Can we put the "Special Invitations for domebo" idea to rest?

[Sybarite]

There is a recurring idea going around here that domebo was a board that wanted to invite only special people; that only *certain* posters from the Straight Dope were invited. I would like to put this idea to rest once and for all - if there had been a way to invite every single poster from the Straight Dope to domebo, in my opinion, we would have done it (I can't speak for CRSP {Capt. Ridley's Shooting Party on the Dope}, the creator of domebo, but I was somewhat involved in the movement that resulted in its creation and have been there since very early on). Every poster from the Straight Dope is and was welcome. If you did not receive a personal invitation, that is regrettable, because you are welcome, as are people from the general internet.

One factor that I've mentioned before but that seems to be getting completely overlooked is that we did not feel we were free to start a thread announcing our existence and inviting everyone over. CRSP started this thread in MPSIMS asking about interest in a splinter board and was quickly closed down (for right or wrong). It was not a big leap to assume from that that a general invitation thread from a competing breakaway board would not be welcome, either (it turns out later that it was - we didn't know or expect that at the time). People used what we felt was our only tool at the time - private messages to everyone we could think of.

The first mentions of domebo were in this thread of mine, asking for suggestions for new message boards. CRSP (very casually) mentioned domebo on the Dope for the first time in this thread, complete with a link. I think most reasonable adults can figure out that if the person who starts a board links to it, he is inviting you to come over and check it out. Therefore, I would like to humbly request that the idea that domebo is an elitist, invitation-only board be dropped. domebo may or may not be a board that is of interest to you, but please judge it on its own merits, not on a false idea.
Thank you.
{gets off soapbox}

[SmartAleq]

Yes, please, this is something that needs to die squealing! Yes, some people received PM invites from CRSP. Then those people started PM'ing people and it took off. No freaking "special invitations" unless you consider "word of mouth advertising" to be specially inviting. The fact that EVERYBODY assumed everybody else had PM'd Giraffe and the consternation it caused when he showed up comically miffed should put this to rest completely.

While we're at it, the whole Domebo/Giraffe rivalry thing also needs to take a dirtnap unless it's obviously staged for comic effect. Both boards are similar reactions to a single unpleasant situation and as such have more in common than they have differences. We're all friends here, and just because the Dope meme is so fucking "Us smart people vs all those ignoramuses out there" doesn't mean we have to bring that tired, elitist, thoroughly disproven idiocy into these nice new milieus.

[KidVermicious]

My understanding was that CRSP specifically hunted up complaint threads, and spammed PM invites to everybody in those threads.

I could be wrong, though.

[Fenris]

I was in a ton of those complaint threads and didn't get one. I understood the criteria was "Who's in the two or three threads I'm reading right now" or something similar so yeah, no engraved invites to "special" posters. And frankly, who's more special* than me?

*anyone making a "short-bus" comment gets retro-warned once I get my mod hat.

[Amp]

Can you point me to some of these threads? I know there was some talk about it at first but I really haven't seen anyone complaining about it over the last week.

[Uthrecht]

Originally Posted by Fenris

And frankly, who's more special* than me?

I, for one, welcome our new short-bus overlords.

[Fish]

Can we just put the cheerleading to rest as well? I don't need to be encouraged or jollied along as if I were a recalcitrant pre-schooler.

Every time the SDMB had threads of "let's make a list of all the popular people!" you can bet that neither I, nor many of the SDMB posters, would ever be mentioned. The invitations that went out over Domebo — and there were personal invitations — are simply another reminder that most of us weren't on those lists. Then we get that post from Lib about Domebo having the "best and the brightest" and Giraffe getting all the IMHOers and MPSIMSers. And the thread about "posters from SDMB you hope don't come." It's hard to read all of that as "come one, come all, everyone is welcome."

I've been over to Domebo in the last week. I haven't posted. I have a hard time reconciling all the condescending posts about "you don't understand, you're a deluded fool, it isn't about the profanity," and half the threads in their Thunderdome being titled with profanity. I guess I don't understand.

If I ever feel like I miss being called an assbucket, or listening to people whine about how they were being oppressed by The Man, or being invisible, I might post there again. Considering how little attention anyone paid to me on the SDMB when I did post, I figure the effect will be about the same.

[Contrapuntal]

If he invited some folks, and didn't invite others, then he made a choice to do so. Call it what you will.

