Webbo, Doc, what flabbergasting news! But can you post some pictures of your bare bottoms, so that we know it's really you?

Oh! Xotd again. How lovely!








La la la la la



Shoobidoobidoo





Tra la la la loo





Just singing a little song, as one does.






Bear with me




























Are we alone now...?

Good.

IT WAS ROY STUART.

As I read that post, Jay, my baby quietly vomited about a cupful of warm breast milk down my bare arm and now the two sensations are so inextricably linked that I can't reliably gauge my response. Though it's possible that my response to each event really is quite similar: the warmth, the "oh, this again" sensation, the calm acceptance.

Thank you all for voting my latest and dearest "creation" to the front page at the weekend. I'm truly touched!

On the newsfeed topic:
This site once had the power to change lives. There was energy, excitement and a kind of creative domino effect I've never experienced elsewhere. It drew us all into the maelstrom and made many of us who we are today. It brought us friendships that are based on a different kind of bond - a bond inspired by a strong sense of belonging rather than by the geographical and temporal coincidences that underlie many friendships forged in the "real world".

Those of us whose lives have been touched will always retain a deep affection for Polanoid. Perhaps we will always commit the folly of overestimating its significance to other people who have experienced it in a different way.

(....lengthy shamefaced coughing fit...) Yeah ok. Sorry.

Elwaxa: Ahum. Infinitwoo is still with me due to my total uselessness.

Having had my hold luggage lost several times in the past, I always take all my film and cameras as hand luggage. It's never been a problem travelling within Europe. They nearly always make me unpack everything and wipe every single item to check for traces of explosives. It takes a while, but the security staff are usually more intrigued by all the strange paraphernalia than alarmed. After all, if you were going to smuggle something dangerous, you'd be trying to be inconspicuous about it and not travelling around with a bunch of very obviously mysterious objects. I'd say go for it, unless you're travelling out of a highly security-conscious country, as g. says.

The Bastard Club was formed by Ms Norah_Goldenbogen - but she stopped hanging out here ages ago, and as far as I know, Zvevi, she cherishes the deepest abhorrence for you - as befits the founder of the Bastard Club.

Zvelikins, I know from all the years we've both been on this site that you can always be relied on for your enthusiasm and that you love to join in with any kinky noidish group romps, and I know that you are one of the people around here who still care about Polanoid. And I would disagree that you don't come up with ideas. You frequently have suggestions. You really weren't my target.

The people I'm thinking of are the ones whose names I can't even remember, because they only ever seem to pop up in order to moan, but when something is actually going on, they don't even bother writing comments, let alone joining in.

I'm with you on the Xposed thing, too, by the way. (I even suspect Webbo was secretly with you, but he decided to keep rejecting your very sensible idea just to be contrary.)

Rodeo, I'm sure the cliquey impression you mentioned does dampen a lot of the enthusiasm around here. But not just for the ones who feel they are somehow being excluded: anyone who has ever tried to introduce a new piece of nonsense here will know that it tends to end with one of those peculiarly choleric types out there leaping up out of nowhere and frothing at the mouth about cliques and SOTD conspiracies and the like. Little wonder that nobody feels like collaborating anymore when apoplectic ire is the typical response.

"Sloth" is a lovely old-fashioned word for it Arne.

What I think is: this isn't a kindergarten where we are all meant to sit and wait for someone in charge to tell us all what picture to paint. We don't have smiley-faced teachers to dish out the tin foil and the glue, and if anyone thinks that this is what the site "owes them", then they will be disappointed.

I'm not directing this at anyone in particular - certainly not at anyone currently in the discussion - but... I feel that many people on the site seem to be able to muster plenty of energy when it comes to bewailing the demise of this and the wrongness of that, but few people seem to be able to put that same energy into inspiring other people or even to just joining in with whatever nonsense is happening around them. You can sit around all day boohooing about how nobody on the site is entertaining you anymore and waiting for a new messiah to drag you out of your state of apathy, but that attitude won't actually improve anything because there is nobody out there who is responsible for that task and there never really has been - the people who used to provide the inspiration around here did it voluntarily, just for the fun and the give and take. If we failed to look after those people - if we bored them, if our lethargy and incessant carping drained them of the will to carry on - then that is our own fault.

On a positive note: how about we do occasional random guest-judge projects, like we did when the Webbo ran out of ideas? Those were fun and different. I don't imagine we can have one a month, as they are time consuming to participate in, but maybe one every few months would work.