Graeme

I suppose we could promote him to emperor, but I'd be concerned he'd get even more delusions of grandeur....

Same here. I'm the habit of trying to write "properly" (I'm lucky my editors don't visit here regularly, or they'll be rolling on the floor laughing), and if I see a mistake in a post I've made, I just have to fix it....

It's a case of balance. Overuse of cliffhangers is bad -- it weakens there impact. CJ hasn't done that so far, happily I've never said I don't like cliffhangers. What you'll find me picking at is CJ's refusal to admit that he uses cliffhangers It's a game we're playing and is just done in the spirit of friendship. It's the same with CJ's claim to be a lurker (expect CJ to respond with denials that he uses cliffhangers, and a re-iteration of his claim he's a lurker )

I don't have a problem with cliffhangers. I have a problem with an author who refuses to admit that he uses cliffhangers, or uses them inappropriately. Some authors (not CJ) have a cliffhanger at the end of almost every chapter, and then have it resolved in the first paragraph of the next chapter. I find that annoying. My main complaint about chapter 19 was that DJ deliberately withheld the name of the person who was "killed" when it was known to the characters in the story. I couldn't see a good reason for it -- it would still have been a strong ending if we knew (and there would have been lots of speculation as to whether it was an accident, manslaughter or murder, if reader discussion was the goal).

LOL -- I was thinking that myself, but I decided not to say anything about it. When I lived in the UK I was amazed at the range of accents I encountered. Even in London, there's a range of accents. I think the Black Country accent and the Yorkshire accents were my favourites, though I enjoyed all of them. I have trouble understanding someone with a thick Scottish or Welsh accent, but otherwise I didn't have a problem.

I can't make it (it's a little too far for me to travel ) but I liked York when I visited there. The Jorvik Viking Centre was especially good. Leeds, and the Leeds Armoury is also pretty good. I also believe Leeds has a reasonable gay nightlife, though I could be wrong on that.

I answered no. That's simply because I'm almost never in a position where I could speak freely. I'm either at work, or at home with people around ("Daddy, who are you speaking to? Can I speak to them, too? Please?") or at home with people trying to sleep. I have had enough trouble finding a time when I could record the three stories that I've narrated. I think it could be a good idea, though I prefer a typed chatroom. There's too much chance of talking over someone, and also having trouble understanding accents over a voice chat. When I lived in the UK, I had enough trouble with some of the accents there (especially one guy who was Welsh) that I would probably find voice chat degenerating quickly into "Can you say that again, please, but slower? I didn't understand."

For a spell checker, use a browser like Firefox that has one built in. It even allows you to import dictionaries -- mine's configured for Australian English. More smiley's would be nice, but I can appreciate why they're not added. It's very easy to overload a site with too many smilies. There is a good bunch here, though there are a few I would also like to see added.

Congratulations to Canada I'd like to watch an ice hockey game sometime, with someone who can explain what's going on.

Rugged? You don't know that many Aussies, obviously There are some great looking Aussies, but many of us are... at best average. I voted for the Irish accent. One of my work colleagues is Irish and I could listen to him for hours.

Looking at the URLs for each of them, they appear to allow you to link to the threads from common blog sites. Eg. the third one is for slashdot and the seventh is for facebook. Don't ask me how to use them, though I've also noticed that the URL's for the forums and threads are quite different -- there's obviously been a forum software upgrade

I'll start by saying you've provided great input in the thread. Don't be afraid to do so more often Thank you for what you've said. Comicality and Dom Luka rarely post, and when they do I don't think they've ever had a problem with someone disagreeing with them. If you can put forward a reason for disagreeing, you'll find people will listen I know I don't mind people disagreeing with me. That's one of the ways I learn -- finding out WHY they disagree with me. Sometime I've even changed my mind because they pointed out something I hadn't considered. That's not silly at all I often go back over my post and edit it to fix mistakes.... It's amazing how often I have to do it. And that's just spelling mistakes. I don't even attempt to fix grammatical errors because I know I don't know enough to get them right. I rely heavily on my editors to get my grammar right in my stories. We all had to start somewhere I only started a few years ago and the initial reaction was favourable enough that I kept on writing. You'll never know if you don't give it a go. My recommendation, if you're unsure, is to start with an anthology entry. Your story will go up at the same time as a number of others, so there's the support of a whole bunch of people posting at the same time. Don't try to compare them, just ask in the feedback thread any questions you've got. It depends on the author. Most will admit that others see things in the stories that they didn't see themselves. I know that often happens with my stories Er... I'm not involved in the (offline) gay community. I've never had a boyfriend. I've never asked a guy out on a date (so you're one up on me there ). Just because you've never had personal experience with something, you can still contribute with what you know, or what you think, or even just your reactions to other people's comments. For example, if someone said something about relationships that you feel isn't right, then say so. Or you can use my trick of phrasing it as a question, a request for clarification. Thanks for your great post, Tarin I recognised what you were saying because I've gone through all of it myself (apart from the asking a guy out on a date part ). What I've been trying to say is that you're not alone, and that you don't need to worry too much. You've already shown yourself to be intelligent and sensible -- you'll do fine Graeme

Happy Birthday!

