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Post by fredkc6cfb on Jul 24, 2006 6:43:09 GMT -5
I know I'm new here and don't really know many of you well yet. But so far, I've enjoyed my time at the board. But I understand how rapidly out of control a thread can go. I post at more than a few religious forums and man, do those forums explode at times. I've been involved in more than a few of the worst flamewars and threads from hell than I'd care to remember. When you're posting about something you have a genuine passion for, it's easy to go a little overboard in your sentiments. But we've got to loosen up and remind ourselves that we're only chatting about a game here. A great game. Best ever. But still, a game. It's all just words, afterall. Little white letters on a black screen typed by someone you've probably never met (and will never meet), sitting in front of his or her monitor 1,000-miles or more away. In other words. Nothing to get so bloody upset over.  |
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Post by Knapik on Jul 24, 2006 16:29:13 GMT -5
While it may be 'only a game', this message board is the base for a community of people that all love something - COTG. We all care a lot about the game and about the community, and I think it's understandable that sometimes there are disagreements.
Did Ringsyde overreact? Perhaps, perhaps not. It SEEMS like he did, but if there's something that a large group of people are for, and he is absolutely against, I don't see a problem with leaving on principle. For example, if I found out a group of my friends were racist or child pornographers, I would stop talking to them. If I got a job and the boss told me to not let black people in, I wouldn't be a part of his business. Is it his right to not let black people in his club? It's arguable, but I can see both sides. Is it okay for me to hate such ignorance? Absolutely.
I don't see where Swarm or Payback did anything wrong, but I also don't think Ringsyde is in the wrong if he left based on principle. If I found everyone one here was a child molester, I wouldn't be a part of the community anymore. And that's a far cry from taking my ball and going home.
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Post by Knapik on Jul 24, 2006 16:30:48 GMT -5
And to address something else a few of you have touched on... hating Payback, Swarm, and Joe for having strong opinions and agreeing with one another most of the time is dopey. You can dislike their opinions, but to be upset because they're expressing them? Sad.
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Post by Splattercat on Jul 25, 2006 11:01:50 GMT -5
Personally, I'm not ever leaving...I've been through two altercations, and I have zero issues with those involved now...Hell, I even welcomed Swarm back after his...Um...most recent suspension..? and I was plethador for 2 cards (come on, that's gotta be a record no?)... ;D if I leave, I'll step out, but I won't delete my account; I just celebrated my 500th post in my Fed recently...hehe..  The only good thing about me losing my post count would be that I missed properly celebrating my 316th post... <CRASH> <DAH-NUH DAH-NEH DAH-NUH> (or....However you "write" Stone Cold's opening music riff)  ANYWAY, the point is, we all go down that road at some point, with someone or other...We discuss, if a fight happens, we get suspended (  ), we may stew over it and avoid each other on the boards for a while, but ultimately, we get over it.....I don't know about the rest of you, but it seems like a workable system to me...  |
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Post by GOODZILLA on Jul 25, 2006 11:40:00 GMT -5
Yeah, I think I do remember your time here getting off to kind of a rocky start Splattercat. But you are definitely a bonafide member of the community now ... man I still remember your first few posts and now you have almost twice as many posts as me.
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Post by Knapik on Jul 25, 2006 12:02:01 GMT -5
Haha yeah I remember the first encounter between Splattercat and I... and now look at us |
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Post by Splattercat on Jul 25, 2006 14:26:30 GMT -5
Ah...good ol' post 44...Don't ask why I remember, I think it came up in the...thing...conversation, that's it... ;D
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Post by Wildfire on Jul 25, 2006 16:10:09 GMT -5
As a matter of preference, I try to say out of these sort of "baord politics" issues, but I thought I'd chime in: 1) Ringsyde seemed to be a pretty cool guy, and its a shame he's left over something so totally random and unrelated. 2) Hawk is not the only person I've heard say he's pulled back on posting due to others... I personally wouldn't do such a thing, but I can kinda understand it. Such issues do keep seeming to come up due to the same people. I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do here, but, since we're all here for the game, and IMO, more people = better discussion, perhaps some of you other there most known for pissing people off could, ya know, try to tone things down a bit. I agree with whoever said its likely due to certain people just not coming off well in text, but if you know that, you should try to fix it a bit. I'm not saying change your opinions, but calling people names or insulting their intelligence when they don't agree with you doesn't really add to anything, and its hard to convey friendly ribbing on a message board. Alternatively, if its not friendly, you should either NOT post it, take it to e-mail (where the person can fight back or ignore you, without being publically embarassed), or, if you can't stop from being a general d***, leave. Now that I've said all that, I'd like to say in most of these cases (which seem to often involve Swarm and Payback) it seems to me that someone in general suddenly and violently escalates a perfectly reasonable dicussion, maybe if we all take a minute to remember we're all friends here, and that this is just a game we all share interest in, we can keep things in perspective and not have such fights. *climbs down from soapbox* Ok, I'm going back to reading and posting things about wrestling now |
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Post by slamminsammy on Jul 26, 2006 19:53:50 GMT -5
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Post by gatekeeper on Jul 26, 2006 23:59:40 GMT -5
