May 2017 Archive, part a

It is generally positive (one simple tweak), but I don't want to post it for the whole Board to see. I don't know why my Internet connection is letting me post to the Board but not send emails. . . but I've saved it and it'll be on its way soonish.

--Key

In general, paging people on the Board isn't recommended, though it isn't strictly forbidden; I'd honestly see it as a last resort, especially since most of the people I've paged via e-mail have responded in a timely manner. I'm not outright against paging, but it's usually best reserved for a very big reason - otherwise your small question could accidentally push something way more important off the front page.

This is in no ill will to you - I've made this mistake a few times before in the past - but I'd recommend using e-mail to ask questions to specific people if you know their e-mail address. Works just as well, but doesn't take up Board space. ^_~

I have undiagnosed autism, diagnosed emotional dysregulation, possible ADD, and a diagnoses that keeps flipping between anxiety and depression. I also get weird attacks where I have absolutely no ability to tell the difference between a good idea and a bad one and I don’t even realize that my judgement is impaired; if the pattern holds, it shouldn’t happen again for a couple of years.

I’m a lot like Julia on Sesame Street. There is nothing to overcome, this is just who I am.

I absolutely do not get connotation. There are positive words and negative words, but I cannot tell the difference. I find it hard to articulate what’s in my head. I see my own writing and judge that the tone is level. Sometimes I read what you’re saying and might pick up condensation where there is none, or completely miss an angry subtext. Sometimes I don’t understand things right away. I tried parroting so that I wouldn’t use any “bad words” but I’ll stop because someone thinks I’m mocking.

I was taught never to say “you’re wrong” or “you hurt me” and I have no clue on how to articulate it tactfully. It’s common for aspies to say something rude or insulting while meaning to be nice. I have never done anything out of malice. In good faith, I ignore a lot of perceived provocations. By the time I mention not liking something, I’m pretty close to a meltdown. If you see lashing out, it’s either unarticulated pain or something completely innocuous that’s perceived with the wrong intent. There is also a bit of anxiety whenever I say, “I don’t like this.” I get flashbacks to bullies who would then do it more because I’ve told them how to get a reaction.

I apologize for trying to talk about how I’m feeling. I didn’t talk to them; this is a new mistake. I don’t have a stim that can soothe it. I have no choice but to bottle up my emotions until I start flailing and screaming at the furniture.

If not saying anything is a god-given right, then why do I keep getting attacked for “maliciously ignoring” people?

Even if I had been in a reasonable state of mind that night, I thought that what I did was not necessarily good, but perfectly acceptable. After all, it was done to me for what felt like months and it didn’t feel like ignoring it or saying how I felt about it was doing anything. No one said anything about it. I dreaded coming here, knowing that you would push me closer to a meltdown. Maybe if I had used the word “stop” you would have.

I’ll be going away for a while.

I'm sorry for trying to talk to you when you didn't feel like it. I won't talk to you again.

"I agree that we should be considerate of Bram's mental illness, just as we have been considerate of so many others over the years.

However, continuing to harass someone after being clearly informed that the specific things you were doing were unacceptable and needed to stop is not something that should be completely swept under the rug.

Therefore, I propose as follows:

Bramandin may not attempt to speak to or otherwise interact with Iximaz again. In other words, Bramandin shall act as if Iximaz doesn't exist. (This goes both ways. Ix, if Bram keeps trying to talk to you, ignore her and let us know. I know that's probably what you were going to do anyway in that scenario, but it needs to be said for clarity's sake.)

If this prohibition is violated, Bramandin will be subject to an indefinite ban from the PPC that will last at least 3 months."

Can I please get someone from the Discord to corroborate Iximaz's claim that Bramandin went back to the chat to continue this conversation after she had been told, on both Discord and the board, to stop and apologize? I believe Ix, I just want to make sure we're doing this right.

Some time-stamped logs would also be helpful.

-Phobos, taking charge of this situation

I complained multiple times that I was being harassed. I didn’t keep track of if it was one person or many saying the same thing, but my complaints were ignored.

I want explanations for Iximas' behavior, I want a long-winded ramble on why Iximaz really really doesn't want to talk to me beacuse she's just so mean.

