Blogs and forums serve different purposes but basically I have come to the conclusion that the internet allows the worst brand of anonymity complex. Hidden by hundreds of miles and thousands of electrons, people lose all civility and worse, they lose perspective.
I can tell you honestly that little I ever say on this blog will change your life. But it doesn't have to in order to provide value. The same goes for so many units in Warhammer. So many units are valuable, albeit not necessarily a statistical juggernaut. Suggesting they have value is just asking for it on many forums.
Many minds jump from what you actually SAID ("the unit has value") in their mind to "its the best thing ever". Think for a moment. Even if I had said that, and I never did, would that be a reason to jump someones ass and pee in their cheerios? NO! Obviously not. However I think whats obvious isn't the issue. The issue is that people can intentionally ignore the tenets of basic goodwill and act snarky, self important and omniscient because, put simply, you cant stop them.
Then when you try to explain the reasons for something having value they act like YOU peed in THEIR cheerios. This reversal isn't real. But their mind convinces them that you somehow called their opinion (that opinion being that your opinion is stupid) stupid. Oh sweet irony. And really, how do you ever correct course after things go that far sideways?
Does anyone else reading this find that hilarious? Probably. But only because you know I'm telling you something you've seen on a hundred forums before with your own eyes. Facebook is the same thing. People vomit their emotional state minute by minute to a hundred "friends" who couldn't care less and they carry out mean spirited exchanges via facebook on occassion, as if they'll never see this person again? Why would they ever think it's going to be forgiven? You didn't just air out the dirty laundry. You did it in WRITING, publically!!!
My point is this: we need to be a ton kinder to one another on these damn forums and blogs and whatever. We really do. And we need to stop acting like no one knows the Wizard of Oz is a short guy behind a curtain with a megaphone. That veil isn't that hard to pull back my friend.
Been away for a bit but wanted to say: So true. I think that people are planning their responses before they even consider the reality of what people are trying to suggest to them. One good thing about this blog, even though there aren't often comments made on it (I feel lonely sometimes in here), is that it addresses the elephant in the room a lot and talks about stuff that other people dont. It's different. You wrote about Rough Riders and Stealth clouds and making Foot Eldar work and ALL GUARDIAN ARMIES and South African rating systems... I mean... I wish more blogs would tell me more interesting things and would dare to try new things. So many are spending their time impressing each other so they'll get more RSS/links instead of being actually useful. They don't really feed my brain much with stuff I couldn't already think of on my own and they say the obvious as if it were sage advice. I dont always agree but at least I am entertained and its fresh stuff mostly.
ReplyDeleteOr, more likely, Unorthodoxy is a doody head. Hahaha! Try and find me now!
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