At 7 pm on the dot, L. Phillips said it out loud.
Is it just me, or did both of today’s threads go straight to hell in a handcart?
It wasn’t just him. I watched it happen. I was as much a part of it as anyone else, although it struck me when we went from trucker music to Jerry Reed. Ordinarily, it happens with comments where someone goes off on a tangent, frequently an exceptionally stupid tangent, which then gives rise to a discussion about the exceptionally stupid tangent, which leaves SJ as the locus of an exceptionally stupid tangential discussion. That wasn’t what I had in mind when I wrote the post.
But now it’s happening with music videos, which has the virtue of being more enjoyable to listen to, but as blatantly reflected in the comments to the post, are no less likely to spiral into oblivion, squeeze out the room for thought and leave SJ looking like the worst thread ever posted on reddit. Again, that wasn’t what I had in mind when I wrote the post.
So it’s time to drop the hammer because this is not the way it was supposed to happen. New rules are that Guitardave and Howl get to post a music video if they choose, because I like them better than you, and the rest of us, myself included. will stick to substance. Comments about alt covers of the music will be trashed. Music videos by other commenters will be generally trashed, absent some extremely good reason for special dispensation.
I know it’s fun for many of us. I know you like it. I know it’s an easy way to participate without fear that you’ll say something stupid and get ripped a new asshole. Sorry, but it went off the rails (or into a ditch, according to your metaphorical preference) and took over. A little was cool. Too much is not. Now it’s done.