Please help me with me essay. uh, hear me out, okay?

[Dane M]

I picked up all my slang from here, my unicycling experience and growth is largely due to these forums. Since unicycling videos are few and are often keyworded incorrectly, they are hard to find via search. And the ones you can find are not always good or helpful.

I remember when I joined the forums, all the slang and trick names were overwhelming.

I now use things like UPD, Muni, Guni in casual conversation about my unicycling to non-unicyclists now. Telling a person that "I'm going to go ride my mooney" can be a little confusing. And I'm trying to transition into saying monocycling instead, just to be extra different

[unisteve]

Thank you for your insights, gentlemen! It would appear that the unicycling community is managing its language as we speak.

Seriously, this is really cool and I'm disappointed that more of my university assignments have not entailed this kind of research. An interest of mine is how ideas originating on the internet can escape into real life, and also the ways we exchange ideas with one another in general, especially with regard to spoken and written language.

[johnfoss]

Originally Posted by unisteve

An interest of mine is how ideas originating on the internet can escape into real life...

When is the Internet not real life? I met my wife there. I organized the first MUni Weekend purely with email and other electronic communications.

[unisteve]

I suppose you're right there, John. Any brain to brain connection between two or more people can't be discounted as not real just because it takes place over the internet. And clearly the internet is less of a different place from the physical everyday world than I was giving it credit for.

Thanks for pointing out some gaps in my thinking. This kind of conversation is really helpful to me as I continue to map out my arguments.

[feel the light]

But before you fix something, it helps to know what it is. Every month or so someone posts a picture of some horror they bought from a barn sale. Then we all sit back and wait until John Foss tells us what it is. Perhaps I should have labeled him our curator. Childs not only has 4 different kinds of loctite, he knows why. I have at least 3 but I forget why. Is there one that can keep beer cans from spilling? Amber loctite, I'm going to buy that one next.

[Dane M]

Originally Posted by feel the light

Every month or so someone posts a picture of some horror they bought from a barn sale. Then we all sit back and wait until John Foss tells us what it is.

I think John has identified 2 uni's for me now haha.

[unisteve]

First, apologies for appearing to have forgotten about this thread and my self-imposed deadline.

I have finished my Language Management course and submitted my final essay. Due to intense time constraints caused by laziness and procrastination, it is not the magnum opus I intended it to be.

But, here it is anyway. I have to warn you that the first half is pretty boring (and you likely won't be able to check out any of those bibliographical references unless you're on a university library's internet, or somewhere else that has access to academic journals). The second half is where I try to get into some of the unique LM going on in the Unicyclist.community. References are supplied so you can revisit some classic dakoroman moments and stuff.

Also, I discovered that it was Sofa who has the "you - pee - dee" custom user title. Just in case you were wondering, cuz I was for a while.

Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy reading whatever bits you may read.

--Steve

[johnfoss]

Pretty cool. I wouldn't be surprised though, if Miss Ayelery were to appear in this thread to admonish you for some of your grammar.

Also I wanted to call your attention to one of the other famous alter ego users: Dead Guy. Every so often he "comes to life" to give his comments from the other side of, uh, being alive.

My favorite thing about Sofa's use of "yoo-pee-dee" was its combination with his avatar image, a Jawa from Star Wars. If you remember their speech (from the original movie), that's one of the noises they made, or at least sounds like one. Maybe it was "Woo-tee-nee!"

Lastly, I have to disagree with your summation of the whole Dakoroman thing. I don't think he got banned; he just got discouraged after a while. He's not the first person in cycling tech to believe he's invented the solution to the world's problems. He was very possessive about the design; not wanting someone else to copy it and make millions. His idea had merit, but like so many other similar attempts at improving on the simplicity of pedal-powered vehicles, his would invariably have been too heavy to be useful. The Dakoroman Drive would "outweigh" its usefulness unless it could be made reasonably light.

But he was persistant. First he shared his design with a few people, and let them give him feedback while others poked fun because he wouldn't show his idea. By the time he finally did, it was too late and people weren't taking him seriously.

