what an extrawberry thread - I cherry every single post.
Posting at Project Reason is a form of entertainment; at least it is for me. I don’t make my living starting threads, responding to questions, or challenging other forum members. The prolific production of threads, posts, and words from some members is impressive, perhaps overwhelming. I would estimate that the ratio of alphanumeric characters they produce compared to my (and others) production is 100 to 1. There is no thought, idea, story, or concept that the professional posters do not touch. Is this good?
I wonder if current trends continue, if posts from non-professionals such as me, might have decreasing relevance, as those who post here on a professional basis, relegate my/our comments to background noise.
I think if we are here for entertainment it should not matter if our thoughts are relegated to background noise or even heard at all, should it? Whether that was the original reason we found ourselves here, or arrived later as a conclusion. Looking for entertainment was not what brought me here in the first place. That is not to say I’ve not relegated PR to a place of entertainment for reading posts when I have the time. There are too many areas in life I do not feel qualified to comment on in length, so I leave it alone, being an unprofessional at both life and writing. Your posts are substantive, and I find myself gravitating towards reading ones such as yours. That is just me.
Posting at Project Reason is a form of entertainment…
Looking for entertainment was not what brought me here in the first place.
Perhaps a more accurate statement would be that posting at Project Reason is extracurricular. It is not required.
...being an unprofessional at both life and writing.
Since you are alive and have been alive for at least a dozen years (the time it takes to learn how to write understandably), by definition you are a professional at life.
and since there is nothing you write that I can’t understand (something I can’t say about a significant fraction of members who post at this forum),
you are competent at writing;
You just don’t make a living at writing.
It is an excellent site for good intellectual contact otherwise, for me, lacking.