Damned if I do, damned if I don't...

[nightwind69]

Sometimes, I regret ever having the idea to create the Cell. Sometimes, it's more trouble than it's worth and at times it's been way more of an emotional drain than it really needs to be, although perhaps that's only because, at those times, I allowed it to be an emotional drain. But you know, I've found that it does get easier to handle over time

Comments

[anonymous]

One of the reasons I bailed on the Cell was to get away from the irritating cliques of like-thinking back-patting Deceptochums who applaud and endorse work and ideas/ opinions produced within their inner circles, yet turn up their nose at anything that either a) threatens the comfortable security of the familiar community think-tank Transformers concepts they've wrapped a good portion of their online TF-saturated lives around until the whole thing has damn near well congealed into an insoluble mass of tacky Fanon, or b) seems remotely fangirly in a way that isn't excusable by dint of friendship. And boy oh boy, show the slightest criticism of any of them or their work or opinions and BAM, that charming veteran who was just giggling and cooing over one of the clique’s inside jokes has undergone a startling metamorphosis and suddenly you, the malignant outsider, find yourself with a hissing, sneering catpack spitting down your neck, while behind your back the whole lot of them have retreated to their private Livejournals to lick their wounds and sycophantically reassure one another that everyone is stupid but them. WOW, CAN I HAVE A SECOND HELPING OF THAT LOLKTHX.

It’s not the fault of the board, and while its Administration may be faulted for how it handles those kinds of inevitable prickly situations on an individual basis, at heart the real problem is simply the tendency for fandoms to take themselves TOO GODAMNED SERIOUSLY to the point that its members take themselves TOO GODAMNED SERIOUSLY, because god knows what the world really needs is more leading experts in the lives, habits, and hierarchal ranks of imaginary giant robots.

[nightwind69]

It's true, yes, that some people take their fandom way too seriously. It's that way in every fandom that I've been a part of. (All two of them. ;) ) I mean, at a Star Trek convention that I was at, an actual brawl broke out over Star Trek: The Next Generation's existence. There were those who felt that it was an affront to the original series and those folks had it out with those who dismissed the original series as mere camp. How stupid is that? And then there's the whole phenomenon of people killing each other over stupid football games and what-have-you. By comparison, TF fandom is downright tame when it comes to that stuff. :)

But I realize, of course, that some people just can't handle that whole cliqueish attitude that some people have. But really, if your solution is just to "bail" rather than to confront these way-too-serious, tunnel-visioned people who irritate you, then you're really not doing any good, are you? And if you're not doing anything to counteract the tendency to take things too seriously, then you don't really have a right to complain when people DO take the whole thing too seriously, do you? See, that's what bothers me. People bail without doing anything to counteract the cliquey people...and then proceed to complain in journals or chat or whatever about the people who caused them to bail. Makes no sense to me. I mean, I understand if you just don't want to deal with the whole thing and decide to bail. But, like I said, it really does no good to then complain about your experience if you don't actually do anything about it.

'Course, from personal experience, even if you do do something about it, you're not likely to get far, either, but...Well, hey, at least you can say that you tried. And then you have a legitimate excuse to complain, too...

[anonymous]

Therein lies the problem though- while standing up for your beliefs and principles sounds very noble and valiant on paper, in the end it usually just pisses off even more people and drags the issue into a down and out catfight over who is standing on the studier moral highground, causing even more trouble for the beleaguered admins and board owners. And while I'd just love to make myself a visible target by standing up with light glinting magnificently off my teeth to berate scores of nebulous and hazily defined twits and clique humpers, chances are a) other innocent people are going to get caught in the crossfire and lash back out of a sense of wounded self-defence, extending the borders of the hairy brew-ha-ha, and b) ulcers are going to erupt on the walls of my stomach for no better reason than I just had to go out of my way to lecture people over what essentially distils down into an argument about PRETEND GIANT ROBOTS.