CJ has admitted it. He's sensitive on the subject, though, so be tactful if you question him about it. The problem is that a lot of other goats treat him coldly because of it, and aren't accepting of the differences.

Definitely not! All it means is that we're happy with the resolution in chapter 20 of the cliffhanger you left at the end of chapter 19, and therefore have calmed our initial instinct to take action. :mace:

Defenseless? You obviously don't know about the laser-beam eyes that are hidden behind those sunglasses. He is anything but defenseless. As for Shadowgod hypnotizing me, I can assure that he hasn't. I just have a natural sense of fair play, and CJ's scurrilious accusations against Shadowgod and LiS 26 were too much for me. Since Shadowgod is too nice a guy to vigorously defend his reputation, I've taken it upon myself to do so. That's all....

Strangely, I don't start that many conversations. I tend to react, rather than being proactive. I've always been that way, even since I started here.

Something I said over a year ago, soon after I joined when a similar discussion was taking place: I'm not normally that poetic, but I have my moments My opinion hasn't changed since that time. GA is not just the stories. It's not just the forums. It's all three parts working together. As for the members, some members are quiet and some are noisy -- just like in any community. In real life, I tend to be one of the shy, quiet ones, until I get comfortable, and then I'm happy to speak up. Er... Based on my number of posts, I think I'm comfortable here at GA... Very true. There are a lot of reasons why someone can feel unsure about posting, ranging from intimidation through to lack of confidence. As a normally shy person (in real life), I find it very hard to break into established groups. I'm not the sort of person who can easily go and up chat with a stranger. However, I'm often very happy just sitting at the edge of a group and listening without participating. I suspect a percentage of lurkers here are doing that for the same reason. As for gay forums, I wouldn't even LOOK at a gay forum while I was deeply closeted. I was afraid that there would be something that allow people track me down, just by looking. It was only when I starting to relax and accept myself, that I finally started to lurk at some forums, and much later before I joined any.

I think we need a leader to help us resist his infernal powers. I'm voting for shadowgod as he seems to be the goat's arch-nemesis and would be a great figurehead... er... frontman for the "Protect Us From The Goat" movement. Hmm... I think we need to work on the name of the movement first. PUFTG doesn't sound impressive. We're not going to be able to market the organisation without a decent name.

I remember a few years ago there was a thread asking the question about why there were so many guests and so many members that didn't post. I almost joined at that time, just to say that I hadn't joined because I wasn't ready to contribute. My view was that if I became a member, I should be involved. On the other hand, there was another site I joined because there was a story in a members only section that I wanted to read. After reading the story, I then tentatively started to get involved. Different people have different motivations to become members. Some do it to become involved. Some do it to ask a question, and may not stay after the question has been answered. Others do it because they want to express that they like the site, without actually posting anything.

I knew you were going to respond to that line, but I was feeling in a generous mood and left it in Actually, I've never come close to 58 posts in a day. There's only two people I can think of who have... one of them being C James

They don't even need to cheat to contract HIV. It's possible to get other ways as well -- some quite benign. Don't forget those people (including kids) who got it via blood transfusions before steps were taken to try to keep the blood supply pure. Needlestick injuries, especially for people working in the medical field, are another way to get it. Dirty needles at a tattoo parlour, ... do I need to go on?

I never noticed. That's not a statistics I pay much attention to. However, congratulations to everyone who has helped GA reach that point That's a lot of chatting and conversing between members, and that shows a great community. Thank you to all of you -- even the lurkers who haven't posted anything. You're part of this community too

When it's the truth Which currently it's not Oh, and if it makes the wait easier, it's Friday here in Australia

G'day, IndieRockGuy! Welcome to GA. There's lots to do here so have a poke around and join in when you want to. I saw in one of your posts that you like short stories, so have a look at the anthologies -- the Winter Anthology was only released last week, with lots of great stories. Graeme