JK,

You are an insensitive misogynist.

Mr. Knight,

I am not a misogynist. I love women. I just don't like conversing with them ;)

JK,

Oh my God! I can't believe you just said that. Go away you women-hating troll.

Relax! I was kidding. I love women. Especially when they pretend they know what they are talking about.

You insensitive bastard! Women are just as smart as men. Smarter.

I'm relieved the two of you are going to have such a good time here.

Should we create opposing viewpoints just to make it more diverse here?

I sincerely doubt whether most women enjoy conversing with you either :)

Well, I will converse with you John. Being a "conservative" woman on OS hasn't made me particularly popular. I admit, I have my share of pet and family stories, but once in a while I spout off so I can get kicked around a little, and told how stupid, evil, ignorant I am. Keeps my mind sharp, my tongue sharper, and keeps me from having to pick a fight with the hubby!

Glad you're here.

Thanks, Kyle. Conservative chicks always get my attention ;)

I'm glad to see you here. I agree that the site needs more conservative voices.

Thanks, John, although sadly at 52 I don't think I qualify as a chick anymore! ;-)

You are a douchbag. Go find your fellow douchbags (trust me they're rampant on the tubes) and hang with them. Leave the rest of us alone.

You like to bait people and you seem quite content to play with yourself. In fact, you are THE master baiter of OS this week.

Nice work. Someone might even award you a tiara.

ljturner66,

No, you're the douchebag, douchebag. Go find your fellow douchbags and hang with them. Leave the rest of us alone.

Holy cow, JK Brady, that was hilarious. I loved the play on words. I am the "master baiter". Ha! You are clever with the English language. Master baiter...that is rich. Such wit!

"99.99% of the members have the same opinion on everything. " Obviously you haven't been here long or read much. That is just utter BS. Probably no 427 on your list of Konservative Talking Points. "If they disagree with you, they must all think the same."

You know, from time to time we have thoughtfully worked out postings from intelligent conservatives on here, and they prompt some of the most interesting discussions. You're the antithesis of those people.

John,

I just moved my writing. Because I could...not many things in life I can just walk away from. And, unfortunately, there's hateful people in other parts of my life too where I must stay. Maybe others are right, one hateful, judgmental, cruel person, shouldn't set the tone here and I shouldn’t leave. We'll see.

At least you wrote a blog at last...interesting it's just criticizing others...Someone might even listen to your point of view if you could say it without hate. Gosh, I even got a whole paragraph from you ripe with your typical bizarre logic and assumptions.


"There's been a slew of other such depressing stories lately too. Recently, one member wrote a post entitled, "Fox News is killing my dad". In this post, she revealed that her dad is dying from cancer but that Fox News is accelerating his demise by constantly telling him how bad things are. She later pulled the post after being confronted with a sad contradiction: if Fox News watchers are simpletons as she contends, then wouldn't that make her dad an idiot? Or, could it be that Fox News is reporting valuable information that no other news organization will report and that her dad is in fact a smart man. She held both positions."

This little blurb is what you are fussing about?

http://tigersonora.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/bad-news-is-killing-my-dad/

Keep blogging...it's great to have a diverse group of people. Just please try not to be so hateful, if you can...it's so uncreative, and isn't probably going to win you any supporters to your point of view. That is what you really want to convey isn't it??

~Howling with laughter~

I have no problem with differing opinions... What I have a problem with is sweeping generalizations. "Conservatives are...", "liberals are...", "democrats are...", "republicans are..." ... You get the point. how about instead of tarring one another with broad labels we try engaging in intelligent conversation...

Just about everything you've written thus far has been intolerant, which is why you are getting grief. You call names, tell everyone they are stupid and then you have a tantrum when they tell you they won't tolerate it. You have decided that everyone else is wrong and you are right to the absolute. Have you met Dr. Amy? I'm sure the two of you will get along famously.

Salon is the intersection of writers and intellectuals and the OS software development community. Open Salon by definition implies, in Francais no less, a bunch of writer/intellectuals reading and discussing each others work, by doing it online, in San Francisco no less, with the Open Source community, well friend this is the lost generation online and to wonder who we are or why by far the majority of intellectuals lean to the left is to take a long slow look at your own damn self.

AUWE

this is excellent, you have a lot of guts
we do need more diversity here

Wow, you know what? You're so right! In fact, I'm going to scrap all of my political views this instant. You're passionate and charismatic personality alone have turned me into a ...whatever side you're on, conservative, republican or neo-something. Anyway, I'm with you 100%. Why? Because everyone here will now hate you forever, you're a prick, a woman hater and probably just got dumped by a weight challenged male chimp named howdy doody. See, I'm already getting the hang of being an asshole!
This will gain me a great deal of attention in the short run, after which I will then denounce you as a pathetic loser who gets his kicks by annoying and upsetting people.
My rise to power after my brief fall will be fantastic. All thanks to you, my strange little friend.