With that in mind, you're damn right I'm going to bail, ta ta, because I'm not helping myself to a plateload of pretentious gungholier-than-thou messageboard fisticuffs :). The cliquey people just aren't worth the aggravation. They really aren't. Frankly, I've got enough on my plate to deal with in regards to real life problems like work and deadlines and bills to bother making the internet an Ethically Safe Place for online people I barely know outside of a quirky icon and a Hilarious Nickname. Cartoon robots from the eighties aren't worth that kind of hassle, and neither are their groupies. If they were to follow me to work and shake my monkey tree, then sure, I'll roll back my sleeves and do a little pube punching, but ha, no, sorry, online Transformers message board? Sorry, but I'd rather trim my life of petty avoidable stresses and swallow my pride and suffer the disapproving gaze of the moral denmothers by just crawling away, rather than staying behind to fight the Good Fight for no other reason than giving my principles a nice shiny gloss. I have no conceits where it comes to accepting without question that my opinion is a mouse's fart in a hurricane when it comes to something as massive and indiscriminating as a fandom. It may not do the community any good for me to bail without doing anything, but it sure goes a long way in keeping me sane while the offline world dirty dances on my digits. I pick my fights carefully, and sure, some things are worth fighting for, an attitude which seems to be all the rage these days. Other things aren’t, because they’re just… stupid. Crusading for the right thing should be taken seriously- historically speaking complaining has been a luxury that is nice and accessible to the smelly masses, like myself, with no legitimate excuse needed, and if it's baseless, well, my ego is humble enough that I can grit your teeth and take my well deserved lumps.

[nightwind69]

Hey, I'm not trying to convince you to fight the good fight. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, actually. Really, if you want to brush it all off and focus your attention on Far More Important Matters, then that's exactly what you should do. I wonder, though, exactly how much you really have brushed it off. Because if you really had done so, if none of this really mattered to you and if it was all completely beneath your attention, then you wouldn't, for instance, take the time to make rather lengthy comments in my journal about the subject. So don't tell me that you've decided it doesn't matter to you and that it's all irrelevant because after all it's all just "PRETEND GIANT ROBOTS", because obviously it does matter to you at least to some extent.

And, hey, I didn't say that you didn't do the right thing in bailing. If you feel that's what you needed to do for whatever reason, noble or ignoble, then you needed to do it. If you don't want to get involved, if you don't want to say what you think and try to combat cliqueishness and thus get your hands dirty and have to argue with people, then so be it. I can even understand it; sometimes I wish I didn't feel so compelled to get my hands dirty in that way. All I'm saying is that if you bailed for whatever reason, then you've got no right to complain about the state of the fandom in general or the Cell or how it's run or the people who inhabit it or any other aspect about it. Moreover, it really shouldn't matter to you, should it? But then again, as I said, apparently it does matter and apparently it matters quite a bit...

[anonymous]

Er, actually, yes, I do have the right to complain about the fandom in general because I still enjoy Transformers, I'm still a part of the geek squad and am therefore still affected by it - I just hang out with a much more easy going and less intense aspect of it now. The Padded Cell isn't the be-all and end-all of TFdome - unfortunately though, the aftershocks of its various quarrels reach out to my happy little retreats as the cross-posting and grumbling combatants spread the bad mood around from forum to forum, igniting bickering trails wherever they go. Follow the smoke back and boom, there's the fire, prompting those such as myself to stick our heads out our windows and yell for otherwise distant neighbours to stop waking up the whole damn neighbourhood with their hollering.

[nightwind69]

Oh, so do you then try to combat this attitude in the fandom in general but just not on the Cell? Because I'm fairly certain that such snarky, snooty cliqueishness isn't at all confined to the Cell, nor do all the bad feelings in the fandom in general sprout from there. As you say, the Cell isn't the be-all and end-all. And in general, cliqueishness and petty bickering is everywhere, in all fandoms, as I said. I do believe that cliqueishness is part of human nature, part of the whole "fear of the other" thing. So in that sense, me trying to combat it is actually rather pointless because you just can't fight human nature. But hey, at least I try.

