.

[nanwilson]

I guess when I'm not posting...I'm a lurker?

LSAT, I always thought that the L in your handle meant Lurker.... Guess I was wrong
Cheers
Nan

[Goofproof]

I was going to start a post because I've wondered why there are so many lurkers, but then I realized that would be almost redundant.

Is it any of your business if people want to lurk?

You sound like a controlling personality. I would like to be on your Foe list.

True Lurkers are probably the least offensive of the people who come here, they are probably intelligent enough to read and learn on their own. They don't ask stupid questions that have been asked here many times, and answered to death. They don't come here and try to remake someone else's forum over to suit their whims.

Maybe some here need a FOE ALL button, then they could only see the posts they make, then they wouldn't need to decide who to like or hate..... Jim

[Goofproof]

How can I tell if I'm Lurking, I might be Reading and Learning Stuff and not know it. With short term memory loss will I have to wait a week to remember it? Jim

[DreamStalker]

I was going to start a post because I've wondered why there are so many lurkers, but then I realized that would be almost redundant.

Is it any of your business if people want to lurk?

You sound like a controlling personality. I would like to be on your Foe list.

True Lurkers are probably the least offensive of the people who come here, they are probably intelligent enough to read and learn on their own. They don't ask stupid questions that have been asked here many times, and answered to death. They don't come here and try to remake someone else's forum over to suit their whims.

Maybe some here need a FOE ALL button, then they could only see the posts they make, then they wouldn't need to decide who to like or hate..... Jim

Well I thought I had made it on everybody's FOE list but apparently, some are still reading my posts. Must try harder!

[Pugsy]

Well I thought I had made it on everybody's FOE list but apparently, some are still reading my posts. Must try harder!

You didn't make it to my Foe list and it doesn't take much nowadays for me to decide I don't want to be bothered reading what someone I don't care for might say.
My Foe list is fairly long. Some people no longer posting here but I leave them on the list just in case they ever do post again with a question...then I think to myself...that person must have pissed me off in the past to make it to my Foe list...then I decide if I want to answer the question or not. Most of the time it's going to be "not".
Now some people pissed me off so bad I won't ever forget they are on the Foe list.

I hate to have to be that way but it's either that way or I can't be on the forum because of how I let crap get under my skin.
If I don't see the crap then my blood pressure stays down and I am much better off.

You've never got under my skin. While I don't always agree with you..I do respect your right to voice your opinions and you rarely have to sling mud to get your point across and you have never slung any mud in my direction....so if you want to be on my Foe list you gotta work a lot harder.

[DreamStalker]

Well I thought I had made it on everybody's FOE list but apparently, some are still reading my posts. Must try harder!

... While I don't always agree with you....

What the...Ffff !

.... you have never slung any mud in my direction....so if you want to be on my Foe list you gotta work a lot harder.

Consider it done bitch!

Just gimmee a little more time ok

Pretty please ...

[Guest]

I guess when I'm not posting...I'm a lurker?

if you wanna be then you have to stop posting

A lurker is someone that follows the forum but doesn't post.

[DreamStalker]

I wish there was a way to do this. It's not always easy to keep track of which ones are still producing worthwhile discussions, and which have devolved into bickering. Not that a thread can't have both, of course. But when the balance tips too much towards the latter... I'm making do with hiding individuals, thank goodness for that feature. The overall tone here has changed a lot from several years ago. I'm especially grateful for the "good eggs" and their positive contributions--may you never become 'hard boiled' or 'scrambled'!

OK ok. Back on topic!

Well I just now noticed that you've only been a member for less than 2 months ... and you're bickering about how the tone has changed a "lot" from several years ago? WTF? Get some peace of mind!

Frankly, I don't much like eggs although I'll eat them raw when I have to, in a protein shake with branch chain amino acids, specifically leucine. But hard boiled or scrambled ... no freeekin way ... YUK!!! Nothing positive or grateful will ever come out of that for me! Foe me if you will, thank goodness I haven't had to foe anybody before they foe me.

RIP Sib -- Get yourself some peace of mind

Now if you're feelin' kinda low 'bout the dues you've been paying
Future's coming much too slow
And you want to run but somehow you just keep on stayin'
Can't decide on which way to go
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind, yeah, whoa
Now you're climbin' to the top of the company ladder
Hope it doesn't take too long
Can'tcha you see there'll come a day when it won't matter?
Come a day when you'll be gone, whoa
I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind
Take a look ahead, take a look ahead, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Now everybody's got advice they just keep on givin'
Doesn't mean too much to me
Lots of people out to make-believe they're livin'
Can't decide who they should be, whoa
I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind
Take a look ahead, take a look ahead, look ahead

[jtravel]

If specific members constantly annoy you then put them on your Foe list and you will not see their comments when logged in.
A few members here can't seem to have civil conversations without attacking others or using foul language.
It's regrettable but not against the rules, Put them on your Foe list and ignore them if they bother you.
This board has no rules. I have searched over and over again for rules like other boards have but this one has none.
It's a free service and we are all here based on our own free will so we can't really complain.

