Ask an OTTer

[Jhaelen]

Also you cannot ignore yourself.

Now that would have been a func concept
I find myself putting people on ignore whenever their posts tick me off on a regular basis, making me want to respond in kind.
Sometimes, their posts even contain interesting insights, but they're written in a way that prevents me from concentrating on the content, so it's a wasted effort.

It's extremely rare for me to remove someone from the ignore list, and when I do, it's usually years after putting them there.
The main reason why it's rare is that they've often either been banned in the meantime or moved on to pester other forums that were more accomodating of them.

I generally believe, that if you cannot keep it civil, don't post.

 

[Kramodlog]

Why become emotional and upset over something as unimportant as post on the internet?

 

[Morrus]

Why become emotional and upset over something as unimportant as post on the internet?

Words have power. They always have and they always will. The internet is just a communication tool; the medium is irrelevant. That question is the same as "Why become emotional and upset over words, a speech, a letter, a phone call, something someone says to you?" The answer to the question is that it would require a sociopath to not ever become upset at the words of others. I wouldn't want to be that person (then again, if I was that person, I guess that by definition I wouldn't care).

 

[Kramodlog]

A sociopath? Come on. This is just the internet. It is full of stranger who say all sort of things, it is easy to take an emotional distance from what people say.

 

[Zombie_Babies]

Words have power. They always have and they always will. The internet is just a communication tool; the medium is irrelevant. That question is the same as "Why become emotional and upset over words, a speech, a letter, a phone call, something someone says to you?" The answer to the question is that it would require a sociopath to not ever become upset at the words of others. I wouldn't want to be that person (then again, if I was that person, I guess that by definition I wouldn't care).

I'm beginning to think this may be my favorite thing ever ... context. You need to know where you are and react accordingly. Proper expectations go a long way toward enhancing an experience or, at the least, maintaining a healthy blood pressure. For example, if people want to drunkenly scream at a movie screen, I'll probably get pissed off. If, however, they want to drunkenly scream at a TV screen in a sports bar, well, I'll probably join in. The internet, where discussions happen, is not a happy, sane, rational, sensical, calm sort of place. People are anonymous for the most part and that makes acting that way incredibly easy. I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying that if you expect it it's a lot easier to deal with. On the internet nothing is sacred. Luckily, most things are also totally not serious.

 

[Lindeloef]

I'm beginning to think this may be my favorite thing ever ... context. You need to know where you are and react accordingly. Proper expectations go a long way toward enhancing an experience or, at the least, maintaining a healthy blood pressure. For example, if people want to drunkenly scream at a movie screen, I'll probably get pissed off. If, however, they want to drunkenly scream at a TV screen in a sports bar, well, I'll probably join in. The internet, where discussions happen, is not a happy, sane, rational, sensical, calm sort of place. People are anonymous for the most part and that makes acting that way incredibly easy. I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying that if you expect it it's a lot easier to deal with. On the internet nothing is sacred. Luckily, most things are also totally not serious.

And I think this is maybe the issues some of the EnWorlders have with some of the OTTers.
Morrus and his Mod Team kinda managed to make this forum without most of the baggage the internet comes with (the not happy, sane etc. part of your post).

and now for the obligatory Movie reference:
OTTer: this is the internet!
EnWorlder: NO THIS. IS. ENWORLD!

 

[Umbran]

The internet, where discussions happen, is not a happy, sane, rational, sensical, calm sort of place.

And that's not an inaccurate generalization, as far as it goes. But, it is a generalization, and generalizations often fail when dealing with specific instances.

I mean, 70% of the Earth is covered by water. As a generalization, "the Earth is covered with water" is pretty accurate. However, many of the important bits we care about are decidedly dry.

As Lindeleof has already pointed out, this isn't "the internet" in general. This is EN World, in specific. We've put in a lot of effort to make this place at least a little different from the rest of the Internet. We have rather more discussion of RPGs, rather fewer cat videos, and a few other differences in what's seen as acceptable behavior. This has led to a rather different expectation among most of the users. And that's okay. We *want* them to expect better of people in here - that becomes part of self-policing.