[Dazzling White Diamonds]

Originally Posted by Uthrecht

I, for one, welcome our new short-bus overlords.

Suckup.

[The Cid]

Originally Posted by Fish

Then we get that post from Lib about Domebo having the "best and the brightest" and Giraffe getting all the IMHOers and MPSIMSers. And the thread about "posters from SDMB you hope don't come." It's hard to read all of that as "come one, come all, everyone is welcome."

Hey I got invited, how bright can they be?

[hajario]

Originally Posted by Fish

The invitations that went out over Domebo — and there were personal invitations — are simply another reminder that most of us weren't on those lists.

As far as I know, I've never been mentioned in one of those popularity threads on the Dope either. I did happen to be in the first wave of invitations, from CRSP himself, and I'm fairly sure that he had never heard of me before that day. He just sent out invitations to every person who posted in one of the many anti-Zotti bitchfest threads that had been going on for the previous few days. That's it. It had nothing to do with popularity or friends.

There is no need to choose sides. People are welcome to post at both places. I'm not sure how the fuck the OP thought that starting yet another thread about this was going to accomplish a damn thing. Any bad feelings that a very few people have will only begin to go away if we finally just drop the subject already.

[Uthrecht]

I'm not choosing which board is coolest. I don't think it's a popularity contest. I'd be more than happy to have everyone stop talking about whether one is more divisive, another is more egalitarian. Part of getting that to happen is to stop asking everyone to stop doing that. And then letting them talk about stopping doing that.

[Fish]

I posted in those bitch-fests too, I just didn't think the sky was falling. I'll be more than happy to let the subject drop completely.

This isn't about ego, really. I don't expect them to miss me, I don't secretly wish they would invite me, and I don't feel left out of the secret clubhouse. I don't intend to stop posting at the SDMB because I did not, and do not, feel that things were ever that terrible there. Some people did, and so they trooped off to start a brave new world where they can sling profanity as much as they like, and rage against the machine, and frankly I don't want to be part of that stress.

[hajario]

Originally Posted by Fish

I posted in those bitch-fests too, I just didn't think the sky was falling. I'll be more than happy to let the subject drop completely.

Hmmm. It may have been that he only sent invites to those of us who actually bitched in the bitchfests.

Anyway, I don't care if you post over there or not but I do hope that you continue to post over here.

[Fish]

If that's the case, hajario, then I'm doubly convinced not to go there. The guest list would consist of concentrated, distilled complaining.

I don't plan to stop coming here, though. It's cozy!

We will sell no whine before it's time.

[Victor Frankenstein]

Originally Posted by Fish

Every time the SDMB had threads of "let's make a list of all the popular people!" you can bet that neither I, nor many of the SDMB posters, would ever be mentioned. The invitations that went out over Domebo — and there were personal invitations — are simply another reminder that most of us weren't on those lists.

Wait!?!

GB is the uncool kids lunch table?

Drat.

[Uthrecht]

Originally Posted by Seven

GB is the uncool kids lunch table?

Says the guy that uses a personal brain scan for an avatar.

[Victor Frankenstein]

Originally Posted by Uthrecht

Says the guy that uses a personal brain scan for an avatar.

*pushes glasses up and says in nasal voice*

*snorts* Heh, heh. I took that picture myself using only a Polaroid instant camera, an old radio, a couple tins cans and a tube from an old television. I learned how to do it at science camp last summer. I go every year. My mom says I'm the smartest kid in school and the smartest kid at home, which is kind of stupid because I'm an olny child. *snorts* Moms are so stupid sometimes. Do you like Star Wars? I do. I even like Jar Jar Binks. Most people don't like Jar Jar but I think he's really cool. See. I even have a Jar Jar lunch box. Most people think Jar Jar Binks was a dummy but I will remind you he was Representative Binks in Episode II. That is no job for a dummy I'll tell you. He was also a member of the Senatorial Delegation of 2000 which later turns into the rebel alliance - well, if that scene wasn't cut from Episode III. I saw that scene at my friend Jimmy's house. He has all the best Star Wars stuff. He downloaded that scene from our Star Wars BBS Guild. I'm a Jedi. Do you like carrots? My mom always packs carrots in my lunch but I don't like to eat them because they make me all farty. I'll trade you my carrots for your pudding. No? Well *snorts* I wouldn't have made that trade either. *snorts* Who would? Pudding for carrots? You'd have to be one of those guys in shop class to make that trade. *snorts* So anyway, I'm going to head off to a meeting with the chess club. We meet everyday 10 minutes before lunch is over to talk about stuff. Chess stuff. Ok, well, nice talking to you. And thanks for not beating me up.

