Typophile - The Digital Curtain -or- Will you stop staring please and say something?! - Comments

“Norbert, I don’t

Norbert Florendo — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 21:32:16 -0700

“Norbert, I don’t believe any of us should engage in silence or fawning to attract/keep people; it’s much better if we share what’s on our minds openly… just like you’ve done here! :-)”

I agree Hrant.
All that being said, Typophile does seem to have the best Forum for exchanging info, ideas, exploration, research and plain old feelings about type forms and typography. If anything, this topic did evoke first posts by new members and shamed a few visitors to become members.

I guess I’ll move on to the next interesting topic.

——————————————————
Yes, I’m old, but I’m back in style!

Norbert, I don’t believe

hrant — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 14:20:19 -0700

Norbert, I don’t believe any of us should engage in silence or fawning to attract/keep people; it’s much better if we share what’s on our minds openly... just like you’ve done here! :-)

Nick, the quality of discussion on any forum ebbs and flows; we just need to avoid a massive ebb that might cripple Typophile (especially since it’s the best type board, ever). And I think the current ebb here started some time before the redesign, maybe even almost a year ago; if anything, the redesign should help.

hhp

IMHO, “lurking” is a

Nick Shinn — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 13:47:41 -0700

IMHO, “lurking” is a misnomer.
You might just as well call the regular posters “grandstanders”.
It’s like you’re at a party, and does everyone have to be the life and soul of it?
Of course not.

Also, there are a number of forums that one may want to get involved with, but their complexion changes constantly. I often check out design observer or speak up, but I rarely feel sufficiently in the groove to get involved with a thread.

Since the redesign, I’m having resertvations about Typophile. Sure, some new features are cool, but the topics seem a bit light. I put it down to the absence of being able to post visuals directly into thread.

For some reason I decided to

Norbert Florendo — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 13:30:13 -0700

For some reason I decided to read this topic and I’m actually sorry I did.

I’ve been a member for only 5 days and found that the community is generally helpful, open to share ideas, opions, recipes, bad puns, &c.
Of the several key forums devoted to typography, Typophile’s seems to be the most active, topics and comments added several times each hour.

I’m a member of two other type forums and there’s far less activity that I hardly visit them anymore.

I’m also a member of about five other forums and post to two of them several times a month. One of them has 157,000 members, the other has 2,557,000 members. You can imagine the amount or unregistered “lurkers” they have.

The only reason I post is to try and learn something, and the only reason I reply is to try and share what I know. Forums are one of the best and most up-to-date informational resources available anywhere. Millions of people seek advice and/or information from “experts” in Forums daily whether they post or not.

Get over it! Stop pissing and moaning about who should see what and how long they get a peek. Forums should remain open for all to read though members have additional privileges and access to a smaller “Members Only” area. That’s the way the best Forums run.

If there were a “Members Only” Read & Post area on Typophile, that is where this topic belongs. The IMHO the public should not see us pissing & moaning. Rants and flaming will scare any novice away from posting or even joining.

Keep this crap up and I will take my Typographic Ball somewhere else where members, guests and lurkers are all respected.

BTH- Hi Joffre, long time since we had a beer!

I was looking around the

mica — Mon, 6 Jun 2005 11:04:47 -0700

I was looking around the Typowiki over the weekend, and noticed that the “Who’s Online” appears on the wiki as well (not sure if this has always been the case). I reckon that with this new resource, more web searches find their way to Typophile directly to the wiki, and possibly these guests haven’t yet made it over to the forums.

this thread gave me that

amyp — Tue, 24 May 2005 16:05:06 -0700

this thread gave me that well-needed nudge to dig up the email i received at the beginning of the month and log on with my new password. how lazy can you get? i guess i’m one of those lurker/members...thanks for dragging me back onto the dancefloor!

You should instead spend

johnbutler — Tue, 24 May 2005 12:53:59 -0700

You should instead spend more energy making useful posts.

And you should follow your own advice!

> The only “people” is

hrant — Tue, 24 May 2005 12:43:36 -0700

> The only “people” is you, Hrant

But that’s mainly because I spearhead the rejection of your politics. Trust me, I’m not the only person who thinks you no longer use Typophile properly. If you don’t realize that your posts to this thread (and really the bulk of your posts in the past two years or so), mostly serve to make you look bad, then you really need to be paying more attention, instead of digging a deeper trench.

