Is your ego that fragile? The rep system does serve a purpose (though one not easily understood). So long as you've got positive rep, ignore the details. If you've got negative rep (overall) look at why people are complaining and either change it, or consider that some people just don't like you. I've been neg repped over petty crap too, but you've got to have thick skin.

 

When I first joined DLP I kind of lurked for quite a while before I began making real posts, and even now I'm sometimes nervous of saying something because I'm not sure whether I'll get screwed at for it because it's not in perfect agreement with what someone else has said.

I know that I've been guilty on numerous occasions of simply following the example of other members on this site because it does sometimes feel like stepping out of line means getting flamed. I mean, I don't like posting anything disagreeing with, say, Xiph0 because I've gotta say, he scares the crap out of me lol. That's not to say he's not a great guy, and I'm not gonna judge him, or anyone else simply because they flame people, and most of the time it's funny, but when about fifteen other people post saying the same thing in an increasingly derogatory manner it's gonna make people want to run away and hide.

I love this site, but sometimes I do think things get a little too offensive, perhaps this is just the internet but there's surely got to be some lines that shouldn't be crossed?

 

Now, first of all, I'd like to announce to everyone that is too lazy to see my post count that I'm not a veteran here, nor do I claim to be. However, look at my join date and see that I have not just arrived at the site. I have shamelessly lurked and waited until I felt both confident enough in what I have to say and my ability to back myself up.

Yet this self inflation of the ego is not pointless; my point is that I saw that people (including my first attempts) were being torn to shreds for their mistakes and retreated, for the time being. Now you may all call me cowards, so be it, but know that, now that I have returned, I have been given little to no criticism (except on an ambiguous issue on where to post a particular thread).

What I'm saying here is that everyone needs to stop preaching. Whether you are for the "soft line" the "hard line" or you meander somewhere in the middle, realize that, from what I can tell, this website is about honesty. That means if someone says that you suck for writing a bad fic, take into account that you probably did something wrong (in my mind it is along the same lines as posts at ff.net saying "omg u R da BEst111!111!!!", you see it, you give yourself a pat on teh back, and you move on) and move the fuck on and write better next time. I was booted from IRC more times than I care to remember when I joined, and now that I'm back I realize that I was immature, idiotic, baseless, and genereally speaking without saying anything.

I love this site because we are held to the standards that we wish to be held to in real life (if someone says "jesus christ you're a fucking dumbass', you hear it, your skin gets tougher, and you move on, you don't cry because they didn't say "jesus christ your story doesn't deserve the water expended to flush it").

I guess I was a little hypocritical withe the "we need to stop preaching thing" but I'll look at the neg reps, and think to myself "it was worth it".

 

The PP3 feud was one of the most intelligent, smart, and brilliant things I've ever encountered. Ever.

It was not only funny - it was humorous.

As for the attitudes towards newbies - when someone posts an Harry Potter/Lord Voldemort story, I don't really give a shit if even Tridentwatch is throwing the insults - the guy deserves it and the person who did in fact post a LV/HP story got taken to task.

When you join this site or any site for that matter, it's not the obligation of the members to debrief them like Dark Lord Rostam is so fond of doing. It's a nice gesture and it can help - I mean, I do it and I send private messages to people who need a helping hand - but it doesn't make this site any less civilized if it's not done.

It's up to the new member to find out what's right and what's wrong. As for being neg-repped for having a dissenting opinion?....

Listen, I've been carrying a Hermione/Harry signature of some sort for about two months now - I'm a die-hard Harmonian; I also think Midknight is a horrible administrator and voice it often in IRC; I'm generally an imbecile and I post pictures that probably aren't even that humorous to the general assembly here.

I'm also ranked 9th in Reputation.

I'm the antithesis to these "veterans" you seem to think run the show at DLP, which is what you're sort of getting at. You think Xiph0, Giovanni and whoever else runs along with them are making it uncomfortable for those who are new and those who might be DLPers AND PP3ers (jbern, nonjon, etc.).

Let me put it to you clearly. I disagree with bashing newbies. I disagree with being uncivilized most of the time. I disagree with starting flame wars for no reason.

Sometimes people just suck and they need to be told so. The PP3 incident was warranted. We got insulted; that site is filled with 13-15 year olds with little to no idea over sex and has two 40+ year olds who write sex scenes depicting people over the age of 40 having sex with 14-16 year olds. DO you see Midknight writing that shit? No. Do you see me? No. They pulled the age card out and lied about the reason their stories were panned.

Get over this shit and stop bringing it up as a point in this discussion.

Finally, as more people join, more ideas will be presented. DLP is vastly different now from what it was a year ago, for certain. My attitudes towards stories, shipping and general silliness are, for the most part, accepted, from what I can tell (me not being banned). I'm not different from anyone else who joined this site recently other than I realized what boundaries I could not cross and when I needed to keep my mouth shut.

