Simca wrote:
Let me preface this by saying that I have seen your last two threads, Aetsu, and I was less than impressed to say the least. Your threads have been very troll-y and inflammatory, likely on purpose. When I saw this thread, I was momentarily impressed, but then I realized the potential problems it poses.
Now, let me share some of my reasoning:
1. I feel this topic does not lead to a productive discussion. Most of the responses are going to either be people who got trolled or "LOLOLOL you got trolled" or "posting in an epic thread!!11".
2. More importantly though, since the thread's success lies on the understanding of a 1729 text which is not commonly taught in non-American schools, there will be a large amount of users who do not understand the reference. If they decide to post in response, they will likely be mocked relentlessly by the people who do get the reference.
My proposal was then to move the thread into the Fun Forum, where such threads may have slightly better success because their intent is much more obvious. However, the only online Fun Forum moderator at the time was strongly opposed to the request, so I'm going to lock this, but with indecision in my mind.
Since this lock is not in fact final, you are welcome to PM Sunshine to have her review it. I trust her judgement completely on this.
Aestu wrote:
I honestly don't care one way or the other that the thread is locked. I enjoyed writing the post and I think people had some good holiday cheer reading it. I don't feel any need to "appeal". If you feel that your judgment is less than perfect and would like a second opinion, then I'd encourage you to go ahead and solicit it as you see fit.
I don't see what harm comes of the thread.
Regarding your points:
1. The purpose of the thread is to amuse, not to provoke serious discussion. A good laugh never did anyone harm. Except the guy who laughed himself to death.
2. You don't need to be "familiar" with the Swift manifesto to appreciate a joke. Swift, of course, wrote an original work, and so his audience - and those for centuries thereafter, appreciated the humor of what he said, without reference to a prior joke.
You say the "1729 text" is "not often taught in non-American schools". I'm assuming you're American, because, in fact, the text is not American as you might assume but British. So in fact, the text, as you learned it, was taught in a different country from which it originated. And in turn it is logical to assume it is taught in other English-speaking countries.
If people get mocked...so what? They and everyone else will laugh and move on. Who dies when their epeen gets deflated a bit? At any rate, if certain people don't know about the Swift manifesto, now they do. So the thread will serve to educate those people. If every thread were written with the implicit assumption that all readers knew all the facts and references cited in the thread, discourse would spiral to the lowest level of knowledge and no one would ever learn anything new from reading a forum. Now, that doesn't seem very desirable, does it?
Those are my thoughts.
Happy Holidays,
Aestu
The pen is mightier than the mace.
