Well, look at it this way. When you move to a new area in Great Britain one of the first things you do is find a Pub of your liking. It’s probably called “The Nag’s Head,” in my experience, but in any case, the idea is that every day after work you stop in for a pint at the Pub. It’s nice if someone introduces you, but not that necessary. You shoot the breeze with everyone there, then go home and attend to the family. After awhile you get to know everyone and they get to know you. Some people have been there a good long while, some are there nearly all day long, and some are new. You welcome them just as you were welcomed. Generally you have a good time.
There are all sorts of conversations in the Pub. Some are dead serious; some are not. Some are light-hearted, and some can get a little heated. Once in awhile someone will call someone else a name and conversation can get a little loud, but you know nobody is going to call you into the alley for a fist-fight and all will be forgiven very quickly.
Think of The Paracast as a bar. There are lots of conversations going on at any one time. Some are serious; some aren’t. Some people provide some pretty good information; some never do. Sometimes people over-react to posts or misunderstand intent. (Guilty!) Sometimes people need a little consoling, but the main issue is that this bar is concerned with the paranormal, UFOs, that sort of thing. Everyone has an interest at some level or another. Here are pictures of UFOs all over the walls. We know, generally speaking, which ones are fake. We point to a Billy Meier Ray Gun and laugh. Most of us think Lazar, Lear, Burisch, Doty, and even Moore are full of shit. We don’t ‘fawn’ over anyone, but it’s fair to say we’ll give everyone a chance to tell their story. Sometimes someone new will come in and say, “Have you heard of Greer?” and we probably are not all that nice when we point out that’s crap, too. So I’ll call stillborn stillborn and he either says, “You’re right” or “Fuck you” and it doesn’t really matter. Someone can point out a logical fallacy someone else has made and they will either get it, or they won’t; and at a certain point you stop trying. But basically if you yell at someone you can expect to get yelled at back. That’s fair.
Our bartenders, Gene and David are pretty cool. We’ve all learned what it takes to push their buttons and piss them off, and once we learned how to do that, we normally don’t. It’s their bar, after all. Once in awhile we get someone who is pretty pedantic, so we roll our eyes and try to bring them along. The thing is, if someone actually contributes to the discussion, they’re much more likely to be tolerated than if they do not. If you actually do something useful, you get a little slack.
Now, in the life of any bar, once in awhile you get a newbie in who thinks he or she can set everyone straight. A few days ago we had someone show up who decided she was going to teach us all peace and light as the way to enlighten the world and bring harmony to all mankind. Some of us may have resonated to this message. It’s my sense that most did not, so Bzzt! Thanks for playing. Just let the thread sink.
Now we have a new guy who just pushed open the doors of the bar, and from the first moment he arrived, it was obvious he had a chip on his shoulder and a swagger in his step: thehelix. In fact, he JUST arrived a few days ago (January, 2009), though he may have been lurking for awhile, and, of course, he is an instant expert on all subjects, from UFOs to English. But there’s something else. He followed Hastings (relatively new himself, I believe) into the bar just to cause trouble. He’s posted about 20 posts and EVERY ONE of them has been critical of some person in the bar. He’s been cruising around the threads picking on people randomly and accusing them (and everyone else) of ‘fuzzy thinking.’ Not only that, thehelix has decided to criticize the bar itself. Now obviously, thehelix must be one of them ‘college graduates’ who knows everything about reality and is capable of discerning mysticism from reality just by reading a sentence or two. He's of the 'rationalist/reductionist' school of thinking. If he can't see it in front of his eyes then, dad gum, it does not exist, period, and anyone else who thinks differently is stupid. He's one of these Amazing Randi guys who is going to be very surprised someday when he wakes up dead. That would be fun to see.
It must be obvious by now that thehelix doesn’t have any manners. He also has made no contributions. His posts are pedantic at best. He’ll pick on someone’s spelling, then react negatively when someone does the same to him. In that respect he’s a lot like Michael Horn in his argumentive style; he doesn’t get it and he’s just flinging shit. Not once has thehelix said, “I disagree, and this is why.’ Oh, he pointed us to another bar alright. All we have to do is go over there and partake of the wisdom he insists is there. I would suggest that thehelix is being intentionally disruptive. Because of that, I suggest our bartenders show him the door. Until they do I will be putting thehelix on ‘ignore.’ I suggest you do that, too. At that point his posts will be like masturbation. It may make him feel good, but to everyone else he just looks silly. But I think he likes that anyway.
