More Travel and Dining Expenses for "Bowdlerizing Brigham"?

[huckelberry]

Without MG this is all that is left.

Try reading some other threads. If you're only reading topics about DCP and ones that mg comments in, you're missing some very interesting discussions.

You have a good point there Marcus.

[drumdude]

Is MG gone?

[Marcus]

Is MG gone?

For the umpteenth time. For 20 years on this board he has repeatedly checked in, commented that this is an echo chamber or silo or whatever the then-current slang called it. He then says, no really! he's here for real discussion! Eventually he starts inserting judgmental comments about non-LDS people into every thread, and then gets offended when his behavior is noted. This culminates in a stomp-off done with significant but clearly fake emotion, in which he implies that we will all, eventually, rue the day we didn't follow the Smith way. Rinse and repeat.

This time however, there was something a little new. He became enamored with AI, and allowed his good little robot brain to answer for him in multiple threads. The result was an utter mishmash of reversals, opposing opinions, and outright wrongness. in my opinion, it takes more than the average AI to capture the bizarre nature of bic (born in the covenant) Mormon thought, and he was too lazy of a troll to follow up with corrections. Besides, how do you train a hallucinating AI to speak "mormonese" ? Logic took a backseat and, at least for him, shaved carrot in green jello reigned.

Eventually he stated that it wasn't fun anymore to have his trolling called out as trolling, as he preferred the old days when he could troll without it being identified as such. (That last part is me. All he actually said was "It's not fun anymore")

I know you know this, but for the sake of mentalgymnast's imaginary 'lurkers', I thought it warranted a write up.

[drumdude]

Is MG gone?

For the umpteenth time. For 20 years on this board he has repeatedly checked in, commented that this is an echo chamber or silo or whatever the then-current slang called it. He then says, no really! he's here for real discussion! Eventually he starts inserting judgmental comments about non-LDS people into every thread, and then gets offended when his behavior is noted. This culminates in a stomp-off done with significant but clearly fake emotion, in which he implies that we will all, eventually, rue the day we didn't follow the Smith way. Rinse and repeat.

This time however, there was something a little new. He became enamored with AI, and allowed his good little robot brain to answer for him in multiple threads. The result was an utter mishmash of reversals, opposing opinions, and outright wrongness. in my opinion, it takes more than the average AI to capture the bizarre nature of bic (born in the covenant) Mormon thought, and he was too lazy of a troll to follow up with corrections. Besides, how do you train a hallucinating AI to speak "mormonese" ? Logic took a backseat and, at least for him, shaved carrot in green jello reigned.

Eventually he stated that it wasn't fun anymore to have his trolling called out as trolling, as he preferred the old days when he could troll without it being identified as such. (That last part is me. All he actually said was "It's not fun anymore")

I know you know this, but for the sake of mentalgymnast's imaginary 'lurkers', I thought it warranted a write up.

I have a feeling he’ll be back!

[Marcus]

For the umpteenth time. For 20 years on this board he has repeatedly checked in, commented that this is an echo chamber or silo or whatever the then-current slang called it. He then says, no really! he's here for real discussion! Eventually he starts inserting judgmental comments about non-LDS people into every thread, and then gets offended when his behavior is noted. This culminates in a stomp-off done with significant but clearly fake emotion, in which he implies that we will all, eventually, rue the day we didn't follow the Smith way. Rinse and repeat.

This time however, there was something a little new. He became enamored with AI, and allowed his good little robot brain to answer for him in multiple threads. The result was an utter mishmash of reversals, opposing opinions, and outright wrongness. in my opinion, it takes more than the average AI to capture the bizarre nature of bic (born in the covenant) Mormon thought, and he was too lazy of a troll to follow up with corrections. Besides, how do you train a hallucinating AI to speak "mormonese" ? Logic took a backseat and, at least for him, shaved carrot in green jello reigned.

Eventually he stated that it wasn't fun anymore to have his trolling called out as trolling, as he preferred the old days when he could troll without it being identified as such. (That last part is me. All he actually said was "It's not fun anymore")

I know you know this, but for the sake of mentalgymnast's imaginary 'lurkers', I thought it warranted a write up.

I have a feeling he’ll be back!

Couldn't agree more.

[Gadianton]

Um yeahh...

People lacking in self-awareness don't travel from A to B in a straight line. This isn't purely a criticism, as from an evolutionary standpoint, it would seem that lacking self-awareness has some major advantages. I don't trust the reasons he states for his actions. His style of throw fit over treatment, as Marcus mentions, has been common over the years, but yet is one tool among many to get his way, and one that gets rotated when it doesn't work.

MG spends a lot of time here, and it is quite the keyboard marathon for him when he posts, as he often responds to a dozen threads at a time. I absolutely do believe he got exhausted trying to keep up with his replies across many threads. He had issues controlling his impulses. Knowing that we were here disrespecting his religious authorities angered him deeply. Not sure if I recommended this to him, but I have to others like him: I've advised to pick one topic and do a little research before responding, and ignore everything else. Doubt it will happen.

His manner of posting just isn't sustainable. So what's really happening here is he's getting burned out. Fair enough. But, he's unable to correct this and post sustainably. And he does understand this. He'll take a break, come back, and then take another break, but this one is shorter. He's unable to resist putting his two-cents in every thread. And two cents is greatly exaggerating the value of the contribution in most cases. He could perhaps do better, but he's frantic, and wears his desperation on his sleeve.

Because he lacks the discipline to better control his posting, and because he lacks self-awareness, he must create an external circumstance that forces him to stop. And so that's what we're seeing. Instead of saying, "hey you know what, this is killing me, I need to spend more time doing other things so I'm out of here" he must dig down deep and imagine an set of ultimate grievances that prevent him from continuing. A bridge too far. But once he gets things taken care of he needed to focus on in life and finds himself rested and bored, especially on a Sunday as his religion isn't particularly edifying, he'll likely be back.

[Limnor]

My guess is he has never really left, but the allure of battle has not yet drawn him once more into the breach as the self-appointed lone defender of the faith in this arena. It must be exhausting feeling compelled to answer every issue, no matter how small.

[I Have Questions]

Without MG this is all that is left.

Your experience on this board is devoid of all meaning without MG? Are you for real? Here’s a thought…put some effort in yourself! Stop being lazy. Start a thread about a topic you personally think is interesting.

[malkie]

Without MG this is all that is left.

Your experience on this board is devoid of all meaning without MG? Are you for real? Here’s a thought…put some effort in yourself! Stop being lazy. Start a thread about a topic you personally think is interesting.

I'd be OK to see MG disappear from the collective conscious of the board. If I'm not mistaken, at least in Terrestrial, this is the first mention of MG since he "left". That suggests to me that there's not a huge volume of "please come back" feeling here. Of course, it may simply be that huckelberry is the first to express feelings that are generally experienced but not mentioned.

There was a time when I could have argued that his contribution to the board was a net positive, but it's been a while since I felt that I could defend that view.

[Doctor Scratch]

I haven't checked all that closely--so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong--but it would seem that the discussion of menu choices has disappeared during the latest travel expedition. Why is that, I wonder? Is it due to embarrassment? I.e., because, once again, the dietary choices are things like chocolate milkshakes, burgers, fish and chips, and other junk foods? Or is it because the food actually is somewhat "luxurious" and he fears that admitting to this will alienate his core readership?

In any case, it seems clear at this point that his inclusion of the details of his comped food choices during the latest "BB" filming spree was quite a miscalculation.