Frothers Unite! UK

THE Killer Bob wrote:The question is:

Which site will die first, TheMormonPaedosite or FU:UK?

They're both going down the toilet fast.

It's unimportant, the death of either fucks Bill.

Hi Bill!

No competition- TMP all the way.
Frothers will dry up shortly after - as there'll be nothing to talk about.

oops

I think most hobby forums have followed the same trajectory as TMP Napoleonics in the last couple decades. First came the exuberance of discovering there were a lot of other enthusiasts out there. Notes were compared, the best sources identified, the old arguments tried out for style points. People fell all over themselves trying to help each other. Then came a wave of revisionism: the good - French Carabiners wore sky-blue coatees in later years; the bad - canister breaks apart only after it hits the ground; and the ugly - Hofschroerer's Waterloo flim-flam. Being well read in secondary sources was enough to get you hung by your own bricole. Arguments became predictable and repetitive, with the main attraction being how slyly you could insult the opposition. Tensions rose between the hosts and contents providers.

In TMP's case this was hugely exacerbated by Armintrout's penchant for embracing the maladroit, the whiny, and the clueless. It was as if offering an educated opinion was seen as bullying those incapable of doing the same. A lot of the best people left.

But this might have happened anyway. The available resources are incredible: digitized libaries; Google translate; online OCR, but making a useful contribution takes a lot more time than it used to. It's easier done on your own webpage. Every time I pop into the forum now, it seems like most of the posts are best answered: "Google the last dozen times this was discussed here.", or "Go study up on a site like centjours", or "That's a tough one, why don't you go ask at Napoleon-series where there are people who might actually know." (Although Alexandre and Oliver still man up.)

A year ago, I was worried that the collapse of TMP would mean we would lose access to stuff like Warren Bruhn's survey of available Great War ship models. But now I think the good things will end up on dedicated web pages where they belong anyway.

Next: the alternative to TMP and what they lack...

Macunaima wrote:
Honey, please.

You know, for someone who is an academic, you sure spend an awful lot of time here writing copious amounts. Do you have tenure? Or do they not do that in Brazil - I think tenure is an American thing.

How do you track your charges for time spend on frothers against your grant and/or general university accounts?

Must be fucking nice, I know you've worked hard for your degree and your work is in a worthwhile sounding area, but Jesus Christ, man.

I would make some comment about Editor Claire not being an editor any more, but we know how Bill likes to react to that sort of observation...

Any idea why?

angelbarracks wrote:I would make some comment about Editor Claire not being an editor any more, but we know how Bill likes to react to that sort of observation...

Any idea why?

Perhaps she's made enough from Bill's munificence to buy her own chicken.

angelbarracks wrote:I would make some comment about Editor Claire not being an editor any more, but we know how Bill likes to react to that sort of observation...

Any idea why?

With luck she's found a proper job that doesn't involve Skype and chicken abuse.
She's not on Monty/Francis' friends list anymore.
Funny how anything about their lives, even as mundane as dentists appointments makes it to TMP, but something that actually effects TMP directly such as their leaving is swept under the carpet.

Hi Bill!

(Chumpy incoming 3... 2... 1...)

Christian With Erection wrote:

Macunaima wrote:
Honey, please.

You know, for someone who is an academic, you sure spend an awful lot of time here writing copious amounts. Do you have tenure? Or do they not do that in Brazil - I think tenure is an American thing.

Chris, I'm always personally surprised by people who think writing a couple of free-style paragraphs must be tough, laborious work.

In the average month, I write or translate close to 40-50 pages of "serious" stuff. Most of that gets edited down to 10 pages or so of publishable material. Now THAT'S hard work and it takes a lot of time.

Writing a response to you takes three minutes, tops.

Now, maybe if my life was filled up with a lot of other pop-cultural bullshit -- watching movies and T.V. shows, say, or following sports -- I wouldn't have time for even ten minutes a day to visit here or elsewhere. But gaming is pretty much my one pop cultural activity. I haven't watched, say, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, or the Euro play-offs. Even during thew World Cup, I was mostly doing research and to RELAX, I came here or to other gaming sites for a few minutes every day.

Another nice thing about the few things I do follow, including Frothers, is that I can follow them WHILE writing. So I can, say, translate 6 pages and say "OK, as a reward, I'll go read some posts on The Wargames Website for fifteen minutes". Or I'll go paint a few stands of infantry. Gaming fits in nicely with a writing and teaching career in almost all respects -- as long as it is pretty much your only hobby.

So I know it must be hard for someone who DOESN'T write for a living to understand how little time I actually spend on this, but trust me: it's pretty much zero. I waste FAR MORE time, per day, uselessly net surfing, trying to whip myself into a writing fugue. But that is a problem I'm sure I share with many different sorts of professionals. Actually, I've found that posting here and elsewhere HELPS me: ripping off a page of text over something that's not serious is a better way to kickstart serious writing than, say, cleaning your house, watching T.V., net-surfing, or any one of the million other things people do to get around writers' block.

How do you track your charges for time spend on frothers against your grant and/or general university accounts?

I study prostitution from a sex workers' rights perspective. Ergo, I get no grants. If I were on the anti-trafficking gravy train, I'm sure I'd have to worry about that much more. As is, I've found that translating pays more and is less of a hassle than grant writing, so I translate in my copious free time and I use THAT to fund my research. It's a hell of a lot more reliable than the federal government, let me tell you...

Must be fucking nice, I know you've worked hard for your degree and your work is in a worthwhile sounding area, but Jesus Christ, man.

[/quote]

You know what would be "fucking nice"? Actually being criticized for a change by someone who doesn't take an hour to hunt-'n-peck a paragraph, sweat streaming from their brow.

But if you think I'm sitting around with my thumb shoved up my bum, you might want to google my production. I think an average of 5 major articles a year over the past five years, plus a book, is a pretty decent production rate, particularly when combined with my extension and teaching activities (usually 4 classes a semester -- your average Brit and American scholars teach two).