anonemouse

Yeah, their laptops only seem to come with Vista. Some of their desktops, though, can be customized with XP. I think it's the XPS desktops that can be, but they are probably more expensive than what you're looking for.

I just looked at the Dell website. When you get one customized, you can choose to either have Vista or XP installed on it. I'd be afraid to mess with one, otherwise.

Dude, this is the exact forum to discuss it. It's why the forum is called "Rants and Raves." Here's the disclaimer on it:

Wow. I just woke up from a four hour nap. That felt really good.

Dude, that's awesome! Your brother sounds like he'd be a great guy to know.

I've not been fond of Vista. I definitely prefer XP. And WTF is up with the stupid new version of MS Office? I can never find anything on there anymore.

Oh, I completely admit that it was stupid and below me. But I think that once in a while, we're all allowed to be a little immature. It's kind of like when you find out that the thin and beautiful head cheerleader that bullied you in high school is now fat, unattractive, and mopping floors at McDonalds while you're, well, not. Later, you may feel sorry for her and feel ashamed of your reaction, but at the time, it feels like the sweetest revenge. So yeah, now I regret what I posted, but I can't change the fact that it did get posted.

Yes, I admitted that making that thread wasn't my most mature moment. But any thread I made right then would have been taken as "provocation" for an attack, since a thread that sweethazel/Lizrbit had ambushed WASa and I in had just been closed. Yes, I intentionally provoked her (didn't really start out that way, but ended up there), but it was mainly because I was getting so pissed off at seeing her constantly attacking WASa (and myself whenever I happened to make a post agreeing with WASa) and not seeing much other than an occasional "stop fighting" from the mods. And honestly, if you can't make a thread like that in RnR, where can you make it? Rants and Raves is made for fighting. At least I was doing it in the right forum, instead of following her from thread to thread in the other forums, making attacking posts to her. Yes, I drew her out. Better to have it all out in the open than still be watching my back in other threads, right? Yes, I've made posts about how funny and pitiful it is when people can't stop trying to incite fights with the people they have blocked. Hell, it is funny and pitiful. But I honestly don't think it's any worse or more immature than the posts people make about the stupid things newbies say and do or the posts where people bitch about the most ignorant reply a thread has gotten. It's venting. The fact is, if sweethazel wasn't Lizrbit, that shouldn't be a provocation to her, should it?

The problem, though, is that certain other posters see someone being allowed to make blatant attacks on a person they don't like, and they decide to join in and it becomes a free for all. Now, y'all know that I'm up for a good debate or a rousing rant whenever someone feels like it. But I don't like being followed around and pecked to death whenever I happen to post, and I'm sure WASa feels the same way. It makes the entire board an unpleasant place to be. Rants and Raves is one thing. Hell, I'm open to a good knock-down/drag-out fight there. But the rest of the board? No. I'm sick and tired of being forced to censor myself and wondering if I should post in support of someone, just for fear that someone will pop up and start in on me and ruin someone's thread. Heck, I'll even say it publicly on the board: If someone wants to call me out in Rants and Raves, or decides that they want to harass me there, bring it on. I'll be more than happy to play. But it should stay there. The rest of the board is for support, and other people seeing that members are allowed to attack other members willy-nilly and ruin otherwise good threads isn't what I would call supportive.

Yep, WASa and I agreed to completely ignore Lizrbit. And we did, partly because it was a tad entertaining to watch her make an utter fool of herself by making posts about how we were posting about her when we were actually having a completely unrelated conversation. We basically agreed to ignore sweethazel, for the most part, until it became obvious that nothing was going to be done about her, because we thought that surely the behavior was obvious enough to warrant punishment. Honestly, I don't know what you guys expect us to do. We tried ignoring her, but that obviously didn't work. It's only so long that you can stand being pecked at before you slap the thing that's pecking you.

I had the f'in headache from hell last night. I finally gave in and took some Advil around 3:30 last night, 'cause Tylenol wasn't cutting it. Of course, it had to happen when I had to get up at 6:45 to drive to teach my classes. And it didn't entirely go away, either, so I'm hoping to get home early to take a nap. Hope that helps. :sick

Yep, I just signed up with Daily Plate, too. It's a really great site. I used to have an account at FitDay, but I only used it a couple of times. It was really awkward, compared to Daily Plate.

Yep, can definitely see them differently. I may not always agree with your decisions as a moderator, but you're one of my fave members!:biggrin1:

That, I can promise you, will happen. It just got really frustrating for a while, and I know that I, at least, needed to blow off steam. Truce?