I was too shy to speak up before, but when Iximaz and Desdendell were trying to “help” me with my characters, all they did was scream at me and make me feel stupid for asking for help. Then they told July that I had given them trouble. Ix even said that I was being snippy when I was just telling her that I already knew that. I’m pretty sure that one of them started the rumor that I was difficult to work with.

Iximaz took other jabs at me. Saying I disregarded their advice and then not being able to say what that advice was. The irritating part is when Iximaz would say something like ‘I’m not commenting on this because I can’t trust myself to be impartial.’

I was just trying to open communication with Iximaz, but they wouldn’t even clarify if ‘I don’t want to talk to you’ meant “I don’t feel like talking to anyone right now” or “go die in a fire you piece of garbage.” I’m inclined to believe the latter and it’s rude. The mediator couldn’t even give a straight answer.

No explanations for her behavior, no long-winded ramble on why she really really wants to talk to me but I'm just so mean. Just seven words: I'm sorry. I won't do that again.

I want her to after that not talk to me again. Ever.

The last time something similar to this happened was with GlarnBoudin and that turned out just spectacularly.

hS, I'm sorry if I'm coming off as hostile right now, but your reaction is just enforcing my suspicions why nobody bothers to report this stuff in the first place. I wanted to nip this in the bud before it became an ongoing problem and the initial response, to me, looked like "I don't care."

... I wasn't a) saying that not talking to people is connected to the Discord, b) saying that not talking to people is something that shouldn't happen, or c) saying that outright telling someone you don't want to talk to them is against the rules.

Can someone clarify the timeline here? There's a half-hour gap between Bramandin's first comment and Iximaz's reply; was there other (unrelated) conversation in there, or just a silent Discord? And did Bramandin do or say anything in the 11-odd hours you jump over at the end of the transcript? I'd really like to know what they posted the quote of me in response to, if anything, because I can't make head nor tail of why it came up.

hS

This happened, without significant other context- Bram showed up and dove into this conversation as logged.

Bram, I said this on the Discord and I'll say it here too: your continuing attempts to engage Iximaz in conversation are rapidly turning into harassment, and are very definitely Not Cool. I've offered to mediate, please respect that process (or talk with me about a different mediation process, if you dislike it) and talk with me rather than continuing to chase Ix.

'This' being both, y'know, this, and a couple of other game threads I've made ("Congratulations, you're falling into [canon]", Gallifreyan Scrabble, and... something else? I forget).

1/ PPCers like games like this, weird one-of-a-kind threads.

2/ The more complicated things are, the fewer people will get involved. There were far more responses to the canon game than this one, with its hex grid and all.

3/ Multiple-choice is good. Multiple choice with 'or anything you like' is better.

4/ Anything which runs longer than ten turns/a week is liable to go unfinished. It's deep enough that new people don't feel like they can jump in, the people who've already taken part feel like they've explored the options enough, and I start to get tired, introducing more lag.

Which is all fine! It's good information to carry through to the next game, whenever I get an inspiration. It does mean it's unlikely we'll ever play PPC Cluedo on the Board, or PPC Munchkin, but given that it's been years since I had the idea to run a Cluedo game and I've never tried, that was inevitable anyway.

I'm still happy to play this one out if people are interested; don't read this as me closing the game. :) Just thinking about the next one...

hS

The rendezvous between the convoy and HMS Thornbird has been brutal. All four ships are damaged: most critically, Convoys Centre and South have lost their sidewalls and are flying unshielded, and a shot from Tango 3 has just taken down Convoy South's wedge entirely. They'll need to take a turn without maneuvering to repair it; whether they break formation to do so is up to you.

Convoy North has mostly escaped damage, but a freak hit has taken out her hyper generator. Until it is repaired, she can't jump out - and neither can Thornbird, which has also lost her thrusters (ie, she can't maneuver without her wedge up).

The enemy have taken hits of their own. Tango 2 (north) has just lost all power; this will take two turns to repair, so if you can hit her before the end of next turn, she'll be destroyed. Tango 1 (east) is flying without weapons, though she's sure to fix one or the other soon. Tango 3 (west) is still running smoothly.

