Good evening one and all. I stand before you in hope. Hope that I can out do Sprozzs measly reply count. That is a good starter because this whole little speech/vent is about reply counts and a question for you to answer Hearing the groans Gene grins Now come on. You all love a chance to vent when the person who has spoken is a fucking moron. SAY NOTHING YOU HEATHENS. But when a well thought out speech is placed in front of you then you ignore it and aim for the easiest option..

Gene picks a man out of the crowd with a pointed finger DON'T YOU? before composing himself again

Ahem. As you can see I'm not the greatest fan of this. At all. You see threads from a balloon and you see 100 replies plus. Great. The streets active right? Wrong. Sadly, if you scratch the surface then you find that alot of this talent is in fact dross. They say very little in alot of speeches. They don't really add a lot to the conversation and just um, ah and give a one liner before running down to the next speaker to do the same.

I wouldn't mind if these one liners actually added anything. But they don't. They are usually ego boosting put downs in reply to ANOTHER ego boosting put down. Now don't get me wrong. I like a good session of making someone feel dead dead small and insignificant. It's really good for our world when we massive boom of thunder and a lightning bolt hits the lamp post just behind Gene Ah, yes. Sorry Mr. Godman. Silly me. IT'S NOT GOOD FOR OUR WORLD. In fact. It's possibly the worst thing we can do. Alright. Some people deserve a good dressing down. But when you do this at least give them a chance to improve themselves and point out where exactly they went wrong?!

But then on to the flip side of this coin. You are a talented speaker. You take great pride in your speeches. You rustle something up and you get in to the streets full of beans. Here it comes. A speech to knock em dead. No-one is listening to you but you start anyway. They will come. How could they not? But they don't and you continue anyway in hope. But no-ones coming. They are all down the road being arseholes. You are nearing the end. You try to talk louder. To bounce around so someone, anyone, will see you. 1 or 2 wander over. Perhaps give a reply. But you are left feeling like all your hard work has been wasted. Wasted because people would rather get cheap thrills than actually interact with you. So you retire from the streets and join the mongs who sit and abuse people all day and the streets suffer because of it. It's so wrong it's untrue.

But I do have a theory on this. Perhaps I am cynical. Perhaps I am wrong. I don't know? You tell me?

In this world alot has been placed on how often you appear in the streets or in your HQ. It is now seen as a bench mark for people wanting to become Made in their families. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. I have nothing but good things to say about that. I think being seen and having opinions is a massive part of 'becoming' a member of your family and going beyond that. You obviously can be trusted enough by your boss because they see how you act around others and what you stand for. You're also giving something back to those around you to repay the lessons they taught you and the opinions you heard so you could form your own. However, some people, like those I mentioned in my little speech earlier are abusing this to gain ranks within their family by spouting garbage and to just be 'seen'.

I know the leaders walk the streets and I know they see whats going on. They probably do what 90% of people do here. They listen to a voice without putting a name to it, unless they are seriously impressed by what they have to say, and then reply to the main speaker. I would just like to ask leaders, and obviously I can be ignored if you so wish, to keep an eye out for those spouting rubbish to get their ranks. It is not improving the streets and is not making them a nice place to be. I'd rather see 10 posts of good quality rather than 25 one lined replies.

Whos with me? Who thinks we should stamp out these bastards or kill the streets in this stealthy mode? And who will be the first to post a one liner thinking they are witty and clever? I vote FattyFats but prove me wrong guys.

I think a lot of the time is that the original speech is so well written and delivered that it leaves no room for adding comments. Manys a time your own thoughts have already been voiced. So this leaves us with 3 options a simple reply and acknowledment to show this, a long drawn out rehash of what has already been said (possibly multiple times if your late to the part) or listen and then say nothing in public, but maybe approach the person in private to pass on your respects.

Granted there are times where it actually does generate some debate, however you mainly find the hot topics as such have been touched on so many times that many simply feel there is no point in repeating the same thing their blood has been saying for years.

Gene oh Gene,

You speak The TRUTH... words like that need no confirmation, since they shine with the heavenly glow of the word from Above.

Its been said "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain".

When the gods of our world set the rules that only those who do not speak the one liners, gain from the words that flow from their mouths, how can we humble ones say anything but YES, IT MUST BE SO.

The only thing that pisses me off more than the one liner quip with little thought behind it, is that same one liner said without thought to the way to portrays you, your family, your city and your godfather.

kill the bastards, off with the heads and let them roll

*looks around the dissaproving faces seeking validation for his witty one-liner*

To follow up on my rather excellent opener.

My pappa used to tell me if you don't have anything good to say then don't say anything until you have. 

It is indeed an annoyance when you find a well thought out, well reasoned speech get buried under a pile of dross and bumfluff. Unfortuntelay that is life out here on these streets. People are given a platform to express themselves and voice their views and some people will always crave attention a lot more than others, even it that means hijacking a lot of speeches with quips and meaningless outbursts

I also find a lot of the times even the most mundane of open speeches can act as a spark whereby the speech will take on a new tangent and morph into a more meaningful and somewhat intersting debate. These are the ones that generally attract a lot more heat and coverage than say a generic story about a faceless gangsters rise to fame, which are on the whole very well written but again the ones I find dull as a dish cloth and tend to read and forget almost as quickly

Jax

Interaction is the key to communication.  Being lectured to doesn't really appeal to anyone.  Debate needs to be nurtured, stimulated.  Sometimes the Devil needs to play Advocate and sometimes the line needs to b e slightly blurred; otherwise there is no edge.

The rest is subjective.