Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Haha ... my avatar would resemble me if she was wearing a boonie instead of a scarf, had bloody knuckles, and was covered in bandages. But the essence is the same. I'm definitely a honeybodger.

Jennypenny, thank you for not busting my illusions as Riggerjack and Dragline just did!

What's a honeybodger?

A type of hat.

honeybodger don't give a fuck

@halfmoon--I'm a bad ass bodger (it's one of my few skills) so I borrowed from the honey badger's name and reputation.

My dotage seems to consist of frantically googling things to figure out what people are talking about. I found a number of definitions for bodger, but I'm going with:

1. Anyone who creates objects (machines, vehicles, buildings , etc.) from a mishmash of found or improvised materials.

This sounds so interesting. Examples? I think you may be related to my DH.

@halfmoon -- I had no idea there were so many definitions of bodge. I mean it in the Junkyard Wars kind of way. I'm not really into tinkering as a hobby like sclass but I can get creative when I need something and the cost of buying it seems outrageous to me. I'm more a master at resolving problems by refashioning or repurposing stuff I have around the house. Sometimes my bodges are bad ideas, which explains all the bandages.

Apologies to the OP ... we're way OT. Take it as a sign that post count may be inversely correlated with IQ and not a good measure of whether that person's posts are worth reading.

Mine is an ancestor great-something "First American" grandparent from 1865 -- I only inherited the forehead and eyebrows.

Was that a civil war soldier's picture, then?

Your post count is only a measure of how Textroverted you are. Nothing else.
Incidentally, being textroverted while sporting an avatar might make you appear to be part of the ERE elite because your presence is made so visible...

I guess a good litmus test would be to see how many consider me and BRUTE part of the ERE elite (we joined at about the same time). If that number is high enough there might be evidence that visibility trumps actual contribtuion to incorporation of ERE in other people's lives, in regards to joining the perceived ERE elite.[1]


[1] We both tend towards a very large number of one-liners, until someone back us up into a corner and asks us something directly in which case it appears that we write posts that are about 1.5-2.5 standard Jacobs, depending on the topic. Nutrition seems to spark BRUTE, talking about me seems to... well you know.[2]
[2] Me, me, me, mememememe[3]
[3] Incidentally that footnote was all about me, too!

I think the joined date plays a part in this as well, at least for me. If someone has been around for longer than say 3 years and still posts regularly I would put weight on their posts as opposed to someone who had been around for only a year or or so even if they have several thousand posts. It shows some dedication to the group in a day and age where long term dedication to something is pretty rare.

The previously used forum software had a plugin I used for actual Elite ratings

viewtopic.php?t=117

FBeyer wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 06, 2017 8:21 am

I guess a good litmus test would be to see how many consider me and BRUTE part of the ERE elite (we joined at about the same time). If that number is high enough there might be evidence that visibility trumps actual contribtuion to incorporation of ERE in other people's lives, in regards to joining the perceived ERE elite.

I think "ERE elite" is kind of an oxymoron in an egalitarian culture such as this one, where independence of thought and relatable experiences or observations seem to be the most valued qualities.

I do find the contributions of you and Brute to be valuable and thought provoking, regardless of any labels.

Riggerjack wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 06, 2017 8:05 am

Mine is an ancestor great-something "First American" grandparent from 1865 -- I only inherited the forehead and eyebrows.

Was that a civil war soldier's picture, then?

No, but he got off the boat from Germany around that time. He made his way straight to Wisconsin with hordes of other unwashed German migrants. He was an artistic sort (a painter) with a flamboyant streak as far as we know, although I think he mostly painted houses.

Uhm, count +1 vote for implementing that Elite ranking system on here.

Or self-identifying our ERE Wheaton levels?

brute identifies as an Apache attack helicopter

BRUTE wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 07, 2017 9:32 pm

brute identifies as an Apache attack helicopter

Those have very expensive lifestyles.

brute prefers the term "financially challenging"

I like it. Better yet, they don't have to pay for their own lifestyles.

I read any post/comment if the content is interesting or if it contains arguments that intrigue me regardless of avatar/red font/# of posts. I try not to ignore content (ERE or otherwise) that I consider non-elite since this habit tends to reinforce a type of echo chamber of ideas. Most people will bias towards branding something "elite" when it happens to coincide with their own opinions or contain "elite" buzzwords. I'll even read spurious content to see if something of value lies within the debris of exploded error and to gain insight into how people think.

And when RiggerJack or Dragline post I do imagine it's their avatar talking to me - kind of hard not to. Humans are visual creatures and we are hardwired to think in images even when dealing with abstract concepts.