Graeme

G'day, C.L.L! I'm glad to see you've joined. You probably know everything you need to know already, but if you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Cheers! Graeme

My personal view is that you don't go looking for your voice -- it comes to you. By definition, your voice is something that is natural to you, and therefore should just flow out. When you get to the point of writing naturally, your voice is automatically included. Having said that, getting to the point of writing naturally is the hard part. New writers tend to agonise over what they are writing, and so their natural voice is, to some extent, stifled. The way to get past that is to simply write. Write and write some more. As you get more confident, you'll just write what you feel is right, and, suddenly, there's your voice!

I, too, read earlier that a hacker had claimed 'credit', but the article says that others don't believe that the person in question has the skills to do this. They said it was more likely the hacker trying to claim something he didn't do....

Your email response agrees with the press stories I've seen in the papers here, including that number of 57,310 books affected. However, it looks like a standard answer they're giving out now, rather than a personalised response. As long as they stay open about it (a search to exactly what was affected would be something nice, so they can be show that they've been fixed), I think they're on the right track. And I believe those initial responses were canned, standard answers by low level staff to queries when something is taken off the list, which just inflamed the situation.

Congratulations to GA and Myr, in particular, for creating and fostering this place

Only in the interest of fairness, I would suggest people read the link that Libby supplied. Yes, it's only a theory, but it's certainly a possibility. As the author of the blog says, it's interesting that this happened over a holiday weekend. The IT specialists around here know that you don't upgrade software or make configuration changes just before you go to a skeleton staff. If Amazon had introduced changes, they would have had the staff on hand to fix any problems that may have arisen as a consequence. Since they didn't, I think the cause is more likely to be elsewhere. If that blog entry is on the right track, the 'glitch' was insufficient controls over the objectional content reporting functionality. We should know in the next couple of days, because if it's true, then Amazon will be smart to detail what happened. However, they won't do that until after they've put something place to stop someone else from doing the same. If it was a targeted attack, I suspect it was automated, looking for a flag for GLBT content, because that's the only way I can see for it to be so hit and miss, and to have targeted books that make it more obvious that it wasn't being done intelligently. Again, if this is true, Amazon should be able to provide information to support that theory -- though it's possible that they can't if they've reported it to the authorities. The part that doesn't match this theory is where authors have received messages saying that their books have been deliberately removed. However, again, that could be a low level employee following company policy and simply observing that the books were removed because of the objectional content reporting functionality. Overall, I'm inclined to believe it's either a targeted attack from outside Amazon, or the malicious actions of one or a handful of employees, and not company policy.

The following is my personal opinion only.... Everyone has their likes and dislikes, and what they envisage their ideal mate to be. For some, that may come over as discriminatory. As an example, if I were to fantasise about an ideal partner, there are several races that I would not include. That doesn't mean I'm racist -- it is just that my fantasies do not include those races. I could see the possibility of falling in love with someone from one of those races, but I wouldn't be looking for it, because I would be looking elsewhere. Since this is a thread about what qualities you would want in a boyfriend, I see the comment "I don't like bi though" in the same way that I would see the comment "I don't like martians, though" -- a statement of what that particular person sees as being sexually attractive. I don't, at this point in time, find martians attractive, though if some sexy NASA astronaut decides to call himself a martian because he's living on the red planet, then I reserve the right to change my mind The amusing thing from my point of view is that my partner matches almost none of the 'theoretical' requirements of my fantasy partner -- she doesn't even have the sex right! That doesn't mean I don't love her -- it just wasn't what I was looking for.

Not quite true. This is basically correct for all the major cities, but it's not economically viable in many rural areas to run a recycling collection service, so they don't have separate bins. This is most noticeable in places like the snow fields where they get a lot of tourists from the major cities expecting to see recycling bins, and they're not there....

I agree that you should try to avoid becoming collateral damage, but I disagree with standing well clear. There is always the (vanishing small) possibility that the ex-boyfiend (and not, that's not a typo) has changed. Your friend is the only one who can decide if that's really happened. If it has, then it's up to the ex to prove it to both your friend and you. I included you in that because, as a friend, I expect you'll be spending time with both of them. By all means be suspicious, but it's not your life. You've made your opinion clear, but it's your friend who has to make the decision as to what they want. Any just be available if you're needed

Sorry, but I'm not telling. That's not because of embarrassment or because they are too racy (that couldn't be further from the truth), but simply because they are unusual enough that they would uniquely identify me. I think I would have to be only Graeme in Melbourne with those particular nicknames.

There are guys out there who like the 'thrill of the chase', so your question wasn't unreasonable. However, for every guy who goes to a lot of effort to seduce someone, and then walks away, there are a ton of guys who are looking for a decent relationship. The odds are that he's the latter type. You'll know within the next few days, and I, for one, am crossing my fingers for you He sounds like a really nice guy.

I had assumed that it was the nukes that would be the collateral. After all, the US government can't simply take them off Instinct since the bombs are on foreign soil (Spanish). If they want the bombs, they'll have to buy them.

G'day, DragonFire! I don't believe so, but I'll let one of tech support team confirm that. We used to have some software that did the link, but it didn't do the job well enough, or something like that....

G'day, Jensen! Welcome to GA If you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to ask myself or any of the other moderators. Cheers! Graeme

I think the question was more when should you use one word or and when should you use two. As that's more an editorial question, I'm not going to try to answer it....

Just in case anyone is interested, the title for the next chapter is A Favor to Ask

G.day, Me! Welcome to GA! If you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. If I'm right, we've chatted before at DW. How have you been, since it's been a couple of years since we last spoke. Cheers! Graeme

My view is that sexuality is a spectrum from 100% straight to 100% gay. The ones in the middle of that spectrum are the bisexuals.

Welcome to Australia.... I think most, if not all Australian ISP's have download limits, though the effect of exceeding the cap differs. Most accounts simply throttle the speed if you exceed the limit, but some charge extra (as I found out when I read a news article about someone with a bill of over $1000).

Happy Birthday, Ash!

Haven't you learnt by now that it's only a spoiler if the author confirms it, and since you've just confirmed it, that means you've just issued a spoiler

Happy Birthday, Lugh!

G'day If you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to ask

For a short time, my wife and I would go to the theatre on our anniversary (that stopped when we had the boys). We saw Starlight Express in London, which was a highlight. Unfortunately, the show had no real musical hits, but we got seats right in the middle of the track and it was absolutely fantastic. Other than that, we've mainly only seen big name productions -- Sunset Boulevard, Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Pirates of Penzance, etc. We saw Wicked earlier this year, and we're going to see Billy Elliot for my birthday. We're still tossing up if the boys are old enough to be subjected to... er... educated about the theatre, but for now we're leaving them with their grandmother while we go out for the night.

The idea that all stories should be the same is wrong. There are stories that are meant to be fantasies. There are stories that are meant to plumb the depths of human depravity. There are stories that are meant to show something in a new light. They all have their place, and they should all be written. Definitely! But not the reader who is looking for that fantasy. It's a different type of story and that attracts a different type of reader. Or, more accurately, a reader in a different frame of mind. There are times I like to read fantasies and there are times when I want to dive into the life of a 'typical' person. The story itself still has to be entertaining, but the characters don't have to be 'perfect' or have perfect lives.