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I hope this rant doesn't make me look bad....


Guest rg21044

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...but I kinda don't care if it does. 

I have been a member at almost all of the major rep fora over the years...been banned from a few...for longer at some than at others.

With the exception of RWG.CC, I am appalled at the overall treatment of new members. The internet in general has warped people. From the relative safety of thier moms basement and behind a keyboard people feel emboldened to say and do things they would never say in public or to the actual persons face. I'm six three and 215 pounds and no stranger to the gym. I'm just not used to people talking to my face the way some keyboard cowboys do. 

Plus, my wife is very successful...I work, but mostly to pay the BMW payment and greens fees...so the only time I would encounter many of these people is when they are telling me the specials at Ruth's Chris. 

I know I probably sound like a [censored], but I'm really not. I try to be down to earth, inclusive and kind...but some people just rub me the wrong way.

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I want to chime in here too. There are a lot of keyboard talibans, just wrecking havok and trying to compensate for their crappy self-esteem on so called "fellow" board members.
It's sad.

I'm not foreign to the gym either, but in real life I think most people would find me very humble. Which might seem contradictory. 190 cms, 110 kgs, and a whole lot of facial hair.  But maybe that's back to the key element. It's easy to be a jerk, especially if writing from their parents basement. It's much harder to have tolerance, understanding and try to help those around.

The funny thing, if someone would even dare talk to me in the tone that I several times have stumbled upon. I would just laugh. If that person would continue it could turn ugly. That has happened once in my life. Once. But he was pretty coked up. Returning to the subject, very few people would treat another person like that in real life. Hiding behind a keyboard. A whole different story.

It's laughable, tragic, sad, whatever. The smallest dogs bark the most. However, when they don't stop or the "owner" allows it, it's best just to walk away.

Most forums except for here and homage forum is "read-only". Why even bother.

Thanks for a fantastic forum btw! :)

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The keyboard tends to make some people 10 feet tall in addition to the herd mentality that this is the proper way to conduct ones self. I and other senior members here would have a few words for a guy who started that here, herd mentality in reverse: being a gentlemen is the way on RWGcc.;)

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I agree with Mike, While we all try to be civil and as helping as possible, we really don't have time for folks who are mean, vindictive and just down right assholes. I would expect that trhe majority of people who act like that are more than likely suffering from low self esteem, beaten down at work at play and at home. Their only outlet is the anonymity of the internet. These people can be as mean and nasty as they want to be, because they have no fear of having their front door kicked down and some guy storming in and beating them to the inch of their lives. The internet allows cowards to be big and brave and mean, but in the end, they are just small people in a big people world. absolutely no use for these folks here are anywhere else for that matter.

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Way back in 2008, and being fresh off the boat with regards to online forum etiquette, I used a pic of my baby boy as my avatar.  I now have 3 little guys, but at the time he was my first.  He was maybe 6-8 months old at the time, and the pic was a super cute pic of him sitting in a bumbo chair, smiling at the camera, and wearing a baseball cap.  Anyway, some total D-bag wrote in a watch related thread that every time he saw the avatar pic it made him so angry that he wanted to reach into the screen and slap the smile off his face.  This was in regards to a baby! I was stunned and gave the a-hole a piece of my mind, and he was very quickly banned for that awful display of douchebaggery.  

I cannot even imagine what it would take for a person to actually say something like that in person, and face to face.  I don't think any of these a$$ clowns would have the gusto to do it.

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Agree with the OP on this.  I have a lifestyle that while I work a lot, I have the freedom to spend much time on the various forums via my phone mostly.  Definitely sense the different flavor from one community to the next.  Some forums I rarely post on because of the gang up mentality and in some cases downright rudeness.  The lack of respect to other members and especially newcomers is just unnecessary.  Reminds me of junior high, where insecure people gang up on the less fortunate to elevate themselves and make themselves feel better.  Even if someone breaks the rules or violates forum etiquette, this can be handled without name calling and a gang fight.  Simple to just remove them. I just have never found joy in being mean to others so I just would not participate in that type of behavior. 

Interesting that we just do not see much of that here.  I know we have a lot less total members here, but still, rarely do we see any of this craziness.  I think this connects back to what Mike and Pan are talking about.  The senior members here set an example for all of us to follow and the example they set is to be a gentleman.  So thank you to the members who have formed this community to be what it is--a warm and peaceful place to share with friends.        

I also am a fairly big/athletic guy who spends time in the gym everyday.  I can relate to the fact that I cannot even remember the last time someone was disrespectful to me in person, but just yesterday some guy attacked me on one of the gen forums for no reason.  I thought about sending him a PM with an address where we could meet, but the adult in me prevailed and I just ignored him.           

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I'm in a half dozen or so forums, covering a wide range of topics and find the "tough guy" thing to be part of every one of them.

Unfortunately, it's part of life on the internet these days.