[Uthrecht]

Originally Posted by Seven

I'm an olny child.

Pssh.

[What Exit?]

CRSP mentioned somewhere that he did use the members from the complaint threads and also members from the most active GD threads and I think he said GQ. There were no special invites, just a semi-random sampling. He also openly announced the board in an MPSIMS thread and further attempts to do so were squashed.

They kindly allowed an official announcement thread days later but only as I went through the proper channels and Marley23 helped get permission. In fairness, I did this as I saw Giraffe's announcement thread was allowed. CRSP did not think to ask for such and it probably went over better coming from me, I think. I did check with CRSP first and he told me to please do so if they would allow it. In fact he doubted they would and I defended Marley23 and the rest and said I thought they would allow it on the Dope.

It was never intended to be an elite club, just an alternative place to post. As to Liberal's statements, those were his opinions, I am not sure of the context or if he was being quoted correctly and no matter what they were only the opinion of one active member of Domebo.

I don't know if this helps, but it how the whole thing played out from as much knowledge as I have. I wasn't going to join at first but I saw many of my friends over there and decided I liked the feel of the new place.

To the best of my knowledge all posters and lurkers are welcomed to post at either board and we would love to see more lurkers become active at both boards.

Lurkers did not get PM'd simply because CRSP and others do not have a list of members, just the ability in those first few days to look at recent posts. The announcements were made and Baldwin actually got smacked down for posting the link in threads and his location.

I'm not sure what else CRSP was suppose to do. He tried to contact as many posters as he could and then asked them to contact more.

Does this help at all?


Fenris I swear I PM'd you and begged you to come over to Domebo. That had to be within the first few days of the board being up.

[Victor Frankenstein]

Perhaps I missed something but why are we talking about this?

Is there a Domebo elite spam thread I haven't seen?

[Fenris]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

Fenris I swear I PM'd you and begged you to come over to Domebo. That had to be within the first few days of the board being up.

No, no, no.

Too little too late....unless you brought cake. With cake, all is forgiven. Especially yellow cake with chocolate frosting.



(As an aside, I think we talked via PM like 10 seconds after I joined up on Domebo. Either way, it certainly looked like a random selection to me and no hard feelings in any case. The whole board rivalry thing is stoopid. )

[Caesar's Wristwatch]

Originally Posted by Fenris

Too little too late....unless you brought cake. With cake, all is forgiven. Especially yellow cake

I know you're tyrant-elect, but would it be too much to ask for you to not start your nuclear program quite yet? It's making the people in the TAR threads a bit concerned.

[Uthrecht]

Oh, come now. There are MANY reasons to buy centrifuges in bulk.

[Fish]

I find at this point that I really don't give a rat's ass, What Exit?. I'm trying to keep an open mind about CRSP's motivations (though he was a bit peremptory, in my opinion, coming here to say "all you afterthoughts, you should abandon this board and come over to mine"). I don't think he intended to be elitist, nor do I think the waves of invitations were sent out with the deliberate intent to exclude. It's simply what happened anyway.

I don't like being governed by irrational, gut-reaction decisions, so I'll try to preserve the possibility that maybe in the future it might be worth posting there. So far, I haven't seen any threads pop up that I really badly want to contribute to.

[the Lady]

Count me in as another who's wondering why we are still talking about this.
Is there a thread I've missed?

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Fish

I find at this point that I really don't give a rat's ass, What Exit?. I'm trying to keep an open mind about CRSP's motivations (though he was a bit peremptory, in my opinion, coming here to say "all you afterthoughts, you should abandon this board and come over to mine"). I don't think he intended to be elitist, nor do I think the waves of invitations were sent out with the deliberate intent to exclude. It's simply what happened anyway.

I don't like being governed by irrational, gut-reaction decisions, so I'll try to preserve the possibility that maybe in the future it might be worth posting there. So far, I haven't seen any threads pop up that I really badly want to contribute to.

I wasn't trying to convince anyone to switch over or even start posting over on domebo if they haven't. I was just hoping I could clear up a few misconceptions that may have led to some bad will that I think should not exist. These boards both started at almost the same time for almost the same reason from mostly the same people.