At this point you're free to offer your own plan of whatever complexity you like. However, if you'd prefer a simpler game, you can select from one of these options:

HMS Thornbird

A) Fire missile at Tango 2 to destroy her. Vector ENE (ie, move 1E) and fire lasers on Tango 1 if she comes into range.

B) Fire missile at Tango 3's East point. Hold position (ie, vector one hex NE) and fire lasers on Tango 1 if she comes into range. Ignore Tango 2 entirely, as she is heading out of the combat area fast.

C) Ignore Tangos 2 and 3. Fire missile at Tango 1's current endpoint and hold position (as above) to fire lasers.

Convoy

1) All ships adjust vector 1E and shut down wedges. Next turn will be spent on repairs.

2) All ships refrain from maneuvering. Convoy S spend the turn repairing the wedge. Convoy N repair hyper, Convoy C repair shields.

3) Convoy N and C accelerate along this vector (ie, adjust endpoint 2NE). Convoy S vector SE on thrusters and make for the hyper limit independently.

Since all four ships are close together, one captain can command the entire convoy if you want. Just pick a letter and a number. :)

hS

"This is our moment, men. Hopefully the first of many," He says through tented hands. "Adjust missile vectors, laser batteries. Do we still have Tuesday's lunch? Put that in one of the airlocks. Point 'em all at Tango 2. TARGET!"

Targeting reticles flash to life on the viewing screen, quickly aligning themselves over the enemy ship.

"Ready to fire on your command, sir!" Says the TO.

"Is the Missile Vector aligned to Tango 2?!"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Is Tuesday's lunch in the airlock?!"

The XO baps her personal console a few times. "Sir yes sir!" she says.

The Captain stands and points to the screen, "FIRE!"

There's a brief pause, before the the TO gives a thumbs up. "All weapons- and airlocks- have finished firing, weapons only soon."

"I for one do not want to sit here and watch as all our work be for naught. Center wedge over us and engage thrusters eastward! Send Missiles 1 through 3 in the general direction of Tangos 1 and 3!"

"Anything precise sir?" Asks the TO

"Surprise me."

I'd say the ship should begin make it's way towards the the upper ship, and fire a missile off but have it hold it's immediate attack.

Aren’t the two meters your friends are proposing the same thing?

An iamb and three anapests: u / | u u / | u u / | u u /
Three amphibrachs and an iamb: u / u | u / u | u / u | u /
Without the |foot| markers, they’re exactly the same: u / u u / u u / u u /
And foot divisions are kind of artificial, right? I’m not an expert; if there’s some nuance that I’m missing please someone call me out on it.

If you're interested, while I was trying to work this out, I went through your poem and annotated most of the first stanza in excruciating detail with analysis and concrit. I'm having some problem with HTML where the stress marks aren't lining up over the syllables I want them to line up with. . .let me know if you're curious about what I'm driving at but can't figure it out.

***
Summary impressions: The meter is fun and bouncy (appropriate for a jokey Facebook-status poem). There are few variants, and those which are present feel unintentional rather than like deliberate storytelling strategies. I find long series of rhymed couplets irritating, but am forced to admit that their jingling, cutesy tone is appropriate for a silly poem celebrating a holiday with a pun baked into the date.

/ /u u / u u / u u /
Wise Obi-Wan, grey-haired and weathered by age
(Spondee, anapest, anapest anapest. I see how some of your friends may have decided that first foot was iambic, but I wouldn't do that myself -- as an actor, I would stress it to avoid its getting lost and the audience's thinking of Obi-Wan as merely a doddering old man. Plus starting on a spondee is usually pretty strong and dramatic. I like it.)
OR
(Antibaccius, two amphibrachs, and an iamb. If the first syllable is unstressed (as I advised against above), you'd get three amphibrachs before the iamb.)


