Gothiron.......? Don't I know that name...
Rants from the past revived

Ages ago, I was part of the "Dooyou" online community whose general brief was that you got points per review you wrote and if your synchopantic group of familiars liked what you wrote, you could get a "crown". It was primarily designed to provided reviews about consumer items and I have contributed to the world awareness of a range of subjects. The best bit is probably trying to come up with a snappy title to snare in reviewers - afterall, I'd not be tempted by "yet another marketing gimmick for a washing liquid" but "Wash & Goth" for Daz' new (but no longer sold) dark colour washing liquid was a stroke of brilliance.

But it was the "free thought" categories that I really revelled in - afterall I can rant for England on most subjects but when its about an actual item rather than a concept, well, even I have to pay a passing regard to those things called facts. Not so in free thought - my right to my opinion is mine. I had a look at a few of my self-opinonated wafflings recently, and ignoring the early ones, they are pretty neat so The Gothiron Guide presents: The Dooyou Gothiron Guide and the best titles are shown below:

There is also a bit of a confession to make, I wrote under the moniker "madmonkey" as well - primarily as a method of irritating some of the "dooyou mafia" by breaking up the cosy "oooh you are sooo marvellous" style of ratings, but also so that I could try out a different writing style as I was writing from the perspective of my other half. Usually this was irrelevant - the exception being the "opinion" done on Self-Harm as seen from the outsider/insider point of view. This op was personal and helped.

They changed the format of dooyou in the end, and it was only "proper" reviews (ie "stuff") that netted you points so I haven't been a dooyou-er for a few years (plus it was a site that got blocked at work so unless I was really going to have to write for a living, I had to tone down the amount of time I spent dooyouing) but remembering how much I enjoyed researching & writing the "reviews", thought it only fair to see if there is a place for a retro Ben Elton-equese style written rants.