Dear Elizabeth Truss
First off, allow me to congratulate you on assuming the Premiership! I have every confidence you will pilot the Ship of State through the rough waters ahead to arrive at the Safe Harbour of economic stability!
You will of course be very busy at this time but I would if I may like to put one item “on the table” so to speak concerning Abuse of Internet Power by so-called “moderators” on established forums (fora?) who ride roughshod over the wishes of their diaspora in implementing unpopular and inappropriate “improvements” in a high-handed and authoritarian manner. I have in mind one particular “community” but refrain from naming it because this I’m sure is a pervasive abuse and to single out any individual web site might make this request seem petty whereas it is something that millions of people have to suffer.
To quote just one example – the “moderators” at the forum in question have recently imposed – without soliciting the wise counsel of well-established and respected “content providers” such as myself – an absolutely horrific colour scheme (brown and red!!!!???) which makes visits physically uncomfortable. And they refuse to do anything about it in spite of hundreds of complaints from “the community”! Hence my request to you, viz. to enter a new Law on the Statute Books that would make this kind of abuse punishable by a reasonable fine and an Injunction to repair the damage and Loss of Good Will forthwith.
Thanking you for your attention in this matter, and once again, bravo Madam Prime Minister!
[ALIASED ACCOUNT] DSc(Eng)
Rather coincidentally, I see Roger Waters has, earlier today, written a remarkably similar ‘open letter’ to Mrs Zelensky in Ukraine. I wonder if Stephen King will now write to somebody too?
And I wonder if his letter will bear startling similarities to the above?
I am reliably informed that the prospect of a letter from Roger Waters has occupied Mrs Zelensky’s every waking hour.
Money – it’s no gas
Shine On Ukraine(y) Diamond
Mods, award this man an applause emoji!
I am encouraged by the Premier’s quick response!
“This is an automatically generated response.
If your enquiry is in relation to my South West Norfolk constituency please ensure you have included your name, full postal address and a brief outline of the concern you would like to raise with me.
I am unable to respond without all these details.”
“And they refuse to do anything about it in spite of hundreds of complaints from “the community”
After receipt of your Email, in a remarkable move for a Conservative Government clearly intended to curry favour for a few fleeting minutes before everything blows up again, the new Cabinet has instituted a FACT CHECK on this issue.
Out of the current signed up Afterword Membership of 1132, FOUR have currently expressed their dislike of the DARK ORANGE NOT BROWN colour scheme and SIX have expressed a liking for it. The remaining 1122 have expressed no specific view either way.
Having missed an opportunity to claim that the new colour is a pin-point accurate satire on the state of Britain at the moment (similar to the way we went NHS Blue during the pandemic) we will just leave it there for now. It will probably change again when we grow tired of it because we’re that powerful, you know.
Yebbut, HP said he didn’t like it 436 times on 25 separate threads. Surely that must count for something?
Apparently not. That’s the Brownshirts for you.
IT’S BURNT SIENNA NOT DARK ORANGE.
We bow to you on all matters artistic, of course, BUT just on a technical point
#7a2d1a Hex Color Code – #7a2d1a Paint Chip. The hexadecimal color code #7a2d1a is a medium dark shade of red-orange.
The hex code for burnt sienna is #E97451.
I’m with Pencil. I can just about paint a wall and draw a pair of curtains, but I’ve never heard of ‘dark orange’.
It’s Orange, only a bit darker
I mean how much more orange could this be and the answer is none. None more orange.
MAKE THE AFTERWORD BLUE AGAIN!
NO MORE ALTERNATIVE BROWNS!
LAW AND ORDER!
CAPTAIN AND TENNILLE!
MABA!
Kurious Oranj?
They ride over peasants like us.
Ok. Let’s do basics.
Orange is not a primary colour. It’s a complimentary of Blue.
Orange is a mix of red and yellow. Add more red and it unsurprisingly tends towards a darker more red hue. Adding yellow lightens the mix and makes the mix more yellow. Add white and it becomes a tint. Add blue and it becomes a tone. However as soon as you add blue to red and yellow it doesn’t become a “darker orange” it becomes a variation of brown. An earth colour. Add a little blue and you will mix a shade similar to a burnt sienna. Add more and more brown and the shade will naturally darken until eventually the mix will become deadened and unpleasant.
Dark orange as far as artists pigments is concerned doesn’t exist. I would not be able to purchase a ready mixed pigment labelled as such from any reputable artist’s suppliers or any bespoke paint manufacturers of artists pigments. The closest you could get would be probably Cadmium yellow dark or a vermilion. Neither of these paints resemble the shade that is causing HP such psychic pain and distress.
Actually thinking about this further there is always cadmium orange dark or maybe an india red but then again they aren’t close enough either so…
But.. (extends neck cautiously) aren’t paint and light different? (e.g. they don’t have the same primary colours)..