u / u u / u u / u u /
Had long been in exile from Emperor's rage
(there's the initial iamb and series of anapests your friends were talking about, or three amphibrachs with an iamb on the end)

u / u u / u u / u u /
Until Princess Leia in desperate appeal
(Just like the last line. I feel like "desperate" has too few syllables and want to spell it "desp'rate," but I think that's just my problem :P)

u / u u / u u u / u u /
Did Artoo and Threep'yo into peril most real
(What is that one extra unstressed syllable doing in the middle of the line? In neither of the proposed meters should there be three unstressed syllables in a row, and I don't think this moment in the story is dramatic enough to justify breaking the meter this way -- it causes the reader to halt and stumble for a moment, which is good if you want them to dwell on a line or phrase, but here just gets in the way of understanding this important bit of exposition. I suggest rejiggering this sentence (perhaps try replacing R2D2 and C3PO's names with something like "the droids," or using their full names, or their names in a different order). If you do decide to revise this, I also advise experimenting with ending this line on an unstressed syllable to help it flow into the next line, which is a continuation of the same idea. Putting a stressed syllable here, especially with the completion of a rhyme, makes it feel very final, which is confusing since that's not actually where the thought ends at all.)

/ / u u / u u / u u /
Send unto Kenobi to beg for his help
(Like the first line, with the same caveat about the first syllable -- I'd stress it, because the fact that the droids were sent is important information, but I suppose you don't have to.)

u / u u / u / / u u /
In helping their owner: bold Anakin's whelp;
(I'm torn over whether or not to stress "bold" -- obviously, having it unstressed fits the meter better (however one chooses to describe said meter, there's definitely a general pattern), but. . . it doesn't sound good to me. This poem is so much of a bare-bones summary that each rare adjective seems important. Also, I don’t think a semicolon belongs here, although Djel help me if I know what punctuation you should use.)

***
This is approximately when I realized I ought to be doing my homework instead of nit-picking at a Star Wars poem that was probably written as a joke in less than an hour. Thank you for posting this; this is some of the most fun I've had procrastinating in a while!

--Key

Probably too much math. But this is pretty dang cool! You seem to have put a ton of effort into it, and I love the prose here. If you want to, maybe develop it into an epic poem somehow? I mean, the Star Wars movies are already considered epic film, and plus, it'd take time, but it'd be fun. :)

-Twistey

Hmm, no, that's much too understated. Let's try this:

*rapturous applause*

Ah, much better. There is a tragic dearth of Star Wars related poetry in the world, well done mending it!

May the Fourth be with you!

I have no comment on the meter; I lack the vocabulary. Some of the rhymes are a bit of a stretch, but I liked it! {= D

~Neshomeh

There's a bug where if you download a .SCF into your downloads folder then open the folder, it steals your login credentials.

Can't find a very good source right now, but this article seems to mention it.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/3/15537064/google-docs-phishing-attack-fixed

Email is clickable in my username. Now, heads up - I am not the perfect (or even decent) SPaG beta, but I think I can manage with the lore and coherency.

Although I suppose that's old news now, I think it came out a couple of weeks ago? Honestly, I can't really think of much stuff that's been happening this week.

Also, France didn't elect Voldemort as their president (thanks, Tumblr) putting them one-up on the rest of the world.


(also, hello!! I am back.)

live trailer in the works.

link

Oh, man! That's pretty cool! It's a shame that the movie based on The Eyes of the Dragon was never finished, as I really loved that book, and I'm with you in the boat of "can't read any actual horror by Stephen King." >u<

Have you read his memoir/writing advice combo? It's pretty good, and it explains a lot about why he writes such messed-up stuff.

(Fun fact: One time, my friend shipped me with the Eyes of the Dragon version of Randall Flagg, and it escalated to the point of him having been my LO for a while. Those were interesting times.)

-Twistey

P.S. Nobody's mentioned that it's Cinco de Mayo... (quietly goes back to reading Things I'm Not Allowed to Do at the PPC)

I got an offer for a job near Cincinnati a couple of days a go - they have yet to sign the letter but I have good faith that they will soon enough - and we're currently working out whether to transition out of my current job so I can move there or to hold out until my current company transitions me to full-time. With luck though I should be able to go full-time once again soon enough, though! (Also, Voyd told me the other day that he has found a new job at a Wal-Mart at his town and that's wonderful. :D)

I'm also working on the second of two interludes I have planned, and kinda waiting on the current beta for the first one (and looking for a second beta for both). Unfortunately, though, progress on this interlude has been stupidly slow, thanks to... well, I won't say, but it's a personal project I thought up this past weekend and I'm keeping it under wraps until I sort out the baseline mechanics for it. But once it's ready for presentation I'll put it up on the Board for your evaluation along with both of the interludes! 'Twas about time I got something posted for the PPC after being out of touch with writing my agents for like what, six months? ^^;

God, that's a good game. And when I'm not doing that, I'm running around the open world of Horizon: Zero Dawn, which is also a really good game. So yeah, it's a great week for gaming.

