Taking a page from Inkberrow, whose Trail of Tiers post got the juices flowing and the feathers ruffled over at BOTF a couple months ago, I thought I would perform a similar personal assessment of KFS posters. Rankings are based on writing ability, cogency, flexible thinking, and NOT on the alignments of the posters with my personal views. To illustrate, I may disagree both with how Arkady views certain of Clinton’s policy proposals, such as healthcare, and the importance he places on this proposal in the overall scheme of things, but I think he has stated his opinion about as well as anybody could. He stands alone here in the first tier, and the rest of us are indeed amateurs. Indeed, KFS is, as Wulk admitted, rather a “gutter” of the Fray; there are too many postings which are neither well planned nor thought through and whose intention is emotional or confused. There’s too many firing off letters to the editor here, folks! There are also way too many C&P’s. Think for yourselves, and occasionally think outside the box, dummies. Posters I have ranked in the third, or even fourth tier may be saying useful and important things which need to be said, but because of the constant emotional tension and the volume of posts at this site, they usually just end up talking to themselves (think: Seasoldier and americaislost). I probably subconsciously downgraded people who post too often.

Looking at the positives, this is a more honest site than BOTF with its circle jerk of preening self-admiring egos. That said, here’s the report card.

Oh, for the curious I would probably rate myself about at the level of the better 3rd tier posters (Denny, JIC, Cochi, Wulk) in my increasingly infrequent posts here. I have added a fifth tier to Inkberrow’s original four to represent the shit-for-brains contingent.

First Tier:

Arkady;

Second Tier:

KnotaFrayed; Mom; Boltlady; SoreLoser; Boss Greer

Third Tier:

Loree; Ellen; Fierry Persuit; SouthernGal; Just In Case; CAN; CameronB ; Berzerker; Lobato; Denny; americaislost; Masterjay; Wulk; Cochi

Fourth Tier:

Skeppy; LaurieAnnM; SpeakerNancy/Lunesta; MaryAnne; Phoen-X; MWG; Seasoldier; Rainman

Fifth Tier:

Tickle-Bob; Lapcat

Of course there were some that were left out, but I realize that this is just one persons opinion. So post what you want. In fact thinking about it there were quite a few left out. have a nice weekend. LOL Anna

I don't frequent KFS as often as I should to make this sort of assessment really stick, and I just scrolled back about 6 pages and perused posts. Secondly, I may have a hard time assessing some posters. This aint a roll call, just an off the cuff rating, and more importantly, a warning to clean up some acts. So you, Wahbooz, and others were omitted. I'm sorry. It doesn't mean I don't read you people and often agree.

That is okay I was just thinking when writing that post. Some are more active then others. I don't have the time to be here durning the day. So mostly late night when I am ending a busy day, I relax and post and read other things on the internet before bed. So some really don't know me. have a good day tomorrow. LOL Anna

You'be both wished me a pleasant evening and a nice Saturday. That's very kind of you. I wish you the same in your busy life.

It's always interesting to see someone else's assement of self, pesonally, I'd've put Knot up in the front tier, along with Gramps, and a few others - just my way of looking at it.

As for your assement of myself as a third teir poster, I'll accept it. Hell, I'll accept anything that doesn't take the beans off of my table! :)

Enjoy your weekend, heaving down with rain here - yuck!

That assessment did not go over on BOTF and you would have been wise to be here a little longer before you posted such an assessment..

Some of our best posters you put in third. You would have been wise to wait until you knew what you were talking about.

At least the poster on BOTF knew his posters.You said clearly you do not.

As for Wulk's comment about the gutter,I would guess that sarcasm is not your strong point.

People like Knot,Wulk and others can back up what they say.

As for Loree,she was on this board long before most of us.You never saw her and Phoen-ix radio show on this board.

This is a friend oriented board. We argue like heck one day,go back to normal the next day.We feel we can discuss anything.

The fact gen. has you on the fourth tier just proves he is unaware of the posters on this board. At the very least you should be on level 3 with the rest of us..

