Originally posted on 03/27/2012:

I wasn't going to weigh in on this thread at first, but after reading a few pages, I can't help myself.

Team A: Opie and Zeta

Team B: Illini, Bronxer, Frizzelli, et. al.

Now considering there are no immaculate posters on SBR, in my opinion Team A is a million times more real than Team B. I've never heard a more consistent stream of worthless storytelling than what Team B brings to SBR. The fact that there were allegations of mental disease and child sexual abuse in response to a justified qualitative evaluation of someone as a poster is just appalling. In fact, it perfectly condenses why it's not fun to post at SBR anymore. When the Mods starting helping disgraced posters bury their shame under new handles at will, they turned the asylum over to the inmates. Even worse, Illini's been repeated the same nonsense in 20 threads per day UNDER THE SAME HANDLE, and nobody with authority has had the balls to PM the guy and say "Enough is enough; change your angle or you've gotta go."

Now not to say there aren't things about Opie and Zeta that I don't dislike, but they have my respect for keeping the story-telling to a minimum. They both love to see themselves as the topic du jour here, but they're quite creative in how they accomplish it, so it's hard to get upset over it.

Which brings me to my final point, directed at Deuce. Buddy, you hit the nail on the head about how anybody who's been on these forums for "too long" falls in a routine, colloquially known as a schtick. What I didn't like about your conclusion was that all schticks are inherently equal. Quite simply, they're not. They're a product of the mind behind them, and some are most decidedly better than others. That's why some comedians like Bob Hope and Bill Cosby are timeless and span 40+ year careers, and some comics are one and done (like the guy everybody hated at the 2010 Bash that Mr. D had to get a refund from).

Illini, Bronxer and Frizzelli are the one and done types, they don't possess sufficient synaptic response times to dynamically adjust their schtick/e-persona to the topic at hand. They want to be part of a conversation, and so they repeat the responses that once worked for them best, not realizing that people stopped laughing years ago. That's what distinguishes a good schtick from a bad one, quite simply. The ability to honestly review the quality of the response it engenders, save what's still working and abandon the rest. These guys just aren't able to do it.

Deuce, you and JJ are somewhere in between for me. Sometimes you cling to bad jokes for wayyyyyyy too long, and other times you're brilliant with new material and can come across as quite genuine in a way that Team B never could. I'm probably right there with you, the only difference being that I only post a couple times a week so it's harder for my responses to seem canned when they're so sporadic.

I could say a ton more on this subject, but I'll end this one here. I hope Illini forgives me for this candid criticism; he's always been very sweet in our correspondence, but he deserves the truth from me, and the truth is that his posting is so bad now he's been on my Ignore list for months. Bronxer and Frizzelli are soon to join him after this latest disgusting show from them.