If some of you milquetoast tartbags want a forum where there aren't repercussions to failing to activate your brain, there are plenty of them out there. Here, if you post an incoherent mess outside of the drunk thread, you're going to get some shit for it. Post a bizarre argument that makes no logical sense? Yeah, you're going to hear about it. Consistently rely on emoticons to communicate? KAPOW! The reason for this is because a lot of people who post here don't have patience for stupidity. Dan Lawrence illustrated this beautifully in his Sangry Grognard post. RepoMan fucked up and he got some shit for it. If you want to hug him for being a victim, it's probably because you'd prefer there weren't repercussions for your own whiny weirdness. I have news for you, it ain't happening. If this makes you sangry, too bad. Weirdness is fine, look at Soli-chan, but don't expect attention-whiny to go over well. This thread is a case in point. FFS, Creole Ned is even saying it was warranted, and he's like a kitten made out of pillows. Get a grip, people.
Good gravy, you people. I'm about ready to sit everyone down in the naughty chairs and have a third arm installed just so I can dope-slap everyone more efficiently. For starters, Repo messed up. You don't make a thread to say "I won't be around", because that's an incredibly egotistical attention-whoring passive-aggressive act. It's saying "I just know you're all going to miss me, so let me tell you this before you panic when I don't post as often..." when believe me, nobody is going to panic. If you're going to take a break from BF (or any internet community) - just do so. If people wonder where you've gone, they'll send you a PM (and it'll pop up in your email if you've set everything up properly, So-and-So has sent you a private message!) and then you can address it. The reason for making a hiatus thread is just to call attention to it. Now, if someone thinks the forum's gotten too hostile for them - that's fine. I think they're a chicken-wuss, because believe me, if I can put up with the kind of ribbing I (rightfully) get due to my occasional moments of Shit-head-o-pathy, and I'm still here, then you can toughen up at least that much and roll with the punches. If you learn how to take a joke, you can even get a neat Secret Santa gift out of it. Sometimes it's easy to crack a joke or make fun of someone and it's taken the wrong way. Maybe you're not as familiar with them as other people are and it comes across as "Why is this total stranger giving me shit like I should care who he is?" - but when you stand up on a soapbox and say "This is the last I shall see of my home as I board the last boat for the West, farewell to the Shire..." then of course you're going to get some well-earned ribbing because that is stupid. If you're going to leave and want everyone to know - fuck it, don't try and do it in a dignified manner. Go out with a rocket strapped to your ass and a giant banner proclaiming "SEE YOU LATER, SHITLORDS!" - that at least would be worth someone's time. If Repo's still reading this (and Gus too, if he ever checks in) - take some time off, do what you've gotta do, shower with Lava soap and toughen up that skin, and come hang out again when you've got the time. But leave the self-aggrandizing drama on the shelf.
You're right, that line was a bit melodramatic. But I still think this is an issue we need to deal with. There's an ocean of difference between the kind of mistake RepoMan made and the kind of trollish idiocy that would warrant driving someone out. I see assholery as a bigger character flaw than the kind that would create this thread in the first place. Stop idealizing the world into an easy system of absolutes: there's a broad spectrum of fuck-ups. Yet people seem to try to top each others' high-scores in a pile-on forum game for even the slightest fuck-up, which is causing problems. Think I'm being a whiny weirdo? Fine. I only got involved because the reaction to this thread made someone leave the damn forum. But hey, if you want to drive out people for being people, don't ask why people are being so "thin-skinned."
Yeah, sorry, but Kalle nailed it. The thing that has some of you crying in your cornflakes, is what others like me cherish about this community - and having been around for 10+ years, I'll say that this is mild. I bear Repo no ill will and I'd rather he'd stay and share his musical hacking stuff here than go away, but his post was attention whorish, and I was just happy that I was at the computer at the right time to fire that first weak shot across his bow knowing full well that much more talented snarkers would smell the blood in the water and come spew their wit. And at least I thank Repo for giving them the opportunity.
Many of us have known RepoMan for years, and he's done attention-whoring stuff like this before. It's not an isolated incident. If he wants to flounce off instead of a mea culpa, I'm not going to cry about it. And I wasn't asking. If you're thin-skinned, that's your problem.
Hey, guys. Ozzo's right. He's really made me reconsider my actions. It's not okay to say something mean to cause someone to leave the forums. Nope. The only way that it's okay to make someone leave the forums is by writing a creepy-as-shit short story wherein you write about them jerking off while thinking of you. That's a totally cool and okay way to make someone say 'uh, yeah, fuck this for a while, dudes'. Thanks for the wake up call, Ozzo.
So what it comes down to is that some people here will just be assholes for any reason and will attack anyone who questions them doing so.
Was wondering when someone would bring that old story up. Thanks, Bahimiron. Anyone else care to take a personal shot that doesn't add anything to the issue of assholery driving people away?