With all due respect, Wheetsin (and you know I do like and respect you), we did attempt to take the higher road. I don't think it's immaturity when someone actually responds to a post that specifically mentions their name. But responding to a post that specifically mentions someone's name isn't all that has been happening, either -- not by a long shot. There have been a lot of "pokes" and "prods" in a lot of different manners. True. But, that has always gone on. Even you've participated in the threads where we vent over posts that irritate us. And honestly, no one had to prod sweethazel. If you look back at all of her posts, her very first posts were attacking. We didn't provoke her. We didn't need to. WASa PMed you guys multiple times about sweethazel and Lizrbit, sending lists of the threads where she was harassed by them as proof, but nothing was done, not even in the form of a reply to her. In 100% honesty, I have my PM box opened in a window next to this one, and I do have PMs from both of you, but outside of the ones that have transpired very recently (last day or so) I don't have a single one that references this issue. At least not back thru... 9/19 (going back to around the time I accidentally deleted the post you started about the person on OH). I'm not saying the PMs weren't sent - perhaps they were and I didn't get it for some reason. I dunno. All I'm saying is that I do not have them. I don't know if the other mods are reading this thread or not, but I can't speak for what they did/didn't receive. From what she's told me, she PMed Alexandra. You virtually confirmed to me that Lizrbit and sweethazel are the same person. If I did this, it was unintentional. I do try to refrain from putting too much information into PMs (easier to do than it might seem), and perhaps this makes my message ambiguous or vague. Looking back at what I sent I can see how you would interpret what I said as an unspoken confirmation, but I really didn't mean it that way. Even so, I think it's been proven in this thread that they are the same person. In one post, she says that she's looking into the band, but she's made posts in the past where she's talked about her experience post-banding. I'll bet a hundred bucks that she got her accounts mixed up and posted with the wrong one. You made posts, also, after I asked you for IP comparisons and after sweethazel/Lizrbit had a conversation in a thread, talking about how odd you found it when people with two IDs had conversations with themselves. I think the members that are the receiving end of the harassment are entitled to react. No one said don't react. I would - and I may speak for the other moderators here but can't guarantee it - prefer that people react and take care of their own issues. Hence we will tend to let lots of little hiccups run their own course, as they usually do. The best part of being a moderator is when you don't have to moderate. I think both sides could have reacted in more productive ways. Obviously I don't think anything horrible has happened, hence you all still have accounts here. But I do think there has been a lot of immaturity and I do think the situations could have been handled very differently. We ignored Lizrbit and she came up with sweethazel. We ignored sweethazel and she kept posting. I'm sorry, I don't like being slandered (libeled?) and attacked from out of the blue in a thread. And I don't think I should be the one to have to put someone one block because I'm being attacked. Let me ask you this: Would you tell a person being stalked and harassed in RL to "just ignore it?" Eventually, something has to be done about the person doing the stalking. No, I wouldn't tell someone IRL to ignore it, but I see the two concepts as apples and oranges. If that much similarity, even. E.g. -- someone following me in a car, parking outside of my house, already being there when I went to pick up my children, etc. would concern me a lot more than someone posting irritating/pointless replies to my posts on a messageboard. I would feel the same, except when I've posted personal details on that message board, and there are people on the message board that know my physical address and my full name and could figure out where I work and go to school very easily. It creeps me out. If she wanted to find me, she could. So yes, I take this very seriously.

And yes, I will admit that the "snoopy dance" thread was a little immature on my part. But, like I was telling someone via PM, I personally feel that I was entitled to a bit of an immature response after finding out that the person that was stalking and harassing WASa and myself was the very same person that made completely and utterly unfounded harassment accusations against us and then made a giant fuss over blocking us.

Oh, I know! It really is laughable, in a weird way. Pisses me off sometimes (and sometimes kinda scares me, when I think of the lengths people will go to), but then I just have to take a step back and laugh, especially when I consider how much it would piss them off.

Yeah, I hate Apple. They just aren't organized in a logical way for me, I guess. With Windows, I know where to look for stuff. For me, they are much more user-friendly (when you discount their propensity for viruses, at least :guess). I like Dell, but I've just heard so many negative comments about their customer service. I dunno. I can get a discount on both Dell and Gateway if I buy them through my university computer store (12% for Dell). I may just do that.

So what dogs do you have?

And I've decided that I must have Windows. I despise Apple computers after having to use them to design my high school yearbook. Horrid things.

I'm really leaning towards either getting another Vaio or getting a Dell. I have hard feelings toward HP since they merged with Compaq, since my old Compaq Presario bit the dust after less than 3 years of use. But I do love my Vaio, and they come in pretty colors now, too.

Yep. If I don't feel like cooking, I'll just pop a peas in butter sauce or brocolli in cheese sauce Green Giant in the microwave. They usually last me 2-3 meals, at least.

Yeah, that's what I figured the case would be. Damn. I just like the way the Alienware computers look, for the most part. The most I would be doing on it is internet, Excel, Word, etc.

So am I. Does it have anything to do with your puppy dog issue?

I know you know quite a bit about computer crap. I've been looking into buying a new lap-top computer eventually. I'm very attracted to the Alienware computers, despite their price, but I don't know whether I should go with one of those or a more main-stream brand like Dell or HP. Right now, I'm using a Sony Vaio, and I like it, but I don't know if I want to stay with that brand, either. Any advice about which is better?