First, read this (rather lengthy but excellent) comic.
I agree with a great deal of what is said there about the creative process. Sadly, I’m a bit more obsessive than the artist is–I do try to have something up every day, or nearly so. (Which, when you see his example of “if I had to produce a new comic every single day, this is what would happen”, now explains quite a bit about the lack of quality control here at the Digital Cuttlefish.)
But that’s not what I’m talking about today.
Even further down the comic… the talk about comments.
Anyway, I just wanted to say a sincere thank you, to all my readers and commenters, for not being typical of commentary on the internet. Hey, part of what I do is read the comments at news and opinion sites, and then write about that commentary. Sure, part of the difference in comment quality might be due to the nature of the topics… but it isn’t. I don’t much like reading about the sorts of things I don’t write about. I don’t write about, say, celebrity pop culture, so I don’t get into those sorts of squabbles. I don’t write about sports, because I’m a Cleveland Browns fan. And of course, people who don’t like stuff written in verse have all the rest of Freethought Blogs to read from without clicking on my site, so I don’t even get a lot of style haters. I write about atheism, skepticism, nature, science, love, politics…. and I have seen what the comments look like on news sites (CNN, FOX, etc.) on these topics.
So, yes, thank you all, for being the best group of readers/commenters I could possibly hope for. And thanks, also, to The Oatmeal, for reminding me of what it’s like in the rest of the interwebs.
Well, you’re the only writing cuttlefish I know of, not to mention digitally, so I stay polite (or in lurk mode) just to make sure I don’t end the world by pissing you off with some stupid piece of text and starting the inevitable cephalopod invasion too soon.
Also, thank you for writing, because you are a fine example of what every literate and digital cuttlefish should strive for.
And I love your poetry.
*Blush*
Always glad to be of service.
I actually admire/envy your rhyming ability (and free verse strikes me a playing tennis without the net). My own abilities are in the mechanical/logical/mathematical region and versifying about 1.5 on a scale of 10 (I can, with difficulty, write a satisfactory limerick.)
Keep up the good verse.
Well your beloved Browns are crushing my Steelers like bug as I write, so, um, yooor stooopid! So there. I’m just gonna peel that cuttlefish off the back of my car. Pbpbpbhthththbtthhtt.
The Browns? And the Browns are doing what? Wow, really?
OK, that all distracted me from the actual post content. Of which I must say, in the general, despite the purported lack of quality control, is always quite excellent.
it does seem as if I have seen comments on some web sites deteriorate almost that quickly. The only thing missing was a “Godwin”.
It’s tough not to snap back at people online if they push buttons (which they may not even realise they’re doing) and I’ve found myself being less than patient with comments, resulting in few comments. So, yes, appreciation of what we have and hopefully to maintaining a welcome standard.
If not for you, Dear Cuttlefish, we wouldn’t be us. Or, sumpin’ like that.
What I most enjoy is that your gratitude seems to first come ’round from us. It then is returned to us in such delightful form that it is curved back, almost gravitationally, like a cometary orbit.
The trajectory describes a graceful and appealing ellipse. At one foci, dwells the shy cephalopod. At the other, readers grateful, moved and smiling.
Altogether a lovely pattern that repeats at multiple levels and scales which, when discovered, inform and teach.
May such orbits continue and may their precessions remain graceful and fascinating, creating ever more complex and satisfying forms.
(hhmmmm . . . cognitive spirography? sure, why not?)
This post is good but not as good as Beiber. BEIBS 4 EVER!!!