The thing about this place that I love is that it's pretty self-moderating (don't ban me, Lum, you d a great job!) If people are being an asshole without cause, they're taken to task for it for the most part. But if people do something stupid, you should expect to get flamed for it. It's the fucking internet. Are you new to it? Cause even the just-over-18 crowd that get awards just for showing up should be used to this kind of thing by now. This specific kind of thing? This GOODBYE! shit? Is so fucking old. It is the oldest meme. I AM LEAVING FOREVER, NO WAIT I STILL HAVE THINGS TO SAY! LEAVING FOREVER! HEY I AM BACK! -- that shit has been hilariously stupid since I was 15 and that was awhile ago. So yeah. If someone is going to do that, they're going to get shit for it. Cause it's stupid. And everyone knows it. We used to take bets on how long ElGuapo would stay away on Qt3 after an I AM LEAVING FOREVER! post (hint: it was never long enough). And even if you want to split hairs and be like "he wasn't leaving FOREVER at first he was just leaving for some random undetermined period of time!" well in my opinion that still falls into the same category, but it'd also fit the "ASK ME ABOUT MY LIFE/BEG ME NOT TO GO!" attention-whoring category which is pretty much the same thing. You want to leave a forum for awhile because other things are coming up? Just fucking do it. You don't need our permission or blessing. 9 times out of 10 when someone posts a "I AM NOT GOING TO BE AROUND FOR AWHILE!" post they're just begging for attention or to be talked out of it/be talked about. And that is dumb. And more to the fact in this instance, I think Repoman totally knew that. Guy's not stupid and I don't expect he'd gone forever and ever and ever. I mean, have you been on Facebook? Fucking awful.
I don't know, dude. You posted about a forum member touching himself while thinking about you. If that's not assholery that would drive people away, I don't know what is. What reaction would you expect if you did that in Tom's living room?
I take hiatuses from various forums and chats all the time, and never have I felt so self-important that I needed to make an announcement that WOE FOR I SHALL NOT BE POSTING FOR SOME AS YET UNDETERMINED PERIOD OF TIME BUT FEAR NOT GENTLE LORDS AND LADIES FOR ONE DAY I MAY DARKEN YOUR CYBER-DOORSTEP ONCE AGAIN. Most people successfully do this. Especially adults.
And I got shit for my admittedly poor attempt at telling Talisker to fuck off. Though, how does this tie into being less of an asshole and driving people off? I don't see the connection. But it wouldn't be Broken Forum without bringing it up again.
I could ask the same thing about you being an asshole and a troll, but then realized you just cant help what you are.
Yes, and you know who likes to point a finger and go "na-na-na-na-na, you're so stupid. I'm smarter than youuuuu!" That's right. Not adults.
brett is kind of an amazing poster in that he has realized that if people are mean and hate your posting, the best revenge is to just. keep. posting.
Suddenly I am enjoying this thread again. Thanks, brett; you always provide ... well, not the best in lulz, but that sort of easy, familiar, lazy-evening kind of lulz.
Nah, they're only taken to task for being assholes if: - it falls under one of the various anointed forum sensitivity subjects (racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, Republicans) - they're assholes to people that the forum likes If you're an asshole to someone that the forum doesn't like (collectively), you get a bunch of 'likes'. I guess that's the disconnect. If I wanted to go to "the internet" and deal with a bunch of mindless shitheads, there are plenty of other places to visit. I happen to like BF because there is the opportunity for intelligent and civil discourse available here. In other words, I like BF because it's NOT like the rest of the Internet. Or at least, I didn't think it was. I agree -- so we should all be used to it by now and not be assholes each time it happens.
I fail to see arguing for a difference between visiting less often and cancelling an account is "splitting hairs." But okay. I'm making no comments about RepoMan's decision to leave (permanently or temporarily). All I'm arguing for is toning down the fucking douchebaggery.
I think you need to reevaluate what constitutes the 'whole fucking forum'. Or read more threads. It's almost our birthday; birthdays and holidays always make people edgy.
This. A thousand times this. Why would I bother telling YouTube commenters to get their shit together? I have no interest in that. I'm not from some Department of Assholery Management visiting each and every forum telling people to behave. I have no interest in telling off intolerant 13-year-old trolls. But I am disappointed when a forum like this behaves as such.
Yeah. I hate when a thread just devolves into people calling each other cunts. Oh wait that is not at all remotely close to what happened here.
Honestly, and speaking as someone who's been on the "treat people nicer" side of this kind of argument before, I'm not seeing how this was too-harsh treatment. Posting a thread just to announce that you're leaving is vainglorious, and most of the subsequent replies made what I see as relatively mild mock of that without getting particularly personal or aggressive about it. The strongest-worded is probably from Bahimiron ; while I'd say that actively expressing joy at the departure of another poster is poor form, it's not a particularly aggressive version thereof - it's sufficiently ambiguous not to have too much of a dancing-on-graves quality. And it isn't fair on the other posters to have their milder mockery be coloured by that somewhat more forceful approach - whole it contributes to an aggregate impression of a more aggressive response, that aggregate impression isn't the fault of any one particular author. The standard for what's too mean can't be merely that it made someone unhappy enough to leave; there has to be some less-subjective criterion applied as well. Much like Ozzo and BaconTastesGood, I do appreciate the ways in which this forum is not like the rest of the internet, and it is considerably harder to find a place as nice as this than it is to find places where hateful invective predominates. This is why I err generally on the side of creating as safe a space as possible; but there has to be a limit, and I think this is around it.
Yes. Wait, was that a trick question? Because I headed down that way, oh, ten years ago and never looked back. Like I said, I like the forum culture as it is. I never said no one will remember, I said no one will care.
I can't like this part enough. There are some people who take themselves too goddamned seriously, and if a little good-natured ribbing is enough to drive them away permanently, the forum may be better off for not having to walk on eggshells around them. Holy fuck, people, Brett is still here. No one takes more punishment than Brett.
