vilakins | RANT4U

How about a rant on how you don't like to do rants? ;)

Oh, now that's cruel. [thinks desperately of something to say other than "I avoid arguments like the plague"]

OK.

I occasionally like to read a good rant, but having one doesn't make me feel any better. This is because I tend to rant about things which make me really angry and they usually do because I can't change them, so ranting doesn't help. It's not even cathartic because it usually brings out an anti-rant or, even worse, a condescendingly-worded oh-so-reasonable put-down from some superior bastard who thinks I'm over-reacting and wants to make me feel small. And it works. This pisses me off because I see plenty of other people doing massive LJ rants and just getting sympathetic agreement, but for some reason I get the boot put in. Why, I'm not threatening enough? It seems so out of character I have to be kicked back into line? Bloody hell, getting attacked on one of my first posts just about frightened me off LJ and makes me lock my few rants and moans. Hey, all I want is the same respect other ranters get.

Aww. Well, I'm glad you didn't let yourself get scared off.

And, FWIW, honestly, most of the LJ rants I come across seem to be from people who, when they're angry, want unconditional support or nothing (and to be likely to bite the heads off of people who provide something else). Whereas you always seem like such a reasonable person, even when you're ranting, that it seems natural enough to pop in and agree or disagree or discuss whatever you're talking about (erm, kind of like I'm doing now, I guess).

Then there's the tooth-gnashing fact that, honestly, one person's "vicious attack" can be another person's "friendly discussion." I've seen that generate ugly situations. But there genuinely are folks out there -- mostly men, in my experience -- who really do seem to think that being aggressive and confrontational is the appropriate way to react to people you respect, because, I dunno, people in their RLs react that way to them. Sigh.

Eep. Oh hey, I had to force that rant because you requested it. :-) I don't really feel like that, and I've only found one experience difficult on LJ: that first one. I have had some misunderstandings (not due to ranting though) on a mailing list where people misinterpreted my words (despite the very clear statement that it was opinion, not fact) and had a go at me. I'm now very careful not to give opinions on anything but B7 there, but I feel much more relaxed here on LJ.

Good.

Some of my rants were a bit forced, but I think they came out humorous, rather than genuinely hurt. I can only conclude that you're much better at simulating a genuine rant than I am. :)

Well, there was a snippet of real feeling but it was all related to that old post at the start. I only managed a real rant by accessing my rage at people cutting in front of me on the road--does my car have a sign only visible to others saying, "Mild-mannered doormat"? Actually I think it's just the very aggressive drivers here in Auckland (the NY of NZ) but it annoys me.

Actually, the following little rant is how i really feel, but I thought something so short was poor reward for your long and well-reasoned one on aliens in TV SF. :-)

I tend to rant about things which make me really angry and they usually do because I can't change them, so ranting doesn't help. It don't even make me feel any better because it only makes me think about something I have no control over (like the changes in the IT industry, see below) when I'd rather not. So if it doesn't change anything and doesn't make me feel better, what the hell's the point?

Though actually I can think of one only--sympathetic agreement from others so I know I'm not alone, but hey.

I kind of like that one, though. :)

Why don't you do the twisted version of the meme, like Zenia, and squee instead? :)

Otherwise, I want a rant on the IT industry.

Because I loathe the word 'squee'. That is in fact the first time I've typed it, and the last too. I don't mind 'hee' because I make a series of noises just like that when I'm amused, but I have never squealed, shrieked, or screamed with delight at anything. I've never wanted to grow up (and I've pretty much succeeded too) but even as a teenager, I never did that. It reminds me of all those stupid screaming girls in old footage of Beatles concerts who make me cringe for my sex.

I'll admit to a delighted "Ooh!" and a certain amount of dancing though.

Right.

I used to love my work as a programmer. I looked forward to each day, because I worked with fun people and did interesting things. I was one of the two R&D people in one company. However, the company got taken over by suits who promptly fired half the staff and brought in an ex-army bastard who moved out of his office so he could sit right by the door and look at his watch every time anyone went out to the loo. Productivity and morale plummeted. I've worked in four other places since then and they're all the same: full of people so worried about their jobs they work 12 hours a day, never tell (or understand) a joke, backstab each other, and are expected to do development, maintenance, and support (this is not a good choice for your standard geek) and be on call 24 hours a day. And on top of that, dress well, act like business people (a group I have no respect for), learn their language, and pretend to be an extrovert, all plastic insincere smiles and eagerness when one of the managers comes by and interrupts you while you're doing something really complex.

Let's move on to management. They're no longer people who started as programmers, but accountants and, worse, 'business analysts' who have no tech expertise at all but will trap you in an ineffectual meeting for hours till your eyes glaze and you wonder if the language they speak actually counts as a new one rather than a dialect because it and yours are mutually incomprehensible. What's even worse are the bastards who regard you as mere 'resource' or even social inferiors who can be addressed as naughty children if, God forbid, they make a coding mistake. And if you don't aspire to become one of these people, you're a loser and sidelined.

There you are. Two for the price of one.