This forum has the fewest jerks, by a long shot!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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In life and in the forums, it is more important to have a bigger heart and bigger well of kindness, than to have the bigger biceps.

On the Internet, it is very easy to be an asshole to anyone, separated by the distance, the relative anonymity, and the safety and comfort of the engagement taking part in a cyber world instead of a physical one.

In real life, I'm about 5'11 and a relatively willowy 165lbs. But I would talk to a 5'5 man the same way I would a 6'4 one, both in terms of basic respect and when the need to chastise arises. That's why I said having a bigger heart (and balls actually) is more important in life. To know how to respect and be courteous to someone, based on who YOU are, is infinitely more meaningful than according respect based on who the other party is. The true strength of a man lies not in how wide his shoulders are, or how thick his arms may be, but in the depth of his character, his wisdom, and the goodness of his heart. Physical strength, no matter how impressive, would fade one day, but our integrity and respectability, we get to keep till our dying day.

Little barbed exchanges on the Internet are inevitable and often harmless, and could be fun when the engagement is carried out without malice. But to be seriously offensive to someone often reflects on oneself more than anything else.

If we learn to ignore or diminish the asinine comments on the forums (there would be many each day we surf), the quality of our cyber life would be a lot better.

Leave the fools alone. They often punish themselves in the end.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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...To know how to respect and be courteous to someone, based on who YOU are, is infinitely more meaningful than according respect based on who the other party is.

Truer words were never spoken.

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Truer words were never spoken.

Actually big B, you came to mind when I was reading this thread, in a good way. You embody the spirit of RWG and I'm proud to call you friend.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I'm not here much, but I'll pop in once a day or so to see what's happening. My home forum (where I post more often) is RWG.bz - this is probably one of the forums many of you are referring to when noting a lack of civility toward newer members. It's the wild west over there. We have a few rather notorious members who make a living disparaging other people. For some reason, the staff don't seem to mind - perhaps because they're entertained, or the members in question benefit from longevity, or whatever (our staff are a cooky tribe) - but on at least a semi-regular basis, someone's getting ripped somewhere. At times, and with the benefit of experience, I will find myself furrowing with weariness at yet another noob question that would take them three seconds to solve on their own if only the search button was employed. But I s'pose we were all there once. However, for each one of those idiots, there are 10 more people just as kind. I make a mental note of people I have no desire to interact with, and simply ignore everything they say. I've found that with every one of those people, there is a driving desire to be noticed. These attention-whores are weak flames needing oxygen (attention) to survive. Without it they flicker out. I wish more people adopted my attitude, because I think these muppets would just go away. But inevitably someone fires back, my neck gets sore watching the volley of insults, and the whole progression is reinforced. On the whole though, in my experience, the ratio of kindness to douchebaggery leans toward the former. I possess zero animosity toward anyone on the fora - this is fun, not life. The only response the members in question tend to provoke in me is indifference.

I will say that as a relative "outsider" here, I can confirm that you lot are quite genteel and immediately friendly. It's that "immediate" part you don't see as often on other forums. Cheers gents :)

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Others call us a knitting club, I prefer to think of us as the mature adults.

Seriously we have a forum based around a shared hobby, most of the members of this board actually welcome new guys because they come with new ideas.

Really not interested in the whole Internet tough guy stuff.

Ken

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I'm not here much, but I'll pop in once a day or so to see what's happening. My home forum (where I post more often) is RWG.bz - this is probably one of the forums many of you are referring to when noting a lack of civility toward newer members. It's the wild west over there. We have a few rather notorious members who make a living disparaging other people. 

 

Interestingly, the catalyst for the original post was a semi-negative interaction with a member from RWG.bz whom I will call  "giggles".

 

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The way I see the whole internet thing: Here I am just a screen name. I don't know the nice people, sadly.

But I don't know the real sobs either. They are also screen names that have zero value after I turn off my iPad.

Just remember this. I have gotten really good interactions here and everywhere else. The bad ones, just digital garbage in my opinion. That is it.

In my perspective, I learned a lot. so it is well worth it.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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The flame-outs happen everywhere now. It's disappointing and a sign of society crumbling a bit further as respect, pleasantries and understanding/reason go by the wayside. I'm not a "doom and gloom" kind of guy, but the crap I see out there is very disheartening. Combine that with pseudo-celebrity worship, poor education over-all, and opinion represented as fact on the nightly news and we'll all be lucky to be alive in 50 years at this pace of mass-retardation. 

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Yeah you might say people are getting too insulated in their little electronic worlds and forgetting what it's like to lean over the back fence and just talk to someone.

There's an art to interpersonal relationships and it takes effort to stay good at them. Unfortunately the siren song of the newest iToy sings a little louder.

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There is only one forum for me and it is RWG, For you see, it s the one for me! The people are good and have been kind to me. For there is no  douchbaggery you see and this is why for me it can only be RWG

yes. I concur with the sentiments in this post...

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