by gamemaster72 » Sat Apr 21, 2012 8:06 am
Ok, now I'll recap what happened here as I see it, without being disrespectful or sarcastic toward anyone:
1) I listed several topics in all caps, as I have done in the past, because I hadn't gotten response to the current thread that those questions are in. (This apparently pisses off at least 3 different people so much that they come into the room to post public, snarky comments.)
2) ) Murk answers the topic question and then tactfully asks me why I've posted all of these all as separate topics. The first p'd off person (who's done a lot of work gathering pics for Volume II) comments in the room, apparently for the sole purpose of making me feel bad that I f**d up by using all caps.
5) Others indicate agreement, some nicer, some also blunt and snarky. At no point does anyone (beside Murk) try to understand why I posted that way, by just asking me. At no point did anyone email me privately to explain why my posting was disruptive.
7) I get angry and refer to the posters after Murk as the "Peanut Gallery". (I think that's still a term used for people who jump on the bandwagon, so I don't see how that's all that insulting.)
8 ) I ask for them to report me to a web site administrator. Yea, I was angry when I said that, but what I was trying to convey if what I am doing is causing a serious issue, then I'm sure the admin will speak to me about it, and I would adjust my behavior accordingly. What I'm not interested in doing, is cowing to a group of people with just a bunch of strong opinions about the way things "should" be done. I felt if there was a legitamate concern, it should be handled by the moderator. How it should never be handled is by one or multiple guys jumping all over the guy that commits a minor, unwitting offense. I could see becoming aggressive if I was posting porn, or letting the F bomb fly. But for what I did? Nah, a sarcastic reaction not warranted, at all.
9) I lump Murk in with the bandwagon (which I later publicly and privately apologize for). I attempt to explain that there was a consolidated thread, and why I posted with all caps, and invite everyone, (including the "Peanut Gallery") to post there in that thread. I imply that the "Peanut Gallery" comments were not intelligent, (which should not to be confused with calling the people who wrote them unintelligent, by the way. Or do you honestly see any real thought or consideration put into those posts?!) Then, I indicate that I will continue to post in caps, because I don't like feeling like I'm being bullied into doing something just because some random people demand it. (I think many of us can probably relate to being bullied, and how that feels.) I point out the fact that all these snarky posts are off-topic anyway- (Something which Jon wouldn't tolerate in his own topics, by the way. I know: I've seen it.)
10) Fuzzy Boots' comments are like adding a little salt to the wound, but his comments are still well thought out and considerate. Despite that, I'm still annoyed. I try to explain again that there was a consolidated thread, and why I'm posting all caps.
11) Unbeliever announces that I have engaged in "no effort to observe the general norms of communication, and disregarding forum politeness: 'To wit: Thread Consolidation..." and later again points out the use of all caps. He also gives the example of knocking posters threads off the first page for 1 line questions."
(Jon, you say the posters are correct to have these concerns, so I have several questions for you: Are people ever reprimanded for posting one line, questions? (Which this actually wasn't.) How is thread consolidation actually enforced? It seems that whenever I'd bring back an old thread, I'd get yelled at and told to start a new one! Aren't we all knocking several posters threads off every time we post? Or, is there a daily number of posts that we're limited to? And aren't the ones that we knock off the ones that are all the way on the bottom anyway because nobody is putting new posts in them? And if they are active topics that are knocked to second page, won't a new post just bring them back to the top? Fuzzy even encouraged me to bring back my own consolidated thread in this manner, which I've done in the past. And finally, if this was such a huge violation of online thread-posting policy, as you imply, then why is it that nobody official seemed to notice/say anything about it before this huge argument erupted?)
I'm not bringing these questions up to be a snarky, wise-ass. I'm bringing them up to make a point: These are all matters that are not truly black and white issues. It's possible someone could post a bunch of topics inadvertently, without realizing they're all connected. Is it appropriate to come into their topic and jump all over them for it? And, since it's not a black and white issue, then I'm sorry; I didn't appreciate the snarky way the problem was brought to my attention. Again, it would have been handled best 1) with a polite post in the topic, like Murk tried to do. 2) Emailing me privately with the cause for concern. 3) Asking the moderator to speak to me about it. That's not what happened here, though, is it?
12) I become incessed, because Unbeliever, if you're going to argue a point, can you please at least try to clearly understand the other person's argument first?! There was no effort to do that, because one of my main points, which I brought out twice, was that there WAS a consolidated thread, and it wasn't working for these questions. So to include that as an example of how I've completely disregarded public forum rules, was a little insulting. I can understand, you feel insulted too, but as I stated before, I didn't even say anything personal to you, until you went on your own "jag".
13) In my response, I wrongfully called Unbeliever ignorant. Kid Karma called me on that, and I agreed with her. So I corrected myself, [/i]and stated that I should have said that his comment was ignorant,. and then changed it. If I was trying to be a jerk to Unbeliever, why would I do that? And why would I have also publicly commended his idea in the "Defensive Feat Ideas" topic that very same day after I read his post! You can check it, it's there!
The thing is, that while I do admittedly get annoyed and react/overreact/verbalize my frustration to some poster's thoughtless remarks, at the end of the day, I'm not holding a grudge. I don't think I'm the one who takes this so personally! And I definitely don't become offended when my topics are bumped to second page, or when someone posts their heading with all caps. Even if it did bother me, I wouldn't feel the need to come into their topic just to harrass them for it. But that's just me.
14) Unbeliever sums up his next email with: "This is more vitriol than I've seen on this board in my time here. But, hey, what do I know. I am petty, undesirable, ignorant, and have so little going on in my life that I bother commenting on silly message boards, right? No one who bothers to answer rules questions or post builds should be insulted by that last comment at all." Perhaps, but my point is if you're going to jump a guy, you should probably expect that there's going to be a fight.
To address each point: Did I say you were petty? No, I addressed the posters as a group, and said their comments were petty. (Which I still believe, because of the way you guys said it, not the message itself).
Did I say you personallywere undesirable? No. But is it desirable for me to sign on to a game forum and innocently post some questions, just to receive sarcastic responses on how the posts were made? Can you guys understand why someone wouldn't like that? Can you understand why I wouldn't mind being "alienated" from the members of the community who engage in that kind of behavior?
Did I say that you were ignorant? Yes, I did. But again, I admitted that I was wrong, and changed it to your comment was ignorant. That was in specific reference to what you said about Thread Consilidation. Ignorance is not the same as "stupid" by the way. Ignorance simply implies a lack of knowledge on a topic. The fact that you had clearly weren't aware there was a consolidated topic, indicated a lack of knowledge on that topic, which I "astounded" me, due to the fact I just stated twice that there was and posted the link.
And the last part that you "have so little going on in my life that I bother commenting on silly message boards, right?" That's completely not true, so you should reread what I wrote. And, as you brought out, if I had said that, I'd be insulting EVERYONE on the board (which obviously includes me, by the way.)
15) Finally, after Unbeliever and I have both had our says, and I acknowledged there we'd gone as far as we can on this one... THEN (after the "dance" is already over) Jon L, you come in, not even in a nuetral, unbiased way, but pretty much to single me out as the only one with the attitude. Honestly the impression it leaves me with is that if you're someone who's working on a book, you're entitled to be as rude/thoughtless and snide as you want to the other fans. We're all fans here, so that's really not cool.
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