It also means that, "Well, this is the internet, so I can do what I want," will sometimes fail here.

 

[Morrus]

I'm beginning to think this may be my favorite thing ever ... context. You need to know where you are and react accordingly. Proper expectations go a long way toward enhancing an experience or, at the least, maintaining a healthy blood pressure. For example, if people want to drunkenly scream at a movie screen, I'll probably get pissed off. If, however, they want to drunkenly scream at a TV screen in a sports bar, well, I'll probably join in. The internet, where discussions happen, is not a happy, sane, rational, sensical, calm sort of place. People are anonymous for the most part and that makes acting that way incredibly easy. I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying that if you expect it it's a lot easier to deal with. On the internet nothing is sacred. Luckily, most things are also totally not serious.

Except that you're defining "the internet" as a place. It's just a medium. A collection of lots if different places with different behavioural norms - just like the real world is.

 

[Zombie_Babies]

And I think this is maybe the issues some of the EnWorlders have with some of the OTTers.
Morrus and his Mod Team kinda managed to make this forum without most of the baggage the internet comes with (the not happy, sane etc. part of your post).

and now for the obligatory Movie reference:
OTTer: this is the internet!
EnWorlder: NO THIS. IS. ENWORLD!

You're still on the net and membership is wide open. People will and, I presume, do, come here that don't really care about what you guys think the place should be - and they're dealt with accordingly as soon as possible which is fine. The thing is, there will be an overlap during which these peeps will piss some other peeps off. It's at that time that what I'm saying is important, well, is. Cuz why stress over what some idiot with a cartoon cat avatar has to say?

Now it's time for my obligatory movie reference:
OTTer: Why so srs?

And that's not an inaccurate generalization, as far as it goes. But, it is a generalization, and generalizations often fail when dealing with specific instances.

I mean, 70% of the Earth is covered by water. As a generalization, "the Earth is covered with water" is pretty accurate. However, many of the important bits we care about are decidedly dry.

As Lindeleof has already pointed out, this isn't "the internet" in general. This is EN World, in specific. We've put in a lot of effort to make this place at least a little different from the rest of the Internet. We have rather more discussion of RPGs, rather fewer cat videos, and a few other differences in what's seen as acceptable behavior. This has led to a rather different expectation among most of the users. And that's okay. We *want* them to expect better of people in here - that becomes part of self-policing.

It also means that, "Well, this is the internet, so I can do what I want," will sometimes fail here.

And that's cool. It doesn't make you or anyone here immune to the sort of attitude I describe though, does it? That's where what I'm saying comes into play: Relax, it's just some jackass having fun with you.

I get what ya'all are doing here and I'm not arguing against it.

Except that you're defining "the internet" as a place. It's just a medium. A collection of lots if different places with different behavioural norms - just like the real world is.

And just like the real world - actually it's much, much easier on the tubez - people can come from one place with one behavioral norm and move to another place with a different set of expectations. And just like the real world, they don't have to instantly behave how you'd like them. It's during that time that it's important to remember where you are and who you're dealing with.

It's unrealistic to think that because you've created a certain vibe that that vibe will be automatically respected and espoused. There's no reason to get bent out of shape when you're handling that problem (reporting, ignore listing, modding, banning, etc), though, as some seem to get. That's kinda my point.

 

[Lindeloef]

You're still on the net and membership is wide open. People will and, I presume, do, come here that don't really care about what you guys think the place should be - and they're dealt with accordingly as soon as possible which is fine. The thing is, there will be an overlap during which these peeps will piss some other peeps off. It's at that time that what I'm saying is important, well, is. Cuz why stress over what some idiot with a cartoon cat avatar has to say?

I cannot answer you that, cause I personally have no problems with that, I just ignore it (without the ignore function even ^^)

Now it's time for my obligatory movie reference:
OTTer: Why so srs?

The bums lost. My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Zombie_Babies?

not sure how that fits, but i felt there was a lack of Big Lebowski quotes in here.