I react to colour from a painter’s perspective. I see colour and analyse first if it’s straight out of the tube or if it’s a mix. That’s how I am able to manipulate it and incorporate it into my work to create images. It’s also how from a purely technical perspective I look at how other artists utilise colour so I can nick from them. I’m a painter not a physicist. I view colour from that perspective.
(Ed: That’s enough of this analog bollocks, get on with it, make it Teal FFS.)
*sighs and gives the fu*k up*
“Complementary”, actually.
“Complimentary” is when one might say something like:
“Ooh, that’s a nice new medium-dark shade of red-orange, Mod Team. Is it, specifically, Hex Color [sic] Code #7a2d1a, by any chance?”
IT’S BURNT SIENNA. MABA.
Actually ‘squeeze, picking up your point about you reacting to colour from a painter’s perspective, any chance you could pop round at the weekend and give me a quote for the Hall, Stairs & Landing?
I was thinking ‘Misty Buff’ or thereabouts, but I’m always happy to take advice from an expert.
Why Jeff, yes it, and a different hex code to Burnt Sienna which has one all of its own.
Joking aside, we’re sure Pencilsqueezer is entirely correct in everything he says and with at least one of us the very proud owner of a ‘squeezer original, we wouldn’t argue with him on anything to do with paint but in computer terms they ARE two different colours.
None of which matters one jot, of course, in terms of whether or not someone likes or dislikes the current colour scheme.
Brown Brown
Deeper ‘n’ Brown …
This is a reply to Jeff.
Personal insults how delightful. That one ranks alongside the classic “My five year old could have painted that”.
Nicest place on the Internet. Snort.
Jesus.
Is it possible that you and the Mod Team (above) might be overthinking this?
I was just mucking about. Making comments with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. I never made it personal. You did. First with a sarky comment about a misplaced letter a comment made no doubt in a mistaken attempt at humour. Fair enough as humour often goes awry.
Not satisfied with that you decided to make a remark I can guarantee is always going to go down badly with any artist. Guess what I and every artist of my acquaintance has heard that little witty remark or similar so often that forbearance is somewhat strained.
Btw the only reason I am bothering to attempt to explain this to you is because I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and it’s a matter of your being obtuse rather than your trying to be deliberately insulting. I apologise if my taking offense at your lack of wit has caused you a moments pause but hey sometimes those are the breaks.
See previous comment.
Guys! Guys! Can’t you see that internecine aggression is what Team Mod was engineering? With their divisive colour choice they are creating schisms in the proletariat that weaken our collective power and thereby increase their own illegitimate authority! I urge Jeff and Pencilsqueezer to put aside their illusory differences and join the united people’s front of the Anti Shit League in our struggle against the Brownshirts!
*slaps forehead*
Why…why… but you’re RIGHT, of course!! How could I be so blind!!
*Slaps forehead again, for emphasis*
Aux armes, mes frères!! Tonight*, the Afterword is ours!!!
*Local time. Check time in your region before attempting to storm barricades.
New listing:
– illusory differences with Pencilsqueezer
– no longer needed
– as new
– buyer collects
My son has a colour blindness. One of the confusions is between red and brown, or indeed:dark orange and quite possibly burnt sienna.
Imagine the chaos this new scheme has wrought?
Well none actually coz he aint on the blog.
BTW Mods there are loyal Afterword centurions such as me and Thep who expressed neither suoport for change or retention leaving this task in your trusty hands.
(Ed: Exactly: and in any case, with Suella now in charge, ex-pats in the far east will never set foot on our elysian shores again, so balls to it. Make it Teal anyway.)
While working as a copywriter in Hong Kong, i once used the words “Far East” in an early draft of an ad.
My Chinese boss gave me a sideways look and said “well it’s more of a case of the Near East for those of us living in Asia, John”
Never mind bloody colour schemes – what about the indifference nay contempt shown by our Mod Rulers as regards to the shameful neglect of Thep’s Wordle thread! There he was inches away from yet another hamper and all these so-called guardians can do is snigger.
Liz Truss is giving her speech very soon, I am assured that this will be high on her agenda just below the energy crisis, tax cuts and flicking a v-sign at Priti
Tcoh. Listen, despite having received “yet another hamper”, when I’ve only ever had one, has he shared so much as a single smoked salmon sandwich with me? Has he heck. He did promise me a cocktail once, should I rock up on his doorstep, but nairy a single Worcester Sauce Cheddar came my way during the hamper torrent. Swine.
The offer’s still open, Foxy. Or a G&T (not passed by Farage.) Chicken sandwich too, if you dare.
As one of the many who have spontaneously puked over the new Orange Brûlée furniture, may i say, with a mouthful tonight’s dinner fighting it’s way back past my teeth, I’m very much in favour of the Mods’ “unpopular and inappropriate “improvements” in a high-handed and authoritarian manner.” Thank you and excuse me a moment please.
Regardless of Team Mod’s frankly saddening continued insistence upon a colour which doesn’t exist in the real world there is something telling in their unprecedented continued involvement in this issue. We – the people – have presented an unimpeachable argument against their entitled arrogance. They know it, we know it. And now Liz Truss knows it. Reading between the lines of her urgent reply one can sense a growing awareness of a problem that for too long has been conveniently ignored by “the powers that be”.
