One commenter says he is debating someone on Chronicles of Culture. Shari is fighting in the same forum. I, of course, would like to see what is going on.

So I go the CC and am faced with the entry page. Since you are familiar with the territory, you expect me to find were the debate is. This is probably duck soup for everybody but me. But I have no idea where to go from here to find what is so obvious to you.

I may be the only person who has trouble with this. But this doesn’t bother me. I have looked ridiculous so many times that this is routine. SysOps and BoardAd are used to the fact that I qualify for the Internet Special Olympics, but those two have made it very clear that, like the other “special” people, I have other qualities that decent people like them feel are worthwhile.

SysOps has spent hundreds of hours walking me through stuff that was simplicity itself to her. BoardAd not only does not resent it when I can’t cope, he clearly sees it as an honor to rush in and offer me help.

There is no boost to one’s ego like having worthy, brilliant people declare that the areas of my greatest incompetence are not a weakness on my part, but an opportunity for them.

To say we are a Mutual Admiration Society is a gross understatement.

But there is more to it than that. I have many weaknesses, but I have few UNIQUE weaknesses. Almost every time I admit that something trips me up completely, somebody out there is assured that they are not alone, that what they missed was also missed by me, and while this may embarrass THEM, Ole Bob doesn’t find it embarrassing at all.

My ego is not only strong, it is insufferable. In a perverse way, this HELPS others who have the same problems I do. Brilliant people are willing to deal with my weaknesses because I have a LOT to offer.

Pain is right to say I talk about me too often. But in this case my confidence in my own worthiness is useful. When Shari kept apologizing for her opinions I jumped all over her and said that, by God, if ***I*** considered her opinions worth repeating here, Ole Bob RESENTED her apologizing for them. This was TRUE. My ego is so strong that I RESENT someone apologizing for statements that clearly strike me as worthwhile.

This is pure ego on my part. But it also helped drive bashful little Shari into taking on a gaggle of male Wordists in Chronicles of Culture.

If I read Shari right, she just said that she is wondering where all us tough guys are when she is taking on a bunch of males in CC.

But Simmons and Shari forget my limitations. I don’t know abut he rest of you, but I need them to say more than “I am fighting it out on CC.”

I need a SPECIFIC url on CC so I can go to where they are fighting.

Now as it happens, BoardAd has volunteered to find anything like that that is easy for him and hard for me. He will do that for ME. If you join our Yahoo group, I am sure he will do it for you.

But I think Shari and Simmons should provide us with the urls of their debates as a matter of course. This is a team fight.

I may be alone in being unable to hone in this sort of thing without the url. That wouldn’t embarrass me.

But don’t think of it as just compensating for Bob’s computer illiteracy.

Think of providing the specific url as saying “This is a team effort. Get in here with me.”

How unsophisticated can you GET?

It goes back to one of my favorite stories about the kid whose father was a real con man and taught him all the tricks. One day he said to the old man, “Papa, you’ve taught me every lie there is. But is there ever a situation when it is best to tell the TRUTH?”

This question rocked the old man back on his heels. After a couple of gasps, he finally came up with an answer, “Well son, in a desperate situation, ANY gimmick will do.”

This Truth Gimmick works a lot out there in the real world.

Simmons and Shari, at the risk of sounding as totally unsophisticated as I am, what you are doing IS a team effort. We deserve a chance to back you up and you deserve some backing.

We are proud that you are fighting the fight, but I want to hear more than just your mentioning it. I want a chance to get IN on it. Give me the url.

You are probably doing all that needs to be done, and I am glad to hear about it. But I want to SEE it.

And I doubt that I am the only one here who feels that way.