Why the need for confession?

[Mark]

Just reply, "Say one Our Father and ten Hail Marys, and try hard not to do that again."

Now that the going rate is established, I'll give you three and thirty so I can just do it a couple more times. Thanks.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Why the need for confession?

I suspect a fair number of people do it because other people do it.

It's just one of those accepted internet culture things.

 

[Mistwell]

This.

Spoiler

In lieu of XP I can't give you before spreading it around a little more.

 

[jaerdaph]

Now that the going rate is established, I'll give you three and thirty so I can just do it a couple more times. Thanks.

*makes the sign of the cross* Go forth in peace, my child!

Why confession?

It's good for the soul.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I disagree.

Your assumption would almost have every post have a similiar point of origin and I don't think that's true.

I often referred to myself as the 'Eternal Cynic' and I hope that most people have different approaches to things that I do.

For example, I've seen several different reasons why people start and/or participate in those threads. Many of them far different than I would have at first assumed. Far different than many of the confessional threads where in many cases it's a simple bash against the system and a born again outlook for a different edition while handwaving that it's okay that others like their terrible system that wasn't for me....etc... etc... etc... Not in all cases, but in many.

It's interesing to see what prompts those things.

Now if you can claim that point of all confessional threads is merely to gauge interest, then yeah, I'd agree that my OP and the various confessional threads are similiar because by that broad stroke definition you're using, ALL POSTS ARE SIMILIAR. Which to me, they're not.

What I'm trying to say is that, in all probability, the reasons you wrote the OP are similar to those of the posts you are describing. Something was bugging you, and you posted about it. You say you wanted to be educated, and that's fine. Perhaps the person who wrote the post that triggered that feeling in you was also trying to find out what others thought....to either be "educated back into the fold" as it were, or to feel less isolated in leaving it.

Way back, I experienced some dissatisfaction with 3e, and was "educated back into the fold". While I later decided that I was wrong in being convinced that 3e was "still the same" as earlier editions, that what I was feeling was "simply nostalgia", those conversations helped me a lot at that time.

People don't post "I'm quitting X" when they are certain, IMHO. When they are certain, they post "I'm starting Y". YMMV.

But I still think that your OP could be answered by looking in a mirror and reflecting on what you see. Pun intended.



RC

 

[Raven Crowking]

I think a need to communicate is important to us all. We would not be human if it were not. From that perspective, all posts (this included) come from the same taproot.

I tell my children that there is a human dialogue that has been ongoing since before recorded history, in which we all participate. It was started with the first words, and will be finished with the last. It is a priviledge to be part of it. I believe this to be true.

Sometimes I believe that it is better to be known (understood) than to be loved, and that we fling our missives out into a seemingly-hostile world so that someone might know/understand that small part of us, and in doing so we gain a form of quasi-immortality as long as the ongoing dialogue lasts. Long after no one remembers who Shakespeare was, his words will influence the dialogue that follows. So too does the first sentence spoken, though no one now knows what it was, and so too will your last post, and your next, to some degree no matter how infintesimally small or profoundly enormous.

(Shrug)

That's the way I see it anyway.

You asked what the posters are hoping to gain. My answer is, the same thing you are hoping to gain from posting here. Communication. Validation. Another way of looking at things. A chance to see something that, outside of that dialogue, they would never have seen.

If that is not an answer, then I am not sure what kind of an answer you are looking for.


RC


EDIT: Sorry. No pun for you this post.

 

[JoeGKushner]

None taken.

Communication, generally involves multiple parties. A lot of times, as I've mentioned, it's more of a kiss off than an invitation for communication, in the old good riddance to X edition threads.

 

[Raven Crowking]

As has been noted, though, most (almost all?) of those "kiss off" posts include the OP lingering to communicate.

A good rule of thumb is: When people say one thing, and do the other, what they do indicates the truth. "I'm through talking!" means "We really need to talk!" so often that it is a cliche!


RC

 

[Mark]

As has been noted, though, most (almost all?) of those "kiss off" posts include the OP lingering to communicate.

A good rule of thumb is: When people say one thing, and do the other, what they do indicates the truth. "I'm through talking!" means "We really need to talk!" so often that it is a cliche!


RC

People don't seem to be saying that they are done talking, just done with one system or another, and I think this is often to find if they are in good company (and perhaps what the next system to play might be).

 

[Raven Crowking]

People don't seem to be saying that they are done talking, just done with one system or another, and I think this is often to find if they are in good company (and perhaps what the next system to play might be).

"I'm done talking!" was just an example to demonstrate that a "kiss off" might not really be a "kiss off".

I agree with you, overall. The thing I would add, though, is that the person posting (IMHO) isn't necessarily sure that they're done with the system. Sometimes we think we're done when we really just want another perspective. It's happened to me!


RC