What pisses you off about the forums and SL Poll

In Closing, I'd Like to Say:
[ ] Get a life
[ ] Never post again
[ ] I pity your dog
[ ] I think your IQ must be 6
[ ] Take your crap somewhere else
[ ] Do us all a favor and jump into some industrial equipment
[ ] Go play Dress-Up Barbie Online
[x] Don't stop being my favorite little Petey..
[ ] All of the above

ROFLOL!
Now that you mention it you did Shadow. You're forgiven.

Um wait.....

"but I think Merwan meant to say was"

.....LMAO

TY partner..

Shadow

P.S. Just a note to those 5 that dont like anything I say ((hugs)) you will eventually..

I hate hijacking of otherwise useful threads with random nonsense about Schwanson's sheep or how people love Aimee or whatever ...

... like, I know you're bored at work, but can't you guys play flash games or something?

I have an idea. Let's number the opinions so that people don't have to repeat them. All you have to do is give the number.

here ae the starting numbers:

1. FIC are bastards
2. Anshe land should not be in the Land listing
3. Linden shouldn't have ended event subsidies
4. Bugs are bad
5. Polls are silly
6. People should be nicer
7. Group tools are messed up
8. I've been griefed because somebody doesn't like me
9. I have cool pictures
(add some more)

Post the list in a central location and everybody can just list the numbers instead of getting all huffy.

Buster

Number 6.

For me it's the people who go and get the thesaurus before they disagree with folks. It's part of the whole smarter-than-you attitude. They think that they'll somehow be right if they can use more expensive words than the other person, but they're really just hiding behind big words. Seems to me that a person who does this has some insecurities somewhere...

On the other side of the coin, there are people out there who can't seem to type in their own native language. I've known a few engineers who couldn't spell to save their lives, but this is different. This is some strange variant on American English that I haven't seen anywhere but on the internet. The sad thing is that such people seem to be rather polite for the most part... or maybe that's just because I can't tell when they're insulting me...


Gydeon.

I like Pete Fats thing.

LOOOONNNNNNNGGGGG post to follow. Go away if you don't want to read it.

I voted for: "Anything about People touting they are smarter than the rest of us."

I voted for that a couple of days ago, I believe. The funny thing in looking at this today is I do believe that all the people who voted for that one did so because they were thinking of entirely opposite people, lol.

However, I would like to rescind my vote, not that I really understand this vote - but it seems to really be "what you don't like about the forums," so I would like to say it would be:

Trying to run off new players or new posters.

This is attempted through being remarkably mean, horribly condescending, and literally harrassing to a degree I still find it difficult to believe is tolerated here.

And this is done largely because some posters do not want to hear anything they don't already agree with. They want to make sure only "people we like" and/or "people we agree with" get to talk here. Or, at the more friendly level, "only new people we can educate to agree with us."

Apparently I'm not the only person who feels this way. Several of my friends told me they quit the forums for the same sorts of reasons. One of them flat out said to me, "They try to run everyone off from the game."

Terrific, huh.

There is one message that has come through very loud and clear for me in the past month or so, however long it's been, that I have DARED to post thoughts of my own, including such heretical remarks as, "Hey, I like Player X."

And that is this: WE DO NOT WANT YOU HERE.

This is not from everybody. But even some who don't say that to me DO say that to others. My view is that all players are equal. That we all have a right to these forums.

Here are some of the common tactics for running off players whose ideas you disagree with that I have personally suffered from:

(a) "You write too much, so shut up."

Translation: This person's ideas don't count because they write too much for me to bother reading.

I generally write two kinds of posts - long ones and short ones. Only occasionally do I write medium. When I write a long post, it is because I am putting - say - 45 minutes to an hour into sharing something I think is important IN GOOD FAITH with the other players; something I have thought about, and want to have a dialogue on.

Do I do that just to get crapped on? Well, you know, I didn't realize that everyone on these forums was forced to read every word. I certainly don't. I didn't know that having to skip my post and scroll down (which might take all of two seconds if) is such a horrid crime that I should not post at all.

You know, if you don't want to read a post, DON'T. It's offputting to new posters to pour their hearts out and then get told, you write too much, shut up. I know when I'm writing a long post, I construct it so that it flows well and you can leave off at any point, with WARNING SIGNALS in it like "Now, an unfortunately longwinded example for those of you who would like to bear with me."

I'm polite about it. So why does someone feel compelled to get on the thread immediately for the sole purpose of putting me down for writing a long post? Considering that irl I am a highly paid, award-winning, sought-after national writer (NOT famous) for the national popular mass media indicates to me that it is something good I do when I take the time to put down my thoughts, and those who are interested can read it, and those who don't, I won't feel any worse about it than if they skip one of my articles. If it's too long, and you notice you aren't interested, well, JUST STOP READING IT.

