Ranting about mad

[Connor]

Before I start, I just wanna say that I think people are cool. Nice, enjoyable people. Secondly, if you disagree with me, feel free to say so in whatever manner you like. Curse at me, degrade me, whatever, because it's the INTERNET and I don't CARE about what people SAY on the INTERNET.

Which brings me to my rant. When I first joined the site (a good year and a half ago) it was everyone making fun of everyone in GOOD SPORT. Everyone had fun with it, and if anyone was ACTUALLY offended, they talked it over with the person and it was all fine. It held a nice mature atmosphere, while still being a fun place for the younger crowd. In recent weeks, I have only been on a few times, so maybe it's all coincidental, but I have noticed an EXTREME change in the attitude of the people. Not only is it so focused on being kid friendly that 4KIDS entertainment is taking pages out of it's book, but everyone is just so sensitive to things that previous people didn't even bat an eyelash at. I admit, the new rules (new to me anyway) are set in place for a reason, so everyone can have a nice enjoyable time, and I totally understand that. But when part of that fun time involves butting heads with fellow players with some crude language, I feel that it limits them on their options of "fun". Now I'm not saying that I am part of that minority that enjoys cursing at people to feel great, but when I'm messing around with my friends in the chat and I get told "rule #" by some guy who can't take it, it's slightly demoralizing. Not just because it burst my bubble when I wasn't even trying to be offensive in the least, but because they actually CARE enough to give me a, warning or something? "Don't do it again or I'll sic these authority figures on you!" ?

It seems to me that the server used to be like Dave and Busters. A friendly atmosphere where those more mature to not take anything seriously could mess around and have a nice time, while still looking kid friendly and such. But it got so severely limited in the enjoyment that you can take that it seems more like a Chuck E Cheese now, where the younger crowd have tons of fun with the simplest of things, and if you so much as utter one obscenity you have some parent breathing down your neck about tainting their child or whatnot. The point that I'm trying to get at is, if people are so sensitive to this kind of language, why are they on the internet? The government regulates television, radio, and whatever else it can get at, but the internet is so vast that they can't control it all. It is one of the only things left where people can leave their raw, uncensored opinions on the screen in black and white, without some higher authority slapping them on the wrist and telling them they can't do it. Now these opinions may not be good, they can be completely wrong, but the point is that person is able to tell it without holding back. Getting back to my original point, why are people that are this sensitive to this material just not learning to cope with it? When so much of it is prominent, why put yourself in harms way? I don't know, maybe I'm missing the entire point or maybe I'm just being a stubborn ass and missing the old days, but before I end this let me give an example of what I mean.

In the few times I went on in the past few weeks, 3 of the 4 I was threatened to be told on (or something). What essentially happened was that I would be talking to an old friend of mine on the server, and someone didn't like what I was saying apparently. However, instead of directly confronting me in a PM about it or something mature in that matter, they instead started asking auth to simply ban me from the server.

wat

The fact that this happened three separate times, with a week or so in between them and with 3 separate people, scares me a little. Can people be this afraid of what is said on a digital screen that they still have to go running to the nearest adult figure to stop the bad man from telling his opinion? Why didn't they just ask why? Or ask if I was joking? Or better yet, just IGNORE it. I don't have the slightest clue to any of my questions, because they simply baffle me. I was told in my youth that if someone made fun of you, or something of the sort, to just ignore it. Because if you ignore it, nothing happens, besides the person losing breathe for a lost cause. I was also taught everyone had a right to an opinion, and that we should be able to speak it freely no matter what.

Well, there we go. I got all that off my chest. And maybe some nice do-gooder has some legit answers to my questions, to help me better understand why the server went the way it did. Because I'm tired of people screaming rules at me and threatening to tell their internet mommy that I hurt their internet feelings.

[Kiozo]

Uhm, lemme try to shed some light on what I think are the right answers.

If I'm like, 239483249 miles off or something, do tell.

Anyway - a beginning part of what I think it is, is that a lot of reborn, or the people in it, aren't as tightknit as before. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong but Reborn always was stereotypically the same people for a looong time without any massive change. I see it now, and I see a large problem within it. The people aren't anywhere near as accepting as a community that's so relaxed should be.

