So, if I'm following correctly, a therapist recommended a set period of crafting every day would come under the heading of recreational therapy? Huh.

Here's one I read a few weeks ago. Unfuck Your Habitat on the Depression/Messy House Cycle. Her thing is trying to motivate people to clean stuff, so if you're not in a place to have someone try to get you to clean stuff, I'd avoid reading it. I find her brand of plainspoken encouragement with lots of swearing and understanding that everyone has different levels of activity they can stand/achieve really lovely.

Tangenting from SMQ and TRiG's comments, while public arguments about specific mod rulings are not something I'll advocate for, a clear policy on how static/flexible the rules are, how often they may be revisited, and how they may be changed, if they're changed at all, would be nice. "We'll look at how these work in October, with a week or two for open discussion on problems or changes," for example, or, "We're not going to change Policies Zebra and Cobra because they keep us sane, but we can revisit/revise Octopus if it doesn't work." I am used to Slacktiverse throwing open group discussions of rules and community norms, tossing things around, then having a vote at the end. Is that going to apply to the new policies going forward, or not, or was this clarified somewhere and I missed it like the little boy who reads too fast?

@Anonymus Thank you! I'd found the latter two but not the first one. *reads*

I haven't been checking in much recently, but heard that there were new things in the wind. If someone has a moment, where can I find the community discussion of the new rules that went into effect? I'd like to read the decision making process. I'm a bit alarmed, but I hate judging something before knowing how it was made or what it will be like in effect. SMQ said, "In this community you three are acting from a position of privilege. And while it's a privilege you could set aside entirely by stepping down, it's not something you can set aside situationally--the Mod Hat can't be used that way." And it saddens me, because the whole reason I suggested the modhat account in the first place, a long time ago, was to try to make that destinction. It doesn't seem to have worked. I'll save constructive suggestions for after I've caught up on the reading.

Like Nick Kiddle, a lot of my earliest telling-stories-to-myself involved characters I stole from fiction. Batman invading the giant castle of pit traps and darkness, for example, or fairy tale princesses getting sick of their castles and princes and running off to beat Robin Hood at his own game. The dark lord winning, because logically speaking he was far more powerful and him winning was much more likely. I really enjoyed worldbuilding at that age, but didn't have a very good grasp of characters-as-other-people, because I didn't really grasp other people having their own internal worlds. These days, I enjoy writing fanfiction in the same way I enjoy writing a story from a very limited viewpoint, or a poem of fixed form. The limitations are enjoyable. I would be uncomfortable sharing a piece of fanfiction, though I'm not sure if I could say why I would feel that discomfort. I enjoy reading fanfiction that is self-aware, that acknowledges that the original work has a certain structure and logic, and then either subverts or obeys that structure.

I've actually believed that every single one of the trolls so far was operating in good faith and would not, just to choose real examples, defend the c-word, use the c-word, address the bulk of their complaints at the female moderators instead of the male author, freely admit they were just trying to harass prudes. I have been very disappointed. I have also had it illustrated to me that I am not a very good judge of who is engaging in good faith and who is engaged in wearing their rear end on their head. I've tried to draw back and stop engaging at the first tangible proof of Yes This Is A Troll, and only start engaging if someone else started engaging first, on the principle of 'maybe their troll detector is better than mine.'

In personal finance nerd-circles, a running joke about how to build the best possible credit score is 'don't need the money.' Pay your bills on time. Don't use your credit lines. Save for emergencies. Don't lend money to relatives in trouble. It all relates back to rule zero.

@Froborr: This? *reads* This is awesome.

Awesome! Somehow I managed to watch lots of the various shows without ever digging into 'wait, how'd that happen?' I should really watch DS9 sometime. I am extremely likely to enjoy any show involving space stations.

Huh. Why do people in Star Trek work, if not for rewards of some sort? Are they all in it for the excitement, chance for death and possible later fame?

It's my understanding that it's common with a /lot/ of chain restaurants do the cooking offsite and microwave things onsite. I believe it relates not just to price but also to food safety regulations and trying to get all the food at all their franchise to taste the same. I suppose it might help with abiding by calorie labeling on menus, too? I have no idea, anecdata. Someone with mild celiac something recently joined my workplace, but happily they aren't too bothered by cross-contamination so we can include them in the office taking-turns-feeding-each-other-baked-goods by doing more flourless cakes. (Chocolate. Mmmm.)