Does this qualify as an actual post? Gotta come stronger than that! |
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Post by ThePunisher on Jul 27, 2006 0:15:33 GMT -5
As a matter of preference, I try to say out of these sort of "baord politics" issues, but I thought I'd chime in: 1) Ringsyde seemed to be a pretty cool guy, and its a shame he's left over something so totally random and unrelated. 2) Hawk is not the only person I've heard say he's pulled back on posting due to others... I personally wouldn't do such a thing, but I can kinda understand it. Such issues do keep seeming to come up due to the same people. I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do here, but, since we're all here for the game, and IMO, more people = better discussion, perhaps some of you other there most known for pissing people off could, ya know, try to tone things down a bit. I agree with whoever said its likely due to certain people just not coming off well in text, but if you know that, you should try to fix it a bit. I'm not saying change your opinions, but calling people names or insulting their intelligence when they don't agree with you doesn't really add to anything, and its hard to convey friendly ribbing on a message board. Alternatively, if its not friendly, you should either NOT post it, take it to e-mail (where the person can fight back or ignore you, without being publically embarassed), or, if you can't stop from being a general d***, leave. Now that I've said all that, I'd like to say in most of these cases (which seem to often involve Swarm and Payback) it seems to me that someone in general suddenly and violently escalates a perfectly reasonable dicussion, maybe if we all take a minute to remember we're all friends here, and that this is just a game we all share interest in, we can keep things in perspective and not have such fights. *climbs down from soapbox* Ok, I'm going back to reading and posting things about wrestling now If people need to leave because others' words bother them that much, then we're better off without them. When words can sting you that much then something in your internal wiring isn't working. Continuing to read and post is what this is all about whether someone agrees with you or not. |
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Post by Splattercat on Jul 27, 2006 0:56:27 GMT -5
Personally, I didn't agree with what led up to Ringsyde's departure...From what i read, Swarm refused to get pulled into a race discussion and gave a bunch of reasons/examples why...It moved WAY too fast towards confrontation, and it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me... Anyway, I don't know all the details (Which, hilariously enough, seems to be an ongoing theme with me around here ), but personally I don't think Swarm was in the wrong...Being that Ringsyde no longer can respond, I think that's pretty much all I can say on the matter... |
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Post by ringsyde on Aug 8, 2006 17:09:43 GMT -5
Well, hello there!!
Let me first start by confirming that I did remove myself. The reason?
No, not anger or fear or embarrasment as some have suggested here (funny how the guy who made that claim proved his veracity and [complete lack of] common sense by NOT noticing an NFL 2007 thread and a SCI-FI LITERATURE thread posted only days after said "incident" - but that would be me taking an easy shot again).
A few weeks ago, during a summer teaching exercise, I was made a fantastic offer to forego a year (or two) of standard teaching in exchange for doing some English language/cultural teaching abroad - as in about 17 locations around the world, including the (gulp) Middle East. I guess I was something of a hit up in Wisconsin; this was one of four offers. I didn't give it much thought because I already had a contract, I wasn't particularly interested in the position and I've reached my life-comfort zone - or so I thought. Long story short; several detailed discussions later, I have accepted the opportunity.
The acceptance means, among other things, that I will likely neither see the internet or COTG wrestling world for long periods of time. In fact, many of the luxuries I've enjoyed will be fleeting over the next 14 months. Because of this, I terminated seven separate online chatroom accounts, including this one.
It never occured to me to say farewell to anyone at any site. In my mind, I assumed I'd be back doing my thing in short order. As it relates to these boards, I think my posts verify that I have not and will never back down from anyone, I don't get embarrassed (unless I have to deal with people who make me feel like I've stumbled down the social ladder), and I don't offend so much as I inform. They also verify that the big nerd aint afraid to shake a hand or butt a head from time to time. Bottom line; I've made some great friends and pissed some people off enough that I matter. Four pages of posts under this thread tend to support that.
There are a lot of you here I like. I owe you a temporary farewell. You know who you are. Those who question my loyalty, erndurance or beliefs never really got me, so what I do or don't do with my time and my account should not matter.
Regardless, this has been a hell of a ride, and as I prepare to see the other side of the world, I wanted to take some time to thank mods, friends, fellow contributors and especially the guys I got to know along the way. My contract puts me abroad for 14 months - mostly in places that barely have electricity, let alone the internet.
I'll be back soon, but until then I think it's smart to close the account (for the second time) and let the COTG take care of itself for a while. There were COTG boards and contributors long before Steve Williams/Dr. Depth/ RingsYde, and there was a very eager and loyal COTG fan named Steve Williams long before there was a COTG board. You guys all make it happen (yes, even the goofs who like to stroke their own ego by being completely stupid in the continued effort to attract a swarm of followers). Thanks for the time, and don't be surprised if a familiar voice rides back into town in time for X-Mas 2008.
Steve "RingsYde" Williams
8 August , 2008
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), we may stew over it and avoid each other on the boards for a while, but ultimately, we get over it.....I don't know about the rest of you, but it seems like a workable system to me... 
