Lar (or Lair, however you say it, now), are you finally giving in to the dark side? Or was it that silly sock spat with the dumbass Jasper Deng?

Say it ain't so.

I was wondering how long it would take you lot to notice...

As for why, it wasn't any one thing in particular. My heart just isn't in it any more, and I just got tired of it all.

So, Lar. You laid down the tools or laid down being a tool.

Congrats. You'll enjoy life so much more without the drugery. As I suggested before, they really ought to make everybody an administrator at the beginning, until they've amassed enough WP edits to let them edit for free (and whenever you want, or not at all), and not be expected or required to do anything administrative at all.

It is an irony that goes back to Plato's Republic that the very sorts of people who seek social power are the ones that you least want to have it. But inevitably, they are usually the ones to end up with it. QED, there is no god.

You said a mouthful.

Lar is having problems getting laid because of his tool? Po' guy -- you should try having oysters at least once a day.

Well done. Hug.

I generally interpret "It wasn't any one thing in particular. My heart just isn't in it any more, and I just got tired of it all." to mean: "Me and the Mrs. had an argument and the amount of time I spent doing X intead of stuff she thinks is productive came up, and there was just no where go but quit."

As one grows older one grows more cynical. Also, women identify time spent in other than family-related pursuits as acutely as dogs hear dog barks in the distance, and cats hear catfood cans opening. I believe evolution gives them a special brain circuit for it.

Naa... "the wife" participates in both hobbies. It's just that when I build something with my LEGO, I don't have to worry about all and sundry coming by and adding pieces where I don't think they belong (of a completely inappropriate color or shape, often as not), putting in shoddy bits they got from who knows where, or worse, trying to make penises out of the leftover parts while I'm not watching.

The LEGO hobby is as nonproductive as editing en:wp, probably more. But it's way more fun. And even financially rewarding, once in a great while.

Mrs. Lars: "LEGOs, Wikipedia, me. Pick two."
Lars: "LEGOs and you, babydoll."

Naturally you want to watch.

Okay, we'll take your word for the rest. What other choice do we have?

It's Lar, not Lars.
It's LEGO (brand building elements) not LEGOs.


Stepping away was my idea, not hers. Really. But this really is too selfreferential.

I shall treasure this forever.

I remember reading somewhere that 18 months is the typical "participation arc" in almost any online activity - basically, you get interested, and 18 months later you're not anymore. It's probably understandable that the period would be longer with Wikipedia, especially if you have admin rights, because there's constant activity and new problems are always cropping up. Either way, Lar has been around for what, 9 years? That's a long time for any internet-based "hobby," no matter how you figure it.

Whether that's a testament to the addictiveness of WP activity or to Lar's own personal stability, or (more likely) both, is almost irrelevant after that much time.

Lar has finally realised what the rest of us have. WP is a thankless waste of lifespan.

They met at a convention and it was all so simple - they just clicked. That night in a Finnish hotel, after some mild protestation and a few bottles of Olvi, Lar got his legover and they built a cute little family in a sweet little house. Then Mrs Lar told Lar to get off the fucking internet all the bastard time and behave like an adult for once in his sorry life. They thought of their duplo and decided to compromise. Le Fin.

I sort of prefer this version of life with Lar:

(Lar is sitting at the computer, where he has been playing on Wikipedia for endless hours. His wife enters the room, but Lar does not turn around. Instead, he looks at his wristwatch and realizes it is early evening)

Lar: Woman, where's my dinner?

Mrs. Lar: (angry) What do I look like, the maid? (Whacks Lar with frying pan)

Lar: (cradling his skull). Ouch, my head! You're a mean mama!

Mrs. Lar: Now get your sorry ass off that stupid website. If I wanted a computer nerd with no redeemable social skills, I would have married MZMcBride.

Lar: I promise not to go on Wikipedia again, dear. (Takes baseball bat and smashes computer to pieces.)

Mrs. Lar: Mmmmm, that's better! I love a man who knows how to swing his bat. (Kisses the spot on Lar's head where she whacked him)

I think you're the one who's got it wrong:

Unless you're being paid for your time.

And Lar ain't being paid. Unless it's in Lego blocks.

I know that shot. He's playing "Enter Sandstein."