We should have no ill will and I haven't seen any on domebo lately. I hope it stays friendly. I haven't seen much over here either, but I thought I saw some in this thread.

Jim

[shamrock]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

Fenris I swear I PM'd you and begged you to come over to Domebo. That had to be within the first few days of the board being up.

Back off there, buddy. Fenris is our Tyrant and you can't have him.

Originally Posted by What Exit?

...We should have no ill will... ... I hope it stays friendly....

There's no ill will around here that I've noticed. But it won't stay friendly for long if you keep trying to steal our Tyrant-Elect.

Well, that and if I get invited to your barbecue thing this year (if you have it), 'cause I was totally planning on coming this year instead of chickening out about meeting people and not coming like usual.

Those are my demands for continued friendly relations.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by shamrock

Back off there, buddy. Fenris is our Tyrant and you can't have him.

There's no ill will around here that I've noticed. But it won't stay friendly for long if you keep trying to steal our Tyrant-Elect.

Well, that and if I get invited to your barbecue thing this year (if you have it), 'cause I was totally planning on coming this year instead of chickening out about meeting people and not coming like usual.

Those are my demands for continued friendly relations.

Actually I thought I would announce the BBQ on all three boards. It might be the first ever StraightRaffeDomeFest.

[KidVermicious]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

Actually I thought I would announce the BBQ on all three boards. It might be the first ever StraightRaffeDomeFest.

And I suppose you're going to have it in New Jersey?

That is SO insensitive to the rest of us.

[Uthrecht]

Originally Posted by KidVermicious

That is SO insensitive to the rest of us.

No, insensitive would be:

Read my location and weep, SUCKER! I'll mail you a postcard from the PARTY! WOO!

[Fenris]

Dude, I don't know how to tell you this but it's New York or New Jersey. Any real state has it's capital at least a 2-3 hour drive to the border of the next state, minumum.

Unless you live in one of those dinky, sad little flaccid east-coast stat....oh.

Oops. I'm sure it's a very nice state. It's...cute!

[Uthrecht]

Originally Posted by Fenris

It's...cute!

It's back on the short bus for you, bucko.

[KidVermicious]

Originally Posted by Uthrecht

No, insensitive would be:

Read my location and weep, SUCKER! I'll mail you a postcard from the PARTY! WOO!

No, that's worse than insensitive, that's almost something a poster from DoMeBo would do.

I'm SO kidding, don't hate me...

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by KidVermicious

And I suppose you're going to have it in New Jersey?

That is SO insensitive to the rest of us.

In New Jersey but open to anyone that can make it. It should be in June again. That is my early plan. I won't start seriously thinking about this for another month.

[Eliahna]

Originally Posted by the Lady

Count me in as another who's wondering why we are still talking about this.
Is there a thread I've missed?

The first I've heard of people feeling left out by not being personally invited is this thread telling me not to feel left out for not being personally invited. Maybe that's because I tend to avoid threads that talk about Domebo because.... well, if I wanted to read about Domebo, I would just head over to Domebo.

[CRSP]

Originally Posted by hajario

I'm fairly sure that he had never heard of me before that day.

Why would you assume that? I've been on the board for years, albeit my latest username's only quite recent.

[Veb]

CRSP never sent me an invitation. Not that I'd be so petty as to hold a grudge because he's a poopyhead and I never wanted to join his stupid board anyway, so there.

Now can we stop talking about all this stupid board-wars shit and beat up Seven already?**

* That was a joke.

** So was that. About beating up Seven, even though he's a loser and I'm not gonna sit next to him in the lunchroom. Stopping with the stupid board wars shit I'm serious about.

[Falcon]

Originally Posted by the Lady

Count me in as another who's wondering why we are still talking about this. Is there a thread I've missed?

Originally Posted by Eliahna

The first I've heard of people feeling left out by not being personally invited is this thread telling me not to feel left out for not being personally invited.

Me too. So this means we were left out of the memo saying that we'd been left out of the memo. That's like being a loser twice removed. I'm crushed, I tell you. Crushed! My entire reason for existence . . . gone. Just gone.

:::::swoon:::::

Ah, I feel better now that's out of my system. What's for dinner?

