The humble beginnings of

...by Princess Buttercup

Intro

Hope this clears up any confusion/controversy of how-and-when-and-why #Mississippi-Lite started. (Obviously the "no-ops" idea didn't survive, but that's okay -- I'm glad the name did!)

PrButtercup

Just wanted to go on the record with something before anyone beats me the punch!!! :-)

There seems to be a lot of controversy these days about the function of "ops" -- about what's "okay" to say in the channel, when and how it's "okay" to "scold" someone, or kick them, or ban them or whatever...

I'm an AOL refugee, as a lot of you know, and I've been doing this chat thang for quite a while now. I have my own style of chatting which is *HEAVILY* based on humor! (Well, I try anyway!) I personally don't like BLATANT sexual references, but innuendo, double entendre, and blatant SILLINESS are just fine with me! The thing is, I like to make up my OWN mind about what I choose to say. I don't think I've offended many (if any) people with what I've said online. But I support OTHER people making up THEIR own minds about what THEY choose to say too!!!

Recently I was given "op" status in the #Mississippi channel. I hadn't seriously sought that -- it started as a joke (big surprise -- Pr was joking around again!) I was in the channel one night with Uaru and Zorn and BadJimmy (all of whom had ops at the time) and I remarked that I was the only person in there with no @ by my name, and had "op envy!" Next thing I knew, the prospect of getting me ops for real was being discussed! I was flattered, and thought that would be pretty kewl after all.

I realized that once I became an op, I would be in a position to kick and ban folks from the channel. Since no one ever gave me the "OP HANDBOOK," I figured that such actions would be at my own discretion. Let me state right here what I would kick/ban someone from the channel for:

1. threatening another person
2. maliciously damaging another person's reputation, and
3. hateful language aimed at another person or group of people (racist, etc.)

I agree with what Uaru said, that "the flow of dialog is very unpredictable" and that an "open mind will be necessary." I don't think that's something we need to be afraid of tho -- I think the diversity and unpredictability are what makes this all so much fun!

I will NOT kick/ban/scold someone who annoys me, makes jokes that I don't find funny, doesn't ROFL at MY jokes, or doesn't bow to me when I come into the room (and hey, I'm not only an Op, I'm a PRINCESS!) If I don't like what you have to say, I may argue with you, tell you I don't like what you said, refuse to LOL at your jokes, write you a nasty msg, not talk to you, not give you any {{{ hugs }}} when I see you, or slap you with a low-fat-trout-substitute.

I guess when the powers-that-be read this, I'll find out one way or the other whether that's an acceptable op attitude (look and see if I'm @PrButtercup or just PrButtercup next time I'm online for the answer to that question!) :-)

Anyway... (sorry this is so long, are you still reading this?!) The reason I'm writing this letter is that something happened the other nite, and I've been accused of sitting on the fence about it. My good friend Kafkaesque, got banned from the #Mississippi channel for an hour. What he was banned for, wasn't exactly clear to me. Some theories that I've heard, include: being disrepectful to the op on duty, offending that particualar ops' ego, "constantly" arguing with the op publicly, having a bad attitude about ops in general, and a veiled reference to "filth." I was present for the whole episode, and I didn't see any filth whatsover. There was plenty of innuendo and silliness (by people OTHER than Kafka, I might add!) In fact, one of the female ops was cyber-sitting on one of the male ops' laps at one point!

I've already made MY postion clear in this letter on the subject of kicking/banning/scolding, so I think it goes without saying that *I* wouldn't condone such a banning. I didn't think it would be appropriate or productive to make a speech about it then and there, although those who were in private messages with me at the time knew how I felt about it!

What I DID do, was create another channel (something KAFKA had suggested to me on a previous occasion -- don't worry, Kaf, your royalty check is in the mail!) The channel is #Mississippi-LITE. It's an "op-less" channel (yeah, technically I have ops since I created it, but I de-op myself when I go in!) EVERYONE is welcome there, and I certainly DON'T want folks with a differing opinion about ops to feel like they're NOT welcome -- just don't expect anyone to get kicked/banned for speaking their mind, or using "offensive" language! I'm not speaking for anyone else here, but *I* never intended this channel to take the place of #Mississippi. I very much enjoy the folks I've met in here, and hope I haven't alienated anyone. (I've been accused of kissing butt for saying stuff like that, but hey, I'm a grad student in Public Relations -- I can't help it!!!) Just like some of y'all hang out on both Undernet and DalNet, this is just another place for folks to gather, where humor and lite-hearted chat are the order of the day.

Well, I hope the dialog about op-etiquette will continue, and in the meantime, I hope y'all come and check out the #Mississippi-LITE channel...

(Warning for all you calorie-conscious folks: unlike lite-beer, #Mississippi-LITE has just as many calories as regular #Mississippi! hehehe...)

Your cyber-pal,

PrButtercup

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MINDS ARE LIKE PARACHUTES -- THEY ONLY FUNCTION WHEN OPEN!
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