I don't care for you much, not much at all.

Salon is a Democrat-leaning publication, so it's not surprising that us leebruls dominate. I for one welcome the loyal opposition (though I'm not so sure about the "providing your own trolling" tactic in the comments for this post). Give us the libertarian spin, and we'll bite. Its nice to have someone to argue with, as long as both sides behave. Hell, I don't even mind feeding the odd troll. I'm Norwegian, after all.

I'm sometimes curious as to how you on the other side of the isle end up blogging here. That's not a subtle hint to get lost, just an honest question. You don't seem like the typical Salon reader. It's a bit like if I ended up blogging on the Weekly Standard or something. Which would probably be fun, come to think of it.

JK , you are the wind beneith my Che Guavara T-shirt.

John, you made your first appearance on Stellaa's blog, where people were talking about the current influential movement that calls itself conservative and is taking over the Republican party, and you said that that's not real conservatism, and kept repeating, not discussing the actual subject. That sounds like wilful obtuseness, which is why you got called a troll.

Nan blogged and made clear the distinction, calling the Palin/Limbaugh etc. movement the idiot bastard child of the old "real" conservatism, but you just kept repeating what you did on Stellaa's blog, not engaging with the actual subject at hand.

You didn't talk about what Real Conservatism is and, when invited to write up your views on your own blog, you come up with the above - nothing about conservatism, but deliberately insulting the women here and, since the great majority of the men here are not misogynist, you didn't score any points with them either.

Only with Kyle, who didn't even bristle at your remark to her about "conservative chicks" .

Now, coming on insulting people - what do you hope to gain from that? That's another troll characteristic - irritate people, infuriate them if possible, even if it makes most people despise you. Then complain that they're not nice to you. Trumpet your superiority. That's so troll.

And men here, including you, write just as emotionally as the women. Your whole dance in this blog entry is spewing your feelings even if you never mention mothers...oh wait a minute... The whole dialogue thing you did in your comments was coy. The whole display was very Mean Girl High School - not somehow *masculine* and non-emotional and logical because you're a man...

I don't suppose you see what I'm saying, nor want to - BUT, on the off-chance you actually want some advice, I'd advise you to start all over again. Re-register under another name and avatar, and then read for a while - not the political pieces. And then start commenting and blogging - not political stuff. If you really do want to post about your conservative views on this forum, which you realize is largely liberal, then I suggest you do it in a calm way, setting out your views and reasons for holding them (just saying I'm A Conservative does not fill the bill). You could check out Mishama, a self-described social conservative. His opinions are not of the majority here, but he states them clearly and politely and engages in discussion of them (and talks about other matters and posts pictures, etc).

And keep before you this mantra: If I insult people, I will get insulted. If I'm pleasant and interesting, people will respond positively.

"You really want to water this?"

-Dennis Knight.

You confuse pomposity with rational discourse.

"Women are really bad, generally speaking, at rational discourse"

My rational mind tells me you will never be welcome to comment on my blog - ever. I am always open to conservative viewpoint. I am not open to baiting, sexist, misogynists who are here to provoke not provide honest dialogue. That this is your only post, which does nothing but insult others and shows no bit on where you stand politically, show what a coward you really are. Troll. Troll. Troll.

"So, my initial impression of Open Salon is that it is a female-driven, Oprah-style, liberally dominated, cryfest with an identity crisis. "

Yes, you nailed it -- great job!!

The next logical step in your report is that you have deduced that this is not the place for you to waste any more of your time looking for a reasonable place to hang out or garner support your views. There are many places to blog where you will be welcomed and made to feel Right at home, however.

We wish you a safe and happy journey out of the land of liberals into a more seasoned, reasoned place to play.

BTW, the free photo-editting software, Picasa, found on Google.com can help you get rid of that pesky "red eye" condition that makes your avatar look a tad frightening...hope that wasn't too girly of me to bring to your attention?

I have only been a member for a week so I cannot really comment on the political makeup of OS, but I would say to you, where are all your posts that seek to discuss your "outsider" opinion? I do not see that you have even tried. From most of the responses you got on this post, one can objectively say that at the very least many OS members have good senses of humor and are open to constructive criticism. Also, it is disrespectful to make a statement against all women. I know plenty of irrational men. And there are some really fine writers of both genders on this site, btw. Look for them! Lastly, I think you should try posting your own articles with your well-crafted arguments and see what happens. If, after a while, you become frustrated with the responses etc, then you have some grounds to complain. For the time being, I don't see any evidence that you have even tried to converse with OS members or become a member of this community. It never purported to be a news outlet, btw. I have made my own jokes about it, but after one week I can see, in addition to its flaws, it is actually a great place for open public discourse, and for many it is a place of support and healing. Some of these members have gone through HELL and it gives a tremendous perspective to glean some insight into others' struggles. Good luck!

