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Topics in red are in Anything Goes and may contain mature content. So... You know... Expect the worst.
From my perspective, there are three Mentally Incontinents: Mentally Incontinent the Book, Mentally Incontinent the Concept, and Mentally Incontinent the Community.
MI: the Book strikes me as an exercise in storytelling for the sheer enjoyment of telling stories. I think there is something personal and powerful in a well-told story. The teller's conversational use of language and pacing to share experiences with the listeners (or readers), in a an evocative and natural way, can create a connection and empathy that I think is very lacking in a lot of modern written work, with its mechanical dullness. The stories I've seen that will go into the book seem written to share over a campfire or a pizza, rather than formulaicly shooting for the besteller list (though I would not be surprised if it ends up there anyway).
I see MI: the Concept as being a gathering place for creative writers and readers. It's a place people can peruse what is out there, and try their own hands. The stories and poems and rants and insane manifestos are considered for their own merits on content, readability and entertainment, rather than anal-retentive grammar rules and what somebody else did or didn't write. I think it's a great resource for people who like to read, write, and be read, in a (mostly) non-competetive environment where the point is just to read and write and have fun with both.
MI: the Community seems to be a running social experiment. The question seems to be, what happens when a gathering place for people that share one common interest is run in a laidback manner by common-sense rules, and allowed to evolve naturally with the interests and efforts of its users? The answer is this place, however you interpret it. My interpretation is, MI: the Community is, to a degree, like a family. There are the tight members that mostly stick together, and the close extranuclear relatives that aren't around constantly but show up fairly frequently, and the more distant members that only come around on holidays, and the weird uncles and black sheep that creep you the hell out when they do show up. Like a more traditional family, there are feuds and favorites whether or not they're openly admitted, and what feuds do occur are heated and bitter, but generally all is forgiven after awhile. Unlike a typical family, you're free to get as close or remain as distant as you like, or even to leave altogether if for some reason MI is not for you.
This family seems to be based on the common enjoyment of stories, but also on a common thread of being uncommon... openly. In this community, for whatever reason (possibly following our luckless leader's, er, lead), there seems to be a willingness to be expressive and thoughtful without restraint by rules of 'normal' or 'dignified'. Sure, everyone has their own quirks, but I've never seen any other place where people seemed to so easily let their quirks show. I think it's a good thing, though it can at times lead to friction.
krsitnee wrote:
I am not really all up on the happy lovey theme, because there are people here that I frankly, just don't like.
I do agree with this, but at least for me, that doesn't really change the family view of the Community. In fact I tend to back off and stare at my blood family rather than hang around hugging them and telling them I love them, myself.
Billyonaire wrote:
I don't get the logo.
The border is a speech bubble. * in computerese is a wildcard - that is, a symbol that can stand for one or many unspecified characters. Essentially, the logo indicates rambling on about whatever tangent or idea pops into mind at the time, anything... or at least that's how I see it.
AnimeFan wrote:
*laughs* sorry for the "essay"...
Yours was an essay, AF? Heh. _________________ I took a man to a graveyard. I beg your pardon, it's quite hard enough, just living with the stuff I have learned.
Joined: May 05, 2003 Posts: 7698 Location: Western Washington
Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 6:23 am Post subject:
AF, Shaggy, I loved your responses. About the evolution of this community and its moderatorship, I have one thing to say: This community hardly needs a moderator. We all keep ourselves in check. We moderators are here as more of a formality than anything else. We're sort of the "just in case" first aid kit you keep in the trunk or glove compartment of your car but hardly ever use.
I find MI to be a big family that I've grown attached to. I've been here from the beginning and even take credit for the "forum boom" as well as many of the traditions we currently employ (custom titles and voting), and I must say that every part of it has been a blast. We have something here that all other communities lack, but I can't place a finger on it. Maybe it's because we embrace the oddities. Maybe it's because everyone is generally easy-going. I personally think it's a subliminal message implanted into each and every one of Joe's stories. Then again, I also think Joe is nothing more than an experimental phpNuke module. <-- See? This is the only place I know of where I can say something like that and not be considered crazy and/or not feel the wrath of any admins and/or start flame wars.
Joe is the drug dealer who gives you your first hit, but the community is the addictive drug that keeps coming. And I'm not ready for rehab yet. _________________ Help me GoogleBomb for Joe's publicity!
