Has The Tao Bums become (B)anal?

[Taomeow]

What, does my Karaoke make me look fat?

No, a fat lady was Drew's contribution, I had nothing to do with it and have no clue what it was about. ("Strong words! Strong, bewildering words from a strange man!" -- Kent Brockman the Simpsons' TV anchor reporting on Drew... I mean, Homer...)

 

I only lamented what some karaoke stars do with sacred-geometrical pearls that land at their feet. Step on them, crush them with a hobnailed boot, throw them together with a collection of meticulously picked garbage?.. Your sarcasm, in this particular case, was every bit as misplaced as one of your karaoke video comments that asserts Korea is in Africa. Yes, to the same extent that sacred geometry is in new age -- or in any of the anal threads for that matter.

[Kali Yuga]

At the risk of being controversial, I suggest it may reflect the changes in membership demographics.

 

When I first joined it was almost entirely respectful discussion on qigong, meditation, Taoism and buddhism by people who actually practice and study those topics.

 

Then the Kunlun craze came along, and the converted and heathen went at one another hammer and tongs, and from then on the tone of this place has been lowered.

 

Now there are too many people posting for its own sake; too many alpha male type qigong/martial artist "sifu" and "masters" defending their turf and peddling their dubious DVDs and "learning"; and too many new agers and their kindred Da Vinci Code reading conspiracy buffs for whom logical thinking is not a strong point.

 

Maybe I'm a bit cranky. But the internet seems to be dragged down by people who think "participation" is the most important thing.

 

Perhaps it would be good if people were to consider what the purpose of this site is, and to ask whether their postings advance those purposes.

 

Lol. You hit it right on the head man.

 

Theres too much BS going on in the forum, "MY SYSTEM IS BETTER -NO, MY SYSTEM IS BETTER!"

 

"BUY MY DVD!!!"

 

post that are meant just to try and drag other people into their own qigong system. "PM IF INTERESTED!!"

 

and a bunch of all these tards who live at home, mooch off of mom and dad and obsess over their next 15 paragraph post. and have no life.

 

and then the people whose logic runs along the lines of "something+something+something= FULL LOTUS!!!!!"

and "1+1= FULL LOTUS!!!!!"

lmao we love u dude, u know who u are. ;-)

 

 

LMAO!.

 

Welcome to the new and improved taobums. wink wink.

[soaring crane]

- its always been a bit like this

 

 

That was my impression, too. I don't remember it being any different when I joined, except there weren't as many members. I De-Interneted myself for a long time and when I came back a year and a half later, the number had jumped up to something approaching 60,000(!). I think I was like #1,173 or something.

 

That's something I miss in the new format, btw. I liked seeing that "Member Number" under the names. It was interesting to see when relatively invisible older members would suddenly pop up on certain threads, meaning there are a lot of people watching but just not participating.

 

 

[三江源]

My concern is I am probably missing interesting stuff because I just dont have the time or patience to wade through the guff. I'm not offering myself as help to moderating the forum because I have a fantasy that I would want to delete a vast number of posts. kerpow! gone! yeah! clean up time. a nice tidy forum with only intelligent thoughtful people here who actually have some practice experience.

 

evolution

is

a

funny

thing.

 

In what way are we to 'report a post' .. sean woud like the forum further moderated in what direction, exactly?

 

I saw a post yesterday in which Shakti Mama was spoken to disrespectfully by someone who appeared not to be understanding her and Santi and I WANTED to kerpow it. I could be the - whatshisname now - the one with the crinkly face.. charles bronson of the board, given half a chance.

 

but somehow.. then I want to be the John Denver of the board.

 

Yes, bespectacled and cheesy.

 

No, wait..

[Sloppy Zhang]

Psychic powers, pregnant men, masturbation and cranio-rectal fusion, distant orgasms at 11:11pm, instant power, and what's wrong with women...

 

It's not so much the content for me, it's how many times the content comes up

 

We seem to have a new masturbation thread every week

 

The other day I showed up to the forum and there were literally 4 topics with masturbation in the title. Can't we just have ONE "master masturbation thread"?

 

And psychic powers hasn't come up nearly enough for it to warrant its placement on your list of topics

 

Then again, you made that thread about old people, didn't you? (err, I mean, >40) sorry if these topics got on your lawn

 

If a thread doesn't interest you, don't read it. There are periods of months in which I don't find any thread reply worthy, and in fact there are weeks/months when I don't even log in- nothing is worth it.

[Apech]

 

The other day I showed up to the forum and there were literally 4 topics with masturbation in the title. Can't we just have ONE "master masturbation thread"?

 

 

 

We could call it THE MASS DEBATE.