Oh, and one last thing, I do agree with you about the sensationalistic headlines. It is a symptom of trying to get readers in this competitive sphere. I have fallen victim to this myself. But if you use a boring headline, no one will read you. What to do?? It's how you yourself got the readers you did for your first post.

Ok, this is the LAST thing -- I actually think you would fit in here. You have an opinion and a sense of humor. I think you should try posting stuff and see what happens!

You received a lot of good advice in this thread. Myriad and The Hideous Truth gave TREMENDOUS advice. In rare instances, some comments are better than almost any post. Myriad's comment is one of those. They were open, and respectful, and if you follow their broad guidelines, which allow you to determine yourself and navigate wherever you choose, you will have much success.

I take a great deal of offense to always and never type blanket statements. Especially this one, "Women are really bad, generally speaking, at rational discourse."

I came to OS certainly not for news shyte, I can get that any and everywhere. I came for the slice of life from various writers here, men and women. It's a community, really, not a vicious news blog of relative strangers who tell one another off and are not held accountable for their words. There are some mob situations here also but what kind/type of relationship doesn't have arguments from time to time? None that I can think of.

Btw, PM (private messaging) is supposed to be private, hence the name. You have posted the private messages you received from other bloggers into your comments with names attached. This makes it very unlikely that anyone will message you answering the question you seem to be asking.

Apache Savage,

First, I said "generally speaking". Are you saying that nothing can be said about anything in general terms?

Second, I have no idea what you are talking about regarding posting PM messages. Where have I done that?

it's kind of ironic that you've written exactly the kind of post you claim to hate.

did os make your penis fall off?

Which post is that, bstrangely?

I'm glad your mother is not dying. That's good news.

But meta posts are easy. Let's see an example of something else, please.

this post you published, where you whine about the other posters.

"What Open Salon should be is what liberals profess they want the world to be: open, diverse, and tolerant. We need more opposing viewpoints here and less woe-is-me stories."

where are those posts? do you have any, or is that chick work?

Geez Myriad. I'm 52 freaking years old. Why would I ever get upset over someone calling me a chick? Especially with a smiley face. If that would upset anyone they need to lighten up. Now if he would have called me a whore or slut I would be pissed. Bitch I could live with as I am, but chick - come on!

I knew you were going to come back with that "generally speaking" defense and I almost covered that base in my last comment but instead decided to wait for it.

Generally speaking - meaning in general, meaning overall, meaning, mostly, meaning pretty much, and the word that naturally follows pretty much is usually "always" or "never" depending on the context. Words have depth and to think the depth of your words here cannot be discerned by reading is absurd. In other words your words "generally speaking ....etc," can easily be defined by the reader, understood and your position rather clear albeit sadly a pathetic fifties mentality that women should be seen and not heard.

Looking at your first comment, I thought this was a PM from JK that you then copied and posted into your comments section. It seemed logical because your post seems to be putting women down and JK is a woman, plus there was no prior comment from JK for me or any other reader to figure out where that comment originated from but clearly you were the poster of it as your avatar and name are directly beneath it. If I have made a wrong assumption I do apologize. But hopefully you can see how the error was made in that it seems to have dropped out of the sky and landed as your first comment.

Generally speaking does not mean always or never. If you interpret "generally speaking" as "always", well, you are just proving my statement: Women are really bad, generally speaking, at rational discourse.

Generally speaking does not mean always or never. If you interpret "generally speaking" as "always", well, you are just proving my statement: Women are really bad, generally speaking, at rational discourse.

Are you sure you aren't my husband in disguise? Sounds like something he would say when he was trying to get me going.

I gave you the train of thought there is no need to twist what I am saying. I am not going to fall for that bullshit argument.

"Words have depth and to think the depth of your words here cannot be discerned by reading is absurd." - Apache Savage

Words have meaning. Generally speaking means speaking generally - not specifically. If someone interprets that to mean "always" or "everyone", that is their problem, not mine.

I never said women should be seen and not heard. I can appreciate the sentiment ;) But I never said it.

John, I eagerly await our assignation. I even got the place.
http://open.salon.com/blog/cassandra_woolf/2009/11/11/a_comic_duel--male_and_female_chauvinist_pigs

Surely you want to debate a woman with balls, not
Engage most any female on this site with an opposing viewpoint; fake it if you must. The women here seem to be offended at the very idea of being questioned. The response will most often be that you really should not be posting here and that you are most likely an [fill in pejorative here].

Thanks to my five younger brothers and five young uncles, I adored being the only girl in my political science classes at Fordham and Stanford. No doubt I dropped out of Columbia Law School in 1971 in my horror there were other women in my class.

I hope I did not damage you when I slapped your face with my glove.