And trust me, I'll be the first to tell Xiph0 or Giovanni or Vash they're retarded, emo or that they received head from a guy if the situation calls for it. I've done it before and I'll continue to do it.

 

sparkydiedtoday,

I myself have been kicked from the IRC chat over 500 times (yes I have a script that counts them) and it doesn't affect me a bit... and I am FOR reducing the bashing. Being immature in real life can get you pimpslapped... and the attitude you want to support is very immature in my opinion.

 

That's not the point. I'm saying that this Rep isn't being used to recognize good discussions or rebuttals. It is being used for some petty arguments or flames.

 

It's not that I support being immature, I just support the kind of "constructive criticism" that was more prevalent about a year ago. As I said, I don't appreciate the members that post without first creating a constructive topic to talk about. I used to, now I feel that I don't and that is why I support what dlp can be. Granted, people step out of line in completely innappropriate manners, yet that is what kept others in line back when I first joined. It was a complex, and slightly less than perfect, way to "curb the youth". Some have stepped out of line, but I wanted to make sure people saw it from both angles; a little bit of a reality check never hurt anyone. I was trying to say that It would be unrealistic to assume that evyerone here can hold t perfect amount of tactlessness and sarcasim, so let a few fall through the cracks. I'm not saying it was perfect then, I'm not saying it's perfect now, it was my "I have a dream yet I'm not as much of a good person as MLK Jr was" speech

EDIT: no it wasn't, I was tired of reading this post thinking that dlp is fine how it is, tell people there is a limit, curb yourselves, disregard everything else that i said

 

Quite, Bio.

You want to whign about newbs being trashed, Chuck? Show up in IRC. Im quite regularly mocked. Ill never be allowed to forget I recieved head from a male for money so long as I am on this site.

I couldnt care less.

Bio has been called everthing from a retard to a faggot niggah if I remember right. He is still here. Hell, I've made the odd comment about wanting to screw middy's wife when he was around. I took what I deserved from it, grew and evolved and moved on. Middy and I still get along well enough when he is around. Raven and I have no issues. Darius is most certainly familar with the fact that im not shy about calling him a retard. I harrass TinnTam, Rain, Litha, Typa(Apocalypsemeow), Cady(bananapiewhatever the fuck her name is >_>), and Silent on a regular basis when they are there. No issues as of yet.

The point is if they are too sensitive that they take what we say as offensive, perhaps they shouldnt be here. Its a website. Not Highschool.

 

My last reps:

Positive: So ... who have you told? 12-10-2006 10:56 AM Taure Lmao...steph...yeh...but i think his gf is meredith, not steph.

Positive: What You Would Change:... 12-10-2006 11:45 AM nuhuh I had to give you props for the pic in your sig. nuhuh

Positive: DLP Summary Decoder 12-10-2006 12:51 PM Thalarian For starting an amazing thread that is SOOO theraputic

Positive: What You Would Change:... 12-10-2006 04:03 PM The Erotic advetures of S Great post. TEAOS

Positive: What You Would Change:... 12-11-2006 09:22 PM BlueMagikMarker OMG this is like the best post ever thx2uO_O!!111oneeleven~!`lawl

Positive: EmoFest...Why? 12-12-2006 01:05 AM Thalarian Because I find that funny. Sick, but funny.

Positive: So ... who have you told? 12-12-2006 01:15 AM Surarrin Jesus ate your babies.

-----

Surprisingly I try to start good threads that will last - Potter Law, Discussions over GOF plot, Medieval Weapons, etc.. I take care to make sure it's something worth discussing. On the other hand, I've failed at a contest and even made a post to revamp the awards quite awhile back that generally got panned - I have as many failures as successes, and like any normal human being will commit mistakes in any given situation.

The key is to move the fuck on.

If you can't find ways to gel at DLP.net, you're just a dipshit that doesn't have any business being here in the first place. Do you think you can go to MuggleNet.com and act like you do anywhere else and expect not to get banned? No. You have to act polite, not flame, not get IN TO ANY TROUBLE and make certain to have at least 43 smilies in each of your posts ) ). You need to understand that there are people under the age of 13 there and that the site is geared towards young people.

Why the fuck should it be different here? Learn, adapt, or get the fuck out.

 

Bio, was that addressed to me?

 

No, it's an attempt to rebuke as many of the opinions that preceded my post, as I could.

 

I think this sums up my thoughts on this topic.

 

The point of this thread wasn't to keep people's feelings from being hurt, it was to keep new users from becoming retards and annoying me.

 

I don't post here much, at least not very often anymore, but I've seen a little bit of the extraordinarily offensive posts that have been made recently.

This is my advice, take all the advice from page one, listen to it, chew it, think on it, swallow it. But now it sorta seems like the threads taking a turn for the dramatic, exactly where it shouldn't go.