 

[Encephalon]

No, a fat lady was Drew's contribution, I had nothing to do with it and have no clue what it was about. ("Strong words! Strong, bewildering words from a strange man!" -- Kent Brockman the Simpsons' TV anchor reporting on Drew... I mean, Homer...)

 

I only lamented what some karaoke stars do with sacred-geometrical pearls that land at their feet. Step on them, crush them with a hobnailed boot, throw them together with a collection of meticulously picked garbage?.. Your sarcasm, in this particular case, was every bit as misplaced as one of your karaoke video comments that asserts Korea is in Africa. Yes, to the same extent that sacred geometry is in new age -- or in any of the anal threads for that matter.

 

Oh my... Are we talking about the same thing? I posted a youtube link with a Korean man singing a song by Mariah Carey, and joked that it was me. The geographical references about Korea/Africa is something I'm not aware of.

 

For myself, I should probably consider that the novelty of an online forum wears off for everyone at some point. When my meridians started opening up last summer I was ecstatic with the ability to discuss it online with those farther along than I. There seemed to be no shortage of interesting topics. I'm coming up on my one year online anniversary. Maybe it's time to move on?

Edited January 29, 2010 by Blasto

[Old Man Contradiction]

IMO, the one quality thing at the taobums is information on traditional chinese medicine. The martial arts and qigong being discussed is usually unrealistic, misinterpreted, or just not up to par with the best that you can find out in the world. My claim is that you'll never find the best on the internet.

[Old Man Contradiction]

The other day I showed up to the forum and there were literally 4 topics with masturbation in the title. Can't we just have ONE "master masturbation thread"?

 

that was pretty funny though. I thought people were just poking fun at the poster of the first masturbation thread.

[Encephalon]

that was pretty funny though. I thought people were just poking fun at the poster of the first masturbation thread.

 

That was my fault. I started it up with "Masturbation and carburator repair" in order to make a satirical point.

What can I say. I've been tossing around the idea that the Net brings out the worst - banal, mundane, self-absorbed - in everyone, only to discover, after everyone else, that it brings out the same in me.

 

Life is a long lesson in humility.

James M. Barrie

[3bob]

that was pretty funny though. I thought people were just poking fun at the poster of the first masturbation thread.

 

Eureka, Neti Neti

[Sloppy Zhang]

that was pretty funny though. I thought people were just poking fun at the poster of the first masturbation thread.

 

I dunno, as I don't even go into threads involving masturbation anymore.

 

I looked at one and left a comment, but never checked back because it wasn't something that hasn't already been done around here a dozen times.... and I don't even consider myself a forum "old timer"

 

Plus people make spin-off threads about a topic that is pretty much in the same vein as a topic already here (one already seems to have been made). If it's not a totally different that you feel needs its own discussion, I don't think a new topic needs to be made.... but it's a free internet, so whatever.

[3bob]

My concern is I am probably missing interesting stuff because I just dont have the time or patience to wade through the guff. I'm not offering myself as help to moderating the forum because I have a fantasy that I would want to delete a vast number of posts. kerpow! gone! yeah! clean up time. a nice tidy forum with only intelligent thoughtful people here who actually have some practice experience.

 

evolution

is

a

funny

thing.

 

In what way are we to 'report a post' .. sean woud like the forum further moderated in what direction, exactly?

 

I saw a post yesterday in which Shakti Mama was spoken to disrespectfully by someone who appeared not to be understanding her and Santi and I WANTED to kerpow it. I could be the - whatshisname now - the one with the crinkly face.. charles bronson of the board, given half a chance.

 

but somehow.. then I want to be the John Denver of the board.

 

Yes, bespectacled and cheesy.

 

No, wait..

 

Hi Cat, I also read parts of the string you've mentioned above and I felt kinda like a babe in the woods considering the heavy bricks being tossed around - heads up and somewhat surprized the mods didn't kick at some point?

Edited January 29, 2010 by 3bob

[Trunk]

In what way are we to 'report a post' ..

Speaking just to mechanics: there is a "report" button at the bottom-left of each post, like this: Report

 

If anyone sees a post that they feel is out of bounds (either because it explicitly breaks some rule we have, or if it seems out-of-bounds in some new and creative way) then "report" it. You'll have an option to write a few notes about what you see the problem to be. The report will go to the moderation team and we'll take care of it from there. (Determine what actions need to be taken, if any.)

 

There's just a few of us moderators. There's no way we can read everything posted on the board. We need your help.

 

If you'd like to experiment, go ahead and "report" this post of mine right now, just to get familiar with the process.

