After all the hoo-hah yesterday in which some valid criticisms were made - albeit rather too bluntly in some cases - we find business as usual with three Smithys (one deservedly so) on the front page and back-slaps all around for having supposedly fended off the latest 'flounce' attack, with not one iota of analysis or introspection regarding the points raised. Shame. This whole cult of mutual congratulation and fawning adulation, seemingly irrespective of the quality of the material, does little to prevent some of you from appearing more than a bit 'weird' to the outside world, and has made what should be a great communal website an increasingly boring and frustrating place to frequent. And not a particularly funny one at that (though both Newsthump and the Daily Mash seem also to have lost their edge of late).
Maybe it's me - to be fair I don't like the Beatles and fail to see why anyone would want a cat as a pet, so I'm quite used to being at odds with the mindset of the general populace - but most of the stuff I posted here was largely ignored for whatever reason. Not enough whimsy and bad puns perhaps? Or perhaps just not funny. I don't know, but after a while it becomes simply not worth the effort.
Anyway, for what it's worth, I reckon a few of you could do to take some of this criticism on board, and maybe take a few steps back from all the mutually generated, self-replicating hype that's already spoiled this site and has no doubt driven away many a visitor and potential contributor. And I know I'm not the only one on here who feels this way.
This is not a cry for attention (unlike the post which started this thread a year or so ago), nor a bunch of sour grapes - just my two pence worth in what should be an important debate, if you value the collective creative process that is. Anyway, good luck with it all, have fun, and if you're ever in Lincoln look me up for a pint.
Cheerio
Darryl
