c4countdown

Kirk Bevins wrote:To Phil:

It seems that if anyone was to make a spelling error or a slight grammatical inaccuracy you come down on them with a ton of bricks, or at least comment on their lack of correctness. I've noticed it for some time and that's just who you are but even when it's not me you're picking up on I just think "ffs Phil, let it drop". It's pretty awesome that you have to be 100% right all the time, including always using italics for Countdown which I think is pretty anal but there we go. The reason I (for one) am starting to fight back now as it just frustrates me that every time I see a post from you I can guarantee it's going to be a correction of a post of some kind - I just couldn't hold it in any longer.

You're a nice guy, Phil, and we've met and don't wanna be foes or anything stupid but that's what I've been thinking.

Anyway it would be a shame to lose you from this forum, so for goodness sake keep posting and if you must keep correcting, then please do and I'll try to bite my typing fingers.

Thanks Kirk (and thanks for the PM). You're a cool guy and I hate having acrimonious exchanges with you, so I'm glad that we're OK with each other. I just need to clear up a couple of things and then I'm going to try and back off from C4C a bit. What follows is just a statement of fact, addressed to anyone who might be interested; I'm not having a bash at you, just using a couple of quotes from your post to set the agenda - apologies in advance.

It seems that if anyone was to make a spelling error or a slight grammatical inaccuracy you come down on them with a ton of bricks, or at least comment on their lack of correctness. [...] it just frustrates me that every time I see a post from you I can guarantee it's going to be a correction of a post of some kind

This is obviously a problem I have with people's perception of me, but it simply isn't true. As I said to Sue when she and Dez were visiting the other week, if I really did pick people up on every spelling or grammar mistake as people seem to think I do, I would never go out of the house, have a shower, cook meals, or do anything except sit in front of this bloody PC all day long posting corrections to C4C. We all make mistakes and I have no interest in pointing out other people's bad spelling for the sake of it. Outside of one very specific context, I will occasionally draw attention to a mistake if I think it's funny and can point it out in a humorous way.

The specific context I mentioned is the daily show recaps. I think the recaps on this site are a terrific resource, and because of that I assume (perhaps wrongly) that we all want them to be accurate. Writing the recaps is a massive enterprise, but it works because it's a team effort. If I make a mistake in one of my recaps, I'm relieved when someone else spots it and points it out so I can fix it. And I do the same for other people. I hope, and believe, that the authors of those recaps don't see it as petty nitpicking - and increasingly nowadays, if I do spot a mistake in a recap, I wait a while in the hope that someone else will flag it up so I don't have to.

Anyway, having a pretty strong sense that all of the above was true, but no hard evidence, I decided to look at some facts. So I clicked 'Search my posts' and checked through the first two pages, representing my most recent 120 posts on the site (20 minutes of my life I'll never get back again ), and totted them up as follows:

• spelling corrections to recaps - 6
• other spelling/grammar corrections - 1
• other corrections (e.g. factual errors) to forum posts - 16
• posts containing no correction of any kind - 97

So, room for improvement in the third category maybe; but, as I said, the perception of me as a militant spelling/grammar pedant simply doesn't stand up to analysis. I prefer to lead quietly by example - which is why, yes, I do take care over the appearance of my own posts (though they're by no means error-free). Call it anal if you like (like that's a bad thing ) but that's me. We all have our eccentricities and that's mine.

Anyway, enough from me. I'll probably be lurking more than posting here for a while, just till I get things a little more into perspective. Be nice to each other.

P xx

Kirk and Charlie are killing C4C

(come back Phil x)

We all love you Phil. Don't go away.

Hey Phil, please do not stop posting (especially, not because of some unfair criticism)

What with Sue taking a sabbatical, we will be losing 2 of the most colourful characters on the forum.

I for one like your dry wit (sometimes too clever for me) and your observations and anecdotes.

Phil Reynolds wrote:Anyway, having a pretty strong sense that all of the above was true, but no hard evidence, I decided to look at some facts. So I clicked 'Search my posts' and checked through the first two pages, representing my most recent 120 posts on the site (20 minutes of my life I'll never get back again ), and totted them up as follows:

I can certainly empathise with your frustration at being pigeonholed when you post such a large variety of posts. I wanted to do a similar kind of search when I was falsely accused recently, but ended up finding it too difficult to sort out.

As I said to you in a personal message this morning, I think the main problem here has been that you and Kirk are both quite sensitive people, and those sensitivities have begun to clash recently.

This board would be a lot duller without you, and so I hope that you come back to us on a fulltime basis after a little break. Strange coincidence both you and Sue getting the same feelings on the same day. A few people have flounced off of this site over the time it has been running, and some have not been justified or subsequently missed, but when major posters who actually shape the whole style of the place start to get despondent, it is probably time for everyone to just back down and let each other breathe for a while.

