- Joined
- Jun 14, 2012
- Messages
- 2,056
- Reaction score
- 1,929
- Points
- 113
This is a slightly redacted message I sent in a group chat when I returned after a 7-8 year hiatus from the forums about a year and a half ago. I was asked to post this for the general forum user because it's probably even more applicable today than it was then.
"I remember when this site first launched and essentially the mission statement for the community it was supposed to cultivate.
I did have an extended hiatus and completely lost touch with so many people from the boards who have been some of the closest friends I've had in life.
As boards age there is a level of elitism that's created in the communities. This had become abrasive to new people to the culture on REDACTED. This site specifically was going to be an inclusive place where people could come ask the stupid questions and not feel talked down to for their mistakes. It would become a resource for people to be initiated into the culture, a safe haven where someone could go from knowing nothing to being a valued community member without being funnelled to open boards where they would be scammed and gaslit.
I've gone through a lot of what I've missed and found in some ways that's stayed the same, and in some it has gone astray.
There are members here who didn't know a thing, asked the same questions over and over, were often even a bit annoying, but are now respected contributing members years later.
Politics, drama, and any other nonsense in the world was something we could disagree on and still maintain respect and humor about it because of the understanding that we share a passion and a code that you don't find you can share with many people in the outside world.
I'd like to request that those of us who have been here from the beginning to remember that. When someone gets scammed by someone, it's not because they didn't type their name into Google. It's because that source invested in SEO and buried the information that they are garbage and that person didn't find a place like this yet. We don't need to ridicule them because they found us too late.
When someone shows their poorly designed cycle, help them fix it, someone just gave them bad information.
The world is divided, we don't have to be. A flame war on the board can often be avoided with a short PM conversation where egos aren't going to flare. A guy you decided to make fun of for his ignorance and ran off the board could have ended up being a dear friend in 5 years simply by showing a bit of patience, kindness, and understanding."
In some ways I need to take my own advice. There's a significant amount of new members I lumped in with absolute garbage human beings because they came from the same place and are friendly with each other. That's probably not the right way to go about things.
So going forward I'm going to be taking my own advice and treating every dispute as if both parties are arguing in good faith. I'm not going to hold people responsible for knowing things just because they posted a link and spoke like an authority. They haven't been exposed to the same conversations or experiences as me and I shouldn't expect them to have the same information.
I'm going to do better, and we need to do better.
"I remember when this site first launched and essentially the mission statement for the community it was supposed to cultivate.
I did have an extended hiatus and completely lost touch with so many people from the boards who have been some of the closest friends I've had in life.
As boards age there is a level of elitism that's created in the communities. This had become abrasive to new people to the culture on REDACTED. This site specifically was going to be an inclusive place where people could come ask the stupid questions and not feel talked down to for their mistakes. It would become a resource for people to be initiated into the culture, a safe haven where someone could go from knowing nothing to being a valued community member without being funnelled to open boards where they would be scammed and gaslit.
I've gone through a lot of what I've missed and found in some ways that's stayed the same, and in some it has gone astray.
There are members here who didn't know a thing, asked the same questions over and over, were often even a bit annoying, but are now respected contributing members years later.
Politics, drama, and any other nonsense in the world was something we could disagree on and still maintain respect and humor about it because of the understanding that we share a passion and a code that you don't find you can share with many people in the outside world.
I'd like to request that those of us who have been here from the beginning to remember that. When someone gets scammed by someone, it's not because they didn't type their name into Google. It's because that source invested in SEO and buried the information that they are garbage and that person didn't find a place like this yet. We don't need to ridicule them because they found us too late.
When someone shows their poorly designed cycle, help them fix it, someone just gave them bad information.
The world is divided, we don't have to be. A flame war on the board can often be avoided with a short PM conversation where egos aren't going to flare. A guy you decided to make fun of for his ignorance and ran off the board could have ended up being a dear friend in 5 years simply by showing a bit of patience, kindness, and understanding."
In some ways I need to take my own advice. There's a significant amount of new members I lumped in with absolute garbage human beings because they came from the same place and are friendly with each other. That's probably not the right way to go about things.
So going forward I'm going to be taking my own advice and treating every dispute as if both parties are arguing in good faith. I'm not going to hold people responsible for knowing things just because they posted a link and spoke like an authority. They haven't been exposed to the same conversations or experiences as me and I shouldn't expect them to have the same information.
I'm going to do better, and we need to do better.