Which is marvellously convenient. Whenever there seems to be another account using the same IP as Lar, it is of course his wife, not someone using a rootkit.

It's known that the wife uses the name Josette, so they can block all of his improper accounts as clones of her.

*La Fin.

Who cares about any of this?

Don't be ridiculous, Mrs. Lar called me "irresistibly charming."

/wrists

Good for you, Brother Lar. Let me know if you need gardening advice.

Yes, I just spent the day gardening.


Perfect waste, when I could have been voting on the recent crop of RFAs.


Sheeesh.

One reason my weekend participation in Wikipedia has been so much lower for the last year or so is because, coincidentally, I've been outside doing yardwork and gardening.

Good, I'm glad someone found it funny.

Gardening is good - a mazing how meagre some of the horticultural content is on WP...guess it's because it's an outdoor hobby.

And a healthy one!

The Jerusalem crickets creep me out though. Tuber-chewing striped monsters...

While we are on the superior (if somewhat privileged) subject of gardening, has anyone heard of the Keelie apple? I'm planting the tree in a large pot and am looking for more info on filling it. All I'm getting on Google are teenage Americans referencing their iphones, even in quotes. Which just shows how backward search engine technology still is. It think it's probably an alternative name for a fairly common variety, but 'Keelie apple' all I've got on the tag.

Neither Google Books nor Google Scholar have ever heard of "Keelie apple". Your tag sounds wrong.

{duplicate post}

True, nothing comes up, but horticulture coverage on the net can be surprisingly patchy. Still, I have never heard the name....and it is a tad warm in my neck of the woods to get apples to grow well (winter too warm/rare frosts only)

"A vegetable garden in the beginning looks so promising and then after all little by little it grows nothing but vegetables, nothing, nothing but vegetables." - Gertrude Stein


Of course, some vegetables are more amusing than others. Take a cucumber, for example...you might be surprised what fun you can have with a cucumber.

I have farmers in my family, and they haven't heard of them.
All About Apples doesn't have them as a variety.
The USDA site comes up blank.

http://www.naturalhub.com/grow_fruit_cultivars_apple.htm

Meh.

There are about 8000 varieties.

Did you buy it from a guy named Keelie? I have a variety named for my farm that can only be bought on my farm.

Better find out more though: each apple cultivar needs a very specific kind of soil, of course, and you'll also need to know the kind of rootstock (and interstock, if the Keelies are fancy).

<nix duplicate... Somey needs to fix something!>

It's a professionally printed tag, complete with rosy apple picture that looks like a typical garden variety in the UK, labelled 'Keelie'. It suggests using John Innes no.3, but that's a bit loose for my liking. My cynical side says someone poncing around a glass table in a partitioned room somewhere made the name up, but the white distributor's tag has "Apple Keelie". I rang the retailer's helpline, but they want something from the receipt to locate it, which of course is the only receipt I can't find. I'll probably sort it out through the distributor in the end, and if they can't say for sure what it is then the store can have it back.

Strange, gardening is the hobby I picked up after WP, I wonder what attracts wiki types to it. I suppose both do entail a large amount of shoveling manure.

I come from the other side... I got involved in WP to try to get better articles about horticulture, plants, and the pests and diseases of plants.

My years of experience shoveling manure might have played a part in blinding me to the Sisyphus issue for a while, of course. These days I tend to delegate the whole manure shoveling thing to my employees.

keelie is Scots.

keelie (rhymes with steely):
A keelie is a young working-class male from a city or large town. The term is generally derogatory and implies that the person is rough, tough, and a potential hooligan. In Glasgow, however, it is sometimes used more neutrally. Also, in Glasgow girls can be called keelies.
a Glesca keelie
The word comes from the Gaelic gille a lad.
A keelie is also an old-fashioned name for a kestrel.
This sense is probably imitative of the bird's cry.

http://www.britannia.org/scotland/scotsdictionary/k.shtml

Social media participation can be so time demanding and consuming and so much of it is shallow, trite, and ephemeral. Planting a garden or landscaping your yard gets you outside in the air and gives you a process-centered task to accomplish in which you can see and touch the physical results. Also, you can enjoy the result with others, like when I sit on the porch and watch the kids run around in the yard, or run around with them.

I'm starting to use American language posting on this site. Bizarre.