Yep, “leash.”

Tonight in my usual hijinx, I posted something smarmy. It was one of those times where maybe my humor was too edgy.  I was teasing a friend, but maybe it was too much. When I couldn’t be sure of my friend’s reaction to the post, I changed it.  

It was then, I noticed The Invisible Leash.  Good thing I saw this on an edit to my own post, and it wasn’t something occurring on a post belonging to a third party.  Like that of an enemy. 

I stared at this tiny little line in my own edited post, as the import sunk in:

“Last edited by Brian Coltrane on Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:19 pm; edited 1 time in total ”

Alas! No more, can I indulge in my schemes. Everything I touch now leaves a neon fingerprint that anyone can see.  I’m effectively on a leash.  Curtailed.  Nullified.  Oh, I can still do something, but there’s no point as I have no ability to get away with it.

Granted, this probably beats getting my moderator-ness revoked.  And the community I serve ( if you can call it serve) deserves to carry on with itself, without my merry meddling.   

Small mischiefs for sport are a part of my mentality. I can’t help it.  But there won’t be any more such shenanigans.  No more wicked little self-amusements at the expense of another user, no matter how much that user irritates the @#$% out of me on general principal. 

I ain’t gonna be quick to make legit edits or deletions, either. I saw a duplicate post tonight, and I was gonna remove it, but then I’m like,  “Do I want my fingerprints on this?”  Hell no. It would take only two or three such neon fingerprints to have people think I’m a jackass.  Awright, I am a jackass, but I prefer it being less obvious. 

I respect the decision of my peers, though.  Besides, I don’t own that shop.  I’m just the janitor – I look for trash and get rid of it. 

In the end, I can’t argue the value of having tracking on edits. 

Then why do I feel like my enemy has won?  I guess she has.

Behold!  The naked thoughts of the unclothed mind!  See these bare words standing stark and cold!  There is no cover, no cloak, to shelter the exposed ramblings posted here for viewing by the multitude! 

There’s no such thing as privacy on the internet, but I figured with 100 million websites out there, no one was likely to find this humble little brick in the wall.  

People found it.  Cat’s outta the bag.  I was initially surprised that anybody would take the time to read anything here.  But then I realized that even with 100 million websites, there’s not a whole helluva lot going on. 

Ever notice?  It’s like cable tv.  Two hundred channels of crap, mostly containing re-runs from the past 30 years.  Whoopee.

The internet is worse. 100 million websites, and after spending about 15 minutes a day browsing through my usual haunts – that’s it! I’m done. Seen it all.  And talk about repeats….Yahoo has the same news as my local newspaper site, as does CNN, as does MSN.  More media opportunites than ever, and nobody has anything different or interesting to say.

The shopping sites are worse.  Anyone try finding a real book on Amazon.com lately?  They’re busy pushing everything from digital cameras to macaroni & cheese.  I see many shopping sites turning into a “virtual walmart.”   BLAH!  This can’t be good. 

MySpace is worse.  Scores and scores of personal pages that have postings like,  “Duuuuude!!”   So much for user-driven content.  

YouTube’s novelty hasn’t wore off yet, but the surest sign that the bell curve has rounded, is it’s arrival to mainstream popularity. (Google aquisition nonwithstanding.)  Meanwhile, every other web conglomerate under the sun is offering a video hosting and sharing service. 

Don’t even get me started on the Photo Hosting sites. I can’t hit a back-button with out bumping into three of them. 

Porn sites?  A dime a bazillion.  Many of them not only suck, they swallow.  All of them offer an ever-escalating collection of shocking acts that eventually deny true sensuality and cross over into freak-show theatre.   I can count the decent porn sites I’ve found on one busy hand.      ( Bahaha! Couldn’t resist that lil’ joke.) 

And so, here we are, 200 cable tv channels, 100 million websites, uncounted DVD and CD collections, itunes…and yet everyone is bored as hell.  Might as well read a blog or two and see what’s in somebody’s frontal lobe, eh?   

Naked thoughts and all.   WHOO!  

As expected, I got busted for my whimsical stunt of editing my enemy’s story.  I’ve bravely taken my 50 lashes from a wet noodle. Meanwhile, all traces of the posts relating to the story, and the story itself, have been vaporized.  

Good thing I kept a copy of it.  Muahahahaha….

I couldn’t stop myself.  I reposted the story again, by simply editing somebody else’s post and pasting it in beneath the regular message.  My friends know where it’s located and they’re howling with laughter, because I made some new edits.  In this update, more objects spontaneously burst into flame and two of the main characters recreate a scene from Brokeback Mountain.  But hey, I’m not all bad.  I gave the original author of this flaming bag of dog poop full credit. 

Yes, I’m rotten.  To the core.