Quote:
Originally posted by HotDamnImAPhiMu
Agreed.
sugar and spice -- I think you asked why I'd say that I didn't want to bother posting for fear of being flamed.
I'm absolutely sick of the same five or six girls bullying around whoever they can reach -- and then acting shocked and befuddled that ANYONE could EVER think they'd be nasty to ANYONE.
There's a reason threads get abandoned when those five or six girls show up. There's a reason people have been leaving GC in droves. And there's a reason that most of the time, when they leave, they cite the negative atmosphere those five or six girls foster.
Look, that's fine if you want to be nasty to anyone who doesn't agree with you, and mobilize your five closest friends.
But please don't claim complete innocence and shriek, "it's the internet!!!" as your rationale.
Yes, it's the internet -- not carte blanche to gang up on folks.
Yes, it's GC -- not your personal chat site where anyone who doesn't agree with you is banned or excluded. Most of us are here to get ideas, trade tips, and have RESPECTFUL discussions with each other.
This is high school activity at its finest.... all I can say it, maybe that's how I was at eighteen or nineteen, but I sure hope not.
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As I said above, and have said on many other threads -- I don't feel like I have anything to apologize for when it comes to my conduct on GC, and I don't feel like it's my business to apologize for my friends' behavior. Apparently many others agree with me on the first count because I have received dozens of PMs telling me that I have represented Tri Delta wonderfully and not a single one telling me the opposite.
While "it's just the internet" is not an excuse for hurting people's feelings, I have to say that I just don't understand -- and maybe never will -- WHY someone would hold back from posting their opinion just because they know people are going to disagree. If what the H&A does is considered "bullying," I've been bullied multiple times on GC and never complained. (Politics forum much?) I want to ask you, and anyone who disagrees with you, what is it that you fear will happen if you post something that disagrees with what I/we say? That you'll get "flamed"? Why is that so scary? IMO, it's natural that people are going to disagree on this board, and that is not something that should frighten anyone into not posting. If it does, there's a problem -- not with the environment of GC, but with why that person feels that way. Like I said above, people are blaming the H&A for why they're leaving GC, and that's ridiculous. They might not like the environment that's partially created by the H&A on GC, but they are the ones that are either choosing to stick around or leave. Everybody who posts on GC has a hand in creating the environment that the board consists of -- and believe it or not, not everybody loved the environment of the board BEFORE the H&A came along either. There are far more people who have left for more banal reasons than "GeekyPenguin made me cry!" than have ever left because of the H&A. We all make the decision to stay on GC or to leave it on a daily basis -- anybody who's posted or lurked here does.
GC is going to change -- it can't stay the same forever. You notice how every single person who comes to the board eventually says, "It's not the same as when I joined"? Whether they joined in 2000 or 2004, they view the time they joined as the Golden Age of GC. And like I've said, I was not thrilled with the board last summer. So what did I do? Instead of complaining, I made friends with GeekyPenguin and damasa, I started bonding with the people on the board that I still liked, and ultimately . . . the H&A was born. Clearly we have become a force that has, as y'all have put it, "changed the atmosphere of the board." You know what? We like it better this way. Most of us prefer it to the way the board was before! And so, if you guys are so pissed off at the way the board has changed, I challenge you to change it back. If it's possible for people to "run other people off the board," why don't you try to run US off the board? It's clear you'd like it better that way, so why not do it? Or, make like the H&A and IGNORE the posts you don't like and post more of the stuff you do. Wouldn't that, in your opinion, be a change for the better? And since the non-H&A outnumber the H&A on this board a million to one, wouldn't it be pretty damn easy to do so?
Because I'm going to be one hundred percent honest here: I don't care that we "ran Kitso off GC" because you know what? I like it better now that he's gone (ditto for most of the others we've "run off GC"). I don't care that the H&A are the only ones responding to certain threads because, hey, we're having fun -- and chances are I don't really care if you are or not. I don't care if you are put off by the fact that five of my friends responded negatively to your post and you felt "bullied," because that's your deal, not mine. Yeah, this might be selfish -- and no, I don't care about that, either. Sorry.
PS: To everyone who thinks this thread should die, every time you respond it just bumps it back up to the top and probably incites at least one new response. That whole "ignoring" thing works wonders!