"Sebastacat"

[pbrinton]

While we are on the topic of Sebastacat's posts, may I offer feedback on something that has been bothering me for some time, which is his constant affectation of referring to himself in the third person. While this might seem "cute" once in a while I find it so annoying that it negatively impacts my receptivity to his point of view (though I have to say I generally disagree with him even without this.) Only my opinion, of course, and he is quite free to ignore it, but perhaps others have been silently gritting their teeth as I have.

Patrick Brinton

While I agree with Sebastcat's goal of getting Efren to resign, I am disturbed by the harshness and strident tone of his writing. This wouldn't be a problem but for the fact that he posts so often, most of which being quite redundant. As today's birthday boy sang: "Please don't dominate the rap, Jack, if you've got nothing new to say". I have spoken to him personally and via email requesting that he tone down his rhetoric and moderate his posting frequency to no avail. So I now request that publicly.

[sebastacat]

Thank you, Henry and Alexia, for stating your opinions on this subject.

And, Yes, Patrick, Sebastacat will ignore your insult -- this time.

[Karen]

meOW, inappropriate personal attack. deal with the message, not the messenger.

[pbrinton]

An ad hominem attack would be to question someone's motives or character. Its less well-known variant, mentioned in another post by Sebastacat (sic), the ad homonym attack, would be to question someone's motives or character by means of puns. I did not do either of these. What I did was to describe my reaction to a particular stylistic habit of his. You will note that I emphasized that it was only my opinion, and that he was free to ignore it. A pretty wimpy "personal attack" I would say, and I am surprised that in the heat of this thread it elicited so much protest.

Sebastacat's reaction was illuminating to me. I expected one of three reactions: apologetic agreement, a reasoned refusal or a defiant refusal. Either of the first two would have indicated to me that his intention in his posts is to educate and inform. The third reaction, which was in fact the one I got, makes me suspect that at least part of his purpose is to annoy, or at least that he does not mind whether he annoys or not.

I will bear this in mind when I evaluate his future posts.

Patrick Brinton

Your post is little more than an ad hominem attack.

[sebastacat]

pbrinton:

The selection of "Sebastacat" as my posting name is deeply personal to me. And, no, my purpose is NOT to annoy anyone. But if I do, oh, well, I guess you just can't please everyone -- just like all posts on WACCO can't please me. Nor should they.

The ultimate goal of Sebastacat is to educate and offer opinions on important issues of the day. That you would be irritated by my "third person" usage of "Sebastacat" is really pretty irrelevant to me, given the high esteem in which I held the cat after whom Sebastacat is named.

And, Yes, he stood for everything which was kind, right and just.

Sorry if that irritates you, but I have no intention of changing my posting style just to suit you. In fact, I have been told publicly and privately by many people that they appreciate my posts and my opinions.

And I will say that Sebastacat is both humbled and honored to have received over 450 GRATITUDES since becoming a member of WACCO in January of this year. I just checked the number for the first time today, and I was quite overwhelmed and shocked.

It's nice to feel "of worth" and to be appreciated by so many here on this forum.

Sebastacat's goal is not to please all people;Patrick. His penultimate goal is expressing his opinions clearly and unmistakably; and his ultimate goal is honesty.

Perhaps you should keep that in mind when reading my posts in the future.

And, if my third-person usage of "Sebastacat" irritates you that much, perhaps you shouldn't read any of my posts at all.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised that you're surprised that so many people on this forum found your criticism of me out of line and unjust -- because it was.

[jbox]

And I will say that Sebastacat is both humbled and honored to have received over 450 GRATITUDES since becoming a member of WACCO in January of this year. I just checked the number for the first time today, and I was quite overwhelmed and shocked..

Uh, dude, you have given over 450 gratitudes,not received them. Everybody who agrees with you gets your gratitude, I guess. I have always found Patrick to be calm and well reasoned and I find nothing to dissuade me from this. You, on the other hand, have an axe to grind with Efren over (at least) the fluoridation issue and I bet your political disagreements have more to do with your premature rush to judgement than anything else.

And, yes, I'll second Patrick on his being annoyed by you referring to yourself in the third person.

[podfish]

And, yes, I'll second Patrick on his being annoyed by you referring to yourself in the third person.

weird bug in the site (or I suppose could have been cockpit error, but anyway: ) -- somehow my name was listed as a gratitude-giver on this post!

and the last thing I want to be doing is deciding who's annoying. I think the bar for that here seems pretty high.

[sebastacat]

jbox........

Over 450 Gratitudes were GIVEN by many wonderful people on this forum; and I, as the author of many posts,
RECEIVED them -- in the same way that one receives a special gift.

Speaking of gifts, each time that Sebastacat has been given and has received a Gratitude, it is, to him, as if
he's received a special gift. Thanks to all.

Regarding your being "annoyed" with my posting in the third person, could it be that you just really don't like the message that the messenger is bringing?

As former Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Hon. Rex Sater used to tell husbands and wives who appeared before him in his courtroom on the domestic calendar when they would start to become frustrated with their attorneys:

"DON'T GET MAD AT THE MESSENGER WHO BRINGS YOU THE BAD NEWS!"

