Delete Comments So People Won't Know You Were Stupid

On EOIC's thread hereLink, comment #38, lw wrote,"Simon was the Penultimate, tongue-speaking, foot-stomping, slain-in-the-spirit Pentacostal for five years"

Comment #41 by Satan's Advocate: "And not to be an English major, but you're misusing penultimate unless you're trying to say he was a shitty Pentecostal."

I wrote, "Penultimate means next to the last."

Satan's Advocate wrote, "In my book, next to the last is a pretty shitty position." (That's close enough.)

Now those last two comments are gone and again I've been blacklisted from his blog.
6,526 views 24 replies
Reply #1 Top
I'm not a fan of deleting comments unless you see a rash of duplicates, or unless someone is clearly spamming (such as spamming Herbal Viagra or other such crap).

One written, leave stuff alone. If you don't like what was written, pick up your own virtual sword and start writing back attacking the other side as much as you see fit. If you can't defend yourself in a war of wits (as in a verbal jousting contest), then JU (nor the internet in general) probably isn't the right place for you.
Reply #2 Top
I would have laughed at it.  We all make silly mistakes like that, and I think it was funny.
Reply #3 Top
I remember seeing those comments you mentioned. And now they're gone? Well that's not right. I agree with you on this.
Reply #4 Top
I delete comments when it is obvious that the poster is using my blog as a soapbox for their own agenda and not interested in the discussion. When the Col makes a rare visit and posts the same rant he's posted a hundred times regardless of whether or not it is topical, I delete it.

I would imagine people arguing about the definition of the word penultimate wasn't really the point. "Penultimate' has been given that vibe in modern language because we see the end as the ultimate, and the penultimate as the closest thing to ultimate. Ultimate in that case meaning our version of ultimate, as in definitive or 'greatest' or whatever.

When you google penultimate you get lots of "The Penultimate Ranma Fanfic Index" or the "PenUltimate Digital Type Foundry", or "Richard Weld's Penultimate CCG Review Page." None of those mean "next to last", or at least they don't appear to. So, it seems obvious that in our vernacular penultimate isn't limited to "next to last".

So, the argument here seems to me akin to someone stopping you in a political discussion and complaining that you used a double-negative, even when it was obvious what you were saying. If I say "They ain't got no business doing that" you know exactly what I mean, and if you choose to nitpick you are just choosing to nitpick instead of addressing the point.

I can see why they were deleted, but I would have probably just bitched and said if it continued I'd clean house. Not my blog, though, so being their blog, it is their button to push.

Reply #5 Top
btw: If it was annoying that I diverted a bit from the whole 'deleting comments' topic and diverted to the definition of penultimate, image how EoIC probably felt seeing that when the word itself had nothing to do with his topic at all...
Reply #6 Top
When you google penultimate you get lots of "The Penultimate Ranma Fanfic Index" or the "PenUltimate Digital Type Foundry", or "Richard Weld's Penultimate CCG Review Page." None of those mean "next to last", or at least they don't appear to. So, it seems obvious that in our vernacular penultimate isn't limited to "next to last".


I would rather trust the dictionary than someone who appears to add another meaning to suite their own purpose.
Reply #7 Top
Please. I'd have to believe you aren't very smart if I thought you got stuck on such vernacular usage. Do you get confused when someone says that something is "cool"?

You understood the meaning, you just wanted to join in the diversionary jabbing. Like I said, if you wanted to focus on grammar and ignore the discussion on my blog, I'd be tempted to delete the comments, too.
Reply #8 Top
Do you get confused when someone says that something is "cool"?


Sometimes it IS confusing. There are better or more recent examples, but I can't think of any right now. Shouldn't the dictionary include any other definitions?

Besides, I'm not so sure it was eoic who deleted them and blacklisted me. lw blacklisted me the first time, and since she's the one who misused the word........
Reply #9 Top
I grant you there are lots of questions, but most of them are pointless when you consider the fact you both were nitpicking and avoiding the subject when you knew exactly what she meant. That can be annoying to an extreme, and people have been blacklisted for much less.

I don't mean to jab you, iconoclast, but you seem to be someone who appreciates evolutionary theory. Using that as a guide, do you think that perhaps getting blacklisted from blog after blog is something that is beneficial to you here? Or do you just not care about it?

To me, if someone wanted to actually take part in discussions, they'd want to at least adapt to a mode of operation that would allow them continued presence. If you are going to just nag until everyone has blacklisted you, why be here at all?
Reply #10 Top
It's funny because I learned of the word from Dragon Ball GT. "Stayed tuned for the penultimate episode of Dragon Ball GT." And what do you know! They used it correctly! And yet, it also worked Same with proliferation, when Baby injected his seed into all the people of the Earth (even the dudes!), another of my favorite words. Dragon Ball GT has embiggened my vocabulary in a most cromulent way.
Reply #11 Top
I grant you there are lots of questions, but most of them are pointless when you consider the fact you both were nitpicking and avoiding the subject when you knew exactly what she meant.


No, I don't know what she meant. The only definition for it at dictionary.com is next to last.

As for the rest of your post, hasn't it been said that blacklisting is done out of fear of opposing comments?
Reply #12 Top
hasn't it been said that blacklisting is done out of fear of opposing comments


Is that why you blacklisted me?
Reply #13 Top
Is that why you blacklisted me?


No, because you blacklisted me.
Reply #14 Top
I thought the only reason to blacklist was fear of opposing comments. Apparently there are other valid reasons, aren't there?
Reply #15 Top
I thought the only reason to blacklist was fear of opposing comments. Apparently there are other valid reasons, aren't there?


You said the only reason, not me. I don't think you blacklisted me for a valid reason.
Reply #16 Top
IN don't blacklist anyone permanently, so I can't really speak for why someone does it. I don't believe anyone is really going to believe that you didn't understand what was being said. You were just being nitpicky and facetious, and now you try to act innocent and point to a dictionary.

You could at least admit to it. The need to keep pounding on the silly idea that you didn't understand kind of validates the reasons to blacklist you. There doesn't seem to be much hope after all, lol.
Reply #17 Top
I don't think you blacklisted me for a valid reason.


I don't think there has to be a valid reason. I could blacklist someone just because I don't like their avatar or because I don't like screen names that start with the letter R.

I BL'ed you because you said something wretched about someone I like (and also because you're generally an unpleasant guy to deal with). The only thing that makes me want to give you a chance is the fact that you're friends with someone that I hold in VERY high esteem.

If he likes you, there's gotta be a good reason for it.

PS - That. That. That. That. That.
Reply #18 Top
I don't believe anyone is really going to believe that you didn't understand what was being said. You were just being nitpicky and facetious, and now you try to act innocent and point to a dictionary.


I'm serious. I wouldn't have posted that comment otherwise. I honestly don't know of another definition. Do you?

The only thing that makes me want to give you a chance is the fact that you're friends with someone that I hold in VERY high esteem.


How did you know?
Reply #20 Top
I'm mysterious.


I suspect the two of you have communicated through email.
Reply #21 Top
blacklisting is done out of fear of opposing comments?

No, sometimes it's just to banish an asshole from your threads.
Reply #22 Top
No, sometimes it's just to banish an asshole from your threads.


Sometimes, an asshole is just someone you disagree with.
Reply #23 Top
#22 by Içonoçlast
Sat, June 24, 2006 06:51 AM



[Içonoçlast]
No, sometimes it's just to banish an asshole from your threads.


Sometimes, an asshole is just someone you disagree with.


For some perhaps.
Reply #24 Top

Sometimes, an asshole is just someone you disagree with.

I have never blacklisted anyone I disagreed with, just assholes.