In any case, complain all you like. I'm still not entirely sure why it apparently matters to you so much, but...Well, to each their own. I'm sorry if the Cell's yelling is keeping you awake at night. Unfortunately, there isn't much that I can do about it, aside from what I'm already doing.

[anonymous]

Haha, dude, where did I say that I go out of my way to combat this attitude at all? I just lay back on my fat ass and swipe at it with one sweaty monkey paw with a low growl when it gets too close and foils the radiate splender of my digital tan- and you're getting awfully defensive for someone who bitterly angsted about all of this clique whoopah and Cell arguing in a protracted non-private very public LJ post the first place. Hoo nellie! XD

But hey, while we're on the subject of combating clique snottery, just whose prize idea was it to change Lunatron's title to "Hypocritically Nit-Picky"? I'm guessing either an admin or mod, given my limited understanding of how that sort of official board control works... and while I take a look at her original comment and find myself privately agreeing that it's not entirely unwarranted, that title change still comes across as a low, cheap, dirty, sneaky blow to the crotch. Unless, of course, that was her original title before all of this hit the fan (which a quick question to Luna herself would easily confirm, I suppose), in which case I apologise for giving you the stink eye and for my unvoiced suspicions of another kind of balls out hypocrisy happening.

[dinogrrrl]

That was her user title for a while before this latest incident, which is far from the first concerning her mode of crit. The user title came from her own request, most likely facetious, on page 7 of the "For those who desire a custom title.." thread in the Garbage Bin. Get your shit straight before you start flinging it. And no, tacking a half-baked apology sentence onto the end of that post in order to cover your ass doesn't cut it. Besides, you have fuck all to do with the Cell anymore and bailed of your own accord. Yet here you are pissing on about it endlessly. Make up your mind as to whether you're in the damn community or not.

Bonus points for being too pussy to post your own damn name in your comments too.

[nightwind69]

My contention was that if you don't intend to "fight the good fight", then you have no right to complain about the status quo on the Cell. You went on to say that you have a right to complain about the status of the fandom in general. So, I asked you if you fought the good fight in the fandom in general -- thus giving you the right to complain -- since you felt that you didn't want to do it on the Cell. It was, at least to my mind, a logical progression of questions, none of which you have chosen to answer. Thus, I gave up questioning you and bid you to continue with your complaining, then, since I can do nothing to stop you from doing so.

And...I was defensive? Where, might I ask, was I defensive? I merely asked why you were so concerned about the situation if, indeed, you had "bailed" from the Cell and considered petty arguing about Transformers not worthy of your attention, as you'd claimed in your comments. I wanted to know why it mattered to you in the slightest what went on on a board that you claimed to have abandoned. You have never answered any of my questions. Thus, I sense that you are merely attempting to tick me off with your baiting. I assure you that it will not happen.

As for Lunatron's title, as Dinogrrl said, it was given to her quite a while ago, and the wording of her title was entirely at her own request, as you'll see if you take a look at the thread to which Dinogrrl referred you. So, as Dinogrrl said, I suggest you do a bit of research before you spout off wild accusations. And, again, I find it interesting that you even knew what her title was, given that you had, as you said, "bailed" from the Cell.

As for my "angsting"...Believe me, that wasn't angst. Not that I'm incapable of angsting, mind you, for I am very much capable of doing so. But that was not angst. That was merely contemplation. Nor am I engaging in protracted arguing with anyone here, unless you're counting my discussion with you. As I said elsewhere, there are times when events prompt me to contemplate things that are going on or have been going on in my life. This was simply one of them. What is a journal for if not for documenting one's contemplations?

[lunatron]

Oh wow, am I late! Yes, that was my title prior to this big stink, and you know what? I even requested it! You see, I am hypocritically nit-picky, and it's good to warn others of such.