So why try to beat me - or any other poster - down on the basis of length?

Because -- they don't like the ideas being presented; that's why.

(b) "You just don't want to learn and/or think you can't learn."

Translation: This person's ideas don't count because this person is stupid.

A total cop-out. As if the ONLY thing a person could do in SL is learn to build or script. As if EVER to add any new options to the game would be HERESY. As if new things haven't been added before, and won't always be added.

But it's easier to accuse the person of being "unwilling to learn" than it is to actually contemplate a game change. And, let's face it, "unwilling to learn" is just shorthand for "you're stupid." But you don't want to say someone is stupid, so, well, the only other reason you can think of would be they just don't want to learn it. Or, worse, that their self-esteem is too low to learn it. It can't be that maybe the game is too limited, and maybe people would like to play the game, but just don't want to learn to do those two or three things.

Well, I'm not crazy about tooting my own horn (even in self-defense, as I did above about my rl job), so forgive me for not listing my credentials on this one. Suffice it to say, I am learned. Very learned. And if I didn't value learning, I sure as heck wouldn't be spending hours and busting my buns to get a sit script into a stupid pillow in an ONLINE GAME, for God's sake. Again - rather than addressing the issue (not enough to do) - it's assumed there has to be something personally wrong with the poster who brought up the issue. Why?

Because you don't like the ideas that poster is presenting, that's why.

(c) "Ha, ha, we all know who you really are. Don't pay any attention to THAT new person, guys, she doesn't really exist. She's someone else's alt."

Translation: This person's ideas don't count because she agrees with someone whose ideas we don't like either. Which must mean - if course! She IS the other guy! I know, because, see, I mean, you can tell, you know? So we all know, see, because, well, we just know.

Must be, see, because we don't like his ideas, either.

(d) "You come from TSO or There or some other game, so you'll just never get it."

Translation: This person's ideas don't count because they can only conceive of games like the ones they've already played - you know, those stupid games that attract people with lower IQ's.

Therefore they cannot understand "us", will NEVER understand "us," do not get the Linden vision, can NEVER get the Linden vision, and suffer from an inflated sense of entitlement, and want games handed to them on a platter, with nothing more creative required than click away. They are incapable of critiquing a game for its playability and enjoyability by even the educated, intelligent, mainstream online game-playing population.

And anyway, we don't like the ideas they are presenting.

"Who needs toliet paper? I wipe with mascara wands."

Translation: Let's mock this player's concerns.

This technique derails the thread into some sort of joke. Trivializing the poster's concern by ignoring the topic and starting a long series of telling each other jokes, especially in-groupy jokes or dirty ones. This is the same as if you were a bunch of kids in a classroom, making it clear what you think of some other kid by giggling behind your hands while looking at him. Except here, what is said can be heard. So make it about toliet paper and wiping methods, for good measure. Why be so childish?

Because . . . you don't want to hear the ideas that person is presenting.

Now I've only been here a month, and these are just things that have been done to me to run me off, so I'm sure I haven't seen the full gamut of them. And I've probably forgotten a few I have experienced.

I also haven't mentioned the very first, generic thing done to run off new posters, possibly as a population control measure: the technique of ignoring what they have said entirely, en masse. Bonus points if they were asking a question.

And of course, all these techniques can also be used on an older poster, and, should they fail, maybe the forums can be restructured . . . entirely . . . so that . . . you don't. . . have to hear . . . any . . . ideas . . . you don't . . . want to hear.

I'm a pretty fun-loving person, and have enjoyed several forums - even when the topic gets heated - for years. Sure, there are some people on them who, well, we're diametrically opposed to each other on things and we just sort of try not to get into it, and sure don't hate each other for it. But this place is different, and I've been through a lot here in just a month, so I guess it will be a long time before you ever see the fun-loving side of me again. I think it's too bad I have to feel so bad and get so defensive, and have to warn my friends now NOT to come on the forums unless they want to get beaten up, instead of encouraging them to like I used to.

How many others like me have you lost, and will lose? And what ideas and thoughts will you lose when they go?

One of the things I was accused of when I first got on here was being "closed-minded." Any flaw I found with the game had to be because I couldn't open my mind (or make friends, or any number of other variations all having to do with me personally). I say those unwilling to listen respectfully to other peoples' comments are the ones so closed-minded they can't even abide hearing anything they don't agree with.

coco