Joined: May 31, 2005 Posts: 548 Location: Anywhere
Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 7:41 am Post subject:
homncruse wrote:
Joe is the drug dealer who gives you your first hit, but the community is the addictive drug that keeps coming. And I'm not ready for rehab yet.
What a great way to describe Joe! See, most drugs end up leading people to horrible lifestyles, sickness, death, and just terrible terrible things... ^.^;; _________________ "Heavenly wine and roses/Seem to aspire to me/When you smile."
-"Sweet Jane" - Cowboy Junkies
Zarf "...if she showed up naked at my door with a pizza..."
Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 356 Location: Cleveland
Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 7:30 pm Post subject:
I originally came to this site via link to the motherboard from hell story. I only joined because I ran out of stories to read and I needed more things to print for bathroom runs.
Then one day I found the forums. As you can tell from my count I'm not much of a forum poster kind of person. That probably comes from the other site I visit regularly to read the boards. That site is very closed minded most of the time and while it has been a resource for technical information for me I think I have posted 3 times in 2 years because it isn't worth it. What I like here is that the posters seem to be fairly mature and open minded. I find that I am hanging out here more and more during the day.
The thing that surprised me most though is the age group that seems to participate here. At first my impression was that it was a much older community but based on many of the discussions I've been reading lately the ages are quite varied.
So to finish this meandering randomness I consider a post I see this site mostly as an entertainment site to waste some time that has a "homey" feel to it that most other sites haven't been able to capture.
Oops almost forgot. When I joined, I was really impressed to get a welcome message from Joe. I know that it might be silly but that really made me feel welcome as opposed to an automated "Thanks for joining" message.
Joined: Feb 07, 2002 Posts: -21469 Location: Atlanta, GA
Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:41 pm Post subject:
homncruse wrote:
Hehe, same here
And why do I have a feeling Joe is just fishing for quotes to put into the book?
Haha, not quite. I was actually looking for an explaination for what the site is. It's been a LONG while since I updated the FAQ's or the "What is Mentally Incontinent?" link that new users see, and I decided it would prob. be best to just let the people who are part of it answer that question.
The call for quotes will be coming soon enough, though
Joined: Jul 03, 2005 Posts: 69 Location: Leeds, England
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 12:00 am Post subject:
Mentally Incontinent = Brilliant.
'nuff said.
Well, actually, that's not enough. I think that it emcompasses the utter delight of relaying obscure tales to your friends, regardless of how incredibly embarassing the tales may be or whether your friends are total strangers somewhere across the world. Which neatly brings me onto the next point, which is just how personally involved you feel when you read the stories. You don't have to know Joe to share in the wonderful accidents and stories of his life. You can almost smell the waffles and coffee as he explains just how he ended up with nipple rings. Stellar stuff.
As for the community, I haven't been her long enough to say, but it seems really warm and welcoming so far.
For me, Mentally Incontinent is just something that anyone and everyone can be a part of, whether being a deeply involved mod or forum junkie, or just someone randomly clicking (how I stumbled onto here, heh...) and getting a laugh. It's ace. _________________ Real Emo Kids Kill Themselves
Joined: Jan 06, 2005 Posts: 692 Location: University Place, Washington
Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 10:39 pm Post subject:
Mentally Incontinent is a place for people to be themselves in public, whitout the fear of being judged for who they are or what they believe. People here can express their feelings to others, without having to be embarresed or think that they are stupid for it. The general public of MentallyIncontinent are your average people, from those who go to school, to those who love hot-dogs with a passion. Each person has their own unique way of expressing their thoughts; some decide to write stories, some post in the forums, and others lurk the IRC channel; but in the end, it all comes together to make one great community of people who are different, but yet all share one vision of a place where people can be themselves without having to fear being catorgorized or judged by who they are. MentallyIncontinent is a community and book run by the members, chosen by the members, and made great by the members, and would be nowhere close to where it is today without those members.
Lady_Stardust Super Hip Norwegian Pyromaniac Chick (Moderator)
Joined: Jul 21, 2004 Posts: 6762 Location: The land of the midnight sun (Norway!)
Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 4:29 pm Post subject:
Home is where the heart is, usually. This is a home for our minds. We can rant on about anything and everyone we want to, we can tell each others to fuck off if we want to, and mostly it's easily forgiven and forgotten about.
It's a place where you're free. _________________ This calls for a delicate blend of psychology and extreme violence.
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