[DreamStalker]

If specific members constantly annoy you then put them on your Foe list and you will not see their comments when logged in.
A few members here can't seem to have civil conversations without attacking others or using foul language.
It's regrettable but not against the rules, Put them on your Foe list and ignore them if they bother you.
This board has no rules. I have searched over and over again for rules like other boards have but this one has none.
It's a free service and we are all here based on our own free will so we can't really complain.

Absolutely! Out in the real world we have to suffer under the control of the MSM fake news and censorship. This forum never let's anyone down ...

[Goofproof]

All eggs are good to me as long as I have my fixins, with them, sausage or bacon, biscuits, maybe some white gravy to soak up! Scrambles, Sunny side up, or over easy, it's all good, Yoke runny please. Tonight it was Deviled Eggs with supper, as a last resort Hard Boiled. It's all good.

[Pugsy]

This board has no rules. I have searched over and over again for rules like other boards have but this one has none.

Maybe you should read the User Agreement. There are indeed some basic common sense rules.
user-agreement.php

There are some rules. Just not what some people wish we had here.
It's Johnny's sandbox. If we don't like his rules or lack of then we are free to go elsewhere or use the Foe button or whatever.
Johnny has banned people in the past...but they have to have done something really, really, really bad for him to do that.

And Johnny's basic philosophy from a post he made back in 2007

My approach to moderating cpaptalk is well known. Here's the basic rational:

Beware the person who wishes to legislate the morality and the behavior of his neighbor. Respect the person who accepts as responsibility, duty and sacred privilege the task of successfully moderating his own behavior. People who can do this are rare beacons of light. It is easy to point the finger "elsewhere" and imagine a utopia will result. It is hard to do the work and take responsibility to make your first utopia internal. Paraphrasing Ghandi - be the change you wish to see in the world.

There are no rules, no distant moderator, no respected member of the community that can legislate or moderate away our own foul dispositions. If this were not true, one of the many forms of government our forefathers have tried would have worked. For another example of the rhetoric used by people who advocate such a position, read literature from those favoring prohibition before its enactment. These people believed sincerely in their cause, they had good intentions and were good people but their actions were doomed to failure from the start.

How does all of that lofty philosophy play out in real life? In the most basic terms,
I'm trading value for value. I provide the domain, the hosting, the software and the moderation of CPAPtalk in accordance with my set of beliefs regarding human nature and business. You may use it free of charge, you may find a better board or you may start your own.

There will be no additional moderators on CPAPtalk. The core values of this board will continue to govern it. Love your neighbor and be a neighbor others can love.

[DreamStalker]

Great find Pugsy! I vaguely recall when Johnny posted that ... when a herd of thin-skinned control freaks came through demanding moderators and rules and order for the forum (the tone has not changed).

Johnny's post reminded me of Dmitry Orlov's blog posts on anarchy. Not anarchy in the way most people view it as chaotic mayhem for the sake of chaos and violence but rather anarchy as a human system --

"that is to say, non-hierarchical and self-organizing systems are the norm in evolution and in nature and have also been the norm in human societies through much of their existence. They have a great deal to offer us as we attempt to navigate a landscape dominated by the failure of various centrally controlled, rigidly organized, explicitly codified hierarchical systems based on complex chains of command that have come to dominate human societies in recent centuries. And based on recent results from complexity theory, such hierarchical systems are collapse-prone."

In other words, bickering is just human nature. It keeps us alive and motivated towards change in order to adapt and create -- it keeps us from becoming static and stale to the same old redundancy that eventually leads to death and extinction. Imagine if this forum only discussed the same questions over and over again with moderators always providing the same links and comments with the same answers over and over again. It would get boring, people would leave and the forum would die. This forum is alive and it will keep everyone who participates in it alive too.

[jnk...]

Could someone please clarify for me exactly what the off-topic topic of this thread is so that I can better assess how to attempt to accommodate its veering?

[palerider]

Could someone please clarify for me exactly what the off-topic topic of this thread is so that I can better assess how to attempt to accommodate its veering?

well done. (where's the applause emoji?)