Genuinely saddened by the state I find Apolyton in...

[kentonio]

Ben's not that bad...

Yes, yes he is.

Also Elok, what is OBYH?

[Imran Siddiqui]

"Oh bless your heart"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bless+your+heart

[kentonio]

I'm going to say that unless the person saying it is an 80 year old grandmother, it's definitely condescending as ****. I'll add it to my list.

[Sava]

maybe we need a packet for memebrs to not take your face seriously

PUSSYWTWAT

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm going to say that unless the person saying it is an 80 year old grandmother, it's definitely condescending as ****. I'll add it to my list.

Well it works better in the American South... or any other place where folks tend to be religious. It hits just the right cord in those sort of places.

[Elok]

I've heard it used in a completely non-hostile, non-ironic manner. And once "Well, bless your bones!" in the most cheerful voice imaginable. You really can't pull it off unless you have the mother of all Southern accents.

[Alexander's Horse]

I think Poly has been great since I came back

[loinburger]

Does name-calling actually work here? Can anyone chime in and say that being called names here hurts their feelings?

There are two instances of name-calling that I would say "worked":

1. I started a thread about how my grandfather was a POW in WWII, and rah said that I was lying and threw a ****ton of insults at me (though not at my grandfather, who he thought was fictitious). This pissed me off because it shat up my "this is a story about my grandfather" thread, so in that sense he was successful in making my day significantly worse.

2. The overwhelming majority if Kidicious's posts amount to repetitive insults like "you are a nazi communist feminist," which was extremely annoying and so in that sense he was successful. However, I wouldn't say that he was successful to the extent of ever making my day worse.

[Bereta_Eder]

bless his nazi commie little femi heart.

btw bless your bones sounds eerie unless someone is suffering from arthritis

[Elok]

It was overheard in a restaurant where my wife and I were eating on our way south a few months back--a Chik-fil-A, no less. We both had to work hard to repress our laughter, the tone was so exuberant. I can't quite convey the accent phonetically, but it was vaguely June Carter Cash territory. The sort of accent that pronounces why as "whah."

[Egbert]

It's rather amusing to see the thread devolve into exactly the conditions the OP started the thread by bemoaning.

Does name-calling actually work here? Can anyone chime in and say that being called names here hurts their feelings?

As far as I can tell, it's just another part of the culture here and no one takes it seriously, but you bet that it's a prime reason no new people join, as it would definitely turn off anyone who didn't realize it was not serious.

I think the name calling would turn off just about any potential new poaster, whether they thought it was serious or not. And has, no doubt, long since driven away a lot of people.

The name calling adds nothing to anything.