Matt Morrison wrote:Kirk and Charlie are killing C4C

Indeed, but they're such a nice guy.

Edit: oops, typo

Fuck off, Phil.

Edit: I wanted to give the thread some balance.

Isn't it "like a ton of bricks", not "with a ton of bricks"?

Phil Reynolds wrote:

• spelling corrections to recaps - 6
• other spelling/grammar corrections - 1
• other corrections (e.g. factual errors) to forum posts - 16
• posts containing no correction of any kind - 97

Out of interest, which category did this post fall into?

Michael Wallace wrote:Isn't it "like a ton of bricks", not "with a ton of bricks"?

You actually read that post? What's the short version?

Phill, I for one think you should stop critcising everyone for there spelling and grammer and fuck. off

Thanks everyone (especially DOD ) for the friendly comments. Like I said, I'm not disappearing altogether, just taking a step back.

Jon Corby wrote:Out of interest, which category did this post fall into?

The third one - I was deliberately harsh with myself as I wanted the evidence to hold water, though FWIW I think a post that begins with "Not necessarily" hardly qualifies as a flat correction, and certainly didn't feel like one when I wrote it.

Matt Morrison wrote:Kirk and Charlie are killing C4C

What do I have to do with this?

Matt Morrison wrote:Kirk and Charlie are killing C4C

Aww I think that's a bit harsh. I've just expressed my feelings to one person rather than bottling it up inside me. I've PMed Phil and we're still friends and I certainly don't want him to leave the forum.

Charlie 'made' Sue 'leave', and Kirk 'made' Phil 'leave'. I thought it'd be pretty obvious I was just mucking around.

Matt Morrison wrote:I thought it'd be pretty obvious I was just mucking around.

Maybe but I'm sensitive. Maybe you're about to make me leave

Matt Morrison wrote:Charlie 'made' Sue 'leave', and Kirk 'made' Phil 'leave'. I thought it'd be pretty obvious I was just mucking around.

Did Sue leave? (Or even 'leave'?)

Edit: Oh yeah. I don't read the birthday thread. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McHyLKw5mHc

Charlie Reams wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:Charlie 'made' Sue 'leave', and Kirk 'made' Phil 'leave'. I thought it'd be pretty obvious I was just mucking around.

Did Sue leave? (Or even 'leave'?)

Who was it that had stopped reading the Birthdays thread again?

Derek Hazell wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:Charlie 'made' Sue 'leave', and Kirk 'made' Phil 'leave'. I thought it'd be pretty obvious I was just mucking around.

Did Sue leave? (Or even 'leave'?)

Who was it that had stopped reading the Birthdays thread again?

Charlie.

Matt Morrison wrote:Charlie.

Evidently.

There is a big (and not just a pedantic) difference between "not liking" and "not reading".
That is today's lesson.

Charlie Reams wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:Charlie 'made' Sue 'leave', and Kirk 'made' Phil 'leave'. I thought it'd be pretty obvious I was just mucking around.

Did Sue leave? (Or even 'leave'?)

Edit: Oh yeah. I don't read the birthday thread. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McHyLKw5mHc

Surely this is more appropriate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNQRfBAzSzo

Marc Meakin wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:Charlie 'made' Sue 'leave', and Kirk 'made' Phil 'leave'. I thought it'd be pretty obvious I was just mucking around.

Did Sue leave? (Or even 'leave'?)

Edit: Oh yeah. I don't read the birthday thread. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McHyLKw5mHc

Surely this is more appropriate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNQRfBAzSzo

This isn't appropriate, but Marc just reminded me of it and it amuses me.

I have to admit, when I read Kirk's post about wanting to turn the sound off so he could listen to his own music on the computer I did think "You want the moon on a stick". (This thread has got too arse-licky and needed that spite! )

Gavin Chipper wrote:I have to admit, when I read Kirk's post about wanting to turn the sound off so he could listen to his own music on the computer I did think "You want the moon on a stick". (This thread has got too arse-licky and needed that spite! )

I don't understand.

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:I have to admit, when I read Kirk's post about wanting to turn the sound off so he could listen to his own music on the computer I did think "You want the moon on a stick". (This thread has got too arse-licky and needed that spite! )

I don't understand.

Your expectations from the game seemed quite high, like wanting the moon on a stick.

Gavin Chipper wrote:I have to admit, when I read Kirk's post about wanting to turn the sound off so he could listen to his own music on the computer I did think "You want the moon on a stick". (This thread has got too arse-licky and needed that spite! )

Sound? What sound? There's a sound on something? Will it help me to hear this sound?

I guess I've never heard it because I don't have any speakers plugged into my PC and I only put on headphones if I specifically want to listen to something.

Am I missing out?

You people and your slight differences disgust me