 

- Trunk

[Pero]

That was my impression, too. I don't remember it being any different when I joined, except there weren't as many members. I De-Interneted myself for a long time and when I came back a year and a half later, the number had jumped up to something approaching 60,000(!). I think I was like #1,173 or something.

 

That's something I miss in the new format, btw. I liked seeing that "Member Number" under the names. It was interesting to see when relatively invisible older members would suddenly pop up on certain threads, meaning there are a lot of people watching but just not participating.

 

I didn't notice that it was missing until now. I was member #220. And we have 23k+ members, not 60k haha. Though most don't post, fortunatelly or unfortunatelly. Sometimes topics fall to the second page so fast, can you imagine how it'd be like if there'd be 23000 people posting.

Heck even a 1000 regular posters would be a lot.

 

 

On the topic of this topic hehe, on E-Sangha the topics of sex, masturbation, sexual misconduct and the like came up regularly and it was a Buddhist forum (may it rest in peace). Here we should perhaps be surprised they're not coming up more often.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Pero

[soaring crane]

I was member #220. And we have 23k+ members, not 60k haha.

 

 

huh, I could swear there were numbers like 57,575 or whatnot, before the change. I'm certain of it, really. Which doesn't mean much, I know, lol.

 

Still, 23,000 is a big number and my guestimate of how many actively participate: somewhere between 50 and 80, and that's being generous.

 

 

[Encephalon]

Confession time. I started this thread out of the simple dynamic of psychological projection. I got sick of all the maudlin self-absorption being passed off as poetry and wanted to bring it to a head. Of course, it's all the maudlin self-absorption that I detest within my own self that causes me to lash out when I see it in others.

[Pero]

And that's the tricky problem, we have been asked to step up a bit more.

 

Oh I see. I think Sean is just getting old. Perhaps a kind of midlife crisis? First new forum, now stricter rules, planning to move again...

 

No personal insults. It is totally fine to vocally disagree with a person's opinion, technique, politics, approach, lifestyle choice, etc. But no insulting (or links to attacks) of individuals, nationalities, genders, political preferences, lifestyle choices, etc.

 

Contribute real value to the discussion here. Be respectful (no insults, no porn). Keep it safe and legal

 

But this will make it much more boring.

 

 

We can not do this without EVERYONES help. So yes, do report posts, don't be reluctant to report a post. It's how you communicate your opinions to the moderators.

 

Give a go. In fact I encourage EVERYONE to have a go and reporting THIS post, just as a practice run so you see what happens, we don't bite but Taomeow might scratch )

 

YOU, the community, are what makes The Tao Bums what it is.

 

Oh no, governement like propaganda. They're deceptively trying to make you spy and rat on each other. Nobody listen! Fight the power!

 

 

Just kidding. Sort of.

[voidisyinyang]

Taobums is now all about the circle jerk. That's true democracy -- pull everything down to the L.C.D. -- also true tantra. Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to detract from the masturbation thread. Quick back to the real action!

 

Oh I see. I think Sean is just getting old. Perhaps a kind of midlife crisis? First new forum, now stricter rules, planning to move again...

 

 

 

But this will make it much more boring.

 

 

 

 

Oh no, governement like propaganda. They're deceptively trying to make you spy and rat on each other. Nobody listen! Fight the power!

 

 

Just kidding. Sort of.

[voidisyinyang]

Since when is masturbation part of taoism?

 

Since the moderators turned into dip shits? haha.

 

Wait don't let me distract anyone.

 

Back to the ejaculation action!!

[Aetherous]

Since the moderators turned into dip shits? haha.

 

Drew, I reported your post.

[voidisyinyang]

Well the thread about the Japanese porn star got disappeared but the masturbation thread remains. Since when is masturbation Taoist? Is masturbation advocated in any Taoist practice?

 

Ejaculation happens but it's not the goal in Taoism and certainly jerking off is not about Taoism -- still the thread remains the focus of the taobums website.

 

I was just trying to compete with the masturbation thread yesterday but going through the Japanese porn star vids -- but then the thread got vanished.

 

So now I'll use this thread to compete against the masturbation thread. Maybe this thread will get vanished too and the masturbation thread will remain.

[Pero]

Well the thread about the Japanese porn star got disappeared but the masturbation thread remains. Since when is masturbation Taoist? Is masturbation advocated in any Taoist practice?

 

There was a thread about a Japanese porn star? Damn it, how did I miss that!

[voidisyinyang]

too attracted to the masturbation thread? Masturbation = Taobums

[Pero]

Really Drew I don't know why you're so much against this. It's not related to Taoism per se but it's related to people. And people have their issues, so if they're interested in Taoism maybe they're looking for a way to work with these issues through Taoism.