Conflict of Interest

[estragon]

You want proof of what I do? You yourself said several times that I quibbled your alt stories. You have the evidence; you can display it, and show me, and everybody else, why and where I was wrong. Go for it!

As for self-advertising bullshit, you lead the league with your four-colour, 20-point signature. And as for the authors for whom I work "slobbering", you should know all about slobbering, you do it all over yourself. If I'm such a troll, why do you follow me so sedulously? And you still haven't answered me: when you screwed up your courtroom scene, and I called you on it (privately, booby, not in public) you launched your public attacks. If I'm such a charlatan, get me banned.

 

[lovecraft68]

You want proof of what I do? You yourself said several times that I quibbled your alt stories. You have the evidence; you can display it, and show me, and everybody else, why and where I was wrong. Go for it!

As for self-advertising bullshit, you lead the league with your four-colour, 20-point signature. And as for the authors for whom I work "slobbering", you should know all about slobbering, you do it all over yourself. If I'm such a troll, why do you follow me so sedulously? And you still haven't answered me: when you screwed up your courtroom scene, and I called you on it (privately, booby, not in public) you launched your public attacks. If I'm such a charlatan, get me banned.

I think you keyed in on it when you mention that Pilot is the king of self promotion who somehow manages to mention his credentials on a pretty much daily basis even though no one asks.

He has low self esteem and possibly a Napoleon complex (maybe he's short?)

No one will tout his success so he has to do it for himself.

And yes you put an enormous target on his back by saying he did not get something right. How dare anyone question his God-Like abilities. Especially seeing he will probably tell you that he edited the Bible amongst some of his other claims of fame.

You will never be banned. If Scouries still runs amok then no one has any worries. Not to mention that I am still around after pm'ing the site owners calling them cheaters, course they most likely never read it along with the thousands of other PM's they ignore.

As for the argument between you, this is a free site populated by amateurs for the most part, and someone with even a basic grasp of editing will suffice for them.

They(we, guess I'm in this category) are simply looking to make their work more presentable and to have some fun.

If I were considering a published work then of course I would seek someone with formal training, but for here I feel that there are many here including yourself who have enough skill to improve the works of the authors here.

Maybe if I ever stumble across someone like Pilot who has been "vetted" and they worked over one of my stories I may see the difference, but in the meantime there are others here who are more than capable of improving my and others work.

To quote a line form one of my favorite movies "Se7en"

"Just because he has a library card doesn't make him fucking Yoda"

Just because you have a paper on a wall does not mean you know everything or are better than everyone. But some people don't believe that.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

You want proof of what I do? You yourself said several times that I quibbled your alt stories. You have the evidence; you can display it, and show me, and everybody else, why and where I was wrong. Go for it!

As for self-advertising bullshit, you lead the league with your four-colour, 20-point signature. And as for the authors for whom I work "slobbering", you should know all about slobbering, you do it all over yourself. If I'm such a troll, why do you follow me so sedulously? And you still haven't answered me: when you screwed up your courtroom scene, and I called you on it (privately, booby, not in public) you launched your public attacks. If I'm such a charlatan, get me banned.

Lit was once a happy place. People made comments, others politely disagreed, some of us gave basic advice.

However academic sr feels he is, rants like these just put him with the drunks in Times Square on a Saturday night. Prolly a sign of inadequacy, failure and resentment - perhaps abuse - that his star hasn't risen in proportion to his over-inflated belief in himself. Like scouries, just avert your eyes and watch an overinflated ego implode.

 

[_Lynn_]

There will always be people who disagree and argue in this type setting. The same as in life, we have the choice of ignoring them or joining in. Additional comments feeding the disagreements just keep the threads going.

So instead, why not use the time and energy to give that basic advice? Why not let the disagreements die out? Instead of taking the original topic a dozen directions, post only to the OP and move on.

Imagine your son or daughter posting on Lit and reading some of the garbage you post. Is that how you portray yourself at home? Do you respond to everyone with a nasty tone? Or do you politely state your point, disagree, and go on to other things?

Who wants to be remembered for their constant bickering and arguing? Who wants someone to comment in a couple years about how so-and-so made the threads such a depressing place to be? You want the place to be better? Then make it better. Don’t just wish it could be—do it.


For the record: I used “You” in the generic sense for this post.

*stepping off the podium*

 

[estragon]

MistressLynn, I could not agree more. I regret this exchange. It is no part of my life to engage in slanging matches with anybody. I would suggest, however, that those who have a beef with me take it up privately. If they choose to make it public, that is their election.

 

[sr71plt]

It's buyer beware here, of course--but no reason why the buyer can't be warned.

The comments today by "the three" are just flak thrown up in the air to obfuscate.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

I do so agree with Mistress Lynn.

As I have posted before:

Children, children, if you can't play nicely together, then you will have to play apart.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I am going to respond. Not with the intention of extending the lashing of one another but with a new perspective. I had a heart attack (scary) a few weeks ago yet here I am, and I would like to share a few thoughts after having read the sometimes-emotional posts from a much different perspective. Facing death reinforces what is important.

I had promised myself I would not return, but that is a different story. And I may very well go away again.

The "editor" tag is obviously a divisive issue. I have in the past advertised myself as an "editor" and have even been applauded by the writers I edited for, but there were admittedly times when I made editing decisions based on "what sounded good" as opposed to educated decisions.

Not that I'm some schlum. I am intelligent, but not trained to edit. SR labeled me in the past as a 12th-grade editor and in fact I took that as a compliment, as in his eyes I was an editor at all. Maybe he was trying to insult me and I was too stupid to see it as such, I don't know.

But perhaps(?) what SR was suggesting is that there are people who have differing levels of editing. Okay, some of us are second readers, so to speak. I'm not siding with SR, yet neither am I siding with estragon or anyone else. I realize if they have specialized skills then they should be respected. But the same respect should be extended to the volunteers who devote their time to assist other writers.

Life is short, people. Live it, don't argue about it. Help who you can, if you're willing, when you can. And if you have specialized expertise then share it. But it does nobody any good to flaunt it.

Just a thought from a not-so-old man who may not be here tomorrow.

 

[lovecraft68]

Glad to see your back and posting. Also glad to hear that you have recovered well enough to be back to posting.

You're right that people should be appreciated for donating their time no matter what experience level. I don't feel you need to be a professional editor to help people who are not professional authors.

But sad to say "appreciation" is a word that gets replaced with derision from a certain party here.

Aside from that I hope you can manage to keep yourself in good health and continue to make appearances here.