your favorite flavor of ICE CREAM."
3. Threads comprised entirely of caps.
4. The English language absolutely butchered. People using "w/" instead of with. Ur instead of you're or your. Using three periods after every statement, instead of a period or a comma.
5. Another thread called "Denny's 6 pound burger... would you dare try to eat it within 3 hours?"

Blackkitty, if you're a moderator over there you have your work cut out for you. Can you really blame me for getting the impression the community was fairly undisciplined in the minute and a half I spent there? I also didn't read the general forum description before entering, I didn't realize it was the proverbial slop-bucket. To their credit however, they look to be having a ton of fun. Something I've definitely not experienced fending off attackers in this thread.

When I said shortbus, I was not talking about DD at all. There's more than one host to target unfairly.

I simply wanted to say I preferred the apparent tone of this community to that of DD (or thought I did), and that community was important to me. Although responders have definitely highlighted the downside this community. All too excited to dogpile on the guy who tried to issue a compliment, and misconstrue his efforts.

*puts grave shovel down* Should I just stop digging, or?

[NakedElf]

Hmm, villainized while I was asleep by the very community I attempted to commend.

Villainized? Where?

One person took issue with you. A couple of people have promoted the idea that the hosting and the forum should be looked at separately. And some folks have discussed the unrelated term 'short bus'. I haven't seen any villainizing, so if you do genuinely feel that way, I encourage you to investigate exactly why, because it means that there's some sort of massive miscommunication going on.

(And as someone who fancies themself a nice person, I'd prefer to figure out why you feel villainized and try to make you stop feeling that way...)

As for myself, if I wanted to villainize someone, I'd just compare them to Hitler :P

[Eff]

I really wasn't sure myself. I've traced it to Black Kitty being upset by things I didn't even mean to imply, and sympathies being offered to him/her after the mean ol' gremlin ruined their day.

I don't want to be a gremlin, really!

[Redtech]

I thought comparing people to Bush or Mugabe (if you're British) was the in thing?

Anyway, I considered "hanging" here since it was Keenspot but I came for the sunshine and stayed for the people, it would seem. While I am in no position to vouch for comic communities as a whole, it would be unfair to say the whole Internet community sucks versus CG!

At the end of the day, it's the people that matter. My "home" forum (the name of which has been Lost for eons) has some of the wisest if not sanest people I know, but have more bile than a whale's spleen.

Courses for Horses you could say.

[Killbert-Robby]

From my advanced biology days, I have to tell you that a spleen doesn't have much bile at all. [/smartass]

Although I guess you could be talking black bile, I'll let it slide.[/historic smartass]

Sorry, this IS the internet after all

[Redtech]

My major's in Genetics and microbiology...anatomy knowledge comes down to wondering if men parts and women parts are meant to work like that.

I am spleen obsessed since the game Amed and Dangerous started making "Is that a Spleen?" a battle-taunt.

Anyway, bile salts suck! You're inhibiting the groth of MAH BACTERIA?! Unleash the Halophiles!

[Black Sparrow]

*puts grave shovel down* Should I just stop digging, or?

Hee hee... Don't worry about it. The cool thing about this place is that we can have differing opinions and discuss them in a civilized manner without it turning into a flame war. Not everyone is going to agree with you all the time, so take dissenters at face value and don't worry about it too much. Any antagonism that arises in a thread will be forgotten as long as you handle yourself maturely.

[Black Kitty]

And heyo, Black Kitty. Been awhile. Shouldn't be things like this that end up dragging you back

Heylo there~ I've actually been lurking around for a while but sometimes I'm a bit lazy so I don't log in. ^^;;

But yeah I shouldn't be coming out of the woodwork just because of this.

Blackkitty, if you're a moderator over there you have your work cut out for you. Can you really blame me for getting the impression the community was fairly undisciplined in the minute and a half I spent there? I also didn't read the general forum description before entering, I didn't realize it was the proverbial slop-bucket. To their credit however, they look to be having a ton of fun. Something I've definitely not experienced fending off attackers in this thread.

I'm an administrator. I feel bad for pointing that out since I'm not here to blow my own horn but well...all administrators are listed at the bottom of the forum and each of us are colour coded.

There's a part of me that feels bad for even replying since I'm not trying to villanize you (disagreement does not necessarily mean to villanize) and all online communities are bound to have a "we're the best!" kind of cheer (community spirit kind of thing.)

However all your posts have suggested to me that you've only been there for a very brief period of time. Even you have admitted to it being so. I disagree not because I want to nail you to a cross. I disagree because I've spent more than a minute and a half there.

[Rock_dash]

Hmm, villainized while I was asleep by the very community I attempted to commend.

The goal of this thread was not to bash DD, in spite of what resulted. In my brief experience with them, it sounds like I may have drawn some inaccurate conclusions, and gotten the wrong impression. I would encourage everyone to head over there and check them out for research purposes. I'm going to go back again and see if I've magnified the evils I saw. Here's what I'm seeing again though;

1. Thread titled "What are you wearing? " in the general forum.
2. Another one called "What is your favorite flavor of ICE CREAM."
3. Threads comprised entirely of caps.
4. The English language absolutely butchered. People using "w/" instead of with. Ur instead of you're or your. Using three periods after every statement, instead of a period or a comma.
5. Another thread called "Denny's 6 pound burger... would you dare try to eat it within 3 hours?"

Blackkitty, if you're a moderator over there you have your work cut out for you. Can you really blame me for getting the impression the community was fairly undisciplined in the minute and a half I spent there? I also didn't read the general forum description before entering, I didn't realize it was the proverbial slop-bucket. To their credit however, they look to be having a ton of fun. Something I've definitely not experienced fending off attackers in this thread.

When I said shortbus, I was not talking about DD at all. There's more than one host to target unfairly.

I simply wanted to say I preferred the apparent tone of this community to that of DD (or thought I did), and that community was important to me. Although responders have definitely highlighted the downside this community. All too excited to dogpile on the guy who tried to issue a compliment, and misconstrue his efforts.

*puts grave shovel down* Should I just stop digging, or?

You probably should have stopped at the part before "villainized while I was asleep".

[Shishio]

The shortbus will get you to school just the same as any other bus, but your classmates might wonder about you as you step off it every morning.

Well, as you know, I think the important thing is to use the service that works best for you, but I know I won't change your mind, so we'll just have to agree to disagree. Still, I'd like to point out, that as far as I can tell, Comic Genesis' reputation is no better than that of Drunk Duck, Smack Jeeves, or any other free hosting service.

[NakedElf]

Additionally... I am not sure it is fair to judge a forum simply based on the ages of its members. The particular thread titles listed indicate to me that the other forum has lots of teenagers/young teenagers.

In my experience, yes, young teens are immature, but this doesn't mean that they don't also have perfectly valid and interesting things to say. Hell, I know quite intelligent people who still say things like 'LoL' or 'w/' or 'teehee' (OUT LOUD in regular fucking conversation no less), and when I say 'intelligent', I mean 'went to MIT or Caltech'. Sometimes people are more than what they appear on the surface.

[Princess]

And there are a zillion different kinds of the smarties too.