I also found out I'm gonna be moving out of Cincinnati next Friday. I'm... not looking forward to it, because it means I'll be down in Florida, with my folks. And that's not gonna be great for me, because that means I'm going to have to deal with my parents. And God, is that thought scary, particularly in light of the recent AHCA vote. They're gonna rub that shit in my face, I just know it...

Also, something else happened to some friends recently, and all that I can really think about with what's happened with this friend is "gee, where was [i]that[/i] a couple years back?" I guess life is weird like that.

The Century Trilogy. The first one covers World War I, the second one is World War II, and the third one is the Cold War. I'm on book 2.

They're really good books. The facts are well researched and characters are all very relatable, human people, even the ones you might not agree with.

That's kinda what make it scary, reading about these events at this time. I can't help but think there are some similarities to the way things are spiraling out of control now, with some of the same issues of economics, racial and religious prejudice, nationalism, and an unhinged leader who pushed his way to power by preying on the insecurities of his voters. ... I'm trying really hard to avoid running afoul of Godwin's Law here, but I don't think I can. I'm... I'm just gonna stop. Point is, it's scary. I wonder if it's ever possible to see an international crisis coming long enough ahead of time to stop it.

There are some bright spots. We got a bipartisan budget passed, with some good stuff for education, heath, and the environment, and nothing for a border wall. I think we can be happy about this.

~Neshomeh

I'm actually a bit less excited about the movie, now that I've seen the trailer. I know the series had issues towards the end, but I did think the early novels were going to see fairly straightforward adaptations. There are a lot of scenes here that don't seem to have any real analogue in the first novel. (The end sequence seems to be Roland and Jake battling the slow mutants, but that should be happening in an abandoned mine tunnel, not above ground.) But beyond adaptational nitpicking, a lot of scenes just seem so shallowly Hollywood. I especially hate Roland somehow reloading his gun by throwing them in the air, and catching them in the chambers without them moving apart from each other. What? And a lot of the gun fight choreography seems terribly ostentatious . . .

As a fan of King's works in a broader sense, I do hope the house where Jake finds the portal is the same one used to film the house on Niebolt Street in the upcoming It movie, since the two are supposed to be "twins." It will also be interesting to see if future adaptations of King's works where the man in Black appears will re-use the same actor to portray him.

—doctorlit darkles and tincts

I haven't been really following the election but I just hope it turns out alright.

http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Recruit#New_content_needed.3F

This asks for a few guidelines on what kinds of Sues to recruit versus assassinate.

-Twistey

I swear guys, I really, truly, honestly will tackle My Little Unicorn. I have been saying it for years now, but it will happen. That abomination of a fic is mine. There has been a slight hiccup, in that the story has been taken down most places. Now, this is not because Mykan has become ashamed of his past work. No, it seems it has been taken down from FanFic.Net, Fimfiction, and DiviantArt, because it was too bad. The story broke several rules, and was taken down by the websites, not by the author. So, in my eyes, still fair game. Besides, this thing has made the rounds of Something Awful quite a bit. It is infamous in the brony fanfic community. At least, it was. Don't know it's status now. Still as rancid as ever. Why, I think I should do a dramatic reading of this abomination of a fic. I do have a few days off coming soon...

Anyway, as much as I would love to go into the histories and the impacts of these stories, the fact remains that, they are not Legendary Badfic for the PPC. Generally, Legendary Badfic are the kinds of stories that everyone who is aware of what fanfiction is has heard of. To stay with MLP, not everyone knows Death and Resurrection, but we all have heard of Cupcakes. These stories are close to qualifying. Darn close. Especially the Conversion Beuru. But, on the whole, I just don't think these are nearly well known enough in the PPC subculture to count as Legendary Badfic. Sorry.