> You called lurkers “parasitic.”

Only the stalkers.
Not the people who simply don’t feel up to participating.
Those (like Marnie until now) I’d like to encourage to post.

> You insult Emigre regularly.

1) This is false. Back when they were persecuting me, I was not gentle with them. But since 2002 I’ve been as nice as is reasonable. When I note their -thankfully past- vigilantism, or when I point out that Mrs Eaves is poorly spaced -generally adding that its black forms are however very nice- that’s not insulting, that’s constructive criticism.
2) What does that have to do with anything? Is Emigre a sacrosanct religion?

> I can count dozens of type designers who won’t go near this place because of you and Bill

Ah, the classic escapism. Just see what happened to Typo-L when I left for the sole purpose of proving I was not the problem (nor the solution). The problem is not having a spine, and blaming a scapegoat for your own weakness.

> This is my way of answering it.

You should instead spend more energy making useful posts.
Ignore me freely, please. But ignore your own reality at your own risk.

hhp

It’s sad -clearly a loss

johnbutler — Tue, 24 May 2005 11:13:17 -0700

It’s sad -clearly a loss to Typophile- that these days you only unlurk to strike people -and Typophile- down.

The only “people” is you, Hrant, and it’s always in response to you slagging off someone else. You began this whole thread. You called lurkers “parasitic.” You insult Emigre regularly. I can count dozens of type designers who won’t go near this place because of you and Bill, largely. (And probably more and more because of me too, the more I get embroiled in this.) Typophile is a great resource when the threads don’t get derailed by insults. So yes, when I catch you insulting someone, I might just feel like delurking and firing back. The hostility was here before I got here. This is my way of answering it.

Case in point: you have more interest in my politics than anyone else. You’re the only one who ever brings it up, always to discredit me, and you don’t even know half of my politics to begin with. You really don’t know anything about me, but that’s never stopped you from constructing a caricature to argue with. Over and over.

I quite like Typophile and read it regularly. I would post more if I weren’t so busy with work. I would encourage lurkers to lurk all they want and absorb all they can, and post when they do have something to say. Certainly don’t feel uncomfortable lurking. Hell, take pleasure in it...

we’re just glad to know

paul d hunt — Tue, 24 May 2005 11:13:14 -0700

we’re just glad to know that there are more of us that share the affliction of typophilism.

Hi Marnie! hhp

hrant — Tue, 24 May 2005 11:06:47 -0700

Hi Marnie!

hhp

Welcome Marnie. ChrisL

dezcom — Tue, 24 May 2005 10:59:58 -0700

Welcome Marnie.

ChrisL

Just thought I would say

marnie — Tue, 24 May 2005 10:53:16 -0700

Just thought I would say hello. Long time reader, first time poster :)

Marnie

Do-o-o-h! Yes Paul, I kinda,

dezcom — Tue, 24 May 2005 10:37:57 -0700

Do-o-o-h!

Yes Paul, I kinda, heh, heh, blew it :-)

ChrisL

John, along with the

hrant — Tue, 24 May 2005 09:54:21 -0700

John, along with the passionate posts you ended up not sending, you used to actually make passionate posts too. It’s sad -clearly a loss to Typophile- that these days you only unlurk to strike people -and Typophile- down. Quite perplexingly, I think much of that is due to your political views (mostly related to this Iraq war) being strongly and publically rejected by most of your design colleagues, causing you to feel unwelcome.* To be fair though, it’s certainly hard to keep a cool, objective head in such an environment. But please note that I think I’m managing with William, so I hope eventually you’ll start unlurking to contribute quality, not flames.

* I hope you’re not waiting for WMDs to suddenly show up, or for the US military-industrial complex to suddenly become benign...

hhp

The Digital Curtain -or- Will you stop staring please and say something?!

hrant — Thu, 19 May 2005 16:00:11 -0700

There seems to consistently be like 20-40 lurkers for every registered user at any given moment... What does that mean? How many closet type geeks can there be out there?! And/or how many Famous Designers who can’t help reading the content but don’t want to reveal that they do. On other lists (which admittedly however do require registration to read at all) the proportion of “hidden” users tends to be quite small. Wassup?

hhp