Hello everyone,
Many of you know me already, and I'm pleased to see you again.
Many others do not and I'm glad to meet you all.
I've been back among the 'Temp for a week now, since hearing about the loss of our dear friend, Densetsu.
And in that time I've been getting to know some new names and personalities,
but most of all I've been observing.
Watching to see how our site operates these days.
A few words come to mind in describing how I feel about the current state of the 'Temp.
Disgusted.
Mortified.
Appalled.
Disappointed.
And these observations have caused a major shift in how I would normally recommend we act and react toward our populace.
Some of you will recall that I've always tried to be the sort of person to forgive transgressions.
I've argued for leniency and clemency while others howled for blood.
I've called for understanding when faced with 'tempers who are just too weird for words to describe.
I've asked for second or even third chances to be given to some who clearly didn't deserve them.
And now when I come back home
I find the forums overrun with idiocy.
Blogs describing one's masturbation habits,
newcomers making new threads every few seconds out of boredom,
meaningless petitions being shoved down our throats for no reason more than to make the participants feel like they're doing something noteworthy.
That's not to say that it's any more idiocy than there was before I left.
The problem is that there are so few good people to balance these others out, and give them an example of how to be decent members of our society. It no longer does much good to tell these newcomers to Lurk Moar, if everyone else is acting the same way.
For the longest time I thought it was a good thing that gamers had a less strict forum to frequent when they have questions that the ban-happy sites don't allow or when they want to mess around and have fun that other groups won't stand for, but I have to wonder if, by taking in these dregs of society, we've brought ourselves down to their level. And it seems to me that perhaps I was wrong for all that time to be so lenient and to ask for such mercy.
Perhaps we should be banning people for stupid questions.
Perhaps somewhere else would be a better environment for their shenanigans.
Perhaps it's time to begin weeding our garden properly.
If I'm wrong to think this, somebody tell me why.
Many of you know me already, and I'm pleased to see you again.
Many others do not and I'm glad to meet you all.
I've been back among the 'Temp for a week now, since hearing about the loss of our dear friend, Densetsu.
And in that time I've been getting to know some new names and personalities,
but most of all I've been observing.
Watching to see how our site operates these days.
A few words come to mind in describing how I feel about the current state of the 'Temp.
Disgusted.
Mortified.
Appalled.
Disappointed.
And these observations have caused a major shift in how I would normally recommend we act and react toward our populace.
Some of you will recall that I've always tried to be the sort of person to forgive transgressions.
I've argued for leniency and clemency while others howled for blood.
I've called for understanding when faced with 'tempers who are just too weird for words to describe.
I've asked for second or even third chances to be given to some who clearly didn't deserve them.
And now when I come back home
I find the forums overrun with idiocy.
Blogs describing one's masturbation habits,
newcomers making new threads every few seconds out of boredom,
meaningless petitions being shoved down our throats for no reason more than to make the participants feel like they're doing something noteworthy.
That's not to say that it's any more idiocy than there was before I left.
The problem is that there are so few good people to balance these others out, and give them an example of how to be decent members of our society. It no longer does much good to tell these newcomers to Lurk Moar, if everyone else is acting the same way.
For the longest time I thought it was a good thing that gamers had a less strict forum to frequent when they have questions that the ban-happy sites don't allow or when they want to mess around and have fun that other groups won't stand for, but I have to wonder if, by taking in these dregs of society, we've brought ourselves down to their level. And it seems to me that perhaps I was wrong for all that time to be so lenient and to ask for such mercy.
Perhaps we should be banning people for stupid questions.
Perhaps somewhere else would be a better environment for their shenanigans.
Perhaps it's time to begin weeding our garden properly.
If I'm wrong to think this, somebody tell me why.