My goodness gracious, jbox! Me thinks you are taking Sebastacat WAY too seriously and are expressing your bitter disagreement with him by leveling a personal attack at his posting style!

You will note that NOT ONCE have I EVER attacked personally any poster on this forum - and that includes you.
Yet, for some inexplicable reason, that salient fact seems to have lost on your and your cohorts.

While I have disagreed with you more times than I have fingers and toes to count (and then some), I will defend your right to express your opinion freely, PROVIDED that personal attacks are not employed.

That "irritating" and "annoying" stuff cuts both ways. In his last post on the subject, Patrick gave me a lenghthy list of reactions which he "expected" from me. Wow....sounds like his primary goal all along was to irritate ME,
and not the other way around.

However, the level of irritation felt by Sebastacat was that of an anemic flea, not of a blood-sucking tick.

Since you and a few others who make up the anti-Sebastacat Society seem so hell-bent on leveling personal attacks at me and some others with whom you disagree, I will offer you no gratitude.

But I will offer you something else: my sincere pity.

[Karen]

Aw, come on, jbox, I like the third person approach. Makes me smile. I guess it is just a matter of opinion. How, tho, does it relate to "Efren Carrillo arrested on Prowling and Burglary charges!!!!", exactly?

Uh, dude, you have given over 450 gratitudes,not received them. Everybody who agrees with you gets your gratitude, I guess. I have always found Patrick to be calm and well reasoned and I find nothing to dissuade me from this. You, on the other hand, have an axe to grind with Efren over (at least) the fluoridation issue and I bet your political disagreements have more to do with your premature rush to judgement than anything else.

And, yes, I'll second Patrick on his being annoyed by you referring to yourself in the third person.

[jbox]

Aw, come on, jbox, I like the third person approach. Makes me smile. I guess it is just a matter of opinion. How, tho, does it relate to "Efren Carrillo arrested on Prowling and Burglary charges!!!!", exactly?

While referring to oneself in the third person may be a silly, pompous affectation, it has absolutely nothing to do with Efren or his troubles, like most of the commentary on this thread.

[photolite]

People who refer to themselves in the third person are making a personal statement. Remember Seinfeld's "Jimmie". "Jimmie's pretty sweet on Elaine." "Jimmie doesn't like misunderstandings" "Don't touch Jimmie!"
"Jimmie" thought a lot of himself. 'Nuff said.

Uh, dude, you have given over 450 gratitudes,not received them. Everybody who agrees with you gets your gratitude, I guess. I have always found Patrick to be calm and well reasoned and I find nothing to dissuade me from this. You, on the other hand, have an axe to grind with Efren over (at least) the fluoridation issue and I bet your political disagreements have more to do with your premature rush to judgement than anything else.

And, yes, I'll second Patrick on his being annoyed by you referring to yourself in the third person.

[mamaj]

I think this guy Patrick should get a real life and stop making wried remarks about Sebastacat. At least he cares about what is REALLY going on in our community and through out Sonoma Co.and has not been blowing steam out from the wrong end like others.

While we are on the topic of Sebastacat's posts, may I offer feedback on something that has been bothering me for some time, which is his constant affectation of referring to himself in the third person. While this might seem "cute" once in a while I find it so annoying that it negatively impacts my receptivity to his point of view (though I have to say I generally disagree with him even without this.) Only my opinion, of course, and he is quite free to ignore it, but perhaps others have been silently gritting their teeth as I have.

Patrick Brinton

[Barry]

jbox is correct. The number displayed as "expressed gratitude" is the number of times that user expressed gratitude to another user.

At some point we'll implement the reciprocal statistic along a display of all the posts that it relates to.

Uh, dude, you have given over 450 gratitudes,not received them. Everybody who agrees with you gets your gratitude, I guess. I have always found Patrick to be calm and well reasoned and I find nothing to dissuade me from this. You, on the other hand, have an axe to grind with Efren over (at least) the fluoridation issue and I bet your political disagreements have more to do with your premature rush to judgement than anything else.

And, yes, I'll second Patrick on his being annoyed by you referring to yourself in the third person.

[sebastacat]

Barry and others:

I will quote directly what is stated at the bottom of my profile page under the "About me" tab:

"Expressed Gratitude: 454.
"Received Gratitude 471 times for 133 posts."

I hope that that clears up any confusion - and sets the record straight.

[mamaj]

AMEN! Now people, focus on the real important issues, this is not a lynching in anyway-keep up the GREAT work you are doing Sebastacat !

[Barry]

You are correct. I had forgotten about that tab. I was looking at the stats in the dropdown box from a post's avatar.

Barry and others:

I will quote directly what is stated at the bottom of my profile page under the "About me" tab:

"Expressed Gratitude: 454.
"Received Gratitude 471 times for 133 posts."

I hope that that clears up any confusion - and sets the record straight.

[rossmen]

sebastacat does get a bit emotional at times, and the third party reference is a flag. but brinton is also emotional, while claiming logic. he runs when truly challenged. dont be intimidated by this old troll:)