If someone says something bad, knock on wood. Like "Well X thing could happen" where X is like. A storm, the cats learning how to tap dance, a river exploding. Knocking on wood to make that not happen.
Casual Conversation
Share a story, ask a question, or start a conversation about (almost) anything you desire. Maybe you'll make some friends in the process.
RULES (updated 01/22/25)
- Be respectful: no harassment, hate speech, bigotry, and/or trolling. To be concise, disrespect is defined by escalation.
- Encourage conversation in your OP. This means including heavily implicative subject matter when you can and also engaging in your thread when possible. You won't be punished for trying.
- Avoid controversial topics (politics or societal debates come to mind, though we are not saying not to talk about anything that resembles these). There's a guide in the protocol book offered as a mod model that can be used for that; it's vague until you realize it was made for things like the rule in question. At least four purple answers must apply to a "controversial" message for it to be allowed.
- Keep it clean and SFW: No illegal content or anything gross and inappropriate. A rule of thumb is if a recording of a conversation put on another platform would get someone a COPPA violation response, that exact exchange should be avoided when possible.
- No solicitation such as ads, promotional content, spam, surveys etc. The chart redirected to above applies to spam material as well, which is one of the reasons its wording is vague, as it applies to a few things. Again, a "spammy" message must be applicable to four purple answers before it's allowed.
- Respect privacy as well as truth: Don’t ask for or share any personal information or slander anyone. A rule of thumb is if something is enough info to go by that it "would be a copyright violation if the info was art" as another group put it, or that it alone can be used to narrow someone down to 150 physical humans (Dunbar's Number) or less, it's considered an excess breach of privacy. Slander is defined by intentional utilitarian misguidance at the expense (positive or negative) of a sentient entity. This often links back to or mixes with rule one, which implies, for example, that even something that is true can still amount to what slander is trying to achieve, and that will be looked down upon.
Casual conversation communities:
Related discussion-focused communities
The absolute first non-food thing I ever bought in China was a jade "bi" pendant. This is what they look like:
(To be clear, this is not mine for reasons which will become obvious in a moment.)
I was told by the seller that you should never take it off as she strung it on red silk for me, because it's to "protect your health".
Since 2001 I've taken this off only five times, all but one of which was because the string frayed through and it had to be restrung. I don't believe in the slightest that it has any impact on my health, but as a minor, neurotic superstition it stays on. (Which is why I couldn't share a photograph of mine: I'd have to take it off.)
I have a ram pendant so Satan protects me.
I do not believe in Satan.
Thou shalt not deploy anything to production on a Friday.
Actually, in some industries this is actually a good thing
If you can have a bumpy first day on Friday, and e.g. the warehouse is closed on the weekend, you can fix all the things you've seen on Friday during the weekend. And don't have to suffer through a real rough week with in-production patching
you can fix all the things you've seen on Friday during the weekend
Just how I love spending my weekends.
Good one!
The overwhelming majority of people are paid actors whose job is to stand in my way when I want to go home after work.
It’s about harmless beliefs, not not being crazy.
That might make it more Truman show /fun to interact with them.
Never put shoes on a table, mostly just because it's dirty but I think it's something to do with bad luck?
Edit: fat thumbs
Picking up pennies.
Fun memory I just had: My dad was a penny picker and would empty his pockets at the end of the day into one of those blue 5-gallon water jugs that he kept right at the front door by the stairs. One time when it was full, I was trying to be slick and take a lil, and knocked the jug down the stairs where it broke and pennies cascaded down them like a waterfall of copper. Dad was pissed at first but then found it funny. Whats even more funny, is that we didn't clean it up for months, we just had penny stairs, and I swear he would come home and just throw his new pennies right on the stairs. He probably would have kept it that way forever but I cleaned it up as a surprise while he was gone one day.
Reminds me.
I was not there, but a buddy of mine worked as a moving man. That day's client had done something similar, except he'd put the coins in a glass 5 gallon bottle, the kind that were used for water coolers. The client decided to show off for the movers and made to hoist the bottle up onto his shoulder. Bottom came out and coins went everywhere.
Hadn't thought of that story in a while. Thanks
That's what ours was too, the kind that goes into water coolers but it was plastic, not glass. It still exploded when I dropped it though LOL
Building off that: If you find a penny on heads its good luck. Finding on tails is bad. But, if you flip over a penny on tails for the next person to find it heads, you walk away neutral
Do it? Don't do it? People who do it turn into dinosaurs? 37 years good luck? Tell us, man!
It's bad luck to rest your chopsticks inside the bowl.
If your right palm itches, you’re going to receive money.