Joe Rogan (stand-up comedian, UFC Commentator) has a forum I'm a member of. I don't post there at all; I just stop there once or twice a month to see if anything interested was posted by Joe or someone else.
Anyways, Rogan started a thread called "Just try to be nice" and I thought a lot of what he said could apply to this forum. If anything else it's just an interesting read and might give you something to think about. Joe Rogan has a way with words like no one else on the planet.
Anyways, Rogan started a thread called "Just try to be nice" and I thought a lot of what he said could apply to this forum. If anything else it's just an interesting read and might give you something to think about. Joe Rogan has a way with words like no one else on the planet.
If there's one request I would lay on any of you folks hanging out here, it's just try to be nice. It sounds kinda fem, and to even address it or suggest it leaves you open to ridicule - but really, it would benefit all of us if we applied this little principal in our lives.
Forums are tricky things, because this place has been around for a long time, and it has a certain vibe. There are many people that post here that I'm really proud of making a connection with. This place has a really disproportionate number of cool humans hanging out on it. The vibe here is unusual, and it becomes a problem when some new and overly enthusiastic person that perhaps hasn't been exposed to the smartest or most rational people in his or her young life just hops on here and starts spraying annoying nonsense.
I understand why people would get upset at folks like that. I totally get the frustration of constantly filtering out the fish that slam their heads into the rocks all around you.
I get it, but the reality is we all evolve. I'm sure that who I am now would be horrified and frustrated if I had to meet the myself of 20 years old. I probably wouldn't know what kind of advice I could give that poor, crazy fuck. If I met me from 23 years ago I'm sure I would have thought, "Whoa. This kid is fucking doomed."
The idea of an internet message board might seem trivial to some of you, but this is a pretty important place in my eyes. I think I've evolved and grown because of conversations I've had on here, and writings and videos that I've been exposed to, and I think this place is a very odd and precious hive-mind.
I don't think I'm the only one benefiting from it, and I've read some pretty profound shit from quite a few long time posters that have expressed how much the forum has shaped their way of thinking and broadened their ideas.
Yeah, it's all fucking around, and what's the craziest shit I can see on the internet right now, but it's also about the way we treat each other when we're just anonymous connections with cartoon tits for an avatar, and "420" or "69" in your user name.
The way we interact with each other sets a tone. It makes this place fun, or if done poorly, it can make this place annoying as fuck.
One of the least fun things is coming on here and reading a thread, and in the middle of the thread it turns into a 3 page back and forth cat fight between 2 worked up dorks on something completely unrelated to the original subject matter.
It's fucking annoying, and it's stupid.
And here's another subject that's been bandied back and forth, and the policy here always has been and always will remain that neg repping people is creepy, especially when you spam a bunch of them in a row. It's some sneaky private way of being a cunt, and it's fucking creepy. I've seen some of the shit you people write back and forth to each other, and it's fucking gross.
That's why we started pinking people for egregious neg repping (JMT NOTE: "Pinking" is their version of putting certain posters in prison, rather then banning them).
If you're doing shit like that and you enjoy doing shit like that, you're being a cunt. If you want to correct someone, or if you disagree with someone do it right there in the thread and contribute to the discussion. You wanna open up a dialog with them privately? Send them a private message or an email. Neg repping feels like some lazy, cowardly swipe to me. I've read some of neg reps people have posted and spammed, and it always disappoints the fuck out of me. I'm leaving the feature on the board, but at this point in time it's really just an alarm system for weeding out douche bags that would abuse the connection.
Just try, with all your might to not be a cunt. If you're new here, think before you post. I've changed the settings now to where you have to have at least 100 posts before you can start a thread. This is going to help slow everyone down a bit too.
We can keep the vibe of this place positive and insightful, and still be fun as fuck. This is a magical portal to all things fucked up or interesting in the world at all hours of the night. It can be 6am anywhere in the world and you can log on to this board and see a new thread about some crazy monkey eating eagle, or video of hyenas eating wildebeests alive, to some new documentary on rigging voting machines, and in every thread there will be interesting points of view and new connections to similar ideas. This place for me is a fantastic resource. I've always said that purely by chance this messageboard might very well be one of the most important things I've ever done in my life.
I think online social interaction is very much like real life social interaction, and my policy in real life is always and without question to gravitate towards positive people and avoid negative ones. That same ethic applies here as well.
For this place to continue to grow at this exponentially increasing rate while still keeping the vibe here "correct" is not a simple proposition. The most important aspect is the Mods. (Note the capital "M.") Respect.
The mods are all cool people, many of whom I've met in real life, and considering the absolutely natural "guard" and "prisoner" social construct that automatically manifests itself when anyone has power over anyone else - I think they're a fucking commendable group of people. They've all contributed much to this place, and I trust their instincts and behavior.
So, we're basically all self patrolled by what I feel are excellent examples of the population here. The rules here are simple as fuck; don't post shit that's blatantly illegal, be honest, and don't be a cunt. Seems pretty easy, right?
I just feel inspired tonight to write this down and put this out there.
This is how I feel about this place, and this is the environment I want to promote and contribute to. So thanks to all of you cool mother fuckers that are hanging out here. I appreciate you all.