"Squee" just makes me think of Smee from Peter Pan. I presume they're about to go all soft-hearted pirate on me.

Excellent rants. Yes, indeed.

Just FTR, on the rare occasions I squee, there's always a certain amount of self-aware irony involved. ;-)

Oh, I don't mind other people doing it. I just can't bring myselt to.

I have a tendency to do a certain amount of adapting to whatever group I find myself in. Unless, of course, they try to make me adapt, in which case I tend to go the other way. I am inherently perverse that way.

Eh. Me too. :-)

Because I loathe the word 'squee'. That is in fact the first time I've typed it, and the last too. I don't mind 'hee' because I make a series of noises just like that when I'm amused, but I have never squealed, shrieked, or screamed with delight at anything.

Yes! Yes! Me too! [Jumps up and down on the bruised corpse of squeeing, and shoots and stabs it a bit to make sure] And I hate that whooping that people do now, particularly in US political rallies but it's begun to spread here too. I remember an occasion when a bunch of American miners were trapped down a mine, and it was all terribly tense about whether their lives could be saved, and then when they were finally brought up people started whooping. And OK, it was a wonderful moment of tension released etc, but the whooping just seemed to make the whole life-and-death thing so trivial, as if it were just the climax of some game show and no one had ever been in real danger at all.

Jumps up and down on the bruised corpse of squeeing, and shoots and stabs it a bit to make sure

Yay, someone else! (You don't mind yay, do you? Because I do actually say it.)

They whoop here too. :-( I always think they sound like a pack of dogs baying at the moon. It certainly sounds as intelligent.

Yay I can live with.

I have also been known to dance in the street on very special occasions.

Ergh. The whooping. I do actually squee on lj because I very occasionally do it in real life, but only around people I know really well, and usually because I'm getting shiny new techology toys.

But... the whooping. I had hoped it wouldn't make it to NZ. As you say, packs of dogs.

It got here years ago. :-(

I know several people who are right there with you on the rant about the takeover of IT by 'trained' management. I used to be able to pop in and see hubby when he was working, just to ask if he wanted to take a break for coffee. Often I'd end up hanging out at the desks, chatting, or even using the computers to surf.

These days, I'd have to make an appointment to come in and see him, sign in with security, get an id tag, and wait in a waiting room. The vibe is *much* less friendly. And less productive for it too, I think.

Some of management are still ex-programmers though, including hubby and several other friends. One friend, now in management, attended a management workshop, which included a discussion on how to manage the geeks. She was most amused by their techniques. They didn't know she still is a geek. She said it was like being a spy in their midst.

How is it that I managed to end up with so many friends in IT, when I'm more an arts kind of woman?

The vibe is *much* less friendly. And less productive for it too, I think.

Definitely. In the days when we had fun, we also got a lot done because we enjoyed being there. I'm hoping to land a 6-month contract where the manager's an ex-programmer; that's pretty rare these days.

How is it that I managed to end up with so many friends in IT, when I'm more an arts kind of woman?

Because you have wide interests including SF? Oddly enough, almost all my friends at uni were arts students and I found them much more fun than some of the blinkered geeks in my classes, though for SF I had to stay with the geeks. My others friends just didn't get that.

Rant about Vila not getting enough good fic. :)

OK, but bear in mind that this is a trifle exaggerated. :-)

Poor Vila. Everything's about Blake and Avon, and why, may I ask? Blake was only in half the series--he abandoned the crew and when he does reappear, he inadvertently causes their deaths, though Avon's just as much to blame. Vila was in almost twice as many eps as Blake and one more than Avon, so why doesn't he get his due? There are hardly any good stories devoted to him. He's relegated to comic relief status in most that even bother to feature him: the 'little thief' who whimpers and trembles with fear, drinks himself silly, doesn't understand anything that's going on, and is so incompetent one wonders why Blake, and Avon in his turn, kept him.

Bloody hell, Vila was almost as tall as Avon and would be taller if he stood up straight, so what's this 'little thief' crap? He was obviously damned good technically what with his security-breaking skills and the speed with which he picked up things on the Liberator (and Blake very quickly trusts him to do several things like plotting courses and taking readings) and a lot braver than he's written in most fiction--look at his rescues of others and all the times he stayed to help them when a real coward would have fled.

Is it because he's not interesting enough? Oh, come on! He's a complex character: witty, tougher than he looks--or likes to look--intelligent (even if he has a touch of ADD), and loyal. Like Avon, his words belie his actions, and he's as complex, and certainly as tragic as Avon or Blake given that he was verbally abused, badly treated, and finally betrayed by someone he trusted and thought of as a friend. And then there's the repeated past attempts to 'readjust' him; this is a guy with rich veins of background to mine. And he steals every scene he's in.

So come on, forget that Avon character; write about the real hero.

*applauds*:)

[bows]

It's because he's not a complete bastard really, isn't it? Like you say, he's already complex. It's easier to come up with writing for two dimensional characters. You don't have to think as hard about which way they'd respond to any given situation.

Good rant.

Thank you! I think they're all 3-dimensional in B7, though some have less depth than others.

RANT4U

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