I can attest to this personally. When I became a regular here I did know some stuff from previous times. But not 100% of what happens around here, as far as a regular would. So, I considered myself somewhat new, somewhat old. When I was going through the days, it was extremely strenuous being here. No one from old reborn, or even a month prior, was willing to accept anyone at that time. Granted, there was a large influx and many people were rather lackluster, but not all of us were that bad. Having experience with online communities getting floods of people, I knew most of them would flood out just as quick. But getting such a rude stereotyping welcome, or lack thereof a welcome, was a huge smack in the face for anyone that did stick around.

What happened then, for most, was a disconnection between the old and new. Old people wouldn't accept new people, and new people had no reason to respect and like old people. I didn't take to it as a reason to leave, as some may have, but it hit home all the same. I know my home, Mysidia, wasn't going to be a community anymore. Stragglers that wouldn't give it up, were all. So in turn, I looked to the sister community that I had a lot of respect for, that had relied on us when they needed it, and those people I welcomed with open arms and swore to protect when I had to. When I got some strong opposition, upon looking to settle in, it wasn't the same feeling I would want anyone from reborn to have. Even as I sit and watch today, I see it still. New people are still disrespected...and I think of when I joined in 2010, and when I "joined" in January/December, and how much it didn't sit well at all, it just burns me because I wouldn't want these people to experience it either.

Either way; lemme collect my thoughts. When you have a division, no one will care if you and I are willing to joke around. Someone's going to think negatively of us for joking and not perceive it as such. And I know it's true, just because of that division. I'm still looked at as new, by a decent amount of old reborn members, and old, by new members because I'm auth. I hear it from all angles. And because of it, people associate it differently. The saving grace in this might be Io/Mikey, because they joke a lot, and no one seems to stop them. Maybe there is hope? With time, I trust.

Another part of it might just be that the age gap is something we do intend to respect more. I mean, you said "I don't care because it's the internet". But you asked. You spent a lot of time here. You care about reborn...as we all do. I can take whatever Ice says with a joking manner because I know him, he knows me and it's all good. He can say anything he wants and I'll just say "that's cold >>". But when he says these jokes, I do watch and see that he pays mind to the people who will hear it; as I do to everyone else - because people will definitely feel a certain way about it.

Part of it reflects a certain standard that is only influenced by ones life events. Forgive me, those who this will ultimately cross over into bad territory for. But it's like the term "rape" for example. We don't use it here, even in the dominant competition kind. We do this because people have been subject to it, and you don't know who or who may not of been. I don't know who. But I know that people have been. I don't use it because of that.

To put it even more bluntly...let's have a little recollection. I had an older brother. He passed away in 2010, on March 10th. He passed away because of a drug overdose. The backstory was that previous night, he had asked me for money to go get coffee, cigarettes and a couple other things in the morning, and would pay me back out of his check [it came every 2 weeks, and unemployment at that]. So I had given him the money for the stuff. Later, I had heard a car leaving from the area. I thought nothing of it because even now, it happens often. Then I heard my brother come back inside. In turn, I started to wonder, but I had just went back to sleep, figuring it was a coincedence because he smoked. That next morning, he had passed away, overdosed on pills, during the time everyone else was sleeping.

So, I feel a lot of guilt because of it. One because I never supported his habits [i was sure at that point he only smoked weed, but I was wrong.], two because I could have stopped it from happening if I hadn't done it. I know I didn't force his hand into it - that's foolish. But I'm still reminded of it often. And whenever I'm online, and I see someone mention weed or pills or whatever, I think of what happened, and memories and regret and pain come back.

Because of those experiences, all the ones various people have that are painful, we try to limit the amount of things that they see and hear. I'm not asking that my experience gets tended to in the same way; but, if you were subject to an event so terrible, you wouldn't want to be reminded of it constantly.

Now I dumped a lot of intensity into this whole thing. But I do support some of what you say as well. I don't think 4 people should be running to auth every time someone says something kinda bad. I think that it should be calmly discussed and made clear that no harm was meant and no harm done. But some people are indeed kiddies here...and sometimes it's literally that same thing happening. I mean, here it's trickier, because people are bound to fight more. There's a much bigger chance for it to go to fights. Spammers easily get the chat riled up for hours even...and then I'm like;

You know you let them win because you're still talking about it, right?

I get a general response of "oooh. You're right". People let things effect them more now, yes. But there's not that tight community feeling now, and worse, not a lot of people want to work for it.

