An Announcement by your friendly, neighborhood 'strider

(dawnstrider approaches a podium, removes his hat and tosses it onto a rack on the near by wall. Upon clearing his throat, he begins to speak-)

Jo, folks. This is a friendly announcement from the forum Administration regarding the latest transpiring trends that have come about. Now, much ink – or whatever passes for such in this place – has already been spilt about how everyone seems angry or argumentative or how scuffles that have happened in PM or IM have spilt over onto the boards. This thread, I hope, will give a bit of an insight onto how I – and, perhaps by extension, the others – feel personally about this.

First, regarding arguments and clique formations, and the feelings that contribute to it, I would like to say foremost that about that….

…..I don’t care. Simple. Period.

Honestly, I could give two-fifths of a baboon’s bright-red left butt cheek who you hate, or why you hate that particular person, whether it’s me, another member, or your grandma’s-mama’s-aunty. I know very well that you can’t make everyone happy or get along. It’s a delusion that totters on the fence of stupidity. You can certainly try to please the majority, but no matter how fair or kind you are, someone is going to hate you. Blood-simple. If you feel that someone has given you sufficient reason to hate them, then by all means – have fun. Hell, there have been a few people I’ve known in real life that I disliked, and even one person whom I wouldn’t mind seeing brutally tortured, drawn, quartered, then decapitated to leave his corpse rotting by a roadside before being taken up, burned, and having his ashes scattered to the seven winds. I’m not one for pointless violence and hostility, but anger is a good emotion to express – so long as it’s done in a controlled manner.

So yeah, this isn’t about people disliking one another. So what’s the point of this? Re-read the part about pointless hostility. What is “pointless”? In a nutshell, it’s dragging your dirty crap on the forums. Like I said, if you don’t like someone, that’s cool. Feel free to hate, bitch, moan, and scratch each other’s eyes out on email, IM, or somewhere else in private. But why bring it on the forums? That’s just alienating other members and making more work for the rest of us. If someone picks a fight with you, let it go: if they persist, then go ahead and rip their throat out, but there’s no reason that it should be here. I’m accepting of everyone’s personal feelings – my –and, I believe the other Mod’s - only concern is to keep the site clean. It’s just our job.

And another topic, regarding the whole “I-hate-this-place-so-let-me-start-some-trouble” mindset: If you get bored with this place, then fine. Krang and Shredder try very hard and do an excellent job in keeping this place running and interesting – we wouldn’t all be here otherwise. But I know very well that it's not perfect, and sometimes, crap turns sour, and things stop appealing to you.

When that happens, there are a number of things you can do: try to start new threads that have an appeal to you, and see how that goes; make suggestions to the Admins about how you might want things to change; or, you could simply leave. Point blank. This isn’t a malicious “if you don’t like it here, then get out!!!!” type of thing; take a break from here for a while, or permanently if you so like; you’re always free to come back, and we welcome you with arms-open. That’s what I do. If you’re going to start trouble, just keep this in mind: this is the internet. At the end of the day, who’s going to really care how much trouble you make? After the Admins clean up whatever mess you had made, are they going to lose any sleep over it? I doubt it, and I certainly wouldn’t. In the end, the only thing you’ve done is, you know, make an ass out of yourself. And if you get to that point, that probably wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to other members anyway.

So to drive home: I don’t care about changing how you think, or why you hate, or whatever. One, I have no right; two, I couldn’t even if I did; and three, I don’t like wasting my time. There are quite a few people here that I like quite a bit, and would always be there for if they needed, and that, by extension, could project to everyone. But I don’t dislike anyone here. Is it because I’m oh-so-kind and forgiving? Well, I am very patient, but that’s not quite it. It’s because I know that, when all’s said and done, anyone who makes an attempt to piss me off is just a bog on the other end of a computer screen that has no personal bearing on how I go to sleep at the end of the day. I have better things to think about.

(proceeds to remove hat from wall; places it on his head and turns to exit)

I guess it’s like most things in life; just have to find the strength to say “screw it” and get on with your life. It all goes back to the individual. If anyone has anything else they wish to add, feel free to post here.

Peace, folks.

[Exeunt ]

I'd quote, but there's just too much.

1) I agree with dawnstrider, there is absolutely no point in scuffles in the forums. There are a number of reasons for this, one being it gets fun threads locked sometimes.

2) Yes, you should also take arguments and grudges elsewhere, via i.m. or e-mail. You take up bandwithd with crap like fights and arguments here.

3) It's spam. Period.

Later days:
JA

I'm glad I never got dragged into anyone's forum drama.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Seebach: [Zopwx2] I'm glad I never got dragged into anyone's forum drama.

It happened once, between zhinphou and I, but I tried to make up with him. Didn't work, so I gave up on the idea. Too stressful. It's his business if he forgives me for whatever I did or not, I already did my part.

Later days:
JA

I was dragged. But thankfully I stopped giving a crap. And got around to my real life and my homework.

I agree with you Strider.

NO ONE GIVES A CRAP! Just stopp whining and do something about it!

I completeley agree with dawnstrider. For the forum's sake, people, this is neither an arena for competition nor a courthouse. It is supposed to be a welcoming environment where people come to discuss Big-O and engage in other friendly conversations.

As far as I know, I was spared from being involved in the idiotic bickering. To those of you who were randomly dragged in without reason, best regards.

