Self-Policing

[Adam]

I can't recall anyone here who's posted about a problem in their life and not gotten serious answers from people who had relevant experience and sympathy from others.

I probably never will have the money to go to GenCon, nor will I possibly be able to go to a gathering... but you guys are going to be able to, or at least get to see one another, and that makes your relationship with each other stronger, while we have to stay behind and listen to your stories and go "Really? cool!" like 5 year olds around their grandfathers.

Look, no offense intended, but almost all of us are in the same boat; we're generally young and/or students and don't have a lot of cash, and we scrape up the time and money to go. Nobody is holding you back from going to the gathering or Gencon - it's not an invite only party.

The point i'm trying to express is that Instead of flamming one another on issues,

Good point, we should flame each other over our taste in shoes.

I don't see much flaming going on in Bulldrek, and I see even less bad-natured flaming. I see a lot of attacking issues and positions, and that's all good, as far as I'm concerned.

then we should probably try and help each other out.. i'm not talking a fucking sissy assed support group or anything, but still, ya know? someone says "I think i'm going to go kill myself. I mean it." shouldn't be replied with: "hey Flameblade! I've got 40 bucks that says he's not dead by tomorrow!"

If you don't see people helping each other out here, I'm afraid you must not be reading very carefully. And I think you're ignoring something: the board isn't the only part of the Bulldrek "Experience"; if I have some sort of problem or concern or I'm just feeling down in the dumps, I don't run to SST to post it - I talk to Jestyr or Eva or Maelwys or Jackal or Thorn or spud or any of the number of people who are part of the community that I trust on an emotional level. If I'm wondering what sort of miniatures may make cool chess pieces, I post on SST. If I want feedback on something I wrote, I post it to SST. If I feel my life is crumbling between my hands, I pick up the phone and call Eva or Jestyr.

[spudman]

I pick up the phone and call Eva or Jestyr.

You'll note that he doesn't call me. The cruel cruel bastard! All those sweet words...

[Wildfire]

I said it once in IRC, and people agreed, I'm too laid back for you people. Honestly, I'm here for the fun. Why is it fun? This, that, and everything else. Am I part of a clique? I don't know, if I am, nobody's told me about it, and frankly I don't care.

Did I like Gunny? No, not really. Did I say anything? Nope, didn't affect me personally, and in my eyes, if she wasn't having fun, then she probably did the right thing. Did I like Sorrow? Yeah, I thought he was cool. Have I emailed him? No, its his life, and his choices, and I am thinking that since what he objected to has not changed, even if everyone said "Come back!", would he have any fun here? Maybe someday I'll do something phenomially stupid, or maybe I'll do something phenomially cool. I have no idea, this place fluctuates every minute of every day, the only constant I have it that whatever I do here seemed like a good idea at the time.

Honestly, everyone has to go with their own perceptions. What happens happens because each of us is an individual, and we make choices to lead, follow, or not care about a trillion things a day, this board being one of them. An unconcious decision on 0.2 was that we accepted that there were restrictions placed on us by moderators. They made some of our decisions for us, but nothing we couldn't have done ourselves if we had to. We just didn't because they were already doing it.

If people blindly choose to follow, no moderation is going to make them change their minds, they will blindly folllow the moderator instead of some random person. If someone spekas out on something, and gets no support, maybe they have to accept that they're wrong and back down, or make the decision to stick to their position no matter what, their decision.

Anyway, true to form, I don't much care. I'll be here until it stops being fun and then I'll leave. Continue your discussion, that's my decision.