SG

Nah,SG,that does not bother me. It is obvious that he put the ones who disagree with him at the bottom.He just took recent names and made his list. I did give him credit for better sense.

Even Tickle Bob is one of our originals.So is LC. I may disagree with them,but they add to the spice,which is what this board is all about.

Cameron just came back a couple of weeks ago.

Do you remember what a stink that caused on BOTF?

me, being in a snit contributed to it...no more. I apologize.

SG

I thought it was funny.I was not in that one:o)

you used was:

1. Writing ability

2. Whether you agree with the poster or not.

3. Whether you have any interest in the topic of discussion.

With points taken off for participation in juvenile cat fights, failure to proof read, and failure to use a spellchecker.

You may think that you're keeping whether you agree with the poster or not out of the evaluation, however, the reality is that you probably take points off for posters you disagree with using the excuse that they are not thinking their position through well enough before posting.

I'll try to handle your concerns in this response to MWG.

Wulk: I thought of placing KnotaFrayed in with Arkady, and finally decided that his posts are often rampant and long-winded, not as cogently stated as Arkady's. Nevertheless, KA's posts are marvelously imaginative and thorough, even though they may wander a bit. I also agree with them about 95% of the time. Gramps simply has equanimity and common sense; he is the final arbiter of this board, and rarely has a bad word for anybody. We should all aspire to reach his state of mind. I don't think his role strictly speaking is to provoke or to articulate, and so as a writer I placed him in the third tier with most of the rest of us.

MA: You state that this is a friend-oriented board, and that should mitigate the lower ratings of you and your fellow posters, whose raison d'etre isn't writing style, imagination, exploring new ideas, but confirming you in your prejudices. You also say that Inkberrow's post didn't go over at BOTF, but it got about 120 replies. You need to take these things with a grain of salt if your primary aim is socializing. You also said the poster on BOTF knew his posters. That is my usual hangout, and I rarely saw him there. But I thought his assessments were fairly accurate, which is why I'm performing the same function here. No, I don't know everyone intimately, as I pointed out to Anna. This isn't a roll call, but I think I included most of the regulars. I noticed the slight sarcasm in Wulk's "gutter" line to the Newbie a couple days ago; I think he was being half-serious. I myself have trashed this site before because of some of the gutter language which flares up from time to time. Let's face it, this is not as heavy a site as BOTF, and many here don't feel obligated to think (and write) for themselves or make a serious well reasoned argument. But there are some compensations--as I also pointed out.

MWG: I suppose it's inevitable that I would rate a poster higher if I have any interest in the topic of discussion, as I feel it contributes more to the seriousness of this board. As MA pointed out, this is a social board, rather than an ideas-oriented or politically oriented board (though 90% of recent posts seem to be about the presidential horse race). If someone is constantly keeping up with the latest tidbit about Clinton-Obama and flogging their candidate, that poster likely was placed in the fourth tier--unless I noticed some subtlety to their arguments.

As for your allegation that assessments depended on whether I agreed with the poster or not, clearly this is not the case in many instances. I am in disagreement with Arkady about certain matters that I alluded to. I placed Boltlady and Boss Greer in the second tier even though they can't stand each other and violently disagree. (At least I find their arguments stimulating). Arkady is for Hillary, KA is for Obama, Boltlady is for Ron Paul, Boss is probably for McCain. What do these posters have in common besides their writing and intellectual ability? At the low end, you may be right; both T-B and Lapcat are virulent neocons who don't care to argue their positions.

that political position affected your ratings. You limited it to the lower range, however, I think it was throughout. I'd suggest your assessments were skewed one, or more, category down for all conservative posters below the 2nd tier.

Second tier: two conservatives: Boltlady, Boss Greer

Third Tier: two conservatives:Denny, Berzerker

Fourth tier: two conservatives: MWG, Rainman

Fifth tier: two conservatives: Tickle-Bob, Lapcat

That completes the roll of conservatives I evaluated. Eight people in all, evenly distributed throughout.

True, I prefer Boltlady's and Boss's more traditional flavor of conservatism to yours or Lapcat's, but strictly speaking, you're all Republicans.