Greg,
Mike is right. Like the room or not, it is what it is. What you've got to understand is that the group that hangs out in there has been hanging out together since back in 2001. We chat in that room on an almost daily basis. So we've grown quite close and have more or less set our own limits on what we can and can't tolerate. Mike, EF, Shane, myself and a bunch of the others have been regulars in that room forever it seems. For whatever reason, we aren't easily offended by a little foul language or off the wall jokes. Without even thinking about it, if you spend that much time chatting with people, you establish personal boundaries for behavior within that group. That's why none of us are offended. But for those not use to being within our group, that might not be the case.
So there we were last night waiting on Dr. Wurman. He was running late and everyone was bored waiting to begin. So naturally, people chatted. Some things were said. But for people hanging out with people they are with daily, they tend to speak what they feel. There were some things said that were out of line. But among us, it was no big deal. To illustrate the point, the only complaint received so far was from you.
If we suddenly clamped down on the room and didn't allow people to speak as they wish, when boundaries have been established for years, then you know what would happen? There would be no group soon. We've been there, done that. The room almost died in 2002 when we tried to clamp down. Without no people, you have no chat. Considering the primary purpose of the chat is entertainment, we'd like to keep our friends coming back. So if it comes to adding a few new people and catering to their needs to keep them happy......or to leave the room as it is and keep our 20 regulars happy, I'm going to choose our regular members everytime. Afterall, they were there first, they are there now and they'll likely be the core of the group long after newcomers are gone.
But I do have a problem with you calling out specific members of the chat and trying to make them look bad here. As has been pointed out, you have a choice whether or not you want to participate. Obviously you found the chat not to your liking. That's fine. It's your choice. But there is no reason to continue to bash our group or specific members thereof. There's nothing wrong with the group, you just don't fit. So the course of action would be to leave gracefully. If I came to your house, it wouldn't be my place to talk bad about your family or how you choose to live. I mean afterall, it is your house. If I didn't like it there, I'd simply leave and go somewhere more to my liking. There's no reason to bash you for how you choose to live in your own house.
And as far as EF (since he was mentioned specifically), he's a good man. Sure, he has a strange sense of humor sometimes. But when you get to know him like we do, you'll understand this sense of humor is what makes him such a great guy. I mean he could do standup if he chose. But we understand not to take everything he says so literally. I mean it's not like he's being serious or anything. I guess this family atmosphere we have in chat sometimes allows things like this to take place. But I have no complaints about what EF says. In fact, I think he's funny, understanding the context. I wouldn't change a thing about him. And why should he have to change how he behaves among his friends?
Again, I am sorry you did not like the room. And in the future, our guest chats will take place in their own room (#stormtalk) where such situations won't happen again. You are very welcome to come to those if you choose to do so and I can guarantee you and anyone who may come there will find a PG rated environment with absolutely no personality and with no topics outside 100% pure weather. But I refuse to impose what amounts to martial law on a group of my close friends and tell them what they can or can't say in #stormchase to satisfy anyone. It's their house, they can say or do whatever they wish. If we don't like it, we can leave. It's that simple.
If there was a mistake made, it was mine for attempting to host the chats in the same room where the same 20 people gather nightly, while inviting in new people. My intentions were good, but my planning was poor. For that, I do regret how I organized this whole thing. I had hoped to add to our group. And maybe we will. But perhaps in ways the regular chat is better off with 20 people there per night than 30. Those 20 will always get along and know how to read each other like a book. So we'll leave that group as it is and just have the guest chats for the simple purpose of learning and discussion, not to increase participation in the #stormchase chat.
Now, once more, I'd like to ask that this thread be left for it's original purpose. That is to inform those interested on when and where these guest chats will take place and to post the logs here, as well as a thread to answer questions regarding the chat. This thread wasn't placed here to be used for a flame war or back and forth arguments. So if anyone has anymore concerns or wishes to discuss our disagreement further, then let's pick it up in Everything Else or use the PM feature and leave it out of this thread. Otherwise I'll save the relevent information from it and ask the mods to delete this whole thread and I'll start a new one. If what happened in chat last night looked bad, I don't think a back and forth argument (over what amounts to nothing) here looks very professional either.
-George
