Okay, first off, SEF did not say in so many words that Everything2 is phallocentric. What she said was something along the lines of its hierarchical structure and the system of rewards and punishments via the mechanism of voting are characteristic of the male mindset, and that many women participants find these elements confusing or alienating.
It was so worth it just to hear igloowhite switch on his baffled redneck voice and complain that he couldn't find the penis he keeps hearing is so "centric" to E2.
Second, Ælien neither "disputed" nor "debated" with me over one of my nodes. He merely /msg'd me to share his thoughts on it, along with reasons why he could not accept certain propositions therein.
Third: my pokerfaced assertions that I hate all Irish people, that I invented the compass, or that it's all I can do to keep from beating the shit out of Roninspoon at any given moment are attempts at humor. When I explain these remarks by saying "I lie constantly," that's an attempt at humor too -- one that only really works with people who know me well enough to be aware that I in fact do NOT lie all the time. I ask that you all, and particularly Chras4, accept these statements as my gift of laughter to you, however ill-conceived, and not as an attempt to confuse or frighten.
I'll let everyone else tell you what a great time we had, and limit my observations to three events that impressed me deeply:
- Akasha, after driving all the way down from Silicon Valley, spent almost the entire night baking for us.
- When an attendee became violently ill for a very long period of time, jasonm quietly excused himself from the fun and revelry in order to remain nearby and make sure he'd be okay.
- Later that evening I witnessed our host igloowhite defending the honor of a lady with such deadly seriousness I thought it would be pistols at twenty paces if satsfaction was not given.
Selena, Jason, Steve: you guys are solid.
And yes, for some reason I was sure that PaladinZ was black. When I heard he'd arrived and saw a slim young man of Indian extraction walk in, I wondered "Hey, who's the Indian guy who showed up with PaladinZ?" I'm not alone in being confused, though: in a very Mothman Prophecies-like conversation, Eraser said that I called him on his cell phone a few weeks ago, identified myself AS QUIZRO, and hung up in mid-message -- a call I never made. Either strange forces are at work among us, or we've all been sitting in front of computer screens for waaaay too long.