Not going to make My Little Unicorn any less painful to tackle, but still.

I was able to download both of them with no trouble just now. I can send you the files, if you want, but they certainly aren't gone.

If you meant the Troupe reviews (I don't think you did, but there are similarly 2-3 of them and she was the main writer), those should still be available on her Tumblr. If they're not, I think I still have the Google docs.

~Zing

As promised! Posted below are the notes that JulyFlame gave me back in 2012 for my AU interlude "Five Stages". Yes, I hung onto them for several years because I thought they were that good.

I'm not suggesting that every time you beta, you need to do something like this. I would argue, however, that aiming for something like this would be a good goal.

The notes themselves.

If anyone else has old beta notes they think are particularly good, you are more then welcome to post them here (just make sure to get your beta's permission first).

Also, I like both options, but since everybody is so eager to submit stories, it will probably be Proposal One, so I'll try to come up with another interlude. I like the random assignment, but I don't believe that everything can be kept anonymous until the end; the author of an interlude with Agents Androia and Hieronymus is not difficult to guess. Also, there is some uncertainty about technicalities.

Unlike some others here, I'm mostly available now, but may not be around after the end of this month (having some surgery to be done).

HG

The drawback to proposal is that we couldn't use our own characters, as that would give away the writers' identities. I don't really have any plotbunnies/interest in non-PPC writing right now. So I guess proposal two sounds best to me.

—doctorlit

I'm busy with exams until the 18th though.

Although I'm going to be very busy with exams until the 17th so I don't know how much I'll be able to write until after then.

I think Proposal One sounds better - it actually achieves exactly the same thing as Proposal Two, but with more versions to look at!

I'm sure I can knock something together. I assume you don't want fanfic - ie, you don't want stories which require canon knowledge to beta?

hS

I think Proposal One sounds the most constructive, although not sure if I'd have time to participate myself.

Elcalion

Like most people have said already, Proposal One sounds like the best. Also like most people, I'm not sure if I could write something in time (exam week, you know). But I'll definitely be down for beta-ing!

In particular, Proposal One. It sounds interesting and it's something to get me writing.

Proposal one in particular sounds like so much fun. . . but if it's happening this next couple of weeks, I'll be crazy busy and the only "story" I'd be able to submit would be a college application essay I'm working on :/ (I'd probably be able to beta, though. . .). But yeah, I think that sounds really useful and fun, and like something which could become a recurring community event if it goes well ^.^

--Key

I mean, I probably won't be taking part, but I'm in favour of the general concept.

Not sure I can crank out even a 2-4 page story by next Tuesday for Prop One, but if I can use this as an excuse to garner feedback on a story I've already written, I'm game. ^_^; In fact, I have two of the right length, if somebody else needs a pass on writing something new! I would actually really love some insight into why one has gotten more attention than the other. It's been baffling me.

... Except it might be obvious they're mine, though. Would that be a problem? Since the betas will be anonymous, they won't have to worry about offending me.

Failing that, I will try to actually write something. There's got to be some little scene I can draw out of my brain...

~Neshomeh

Looks to be a pretty solid idea, in general. Proposal Two looks like it'll be a bit awkward, y'know? Dunno in what way we'll be able to contact the veteran, but I imagine it might be a touch awkward, whether it's vocal chat or just the GDocs chat window thingy. Lots've people asking questions to one fellow, who's got to divide lots of attention about. Also Proposal One looks more fun, which is my middle name. The 'J' is silent, and also invisible.

I suppose you'll need emails, or some such? I assume there will be PMing involved, if we're keeping the randomised betafellows secret.

I'd be very much game for participating in that. Good idea all around, PC!

-Alleb

I was watching... it must have been your battle with EAIUO, Iximaz. Was the thing with repeatedly forcing his pokemon to switch out/into a bunch of entry hazards a strategy you planned, or one that came up as an emergency response when things went sideways?

hS

... yeah, so what sort of times are you around?

hS