A better example of being banned was perhaps the recent tirade that GILD went on, when someone posted an accusation that he really didn't like. He started complaining about it, loudly, in all sorts of threads. That's when it became spamming, and grounds for banning. If he hadn't been a member of such good standing, we might have lost him then. Fortunately we did not. After all, he seems to be the main person who tells new members "That's one more of us".

[unisteve]

Originally Posted by johnfoss

Pretty cool. I wouldn't be surprised though, if Miss Ayelery were to appear in this thread to admonish you for some of your grammar.

Some of my grammar may be non-standard, but I think it's fine. Miss Ayelery can do whatever she wants. Also, you missed a comma there: "I wouldn't be surprised, though, [...]"

Also I wanted to call your attention to one of the other famous alter ego users: Dead Guy. Every so often he "comes to life" to give his comments from the other side of, uh, being alive.

Cool, that is something I did not know about.

My favorite thing about Sofa's use of "yoo-pee-dee" was its combination with his avatar image, a Jawa from Star Wars. If you remember their speech (from the original movie), that's one of the noises they made, or at least sounds like one. Maybe it was "Woo-tee-nee!"

That's why I like that one too. I didn't mention my specific reasoning in my earlier post because I thought anyone familiar with Star Wars and UPDs would get it.

Lastly, I have to disagree with your summation of the whole Dakoroman thing. I don't think he got banned; he just got discouraged after a while. He's not the first person in cycling tech to believe he's invented the solution to the world's problems. He was very possessive about the design; not wanting someone else to copy it and make millions. His idea had merit, but like so many other similar attempts at improving on the simplicity of pedal-powered vehicles, his would invariably have been too heavy to be useful. The Dakoroman Drive would "outweigh" its usefulness unless it could be made reasonably light.

But he was persistant. First he shared his design with a few people, and let them give him feedback while others poked fun because he wouldn't show his idea. By the time he finally did, it was too late and people weren't taking him seriously.

Your point is a fair one, Mr. Foss. I can assure you that I was mentally fatigued at the time of this essay's writing. I have posted it in its unedited form anyway.

I hope I didn't say that dakoroman was banned, but that he was socially ostracized --> trying to get at the idea of "language management" that my essay was supposed to be about.

A better example of being banned was perhaps the recent tirade that GILD went on, when someone posted an accusation that he really didn't like. He started complaining about it, loudly, in all sorts of threads. That's when it became spamming, and grounds for banning. If he hadn't been a member of such good standing, we might have lost him then. Fortunately we did not. After all, he seems to be the main person who tells new members "That's one more of us".

Yeah, I didn't watch those latest events closely enough to be comfortable with commenting on them in my essay. It's also because I've enjoyed most of GILD's posts and didn't want to portray him in such an unflattering light on account of an isolated "tirade". We all stress and freak out once in a while.


Thanks for the feedback.

[saskatchewanian]

interesting points but I also have to disagree about Ioan "Dakoroman" OASA

Sure he was ostracized but the tone was generally kept pretty light. He had some interesting ideas which he eventually shared and caused lots of entertainment.


Personally I think that the coolest thing about this place is the member-based voluntary moderation. Sure the odd person will get banned (some before they even post) but generally people can post as they see fit.

[Dane M]

Originally Posted by saskatchewanian

but generally people can post as they see fit.

Some maybe should not post as they see fit.

Some might say I would fall into this group haha.


How large was the drive system?

[57UniRider]

As a Noobie, who probably is posting too many comments due to over enthusiasm, I must say THANK YOU to unisteve for this very informative essay and to all of you uni posters that have been here for awhile. I have, indeed, felt very welcome here at Unicyclist.com. You give me encouragement when I really need it, as well as tips that are quite helpful.

I was reading this post just out of curiousity, but it is full of really helpful information about how the forum operates.

I appreciate the "classy" manner in which the posters participate. It is obvious that people have sort of a silent understanding that the forum will be kept clean.

Again, thanks for your welcome, for your patience with us noobies, and for this particular informative conversation and essay. I feel like I know a whole lot more about this pretty classy group of crazy people who ride unicycles, and I hope I can eventually be a respected long-time rider and poster one of these days.

Not only are unicyclists persistent, they are nice people!
I want to be one!

Thanks!