Yes, I am aware that I have not been tending to my Duty of late. Sadly, my alter ego has been spending entirely too much time interacting with his so-called "real life," and has been known to go as much as two days without even reading Slashdot.

The Crusade will continue! Eventually!

In the meantime, keep the Faith. And remember, only YOU can prevent linguistic errors.

At times it seems as though the incidence of lose/loose errors may be dropping. Recently I have found somewhat fewer grievances worthy of my response. Is the Crusade having an impact already? Perhaps the masses of English abusers are quaking in their collective boots at the thought of a visit from LoseNotLooseGuy?

Or perhaps it is my imagination. I am considering keeping some near-daily statistics on the frequency of "loose abuse." That may help to clarify the situation.

Karma still at 7; modpoints still gratefully accepted.

The last week has seen some positive developments. Thanks to generous donations of modpoints from squiggleslash, darkmoon, and markaa, my Karma now sits at 13. That means I am relatively immune to attacks from isolated moderators; only a conspiracy by the Legions of Evil will be sufficient to overthrow my Quest at this point.

Of course, donations of modpoints will still be gratefully accepted.

Comments on my previous journal entries have been locked down, so I will use this space to acknowledge some new Friends of the Cause: bigdreamer, markaa, and I Want GNU! I am grateful for your support.

Now, off to tend to my duty.

Update 03/02/02: The Cause has been attacked again. Unbelievable. Moderator: if you are reading this, please let me know who you are so that I may add you to my list of foes. Remember, Lex Luthor always made it utterly apparent who was behind the evil scheme of the day; it is only fair that you extend me the same courtesy.

For the record, Karma is currently at 9.

Update 03/07/02: Make that 7. The disturbing trend seems to be for some moderators to systematically search out my posts to downgrade them. Sadly, none of these nameless foes have had the courage to identify themselves.

The vengeful nature of the masses is surprising. Over the span of five minutes, my Karma has gone from 5 down to 1. Clearly a nameless foe has gone so far as to apply 80% of his moderator points to the task of attacking the Cause. Not only does this action harm my work, it is also appallingly irascible. I fear that this person may never be capable of proper behavior in social situations.

This is a most distressing development. I must make my plea once again: if the Quest is to continue, I will require aid. If anyone following these chronicles should obtain moderation points, please know that they are needed.

One of the lesser annoyances in my work is the presence of anonymous flamers. Take note:

1. Calling me a "looser" is only mildly amusing.
2. No, you were not the first to think of it.

I am more than happy to defend the Cause against the occasional flame, but ACs are not worth my precious time.

It has been a busy day so far. I noticed a couple of posts containing more than one lose/loose error. Such displays illustrate a profound ignorance on the part of the poster, and tend to drive me into a blind rage.

I forced myself to count to ten before replying. Posting in anger leads to typos and lack of clarity, and my quest would be ill served by such replies.

Yesterday I gently chastized a poster from a .de domain. I nearly allowed him to escape completely on English-as-a-second-language grounds, but decided that it was more important that other people read my response. The poster was apologetic, and I was pleased to be able to bestow my mercy on him.

Hmmm. I was modded Offtopic once again. Clearly the forces of darkness are conspiring against the Cause. This would be less distressing if it were not for the fact that I have now returned to my original Karma of 0. I am falling dangerously close to a moderation threshold; maintaining at least the default "Score:1" is key to ensuring that my message reaches the masses.

If anyone following this Chronicle of my Quest should obtain some modpoints, please know that they are sorely needed.

There has been an interesting development. I may soon gain a sidekick, taking the form of a concerned citizen interested in correcting the then/than issue.

"To the Grammarmobile, ThenOrThanBoy!" Yes, I like the sound of that. I think a sidekick would prove useful.

The sheer quantity of lose/loose errors on Slashdot has necessarily required a significant number of posts on my part. After factoring in some follow-up posts, it is becoming progressively more difficult to keep track of new replies.

I must withdraw to my Cubicle of Solitude to ponder this problem.

I received a "-1: Offtopic" earlier. While the rating is technically accurate, it does not serve the cause. I am hopeful that my quickly growing list of friends will remember me fondly with their modpoints.

I have begun keeping track of my friends and foes. This useful functionality will allow me to maintain a public record of those who have supported me in my relentless efforts to rid Slashdot of the "lose/loose" evil, as well as any who dare to oppose me by defending spelling errors.

I do not yet have any foes, save a few Anonymous Cowards. I do hope this changes soon--after all, every good superhero needs a villain.

In other news, I was modded up again. It is rewarding to know that my efforts are not going unnoticed.

Update: I have my first foe.