The internet informs me that tuna is also a sort of cactus! I have learned something today (found here, in amongst a lot of people disagreeing about this very question).

Maybe English was worried that people would assume tuna was a sort of flightless bird, so it decided to be helpful?

@hapax Thinking about TBAT reviewing it is part of why it's been half-finished for *counts* two months? mmy suggested in one of the first conversations I participated in actively here that Slacktiverse would enjoy digging into the ethics and culture of writing/authoring/publishing/academic publishing perhaps in particular. My company sells mainly to professors/teachers and librarians and *expansive hand gestures* intimidating. Right now I have a lot of thoughts but not much of a central point. I'm working on it. I do desperately want to see what all y'all think about it, so if I have to start the conversation myself, I will put on my Controlling The Conversation hat and do so. o_o

Pickles! I'm involved in both self publishing and traditional publishing circles and I really want to riff off of: Actually, I Like My Traditional Publisher or “You Leave My Dill Pickle Alone!” There's a lot of conflict and change there and it's all very interesting, it just isn't religion/politics/social justice, or at least my take in it isn't, right now.

@Jason I find myself only half-understanding most of the Paganism articles, especially the Wheel of the Year. Then I feel awkward because I am pretty sure I'm Pagan too, and isn't there a rule? (There is not a rule. I wish there was. Rules are wonderful, in my opinion.) I guess - you could ask? I don't know that there's a community consensus against 'hey, I actually have no idea what you're talking about, book recommendations?' I think mmy did some of those on philosophy the other day. There was gleeful hand rubbing, if I remember rightly. I have a half-drafted post on publishing and ebooks and pickles that I don't really think would fit in here, but I might post it on a blog and submit it to the blogaround. I also have a half-drafted post on relativism, because I think we could have an awesome conversation about that and about the nature of belief. I think that one actually would fit really well. I don't have any half-drafted posts on social justice because my views on social justice are short: 'so, gay marriage in Washington: cool.' One day, these might become fully drafted posts. I hope so.

@Jason I have very much enjoyed your comments over the years. On the subject of what conversations have been coming up, that does seem like something one can change? That is, it is not something over which we have no control. For example, we've spent the last month discussing trolling and going through this big thing with a subsection of the online New Atheist community, but I doubt that Slacktiverse is going to change its subtitle to 'arguing about what constitutes trolling since Jan '12.' The directions of discussion can trend one way, or another, and then veer back the other way for a few months, it seems to me. So, what do you want to talk about that hasn't been getting enough coverage?

@TRiG That story is fabulous. I wish I had a story as great as that, but most of the calls we get at work go two ways: "Hi, do you have Book X?" "Yes." "I want it." "Sure!" or "Do you have Book Y?" "No, I think you're thinking about a different company with a similar name that went out of business a decade ago." "Oh. Darn. Are you sure?" "Pretty sure, yeah."

If I know someone well enough, I'll offer a hug. If I don't, I'll offer an internet-style hot beverage of choice. I used to offer hugs to all, but got into the habit of beverages once I became 'net friends with someone for whom 'net hugs were an unwelcome invasion of her personal space. Sometimes, often, when life is challenging, I just like knowing that there are people out there who are decent, who don't assume that all problems can be solved with ~willpower~.

@mmy I think it is possible for a board to have resident trolls. "Oh, that's Bob, he's our troll. Just avoid feeding him ham and you'll be fine."

@Bruce again: Also, mmy is posting as herself, not using the Offical Red Mod Hat. That means she is not speaking as a mod, she is speaking as a member of the board. If she needs to talk to you as a mod, you'll hear from the big red hat in the sky.

@Bruce: Froborr's original article was posted January 16th.

ZMiles, I hesitate to ask this because the ground is quite singed 'round these parts lately, but I'm curious - would you describe that goal (the whole world being atheist) as your goal, something you think would be okay, or are you just objecting to loose phrasing?

@timberwraith J-theist has not, yet, reached levels where I'm comfortable signing on to any form of ban. So that would be a no vote, for me. There is being an asshole, and there is being Ben.