Excellent post, dawnstrider, and I agree 100%. Everything that I wanted to say about this subject has already been covered here and in my previous post about a similar topic, so I'll just add this: Let's put all the pointless drama, grudges, and arguing behind us and get back to having fun here like we used to.

You know, there's really not much more to add, but I just wanted to publicly agree that this definitely needed to be said. Thanks, dawnstrider!

On that note...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
PARTY!

I agree. I don't like arguing as much as the next user, but sometimes the rudeness and sometimes incredible hypocracy is just astounding in some posts.

I know I'm part of these arguements, I ain't denying it...it it doesn't mean that I want to argue or LIKE arguing for that matter. I'd go into why sometimes it's futile to solve things via IM or PM...but I won't.

...sometimes negotiation doesn't solve arguments, sometimes it does. We'll have to stay optimistic and pray that the problems will be solved.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Seebach: [Zopwx2] I'm glad I never got dragged into anyone's forum drama.

Amen to that.

Thank you dawnstrider for making this statement. It makes me sick to see all this arguing on the forums. No, we don't have to get along, we don't have to like each other if we don't want to. But do you really have to announce it to the world? What's private should be kept private in pm's and IMs. We're here to enjoy ourselves. I would like to continue to do so here, as I bet many others do as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Seebach: [Zopwx2] I'm glad I never got dragged into anyone's forum drama.

i never have either, but then again i get along with pretty much everyone here. Freee drinks on me guys! let's party!!! *ninja guinea pigs dress up as mini norman butlers serving free drinks*

Once again, Ive been proven wrong; it appears there still are people who exhibit "voices of reason" on this forum. Props to you dawnstrider, for making a statement with some meaning behind it. There's nothing like rewarding those who think before they post, and have a purpose behind it. Those that display that kind of maturity and intelligence should be lauded and celebrated. Dawnstrider...again, mad props to you my friend.

Strider, you rock. Thanks for this post! You basically stated everything I've been feeling in a nutshell (and I'm sure the other mods would agree.)

I really want to add more to this, seriously, but I can't think of anything else to say.... You pretty much nailed it.

I just ask everyone: can we work toward the community we used to have? It seems to have disappeared a little bit with all the bickering.

Later,
Pen1300

quote:

Originally posted by Krang Excellent post, dawnstrider, and I agree 100%. Everything that I wanted to say about this subject has already been covered here and in my previous post about a similar topic, so I'll just add this: Let's put all the pointless drama, grudges, and arguing behind us and get back to having fun here like we used to.

Yes. This place is supposed to be fun, just like it has been for me for the past year and almost a half.

Later days:
JA

I truly agree Dawnstryder..... By the way, you can e-mail your sister somtimes.

I'm down with those sentiments.

I like being here. Even though right now the Big O is sleeping in attention levels right now. We're flying under the radar, and that I think helps with the atmosphere.

The Big O is a mystery.

The PCF is a mystery.

Although, Krang and Shredder are two smart cookies, and getting FMA on the forums was a darn smart idea.

*shakes fist* BUT WHERE is the ROD?... Just kiddin'.

Since some of these topics were brought up recently, I thought I'd expand on them here. First of all, while I agree with dawnstrider in that I don't really care who forms cliques with who, I will say that I don't appreciate it when it is dragged onto the forums. Now before I continue, I'll add this so that nobody accuses me of picking on them or their friends: I have no idea who is in a clique with who. While I definitely have seen the behavior from time to time, I don't know if Member A is in Clique 1 or Clique 2 or no clique at all, and I personally don't care. What I do care about, though, is the result of this clique formation. People tend to use their cliques to gang up and pick on other people, and like I said earlier, that is immature and shameful behavior, regardless of whether this happens on the internet or in real life. If the person did something to you personally, I guess it's a little more understandable, but if not, stay out of it. You can bash the target of your clique all you want in private, but do us all a favor and keep it private. And besides, what is the purpose of picking on someone over the internet? 99% of the time, you won't accomplish anything, and it will only cause unnecessary arguments and retaliation. And when nothing is accomplished, your target tends to forget about it after a while and may even look back and laugh at the foolish attempt, so all the time it took for your clique to plan the attack is wasted.

On a similar note, here's my second point. It is incredibly annoying to me when people blatantly kiss up to someone so much that they will do anything they are told, believe anything they say, and agree with them no matter what the circumstances. In fact, they are so engrossed in the person they are kissing up to that they lose the ability to think for themselves, instead agreeing with everything that person says. Maybe this has something to do with the cliques and their "leaders," or maybe not, but either way, it is truly pathetic. Having friends is one thing, but becoming their pawn is another thing completely. Is it too much to ask to take a second and look at the whole picture rather than blindly following someone no matter what they do? Again, I'm not targeting anyone in particular, but, as Schwarzwald said, "you must THINK!"

And finally, both of these points are typically caused by one problem: people taking the internet too seriously. Sure, you can have friends online, and sure, you can talk with people online and share interests and dislikes. But when someone does something that you don't like, is it too much out of the question to simply ignore it rather than making them your enemy? You don't have to read every post on the forums or talk to every member, so unless someone is disrupting the forums as a whole, just forget they even exist. You'll save yourself and everyone else alot of trouble.

quote:

Originally posted by Krang And besides, what is the purpose of picking on someone over the internet?

It has been commonly said that:

"Fighting on the internet is like racing in the Special Olympics - even if you win, you're still retarded."

I am reminded of the phrase, "The Internet is Serious Business."

Internet drama is so boring.