(In all seriousness, I found links to both boards on SDMB, and I assumed the invitation was open. No hurt, sadness, or rending of clothes whatsoever. It's okay that there are multiple boards. Really. Peace. )

[Victor Frankenstein]

Originally Posted by TVeblen

Now can we stop talking about all this stupid board-wars shit and beat up Seven already?**

*takes off glasses*

*snort* I will have you know not only did I attend Science Camp but my dad made me go to Karate camp where I was awarded a yellow belt in the art of Karate and martial arts in general. On top of that each weekend Jimmy and Brian and I practice our Jedi lightsaber skills using pipe insulation wrapped in duct tape. Our Star Wars BBS Guild has awarded me Jedi status TWICE due to my supreme lightsaber skills - beating BOTH Jimmy and Brian 60% of the time. So I am a foe to be..... what's that over there?

*points*

*runs*

Originally Posted by TVeblen

Stopping with the stupid board wars shit I'm serious about.

I have to ask... what the fuck is this all about????

featherlou - Can I ask what started this thread? You say there is this "recurring idea" but is there a thread or posts from users on this board you can point me to?

[Clowns to the left of me]

Fish, thank you for doing an excellent job of articulating my thoughts on this. I didn't sign up here to be told over and over again how wonderful it is there.

Why assume people haven't judged DoMeBo on its own merits? I'm more than capable of heading over there to check it out, and have done so more than once. It's very active. Plenty of people post on both boards. Imagine that....

[Roo]

Originally Posted by featherlou

There is a recurring idea going around here that domebo was a board that wanted to invite only special people; that only *certain* posters from the Straight Dope were invited.

Well, I haven't seen this here, along with the several other people in this thread that haven't. But since you brought it up, I do have a question for CRSP now that he's posting in this thread.

Originally Posted by What Exit?

CRSP mentioned somewhere that he did use the members from the complaint threads and also members from the most active GD threads and I think he said GQ.

I've seen this statement before and I wondered. . . how did CRSP pick those people out of the complaint threads? Was it people he recognized? Did he invite everyone in the thread? Did he use the whopping 20+ pager?

I'm asking because I was one of the top posters in the 20 pager and I didn't get an invitation. I wondered at the time, so now that I have the opportunity, I'm asking.

[Uthrecht]

Allow me to sum up, if I can get it correctly. There has been the occasional posting or thread here, that some people are concerned with the state of things at one site or another. This has not completely gone away yet, although it is at a low level. We are now discussing that this should stop. It would be best to stop worrying and posting about which board is better, because it is not so. We will therefore continue to post about why we should stop posting.

Discuss.

[Amp]

As has been said up thread, before this thread was opened no one was really talking about it anymore. Not sure what featherlou was trying to accomplish with this thread.

[Sybarite]

I'm not planning to mention it again after this thread - I've seen the idea pop up a handful of times, in various threads in various forums on this board (if you haven't seen it, you're surfing less here than I am, I guess), and I wanted to straighten out a few misconceptions before they got too entrenched. Nothing more important or nefarious than that, I assure you. I too would like to see any board rivalries die down, and I actually see this as a way to help that, not hinder it - I wanted anyone who felt left out to know that that was never the intention.

[Amp]

But before this thread CRSP and numerous other posters had already posted the rationale behind the PM's/invites and how they were mainly random and no one was specifically included or excluded. You opening this thread just seemed to me like picking at a scab that should be left alone to heal.

[WednesdayAddams]

Know what would be a sure fire way to make sure it stops? Open another thread about it. In each forum. Cross post it, even. People will stop talking about it then for sure.

*shakes fist at amp* DAMN YOU!

[hajario]

Originally Posted by CRSP

Why would you assume that? I've been on the board for years, albeit my latest username's only quite recent.

I was just being a bit self deprecating. I didn't mean anything against you and I apologize if you took it that way. I was trying to defend you against charges of choosing special people and excluding others by pointing out that my invitation wasn't because I was on the list of cool people and that it was more random in nature.

[LordVor]

Originally Posted by featherlou

There is a recurring idea going around here that domebo was a board that wanted to invite only special people; that only *certain* posters from the Straight Dope were invited.

I'm having trouble reconciling this fact with the fact that my invitation (not from CRSP directly) stated that domebo was "where all the cool ex-dopers were hanging out". Whether intentional by the administration or not, it's an 'tude that showed up in the population of the board.

Between that and CRSP getting all "if the boards merge then they're merging TOO domebo" post, and the horrible color scheme...

[KidVermicious]

Can I put a thread on ignore?

/kidding