Last edited by pepperlandgirl; 21 Oct 2009 at 10:06 PM.
Just for the sake of full disclosure, I said this in chat about this incident:
Look, Baldwin. You're the guy who was too dumb to figure out that the comically awful granny-porn story was trolling. If you can't read into a work deeply enough to figure even that out, you have no hopes of offering any genuine, useful, or interesting criticism. You clearly lack the capacity. You obviously -- and yes: it is so, so obvious -- want to be perceived as the smart literary critic guy, but every time you try, you just make it clearer that you are not.Originally posted by me
No one is fooled. Your intent to make yourself look sophisticated by just by complaining about whatever writing people share here was ill-conceived in the first place. But you compound it by how totally and obviously vacuous the things you say are. That's why everyone is responding so badly to what you say. You are just making yourself look like an idiot. Seriously, go back and reread your first response to Stacia Kane's story. Regardless of any issues with how Mellophant members should respond to outside writers who kindly donate their work to us -- and in fact, I think most people here would agree that interesting, well-done criticism would be of benefit -- what you posted was totally inadequate as any kind of response to a piece of literature. I said you must be embarrassed (though no, I didn't truly think you were) because anyone who has pretensions of performing even the most elementary literary criticism (much less what I'd like to see here) should be embarrassed to write such a jejune response.
Maybe you place no value on getting along in this community, being liked, having a good time, or anything like that. But let me make it clear to you that everyone who saw what you wrote in response to those stories could see your intent to appear to be smart and literate and sophisticated. You did not succeed. Your attempt, I'm afraid, was a failure. We were not fooled. We will not be fooled if you do it again. You not only did not improve your popularity here, you did not improve our perception of your intelligence or literary skill.
Last edited by Exy; 21 Oct 2009 at 10:31 PM.
Oh god, fuck you all for making me read that. Listen, it's a romantic short story between two gay men except one of them is some sort of flying man beast. What was that movie with the guy in leotards who sprouted wings or some shit, Brazil? I don't know. But there are things hatesfreedom hates:
54. men with wings
83. a society that doesn't get freaked out by crazy ass flying men
Anyway, this is trailer trash fanfic romance. I'm not even sure how'd you do a short story romance anyway. Where's the emotional context, where's the character building and the struggle between coke bottling plant operator ted and openly gay sanitation worker jim? How am I supposed to know that Ted is secretly afraid of bottles!
I'm going to write a better story right now.
In west philadelphia, a boy, born and raised. On the playground is where this boy spent most of his days. He was chilling out, relaxing, maxing out his cool while playing some b-ball outside of the school. All of a sudden a couple of guys, who were up to no good started causing a trouble in his neighborhood. The boy was in a fight, and his mom became scared. So she moved him with his aunt and uncle in Bel Air.
Actually calling someone's workis pretty breathtakingly nasty. Doing so in response to a featured guest article in a comment that will likely be one of the first things guests see when they come to the site is just destructive.Originally posted by Baldwin
Do you understand the point of the Front Page, Baldwin? It's to bring new users to the site. Every time pepper and Zuul update it, the guest views spike. The hope is, and what these authors might help us to do by volunteering their content for free and linking us in their blogs, is that we can turn these guests into posters. We desperately need new blood on this site, if you have not noticed. These people are doing us a favor. The Front Page is not a vehicle for you to try (and fail) to prove your superiority to anyone but you who has ever sat at a typewriter. No one cares how smart you think you are but you, fathead.
Does that mean that NO criticism belongs in that forum? No. But your useless and patronizing head pats and catty snipes, and your acting as though you are everyone's high school English teacher, are not needed.
Oh Baldwin, why are you so afraid of receiving criticism? The irony is staggering.
Last edited by Myrnalene; 22 Oct 2009 at 03:12 PM.