I paid particular attention with myrth and amusement at the prospect of people actually thinking that there is a social/hierarchical distinction of Jr. Member, then on to member, and then "Glory Be, I ain't never gonna go hungry again ! Terra is the answer ! The land...The land.... SENIOR MEMBER ! lol... I watched with mild curiosity when I was out for about a year, tending to Merry, and upon returning, from formerly geodeticman, then changing to Geodeticman.5, I left at Sr. Member, an came back at Jr. Member. Cause I couldn't log in as geodeticman , only by adding the ".5" . It said "geodeticman is taken, please select another name" Really all the problem was, was that upon coming back, I was so wacked by what had happened, I could not even figure out the only real problem was I needed to use my old password, or request a new one.
But in the end, no matter, I did not care if I had Sr. Status a whit, I only wanted connectivity to the metaphorical topology of my former postings as the prior geodeticman, all lying in archives.
While on the subject - never once did I think there was some subjective assessment of our level of wit and wisdom. Junior Member was FINE for me. Still would be. I suspected then, when I logged in after so long, the reset "designation" - I won't call it status, I think that would be a bit 'o hubris if taken seriously, cool if taken in humour. Anyway - the reset designation of junior - I figured would change by a
purely stastical , measureable,tangible attribute -
quantitatively. Can you imagine the designation, with nigh on 2000 members, that being a cogent assessment of a
qualitative determination ? Good God ! Thats one job I would not want to have.
Which reminds me - In case I forget to re-enter the Dinner with Florian (Char's thread) to give a hearty thank-you to Florian - please let me go off subject (since when has not asking stopped me lol...)for a sec and say quite simply "Thank you Florian, for an inestimable job that provides us with this wonderful forum for self-expression in the arts, music specifically, Lightfoot for the mostest part
, I hope you know how much release, joy, friendship. comeraderie, great thoughts thunk, and plain old FUN you have made possible through your hard wark and caring Florian ? Again, thank you.
In the Plebian Model, aka the great unwashed, the proletariate, and other rubrics designating the "assumed to be lower rung in the assumed hierarchy" of junior member - which it is not on either count, the next mis-assumption would be the Middle class- a level in socio-economic or other hierarchy talked much less of - in the non-existant usage of that model in this context of member designation - from the "plebs" and synonyms I gave above, the relatively few that exist for the "middle" includes primarily "hoi-polloi' (sp).
Historically, the 'middle class" is a relatively new concept, as Char astutely pointed out amidst all the great etymological debate of Gentry - instead of the 3-rung historical socio-economic levels model, she summarized succinclt on Gordon's usage of Gentry as simply intended to mean "the haves versus the have-nots". Actually, very accurate, when one looks at the rife terms for the lowest 'classes" historically (and sadly, presently), and the highest level - with equally many names, and then we're back again to the almost non-existant array for middle class save for the hoi-poloi (sp?) - which , upon a quick rubber-sheeting by analogy, it DOES come back to the have and have nots, historically. Middle class is a thing of primarily the post-industrial era,
I have been told, and read. Phooey on it all, anway. I measure a man by his integrity, values, ethics, genuine(not false) humility, and the like. NOwhere in there is money, or assets, chattels, etc. IMO.
We then presumably ascend (we don't its just a # of posts count, and ONLY posts count) to the highest rung - known by a collective of historical terms, including Don Quixote's "Gentry", along with several other rubrics I have a lonnnnggg posting on in the very fun 'vocabulary thread" that I won't repeat here, beacuse I don't hold truck with the societal echelons paradigm to begin with, but those who do/did historically, call the collective terms used i slightly different contexts of the highest level "Nobility, non-nobility-Gentry, (and many more found for all 3 levels in my other posting - I think I found it more tedious to write than likely to read !lol) the collective term that ties the upper level terms together is one word "aristocracy" . Sdly the original Greek term "Plebians" - sad then and now it even exists, is 'stemmed"or 'conflated" down to the term used in Greek Fraternities for new lowly inductees as the abbreviated (stemmed, in a way) form "Plebs" , as in "Let's dangerously Haze the Plebs, and see who breaks and lies in a corner weeping for life, versus who seeks societal status so much they MAKE it !" -