Does internet require cruelty to be lively? (Embarrased to see myself at so many last posted slots)
... when I am at it!
I should apologise for the provo in the title, but I just wonder why do I see myself at even five topics at the top, when this is such a great fora.
But also there are periods when I am not online. Here I am not hassled for being inconsistent, as in starting a fire, but not putting it out.
I frankly think Beamdog fora are great: moderated, and bound together by some minimal kindness by understanding this is an open space for all, and gamers in particular.
This would be my primary fora home at the moment.
Is it also yours? Do you feel empowered or inhibited by the good qualities of these fora? Do you enjoy what is here, but require titillations of the cruel internet?
If this pulls out any lurkers, I'll be more than glad! :-D And as should be clear, I really do love Beamdog fora.
I should apologise for the provo in the title, but I just wonder why do I see myself at even five topics at the top, when this is such a great fora.
But also there are periods when I am not online. Here I am not hassled for being inconsistent, as in starting a fire, but not putting it out.
I frankly think Beamdog fora are great: moderated, and bound together by some minimal kindness by understanding this is an open space for all, and gamers in particular.
This would be my primary fora home at the moment.
Is it also yours? Do you feel empowered or inhibited by the good qualities of these fora? Do you enjoy what is here, but require titillations of the cruel internet?
If this pulls out any lurkers, I'll be more than glad! :-D And as should be clear, I really do love Beamdog fora.
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Comments
But I admit I was a bit naïve because I never thought the period of "Baldur's Gate sacrosanct was violated by Beamdog" was a low point, as much, arguably, as it was a high point in terms of volume, and more importantly principle.
I admit I took that as given.
I was not fully in favour of all commercial hedges of Beamdog at that time, even as I still feel necessity not to be to unkind, even if critical.
But would you not hope and think that those disparged by those ephemeral "friends" are still here, whereas systematic trans etc haters are gone?
Please do not tell me you miss them for the frisson! ;-) (or "cruel")
But the fact that Mizhena haters could thrive here is just too lovely, or at least more than an earnest transt-hater can take.
I am somewhat amibavent of MLK, I think he is de Gaulle, or the opportunist histroy pics to the right side, but besides, he said:
" I am not doing this for the blacks of the US south only, but also to the whites: I want to free them of their hate for their fellow men."
Here we go, eh?
There is a thread here in fact, all about good things that have happened in your life, its popularity comes and goes, but it never dies. The politics thread is probably the best example in this forum. It has been exceedingly lively, and despite having turned into a debate thread, its very cordial. We have been able to discuss opposing political views without devolving into cruelty. There have been a few examples of personal attacks, yes, but they are amazingly in the minority. I think the community here is overwhelmingly in the supportive side.
Besides - why does "off topic" not look that lively? I feel during the week it does not.
But as much as I am sentimental about "guess facts about the next poster" etc - I am thinking of non-formulaic theards.
I've totally abandoned "Bioware social" because boy, were those fora elitist! This was years and years back, and I am not saying those fora did not look lively, but it felt rather impossible to be included if you came from the outside. And I am a BioWare lover too!
I still pop to gog.com then and again, but the moment I declared to find Dethmold homophobic, personally, and not able to replay TW2, and wanting eventual TW3 to do better, everything changed. The concept of critical fan was alien, obviously.
I appreciate your posts either way, because you can tell.
But it is not that much how many posts, but if all here feel free to start a thread, or to post to any thread.
I tell you: when I tried to engage opinion, I was ignored in BioWare social, quite completely. When I told an earnest non homophobic one, I am rather downrepped in gog.com. And recently even more so when I fair n square told a feller I reported him for dismissing autism as fakeness he'd like like to cencor by face punching.
I admit I felt I had to, because this fora made me know I had done wrong by somewone with autism - but being down repped 50+ when telling someone their "I'll punch in the face those faker autists" is wrong... It just feels so poorly.
That said, these forums didn't even flirt with incivility until the "Siege" controversy when the expansion came out, when these forums (along with review sites) were hit with a wave of people, 90% of whom couldn't have told you whether positive or negative THACO was a good thing if their life depended on it, and were simply participating in a Gamergate/Men's Right crusade and it engulfed the entire site for about 2 weeks.
I am still curious why a fora where saying that "punching the faker autist in the face" is wrong gets one roughed up, figuratively, would be so popular. Arguably it is lively and popular.
*EDIT* And when the hate is so vocal, it makes giving up or keeping quiet the much easier course of action.
It helps to be familiar with their language, it very easy to predict. You'll be called PC, you will be informed you've been triggered, you'll be told to retreat to your safe-space, you'll be told you're a cuck, and a "libtard" and, yes, you'll probably be called autistic, for some reason. That's pretty much their entire quiver of arrows. It pretty easy to pre-empt nearly all of their attacks on you, and even turn their own language against them before they have a chance to use it against you. That really drives them up the wall.
(Latter just now in gog.com, which probably objectively I should deny my opinion)
I just wonder whom would really think a homophobic, tansphobic, woman hating unfactual world is better?
I rather think the best way is to know someone. That should tell how they behave to face, or anonymously.
But then again, the person downrepping me for not thinking autism is a fake illness that deserves a punch in the face probably thinks he is amiably maintaining bro culture.
I am so sorry for him, becuase my bro is nothing of the sort - and excluding those whom already have the highest threshold hardly diversifies the conversation.
Such world view - why?
More seriously: do you not realise that persons whom have a social handicap might be here, either as lurkers or even participants?
As for the straight-up racial slurs and homophobia, I think it boils down to the fact that they know if they ever said such things to anyone in public, they'd be rightly shunned. So, in a way, it's better that they are doing it in a insignificant online forum. On the other hand, it's now been unchecked and running so rampant for so long that it is starting to bleed out in the real-life.
That should say it all.
I also think you could do a bit better. Gaming immrsion is not a fragile understanding, as far as I can tell. It is well lived and loved.
Trust me as soon as Beamdog makes an announcement this place will be on fire
Some of the funniest memories I have of forums are when there was some kind of drama going on, so I think there needs to be some conflict. It's like in TV shows... if everybody got along all the time and no conflict ever happened, nobody would watch them because they'd soon get boring.
I've been on forums where there's lots of conflict and arguing happening (PlanetBaldursGate springs to mind), and I've been on forums where there's none. It depends on why I'm on the forum in the first place as to which I prefer... if I want something specific from the forum - information, advice, arranging game events - then I'd rather keep conflict/drama to a minimum, but if I'm doing it just to socialise (which, tbh, I don't really do much of anymore) then I think there needs to be some conflict, otherwise it just gets boring and people end up leaving.
But there is a fine line between a healthy level of conflict and outright malice. I've seen both, and I've been on the receiving end of both (although I've never gotten to the point where somebody has taken action irl against me), and sometimes people do go too far.
So, do we need cruelty: I don't know, but we definitely need conflict and drama for a social forum to be lively.
If the action goes against forum rules we deal with it. Fortunately we never had a case of stalking here.
This forum is still quite live, taking into account IE games are not, in the first place, the most popular games nowadays.
There're plenty of discussions going, for people with different interests and tastes:
- the No-reload thread
- Did you know thread
- Who Am I thread
- different LoB threads
- potraits and other fanart threads
- MEME threads
- the Politics thread
Every day, coming here after 10 - 12 hours, I find enough information to read for 2-3 hours, or more.