Maybe somebody can help me with this. It's like that math puzzle I just can't figure out, and it's really bugging me.
The other day, I lost my TU status in a particularly traumatic way. (Puts back of wrist onto forehead.) It was Debate Night, and the Open Threads had been popping up like rabbits. I was having a good time, and in my exuberance at arriving at an empty thread, I did what anyone would do, I thought, and shouted, "Me first!" Apparently this is a breach of etiquette, for although my comment appeared third, it eventually disappeared, along with my TU status, under the weight of what are now called "Hide Ratings." I didn't know! I apologize to the DK community at large--I didn't know!!! I felt like David Shuster--one slip, and bam!!!
In the real world, I am nothing if not considerate. I let people merge into my lane in traffic. I use my turn signal. I help old ladies/gentlemen. I help people who bug me. In fact, on that very day, I had been waiting outside the courthouse, in the cold, along with everyone else who still had to go through the metal detector, and I held the door open so that the young man behind me could stand in the warm vestibule with me. The young man who had been hocking loogies onto the pavement and blowing cigarette smoke that I'd had to breathe and swearing about how cold it was. I helped him. I feel like I have okay karma. The judge dismissed my ticket.
But my point is my TU status disappeared. It's not the end of the world, and it's not like I ever used it for anything, I just thought it would be interesting to see when it came back. I've never been good at math, so unless it happened in the form of a diagram--I'm really good at visual things--I probably wouldn't pick up on it, but who knows. So, I sat back, said a few things, and waited. Nothing. Then this morning when I signed on, the familiar little round circles were back. Ah! It's a timing thing--I was merely suspended for two days!
But, No!!! I made some comments, received a few recs, and, voila, it disappeared again! AAACK!!! I feel like Lisa Simpson that time when Millhouse understood the brain teaser and she just didn't get it. Is there some big cosmic joke going on here? Does anyone understand how this works? Diagrams appreciated.
I will not be posting a tip jar, for obvious reasons. Thanks!