I seemed to limit conversation.

we call that being "permalinked" lol
I think it has something to do with the overall design in creating a thread. They did fix this once-but it seems to be a problem again

No, just thinking about the rating system. It's too cumbersome. Anyway, I haven't any greviously negtive posts. I'll just poist and read. One more thing though, why am I being forced to write this comment on a space the size of a postage stamp?

did I give you a headache or the FAQs?

I'm getting a headache. I just read the FAQ's. I'll just read the comments and respond if I feel the need. But I don't have the patience nor interest to read the very long commentss, especially the ones without paragraphs, periodss, comas, etc. Sometimes "the devil makes me do it" and I post funny , I hope, non-sequitur.

if you are not signed in all thumbs are shaded. If you are signed in and see a comment that you have not "liked" or "unliked" the thumbs are blue. If you like or unlike a comment that thumb will change to shaded. for example on this post, which is HOT, you should have way more points-but that aside, I had given it a point so now the thumbs up for me is shaded. on all of your own posts and comments the thumbs are shaded. I enjoy cynical, pithy comments on articles as well. But- if we did that all the time in here, it would be drive-by pointless, in my opinion. Different venues. I'm glad you're spending time in here.One is never quite sure where the conversation is going to head and a post can mushroom quickly. Honestly, I think the posts that get the most points overall tend to be ones that do not spark the best conversation. It's just someone has pointed out or said something all agree with or appreciate. no need to expand. the more provocative-well the conversation takes off and people forget to go back up and give the post a point. I always ask for the order when that happens to me. :)

I'm not that new. I just had to get to the point where I needed somewhere else to vent. The Disqus engine that runs my local newspaper's comments and the Washington Times comments now requires EX9 and EX8 and am not goinbg to chance upgrading.

I'm use to the thumbs up and down. On the Boston Herald, the thumbs up and down are also counted. Some of the post get so profainly vile and personal that they're funny and more interesting than the article. Sometimes I skip the article and go to the comments to get the news as they see it.

This site is odd to me. The thumbs and numbers seem so random. Some with both thumbs shaded, one of either thumb shaded and no thumbs shaded. I posted this article that got 80 comments (mostly not to my subject) but the post got a 3 with a white thumbs up and a blue thumbs down. What does that mean? Do I win a prize:-)

I gave him one.
The whole point system is interesting in here. Which is why I asked. My goal (now) is to not remove a point unless the comment lacks a good question or keeps posing the same argument with no new information or completely lacks reason. I wouldn't say any of those reasons constitutes "Spam," but we do have trolls. It's kinda funny, because I do not necessarily follow that opposite to point a comment up. Even though it should be inverse, it does tend to trend to a "like" for me and others. I sometimes forget to give a point for something I completely disagree with in order to send the discussion to the "top" of the thread. We don't really talk about this anymore in here, and it's always nice to give some feedback when new people come in.
now you know WAY more than you cared to about it. lol

I inadvertently took away razors point. I tried to put it back but it wouldn't let me. Sorry. Glad you brought it up. BTW, obviously it was put back. How?

A&M?
you guys own it, but I grew up in iowa, so we say it too. :)

Hey im an Aggie, hard habit to kill :P

no, you are not

G-you give him a point. put your thumb away :)

So im not the only one who thinks all of these acts of violence are a little too coincidental? lol

thumbs up :)

Ok that explains a lot. Here's a good article...

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawki...

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Blue,
Did you take away Rozar's point? I thought it furthered the discussion.
Along with churches, many organizations such as Masons, Oddfellows, Lion's, YMCA, etc. were set up in part to have each of the member's family's backs. Like insurance clubs. There are many counter-intuitive premises between organized religion and a a limited govt with a sound Constitution. Let's start with witch trials, but I can give more examples, if you like

Giving it some thought, I think they migrated to DC and morph in to the brains(?) of politcians. Yet, I slur rocks, sorry!

Your comments remind me of the Larson cartoon where a sheep among his flock stands up stands yelling "We don't just have to be sheep!"

Wonderful quote. : ) Thanks for telling me about it.

I think all the pet rocks rebelled, escaped captivity, and all gathered together somewhere and made their own rock colony.... somewhere along the beach, I heard.

But as I said previously, socialism has a fatal flaw.The socialist states reach a point where no one's left to pay the bill. But the mess they created affects us all. Greece, anyone?

Also, while your at it, you may want read saul alinsky's rules for radicals (just the rules unless you want to read his creepy book. It's the bible of socialists as obama and hillary are. After the dedication of the book to his wife, he states that lucifer was the greatest organizer of them all(brief paraphase). I believe as I do in my profession, knowledge is power. Know thine enemy.

Hey, I bought a pet rock,
gender unknown; fed it
well; and, it "ran" away.
Or so I think, because I
can't find it.

A famous quote by someone caught up in Nazi Germany, so one would think.

"First they came for the Jews; I did nothing. Then they came for the tradesmen; I did nothing. Then they came for me."

My point is tradesmen (unions) aren't exempt from being looted. They now are by their leaders. They voted in large part for obama but they aren't exempt from the ill effects of socialism. They'll be looted even more like anyone else.