[Hyouka]

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[Noivy]

Either way; lemme collect my thoughts. When you have a division, no one will care if you and I are willing to joke around. Someone's going to think negatively of us for joking and not perceive it as such. And I know it's true, just because of that division. I'm still looked at as new, by a decent amount of old reborn members, and old, by new members because I'm auth. I hear it from all angles. And because of it, people associate it differently. The saving grace in this might be Io/Mikey, because they joke a lot, and no one seems to stop them. Maybe there is hope? With time, I trust.

Mikey and I have been coming here for 'bout a year now. It is definately a fact that we are indeed the server clowns (Not including Terra in that matter). Most of the old people (and people from Mysidia from the rare cases that we had to come over to Mysidia) know that we share a rivalry and tend to goof off A LOT. I can be serious though, I just chose not to be 75% of the time. As much as I seem like a nusance, I really try to bring up the moral in the server when I can, I just have strange ways of doing it. Mikey might seem like an annoyance too, but then again, he usually stays under control and is just as intelligent as anyone else on the server.

Mikey and I are like the 3 Stooges. Theres just one less, but we bicker and cause harmless trouble with each other, but it'sreally all in good spirit.

If anything else, Mikey and I went to the same Middle School, and we share Autism, we kinda come off differently from other people.

Oops. School bell, Ill voice other things on this thread later. Thanks for bringing this up Conner.

Edited May 3, 2012 by Owen V. Seattle

[Skeleton]

I don't really know what to say to this.

But;

Alot of people are sensitive for that stuff.

While it's just like...

The most normal thing on the internet.

When I'm like ""Please, shut up." to someone.

Because they are annoying the hell out of me.

I get rule 1'd immediatly.

The auth just talk to me again.

About why I'm like that.

And the person I said it to is just like; "Okay. *stops talking to me*".

Just wanted to say that.

I don't even know if it's like... On topic.

But whatevs.

[Yuki]

Real talk from an admin here--

I agree that minimodding, and overall sensitivity have gotten way out of hand.

I had like 4 paragraphs typed up before the internet commited suicide, so I'm just going to keep this brief to save my nerves.

IMO it's better to PM an auth with rulebreaking than it is to call someone out on your own. It just causes conflict and eats at the barrier between auth and members.

Also, as far as rule 1 is concerned, it is NOT the business of people outside of auth and the two individuals involved, for many reasons. One being the most important-- when someone says "hark sucksss", it's not (I'll use you as an example,) Owen's job to say "Rule one. Stop being disrespectful." It's mine. And really, we're all people here, we joke around. Chances are it's my friend from Treehouse.

I think it would be more fun if we didn't have some of the rules we do, but we'd be devolving from our higher standards and practically inviting the kind of people we ban to come back.

[The Fush]

To be honest, I don't exactly have an exact opinion. I'm only 13 and have only been here for about 2 months, but from what I've seen in regards to your rant about seriousness, I find it true, but to an extent. More often than not, it's the new people who visit the server (ignoring the usual trash-talkers here) who get wound up and complain to an admin, after losing a match or something of the kind. Since I'm only online at a set time nearly every day, I can't tell exactly if it's a coincidence or true. It seems that way whenever I come, anyway. I don't really know what the server was like in the old days though, so my information is only limited, though I can agree that it's been taken too seriously now if it was what you described it as.

As for the rules... eh. I haven't picked up on that stuff. Usually, despite my habit of spouting out the occasional ''lolwut'', I haven't seen much problem with rules, apart from the (yet again) new visitors who've been here for a day or so and don't know that. People adapt to that stuff eventually. But as I said (what, a million times), my knowledge on this subject is very limited, so I can say that I can agree with your argument from what I know, but only so much.

Leaving Wynaut Here: why not

[Connor]

High regards to all who posted, and the fact that you all make sense. And I understand that some issues, such as rape and drugs and all that REALLY controversial stuff NEED to be filtered out (such as racism), but like SexyHarkSexy said, the minimodding is just out of hand. Glad to see people actually taking the time to look at it though appreciate it a ton

[Hyouka]

Oops. School bell, Ill voice other things on this thread later. Thanks for bringing this up Conner.

CONNER

[Maelstrom]

I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest on here and I understand what you mean about this being the internet and all that stuff about having opinions and freedom of language and all that. I really do. And really, there's a lot of maturity to be found around here.

But that being said, I have to tell you that I can't count the number of times I've been talking about stuff and then realize... We have quite a few really young people on here. 12, 13, 14, and so on. Not all of you guys are 17 and above. And sometimes it comes out- in the posts I read, the drama I hear about... Not everyone here is a pokemon player from the old school r/b g/s days enjoying a favorite game series but some really are youngsters who do any number of immature things. So sometimes I have to reel myself in and keep that in mind.

