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Page name: Healing In Elftown [Logged in view] [RSS]

2006-05-13 20:35:00

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Healing In Elftown

Good day. This is [Kiddalee] talking. You may have seen this posted in my house:

A Warning
I'm back after a long break from Elftown. I left because it didn't make me feel good. I think I can give it another try, a greater, but pickier one. The saying, "You only get as much out of a community as you put in," only applies when you avoid taking out what you would abhor putting in.

Yes, like a lot of older users, I left Elftown in disgust and then slowly came back. So why exactly did I leave?
1. Some people here are elitist.
•I don't know if this is still true, but in the past, the guards have gotten away with being downright rude to offenders. I understand that the guards have a right to do their job, to rebuke offenders, to ban the real jerks here, but not to be insulting and humiliating to just anyone who messes up.
•Civilians have been following the guards' example of just hating the idiots here, but as they have less power, they make no efforts to solve the problem by politely telling the poor fools what they're doing wrong and setting a good example. They are more satisfied to grumble amongst themselves or insult the fools blatantly, which only teaches them to keep being spiteful.
•Various people have created wikis especially for listing and insulting people that they dislike. Umm... guys? This solves nothing, and is extremely immature, which of course makes it hypocritical. If someone is that annoying to you, try reporting, blocking, or if you have the authority, banning them.
•Most people online just don't know how to debate. They're too busy getting personal and telling the other side how stupid they are to properly state their case. I admit that I could have avoided these situations if I don't like debating online, but until they just became too full to surf on dial-up, I used to be addicted to the forums here.
2. Too many kids here want to cyber.
•Lately, the sex culture on Elftown and everywhere has become the slut culture among teenagers. I believe they do this because they're trying to hide how prudish they are. The poor kids shouldn't feel bad for being prudish when they're still getting used to their own bodies, though they should be progressively growing out of it. Well, now I'm going off topic.

Do you find it strange that the cyber kids here are the least of my reasons for leaving this place? It's because I tend to avoid things that make me feel disgusted, so I never made them much of a reason by visiting them all the time.

However, the elitists here are much harder to avoid. In all other senses, they are the cream of the internet crop. They're talented artists and writers, they know their computer history, they use excellent grammar, and they're just plain intelligent. I really like a lot of things about them, but watching them spit on the less intelligent makes me feel defiled just for being as smart as them. Do you really think that spitting on someone who has wronged you will stop him from doing it again? On the contrary, it will make him hate you and he'll get worse! If you want to stop them from being like this, teach them, or you're worse than them!

Just so you know, this is not a whiner page. That's why I named it Healing In Elftown instead of [A Warning@wiki] or [Elftown Scars@wiki]. Yes, my view of this town is healing, and I'm even taking action to heal it in ways that I haven't seen enough people doing so. So how have I done this?
•By creating this page.
•By logging back into Elfpack to do some reasearch, then editing the wiki page, Elfpack (versions 3-on), so that it lists a lot of Elfpack's coolest features. Hopefully this will make a lot of people want to join Elfpack and maybe some people who aren't helping Elftown will leave.
•By creating Wyvern's Writers United. I can't believe there hasn't been a page like this yet...
•By creating Why Good Grammar?.
•By creating Great Bios, as a response to I hate long bios.
•By telling off the elitists who made me dislike this place in the forums and on wikis.
See Take Elftown Back Members comment #281 on December 1, in which I showed there are no hard feelings by later leaving a positive comment on the other user's Elfwood gallery;
[334211] and following conversation, in which the opposing parties made themselves look stupid by claiming they actually believe that grammatical sociopaths are this dumb in real life and can't possibly learn. Come on guys, live up to your intelligence if you want the rest of us to.
•By setting an example, keeping my house's bio short, organised and pic free, and with good grammar. Also making a few statements directly in my house.
•By joining wikis created especially for improving Elftown, such as Take Elftown Back and others listed in my house.
•By starting a couple of fun wikis, Vintage Gamers, the Jazz Mini-Encyclopedia, and the Trochaic Poetry Contest, and linking them to Take Elftown Back.
•By submitting a new poem to the daily poem.
•By creating Stupid Pasted Things to help coordinate a movement against the stupid pasted things that are on too many people's bios.
•By becoming active in Black Listing For Cyberers. I guess I'm no longer so lily-livered about the fools that I can't do anything about it.
•By becoming active in The Motorcycle Story Petition which has evolved into something against stupid pasted things in general.

