SpaceTime you weanie!!

Date: 1/7/2000
From: COMPSLIDER

I was going to send this regardless of your recent posting.

Dude, what were you thinking? Maybe this started out as a great prank or action to make a statement on the fickleness of people who may believe anything they see and become ready to jump on the bandwagon, but you crossed the line. Ok, I can even accept that you didn't care about what this did to your reputation; that's your choice. But you pulled innocents into the crossfire; you messed with other people's reputations for a few days and spit them out with your message to clear the air.

This board is NOT A PLAYGROUND. It's a forum for exchanging ideas, fanfic, and discussions on Sliders pure and simple. Always has been, always will be.

It's interesting that you use the same tactics as the people you claim to make fun of - a lack of respect and courtesy for those around you. People are people, that's one fact that the Mb and baud rates of the Internet can never change. Whether I am a faceless post to you or not, there's still a person behind the keyboard. Flesh and blood with a soul and a heart. And that person deserves a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T as Aretha sang once.

I do agree that this board has degenerated at times in terms of its content, but that still does not give you the right to ruin or cause other people's reputations to be questioned. You should be building people up, not tearing them down.

Until then, LONG LIVE SLIDERS!!!

Compsldier

Exposition

Date: 1/7/2000
From: SpaceTime

First, it's spelled "weenie."

I'll address your entire post:

> I was going to send this regardless of
> your recent posting.

Congratulations.

> Dude, what were you thinking? Maybe this started
> out as a great prank or action to make a statement
> on the fickleness of people who may believe anything
> they see and become ready to jump on the bandwagon, but
> you crossed the line.

What was I thinking? I was thinking it was funny. It continues to be a great prank and it is an excellent example of the board's collective tendency to overreact to the mundane and the absurd.

How does this cross the line? What line exists? I take it I now sit on the side of the line that includes spammers and idiot trolls?

> Ok, I can even accept that you didn't care about what
> this did to your reputation; that's your choice.

What you fail to understand is that regardless of what happens here, my "reputation" doesn't change. This is a BBoard. The people that like me here continue to like me. I've been told this. If people don't like me anymore, they are certainly entitled to do so. It's a little drastic but understandable. It doesn't change the fact that in the long run, this is still an electronic format and does not hold as dear a place in my heart as my flesh and blood compatriots. I'd hope that's the same situation for everyone here.

> But you pulled innocents into the crossfire; you
> messed with other people's reputations for a few
> days and spit them out with your message to clear
> the air.

*sigh*

> This board is NOT A PLAYGROUND.

Yes, it is. You choose to view it as a little merry-go-round, where every skips and spins in a never-ending circle in the search for something better.

I, on the other hand, see it as a place where when the kid falls off the swings and cries and everyone else laughs at him. Because that's real life. There's ups and downs and skinned knees; pain mixed in the fun. And my interpretation of the board is accurate.

> It's a forum for exchanging ideas, fanfic, and
> discussions on Sliders pure and simple. Always has
> been, always will be.

I'm not debating the purpose of the BBoard. This just isn't how it's utilized. Instead, it's a group of ill-informed yahoos parading around touting stale information. The few ideas that are presented are usually from TF, who has the information that we seek. However, TF delivers it in such a way that there's no cause for debate. It's straightfoward and easy to digest, so there is no discussion except to question his credentials, which isn't "pure" *or* "simple." The Board is a mess. Deny that and you only delude yourself. And please, don't patronize me by saying it's all my fault; the Board is the same every day, just on a smaller scale.

> It's interesting that you use the same tactics as
> the people you claim to make fun of - a lack of
> respect and courtesy for those around you.

I respect intelligent people. I will slam anyone else. You know who I respect the most? The people who read this crap and NEVER post. The lurkers. At least if they're stupid, they aren't advertising it. It is better to keep your mouth shut and have people wonder if you're an idiot than to open your mouth and erase all doubt.

> People are people, that's one fact that the Mb and
> baud rates of the Internet can never change.

No, the one indemnifying aspect of human nature is that people are IDIOTS. I can count on two hands the number of people on this board whose opinions matter.

> Whether I am a faceless post to you or not, there's
> still a person behind the keyboard. Flesh and blood
> with a soul and a heart. And that person deserves a
> little R-E-S-P-E-C-T as Aretha sang once.

You deserve my respect? Why?

> I do agree that this board has degenerated at times
> in terms of its content, but that still does not
> give you the right to ruin or cause other people's
> reputations to be questioned. You should be building
> people up, not tearing them down.

I agree. The fact that people still don't believe the others had nothing to do with it irritates the hell out of me. But this is the Sliders BBoard, and it's totally in character.

SpaceTime

RE: Exposition

Date: 1/7/2000
From: COMPSLIDER

SpaceTime,

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post. Also for correcting my spelling error - must have been using the Anglo-Saxon version of Webster. No, just typo.

The line I refer to is a philosophical one. It's the one on approaches to things - build up vs. tear down as the results of what you do or in this case write on the Bboard. It's also true that all statements are rules of thumb, generalizations that may or may not always hold true.

To build upon your analogy of the playground and the kid skinning his knee / falling down, you might laugh at and go on. My approach would be to extend a hand and help him up or give him a bandage. That's just me and the way I am.

From what I can tell, and this may be an invalid conclusion on my part, the biggest difference in our approaches and opinions boil down to two statements we have made:

Mine: People are people (on this Bboard).

Yours: Most people are idiots on this Bboard.

Our approaches and responses seem to stem from those viewpoints.

And you're right. Maybe most people view the Bboard as a playground, a recess to escape from the routines of the day. Pain and suffering are a part of the everyday staple of things wherever you go. I don't deny that.

I just think our actions should lead us to a forum that is somewhere in the middle - between the merry-go-round and the laughing at the skinned knee.

Ultimately it comes down to choices.

Maybe I don't deserve your respect. And that's your choice and that's ok. But I give you mine freely - that's my choice. If we give that a little more freely, I think the cases of skinned knees might go down a little more here.

Just a thought.

Thanks again for responding to my post.

Compslider

I applaud you!!!

Date: 1/7/2000
From: Bunky34

ST,

I have to applaud you for an extremely hilarious prank!!!
I have been pretty busy these past few days to read this site.

As it turns out, I missed the best prank I have seen in quite some time.

Also, your response to Compslider contains an awful lot of my own feeling about this site and some of the so-called experts who reside here.

You are 100% correct in that this site should be a place where we can all have fun as we all share a similar interest, Sliders. This site, like many others, does tend to degenerate into something of an information has and information has-nots.

Well, I belong to the latter, but my opinion and analysis of Sliders the TV show is equally as good as the so-called experts (who really only keep information to themselves and present it in a way to where we can have no arguments).

As far as credibility goes on the Internet, it just does not exist. You are as credible as the person reading your post wants you to be.

I don't want to start any debates here. No flames or spamming either! But, my experience with a few of people here has been one where my credibility is instantly challenged if I say anything that goes against the opinions and so-called facts of TF.

Now, I think TF is more often right than wrong, but his voice and the voice of his supporters often drowned out the voice of other people's opinions. Opinions are neither right or wrong (at least, where I grew up).

In this vein, pranks are neither right or wrong -- just funny. And, to all those who don't understand humor, there is always some pain involved with humor. Why else do we laugh at other people's misfortunes?

I applaud you (even though you are probably not seeking it)!

:)
:)- HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA

Thanks,
Bunky34

Original URL http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/16278
Nominated by SpaceTime