Vash is right, this isn't high school, so stop all the bull shit drama.

 

Firstly I'd just like to say that I care very little how long you've been here, I mean wether it's a week or a year.
If you've got something to say then say it, I mean would you censor yourself so much in real life. If someone doesn't like or agree with you, who gives a fuck because yes it's just the internet.

I mean of course it'd be nice if everyone was nice, but in the same vein it'd be boring and to be honest a little fake. If people jump on you for having an opinion then defend it or take it on the chin, just like you would in reality.

If you discussed some of the issues we discuss on this site in real life, you'd undoubtedly get alot of criticisms. Take the incest thread for instance, if you dicussed that with friends you'd have the majority disagree. That wouldn't stop you getting along, because as the word Forum means, we're a bunch of people who have similar (if not the same) belief's and world views.

Of course we'll have disagreement's but on the most part we will tend to agree most of the time. It's also normal that a growing commuinity will have differences, but being an online community we have to realise that we can't force anyone to do anything.

As we've seen from the recent ban avaders, even shutting someone out doesn't always work.
I admit that sometimes people can be extreme when it comes to flaming, it's mainly the pictures that skirt above the law that generally bothers me.
Like with the pictures that were posted.

I'm also probably going to regret this for ever, but I think Bio's hit on some very good points (someone hand me some pills )

If you give up any personal information to people on the internet, you are going to have people use it against you. I've been naive too in thinking it wouldn't get used.

But all new members should be aware that they're talking to people THEY DON'T KNOW.

If you give out information like being raped, being used or even where you live, you should always be aware it can and sometimes will be used against you.

I mean some of you say you're 16, but in reality you might be some 60 year old guy who prays on kids. Therefore you should always think twice about what you tell people. Same with slash etc, if you don't tell anyone there is no way they could know.

There are times that members have taken things to extremes, but at the same time so do people who give out weapons for them to use.

I think that's all I've got to say if I don't want to repeat what everyone else has said.

Litha

 

PP3 was a mess only in that the rape post escalated a lot of assumptions on both parties. We don't even know who did it and frankly, it's water under a bridge.

It wasn't any more wrong than bashing slash. The largest difference of course is that they insulted us and we responded by correcting them. If that's so wrong, then I encourage everyone who dissented against us doing it, not be hypocrites and take part in any bashing.

As for the rest of your post Raven, I believe I hit on that - learn to adapt to each situation and each habitat. It's an animalistic perspective but it's the truth and what's necessary to attain civilization between non-copacetic parties or blocs. And I agree entirely.

 

I personally don't give a shit. People who post idiotic messages get bitch slapped and people who do good posts get... well nothing so far in my experience. Oh! Wait I got some pos rep for the Magic Gems thread and for my Hiroshima post (thank you MrINBN (Though I also got neg repped by Giovanni for that one - probably to extremist (I also went on a rant because of it )(Count the brackets!!!))). I got negative repped a total of 3 times off my first post (a 4th was neutral) in the Tridentwatch debacle. Which I blame on the fact that the major time I come on here is in the early hours.

Either way the status quo works for me and I've generally been repped for good reason, though I adapt to pretty much everything after a while.

We might want to curb some of the reflex remarks though, flaming should be kept for the true artistes in the art of fuck up.

 

When I first came here I almost got banned a lot. I called Midknight racist, I overstepped my boundaries and told people rules when I shouldn't have. Seriously, I was an absolute retard, and if I saw a member act like I did back then, I would have neg repped them.

I got cockslapped multiple times and was made fun of. Point is, I moved on. I listened to them, and grew to be a better person and a better poster. Don't believe me? I'm ranked 14th on this site in reputation. A second ago it was 13th but LITHA had to come in. Damn you.

In IRC, my first few days, Xiph0 hated me, Raven I was pretty sure didn't like me, and Vash didn't like me. Vash even talked about banning me when I was on IRC. Didn't know I was there, but hey, it's the thought that counts. I got past that. I now go in IRC when I feel like it, maybe once every other day, and I'm generally not made fun of or booted out.

Why am I writing this? Don't know. Don't know what I originally meant. Something about getting past it. Yeah, let's go with that.

 

I know my first encounter with the mods and admins on this site was not good, but that was because I didn't read the rules and didn't take the time to actually consider what I did to get bashed.

This happens a lot, I think. The phrase is lack of common sense. If you join a forum, read the fucking rules first. You follow the rules, you should be fine.

Though I admit, I have refrained from saying exactly what I wanted to people or making threads about stuff I wanted to talk about for fear that some older member or mod or whatever will call me a dumb ass and tell me to get the hell out.

Why is that?

I've seen so many examples of name-calling and "fuck you, stfu noob" that I just don't want to step on any toes but on the other hand some of them (including me at one time) deserved it.

Where is the line, then?