I do miss the more relaxed, mature chats we had, but the member base isn't all as old as it used to be. And some of them are the ones trying to troll and spam and do all sorts of shit that's a waste of our time and patience. Not to say that mini-modding isn't a problem. I've been tracking that as a concern since before Ame went and posted up all the new rules.

It seems to me that the heart of the matter is, the server population is still in fluctuation. Until the population stabilizes, there's still gonna be a lot of people who aren't familiar with us and vice versa. We have a certain standard to keep, but we also need to work on flexibility. Not every small infraction is warn worthy, while some people obviously need to be shown the door right away. Some of us here need more experience distinguishing between the two. Give it time and it will happen.

[Connor]

I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest on here and I understand what you mean about this being the internet and all that stuff about having opinions and freedom of language and all that. I really do. And really, there's a lot of maturity to be found around here.

But that being said, I have to tell you that I can't count the number of times I've been talking about stuff and then realize... We have quite a few really young people on here. 12, 13, 14, and so on. Not all of you guys are 17 and above. And sometimes it comes out- in the posts I read, the drama I hear about... Not everyone here is a pokemon player from the old school r/b g/s days enjoying a favorite game series but some really are youngsters who do any number of immature things. So sometimes I have to reel myself in and keep that in mind.

I do miss the more relaxed, mature chats we had, but the member base isn't all as old as it used to be. And some of them are the ones trying to troll and spam and do all sorts of shit that's a waste of our time and patience. Not to say that mini-modding isn't a problem. I've been tracking that as a concern since before Ame went and posted up all the new rules.

It seems to me that the heart of the matter is, the server population is still in fluctuation. Until the population stabilizes, there's still gonna be a lot of people who aren't familiar with us and vice versa. We have a certain standard to keep, but we also need to work on flexibility. Not every small infraction is warn worthy, while some people obviously need to be shown the door right away. Some of us here need more experience distinguishing between the two. Give it time and it will happen.

That is the answer I was looking for, a nice solid response about the concern and action (or rather lack therof, and just waiting it out) that is to be taken. And I suppose you're right, but when that population does indeed even out I hope that it can go back to how it used to be. Dem good old days

[Conor]

minding your own business > minimodding

[Amethyst]

All right then, talk with me, guys, about the whole mini-modding thing.

It's clear my allowing it hasn't really worked out. At the same time, I don't really feel comfortable disallowing it. The reason is because it's my biased sense that the people who dislike it just don't like being reminded that they have to follow the rules as well. I get that it's annoying to have 14 people jump down your throat every time you tell someone to shut up- but it's annoying to those 14 people if you violate the rules of the community that they understand and agree to abide by.

What we certainly can do with out is the non-auth issuing threats and warnings as if they had the power to enact those things. Maybe before, I failed to make that distinction clear- remind people of the rules, sure, but don't try to enforce them yourselves. This also includes things like taking people into back channels and force-crashing them for misbehavior.

Is that something I failed to clarify before? I don't know. Maybe issuing those threats is what mini-modding is. If so, then sure, stop the mini-modding, but I don't see how reminding each other of the rules can really be a bad thing. In fact, if I were a member, and I were in violation of the rules, I would rather one of my friends - or even a not-friend!- mention it to me so that I could stop before auth got around to warning me.

I hope you guys see where I'm coming from. Now if people are threatening on auth's behalf, yes, that's a problem, and yes it needs to stop. Beyond that, is there a problem?

[Yuki]

I get annoyed for people when non-auth "rule _" people while auth are active

When auth are NOT active, then I've no issue with it.

[Swimming95]

I agree, but I also have a problem when auth ONLY say "rule _" to someone who has just joined. Its not effective and is pretty counter-productive. It is much more helpful to take the time to say, please don't do _ or you are breaking rule _ which is _... An informed mass is better than an angry one

[Yuki]

I think we take the time to do that. I know I do, at least. A lot of the time you won't see it because it goes on in PM, or we /rules them too and say "be aware~"

[Swimming95]

I more meant when other users do it, it was less of an auth thing but still meant it to apply to them. sorry for the confusion

[chasedawg98]

I pretty much agree with everything said above. I understand why the rules are there and that they need to be followed but i wish the authorities would take care of the warnings instead of the entire server all typing rule_ into their chatbar

btw connor I love the Dave n Buster's:Chuck E. Cheese analogy there why not