MNspeak ^[1] is a funny place.

Nobody’s quite sure what to call it, exactly. Is it a blog? Is it a forum? Anyone can post, but it’s moderated. I think of it as a community blog with some extra features.

It has a regular group of commenters. Anyone can post an entry, but I think most people pretty much just wait for new posts to go up in the morning so they can start leaving comments and having a conversation, forum-style. The thing about this is the conversation frequently devolves into the same sorts of arguments over and over.

It’s a snarky crowd over there at MNspeak, and it can be a pretty hostile environment for the weak. The best way to deal is to give as good as you get, and also to not give a shit either way. I think it’s a pretty big turnoff to someone who casually happens across MNspeak these days. But if you’ve got the balls to hang in there, you might enjoy it.

For those that might need a little help, Bixby ^[2] posted a list of MNspeakers likely arguments ^[3]. This comment was posted on a thread about Minnesotan driving, but it’s applicable to pretty much any subject you could possibly come up with. If you’re new to MNspeak, this is what you should expect. Just so you know.

1. liberals (who don’t want people to be able to carry guns so that people can be scared into being courteous).
2. conservatives (who believe courteous driving is only for the rich).
3. we need to alternative fuels because the higher price of gas makes people angry.
4. People are angry about something related to condominiums (which they are often driving to and from because they cannot walk places in our unwalkable city).
5. Racism (obvs!)
6. It’s really the rude driving down by Block E that’s bringing everyone else down.
7. People are rude because they are rushing to get to a bar where they can smoke before it closes (entirely too early – this never happens in [city bigger than MSP].
8. They hate the new City Pages Editor and are so mad about something he did that they can’t focus on being nice.
9. Illegal immigrants who don’t understand what it means to be a courteous driver.
10. Racism (again, obvs!)
11. A complete lack of understanding of the basic principals of economics.
12. Elitism
13. “People like [insert MNSpeaker]“
14. The 5.
15. Rybak
16. Timmy P.
17. People angry about the horrible journalism they just read in the Strib over breakfast before getting into their car (negligible since no one actually reads it over breakfast)
18. Public schools used to teach courteous driving but they don’t any more. Send your kid to private school [leads directly to argument #2]
19. It is better to be a courteous driver near your home than it is to drive across town to be courteous. Yet, people would still rather drive to other states to be courteous [leads to argument #20]
20. There aren’t any reasonably priced places to be a courteous driver anymore.
21.-infinity: any combination of 1-20.
22. [insert unrelated sexual innuendo]

Right on, Bixby!