The Rules: Official Discussion & Debate

A reality to suck on.

  On 5/20/2013 at 1:10 PM, LimpyLoo said:

 

  On 5/20/2013 at 1:08 PM, goDel said:

Viagra? Arm's length? Like, baby arm length?

 

Yes I nicknamed my penis "Reality."

 

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. - Albert Einstien

"Nothing is Real" bocbocboc

oops

i think you kind of don't get to decide everything in life. if i get banned i will just find somewhere else to express myself.

tht tne i thought you were already banned

i must've missed that, afaik i have never been banned

Yeah wtf :S

yeah idk why. maybe i was thinking of hat because his name is also confusing and looks like it says something else.

that tone!

Reading this thread makes me wonder just what the hell I've missed in the years I've not really visited. Sounds saucy. Nice to hear Fred's still causing mischief.

So what the hell happened here

Fred got banned, among various other really bad decisions by the management.

  On 6/26/2013 at 11:36 AM, Iain C said:

Fred got banned, among various other really bad decisions by the management.

I think Fred actually wanted to get banned? I could be wrong though.

Aye he invoked his mad dog clause (for a second time)

well since joyrex deleted like 50 comments in this thread that offered an explanation, I suppose you would have no choice but to draw that conclusion.

no, he didn't want to get banned. he got into an argument with joyrex about his foot thread being deleted and was consequently banned after calling jr a 'prude old man'.

I read all of this threa

!!

I don't remember what this forum is about or who any of you are but I'm going to tell you my thoughts anyways. Because this is the Internet, you will probably read them regardless.

There is no such thing as a top-down community. Period. If you have a group of people that gather around a thing you made, and you choose when, where, and how they show up, what they can talk about, and how they can enjoy it, and that’s it, then what you have are fans. The plus side of this is they will probably suck your dick. (See: Appendix 1: “mods.”) But fan circle-jerks are never proper, organic communities. Fanclubs serve no purpose but to promote the thing.

And one would reasonably assume that a forum such as WATMM would not lasted 14 years because of the products of its developer; codebase, rulesets, features, and moderation are largely tangential to the success or failure of a forum. So when the creator takes credit for the forum's longevity, in reality, it is more likely that it survived despite his intervention than because of it. (Or, at least parallel to it.)

The fact that this thread had to be created is telling in itself. The community around this Internet Web Sight seems disconnected from its management. This is often referred to as "founder's syndrome," in which someone creates a small hobby project alone and, when that project grows up, he still latches on to try and coddle it to him like it is his child. It's frustrating to everyone involved, including the creator, who fails to understand why people won't listen to him because it is, indeed, his thing. And here, clearly, the OP is frustrated because he feels his demands are reasonable. And honestly they don't seem too far-fetched by most standards. But their presentation has been demanding, frustrated, and even insulting. "This is how it is. Come on. You don't think this is how it is? It really is this way. Well, I want it to be this way. I worked hard to make this thing. Come on." As if the OP is threatening to take his ball and go home unless his guests listen to him. It reminds me of Christopher Tolkien's habit of writing angry letters to fans who do not enjoy Lord of the Rings in the exclusive ways in which he feels it should be enjoyed. And sure, it's his deal, it's his thing, he owns it, and that's his right. But just because he can, it doesn't mean he should. (Because it is kind of childish and/or autistic.)

Lastly, no professional community is ever going to latch onto an Internet forum long-term. They will use established networking and creative tools, and they use these only for a relatively short period of time before moving on forever. Why are you trying to get them to come here? Do you not like the community that is here now? Because that is the impression I get throughout this thread. That is, there are "real" artists out there who need to be convinced to join this forum and that what stands in the way is the people who are actually there. It's awkward to feel like you're the people someone got stuck with rather than the people they want.

tl;dr trying to shoehorn the community around your thing to be something else that they are not can be expected to annoy and distance them, and many will simply go to a place that seems to want them. This is regardless of whether the request is right or wrong, or reasonable or unreasonable; a community can primarily exist for the users as a whole or the people who run it, but not both. That is why most effective community managers see themselves as servants of those communities rather than stewards.

  On 5/22/2013 at 6:07 PM, Alcofribas said:

that tone!

Tone policing is absolutely part of misogyny. I miss when this place wasn't full of MRA rape apologists.

  On 7/8/2013 at 12:43 AM, No Don't :( said:

 

Tone policing is absolutely part of misogyny. I miss when this place wasn't full of MRA rape apologists.

I think you're remembering something that never existed. WATMM has always been a stinking pit of pseudo-masculine posturing - except that in the past, it was other things too.

Good post.

well said no don't :(

  On 7/8/2013 at 12:43 AM, No Don't :( said:

Tone policing is absolutely part of misogyny. I miss when this place wasn't full of MRA rape apologists.

Way to ruin your entire post

Not all MRAs are rape apologists. You shouldn't even be allowed to be a male

Yeah, there should be male exams. If you fail you get to be a woman. You complete and utter fool. I hope a thousand ducks poop on your next picnic.

I was going to ask who's gay 'cause I'm feeling the gay-idm-lover-loneliness, but I'm not sure anymore.

so butts are against the rules? that thread went away quick.