[Steve Bucknell]

1. Calm - someone posts something.

2. Critique – people say "not really, you need to rethink that, rework that." Others reassure the poster that all might be well with just a tweak here and there.

3. Defence- poster says “no, that wasn’t what I meant at all, you don’t really haven't understood my intention.” Poster states that they are listening carefully.

4. Argy - Bargy - a few more people get involved to back the critics or to agree with the poster. Someone says "That's off-topic".The first aspersions flutter into the air. Someone offers up: "I find that offensive". Tensions simmer. People return to the thread and try to sound more careful, respectful and reasonable...

5. Escalation - ...it doesn't work. Veiled insults start to appear. Rumours spread. The Thread reaches 50 replies. Participants start to think of nothing but The Thread. They begin to ruminate over what they will say next in The Thread. They don’t go to bed before checking The Thread. When they wake they’re ready to re-enter Thread World.

6. The Fray – it starts to kick off. Plaintive cries of "why can't anybody hear what I’m saying?" can be heard. Participants in The Thread find themselves not eating, not listening to what their real-life partner is saying, not even noticing what’s on TV.

7. Affray - things said on other threads are brought as evidence. Brief satirical remarks on previous threads and the psychological profiles of other Thread users are made. People accused of using The Thread for their own agenda. Outraged noises off. Some good old-fashioned harrumphing. People are wrestling, pulling at each others' clothes. Some smart-aleck writes: "Isn't it all to do with sublimated desire?" General derision is directed at this poseur.

8. Flouncification - flouncing occurs. Threats to stop posting. More posts by those who’ve threatened to stop posting. The thread now has over 100 replies. It is expanding into a Thread universe, which may collapse into a Black Hole. Stephen Hawking posts an intervention. Nobody notices.

9. Chaos Theory - moderators hover. The Thread no longer makes any sense. It veers off the original topic. People take to off-roading vehicles. New topics are found. New participants are drawn into The Thread. Lone voices appeal for calm or plead for The Thread to stop. They are told they are nothing but Cnuts. Participants swan-dive back into The Thread with lovingly crafted ripostes.

10. The Steady-State Brawl - mention of 'cliques'. Mention of “newbies who know Nothing”. Spectacular flouncing. Shouting heard in the corridors. People start talking about “snark” and “trolls”. People make veiled threats to leave, hoping that someone will say “please don’t go.” Moderators hover.

11. The Civil War - multiple flouncings and furbelows blur and whisk through the air. Accusations made of “pulling rank” and “grandstanding”. Sounds of chairs being smashed. Bonfires are built. An innocent bystander is defenestrated. Grown men weep in corners. People Laugh Loudly .The Thread now covers multiple pages. Moderators intervene. Thread locked. Thread enters folklore.

[John Whitworth]

I assure you Steve I never give more than two minutes'consideration to what I write on a thread. It is like a conversation. One says what is uppermost.

And if you don't agree with me I'll kill you.

Virtually.

[Brian Allgar]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

I assure you Steve I never give more than two minutes'consideration to what I write on a thread.

John, I think we had already gleaned that.

[Roger Slater]

I would have put the number much lower, though.

[Michael Cantor]

Steve - that's wonderful. Unfortunately, we're now somewhere between #7 and #8, so not enough people will read it - but as long as John breathes and Charlie rants there may be hope for a larger audience.

[ross hamilton hill]

Steve, a while back Janice started a thread, 'secrets of the creative brain', it ended up with 446 comments and 21,083 readers. Wasn't locked, ended peacefully.

[John Whitworth]

I think it unfair to say that Charlie rants. I find his posts interesting and quite unranting, if there is such a word. Ranting goes on here, but not from him.

[Roger Slater]

Originally Posted by Charlie Southerland

So we come to hurricane forecasts based on American models and European models, which do yearly forecasts based on current weather patterns and historical patterns. For the past nine years— 3,420 days and counting, they have predicted 2 to 3 or more major hurricanes to hit the U.S. of A. In 3,420 days, not a single Major hurricane has come close to hitting us.

Huh? Have you not heard of Hurricane Sandy? That was 2012, and was the second-costliest hurricane in US history, and it was the second major hurricane of that year alone. There are still people living in tents three years later. Your claim is simply and demonstrably ridiculous, so I won't bother pointing out the many ways your conclusions would still be illogical even if your claims were correct.

[Charlie Southerland]

Roger, I beg to differ with you about Sandy. According to multiple sources including the Governor's office, meteorologists and insurance carriers, Sandy was not classified as a hurricane, but a post-tropical storm. Superstorm, if you will. My facts are correct, dude. Check it out. So please do regale me with my illogical conclusions, if you dare.

[Roger Slater]

Wikepedia:

Hurricane Sandy (unofficially known as "Superstorm Sandy") was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the second-costliest hurricane in United States history. Classified as the eighteenth named storm, tenth hurricane and second major hurricane of the year, Sandy was a Category 3 storm at its peak intensity when it made landfall in Cuba.[1] While it was a Category 2 storm off the coast of the Northeastern United States, the storm became the largest Atlantic hurricane on record (as measured by diameter, with winds spanning 1,100 miles (1,800 km)).[3][4] Estimates as of March 2014 assess damage to have been over $68 billion (2013 USD), a total surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina.[5] At least 233 people were killed along the path of the storm in eight countries.[2][6]

I think it's splitting hairs to argue about how it was technically classified when it hit the US coast, given that it was a hurricane during much of its life and it did more damage and caused more havoc and loss of life than even major hurricanes tend to do in the US. And your original statement was that no hurricane had "come close" to hitting the US. You don't consider this to be at least coming close?