The TWO people expressing a liking for the new colour (as opposed to a brown-nosing expression of snot-gobbling support for anything Team Mod decides, like Junes and Thep) do so out of contrariness or colour blindness. The vast majority of contributors are rightly revolted both by the new colour scheme and the brutality of its imposition. Team Mod may try to silence our voices by saying we don’t matter, but we – we honest yeomen! Content providers who through thick and thin have worked and fought to make the Afterword the lively on-line community it is! – will not be silenced! We are under the yoke of oppression!
DUMP THE BROWN! DUMP THE BROWN!
It’s BURNT SIENNA.
Is Sienna a witch? Or, should I say ‘was’?
I rather like it. A muddy terracotta, methinks.
*sigh* Sienna is named after the Italian city where it was made during the renaissance. Its an earth pigment. Before it has heat applied to it, hence the word burnt, it is called raw sienna and is much more yellow in hue. Nothing to do with bloody witches or bloody chocolate. It’s not bloody orange and it is HAS been liberally applied to this bloody hellsite. So bloody there.
Sometimes, Pence, it seems like you and Chiz and me are the only sane people left here. Which is worrying.
I’ve proper got the fear now.
These are strange times. At least there is a warped logic in Tig pretending to “like” it – he also “likes” Brownstar, that irredeemably hopeless last album by David “I’m depressed, me” Bowie, the one with a graphic representation of his sphincter on the cover. That’s shit, too.
You pretend to dislike a lot of things. The Beatles, for example, or muddy terracotta.
You enjoy being the naughty boy in the class. It’s the only way you can get the attention you crave. You. lurve The Mods, don’t you.
Busted.
I remind you that we brown nosing snot gobbers keeep the Afterword embers while the bulk of our constituency slumber.
It is why me , Thep, Podicle, Skirky and other antipodean residents are tight as with the mods. And it is why your simpering, bleating complaints will continue to fall on deaf ears.
We have trust in our overlords.
That’s true, Junes. These losers have absolutely no idea what larks we get up to with the Mods while they’re all snoring and farting in their pits.
If you was sitting in front of me in form 3G (hem-hem) you would hav recieved a sharp pellet (expertley aimed) behind your little pink ear. eg you are ghastly swots and I diskard you uterly
Your cause is hopeless as any fule kno.
First, they painted your house brown, and you did nothing …
Skirky lives in Suffolk. Whilst he’s the other side of the Greenwich Meridian Line from most of the UK, it is still in the same* time zone.
(*) insert you own joke about “still the 1950s” here.
Well something like that.
Could someone bulletpoint this content for me? Don’t have time to watch.
Apropos of nothing, I once painted a “feature wall” in our dining room in a colour that the tin label said was Burnt Orange. We had navy blue carpet and off-white walls, and Mrs F was going for the Morroccan casa look.
It was ruddy awful, as was cutting a high-contrast straight line into the vertical corners.
I blame “smiley, smiley” Carole Smilie and that Lawrence bloke.
“Ruddy” awful. Not quite “bloody” awful.
Is there anything that has orange blood? Prince Andrew?
Blood oranges?
Arf!
In the end, doesn’t everything tend towards brown, no matter where you start from? Makes you think.
Entropy…
… they’ve all got it entropy!
Why is the very top bar still black, and the post comment box? Can we have them in matching sienna as well please, or at least something that would blend more easily on the eye?
It’s not *sienna*, Rob – that’s Team Mod’s perversion of language for political power. It’s SHIT BROWN.
Nope. It’s sienna alright. If one’s effluvial evacuations had that much of a reddish tinge one would be advised to see a bottom specialist.
I wonder if there are other colours named after Italian towns? Like ‘Toasted Perugia’ or something. Or perhaps English towns too? Like ‘Slightly Crispy But Not Overdone Royal Leamington Spa’. That sort of thing.
I have often frequented the tea rooms in Marrow Fat Pea On Sea and it’s a delightful place, I might add.
There is Robin Hood’s favourite Lincoln Green.
Newcastle Brown *hic!*
That is, of course, the shade our Mod Overlords were aspiring to.
It’s nut brown, not red-ish brown, chaps.
Depends how much you’ve imbibed, as Robsi puts so eloquently above.
‘Burnt Sienna’???
It means nothing to meee.
I hope it comes back, once all the mourning’s done.
Weirdo.
Hey, we’ve gone full x’ffffff’! I like it. It just shows, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Does anybody know what Prince, sorry, King Charles’ favourite colour is?
Is it just me, or does everyone, whenever anyone says “King Charles”, expect to hear “Spaniel”?
Charles III ….new rhyming slang, unless he behaves himself.
Curd? Bird?
Ooo, surely not nerd? Risky, you could lose your head.
Camilla Vanilla, off the top of me head.
K = 100. None more K.