2006-07-17 [Kiddalee]: Hmm. Well, I don't really like seeing the cyber kids here, I just don't waste my time insulting them. This isn't high school. I don't need to do that.

2006-07-23 [Chrysilla]: ok ok... but though i thought this fragment "but if you aren't that interested in fantasy or science fiction, and just want to meet people, you should try Elfpack instead" really meant it's a fantasy lovers comunity... well whatever... ignore me

2006-07-23 [Stephen]: Under the application page? Well, it's just saying Elftown is not made for those people, however, it's not saying they are not allowed here. :)

2006-07-23 [Stephen]: See [381840] for a bit more. The middle paragraph from Hedda. :)

2006-07-25 [Kiddalee]: It was originally meant for Elfwood artists and hangarounds. Let's face it, the best hangarounds are the ones who are actually good company, and don't bog this place down to the point where it gets in the artists' way.

2006-07-28 [Avoral]: Hmm. I do like [Chrysilla]'s stance on things.

2006-07-28 [Chrysilla]: Ohhh thank you... *polishing her sword* Well I think I don't mind the hangarounds as long as they don't trespass my property... nor get on my nerves...

2006-07-28 [iippo]: And there is a simple solution for people getting on your nerves: blocking them, ignoring them, reporting them if they get offensive.

2006-07-28 [Chrysilla]: Oh don't worry I know that... and I have this impression we're running in circles trying to catch our tails. I think I'll just stop watching this page and go get some tan. Have a good day ladies and gentlemen. *Bows*

2006-07-28 [Avoral]: Yeah, true. Considering I keep getting reminded of the temptation to play with the witless/irritating/useless hangarounds.

2006-07-28 [Kiddalee]: I like hangarounds. Just not cumbersome ones.

2006-07-28 [Avoral]: Then allow me to rephrase that.

2006-07-28 [Kiddalee]: Okay. :) Err... into what?

2006-07-28 [Avoral]: *Points*

2006-07-28 [Kiddalee]: Okay. How very expressive.

2006-08-06 [Sunrose]: Hmm about elitist Guards, replying to it whether it is about me too or not.
When I joined I violated the UAR. I initially used netspeak, just because I thought it was fun. But I figured out that many members don't appreciate that kind of writing and stopped using it. I also used to be pretty nice, if I may say so myself. But becoming a Guard and dealing with some of the members here every day has really changed me. In many instances it doesn't matter how nice you are, because they won't listen either way (often won’t even read your message). And at some point you just feel there's no use in being nice, the job itself starts to wear you down. Proof of that are some Guards who just quit their jobs, because they couldn't take it anymore. Before the applicationsystem the abuse of Guards by members was pretty appalling. The only positive way to deal with that, was to laugh about it together.

2006-08-06 [Sunrose]: I retreated myself from many things, because it became impossible to keep up with it all. I had to become what I am to protect myself from falling apart, not because I think I’m better or smarter than other members. Yet it is how some perceive it, because they don’t know me.
Between being nice and elitist is a big grey area, with personal characters and stories behind it. Guards aren’t flawless robots after all. I wish I hadn’t changed as much as I did, but I don’t know how to undo it.

2006-08-06 [Sunrose]: And about the wiki: Some parts of this wiki seem contradicting to each other. On one side you feel that grammatical sociopaths should be confronted in a nice way to change them, that blacklisting people and insulting them is immature. Yet you also say you actively take part in blacklisting cyberers on Black Listing For Cyberers, instead of reporting them or confronting them nicely. While you state yourself that cyberers are probably not like that in reality, just as grammatical sociopaths can probably spell perfectly when they’re in English class.

I love however how you've made positive pages to change things. Instead of pages where peope just whine and sign their name about something bad. I really like Great Bios for instance :)

2006-08-06 [Kitara Softpaw]: I too love the positive pages, but I also agree with Sunrose in that you seem to contradict yourself sometimes. I really like the positive outlook you have taken on things, but some things you say are contradictory to your positiveness. (Yes, i know positiveness is not a real word.)

2006-08-07 [Kiddalee]: I don't see Black List For Cyberers as a dungeon wiki. I see it as a way to actually deal with the cyber kids here. It is doing its part, not just listing people to insult.

2006-08-07 [Kiddalee]: And about being nice to bad grammar folks, and whoever else: It doesn't mean I have to pretend to like them. I don't see the problem with acknowledging that talking that way is a stupid idea. It's not destructively insulting them. You don't have to love everyone in order to be good to them.

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