07/13/2003 Archived Entry: "Discussion Boards"

The idea of killing off the CoG discussion boards is still very much on my mind.

I remain confused at those members who accuse me of having an inflated ego. I do have an inflated ego. After all, you're all here because I put up a web site that contains almost fifty pages of me making fun of someone. You better believe that kind of thing requires massive ego, my friends, and I've never pretended otherwise.

After a huge shake-up last week, the details of which I've gone into far too many times already, a large number of old-timers have said they've departed. It's not so much their departure that I mind--mainly because a lot of them apparently had some pretty skewed notions of how a forum should be run, including notions like "The forum admin should have to check with me before he makes any decisions" and "I believe I am above moderation because I think I'm a valuable community member"--what I mind is that those who chose to leave, and publically stated that they're leaving, aren't leaving. They're still hanging around--posting, chatting in IRC, and making web pages slighting the CoG boards.

For the love of all that is holy, people, stop being children and leave, if you're going to leave. I understand if people want to leave the boards--I mean, it's gotta be tough to find out that the seemingly free-spirited community you called home does indeed have rules, and that those rules will be followed even at the expense of the regulars' feelings--but this level of childishness is beyond anything I'd ever imagined. I'm starting to think now that when someone posts a message saying "I'm leaving!", what that message actually means is, "I AM NOW A VICTIM. WORLD, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO ME AS I REPEATEDLY STOMP MY FEET. I AM A MARTYR. EVERYONE MUST NOW OBSERVE MY MARTYRDOM AS I PARADE AROUND, LOUDLY HOWLING ABOUT HOW UNFAIR THE DISCUSSION BOARDS ARE AND HOW EGOMANIACIAL THE ADMINISTRATOR IS!"

If you want to leave, leave. If you want to bitch, or if you want to try to hurt me because you think I've hurt you, or if you want to play the martyr and demand attention, then leave anyway. The CoG discussion boards are, and have always been, a place to laugh and talk about bullshit. In recent days, they've instead become a place to hop around and crow about being wounded. The first person who left--the person whose departure kicked off the whole mess--at least had the strength of character to stay gone. Everyone else seems to want to kick over the anthill and then stick around to watch the scurrying.

So, after going through all of that, the idea of killing off the CoG discussion boards is still very much on my mind. It's not fun any more.

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