I go for one week and why do people even...?!
Hold it, everyone's being stupid. You're playing a game. It's a game! It's not some fucking wellspring of "lol totes insanity derail lol were smart" or whatever bullshit we like to think we are for playing a game!
1. "Bay12 forums are insane!"
Oh, I bet! No, I don't bet. Seriously! In one corner, the super smart evil genius Bay12 user who is a brilliant wunderkind due to playing a game (see preceding paragraph). In the other corner, the totally crazy insane derailing Bay12 user who is so random and funny. Wait, they're actually the same person! How do you combine being superior to everyone with being a lunatic who can't stay on topic about anything ever? The answer is that you don't. You're a forum user. Not a brilliant stupid rational insane evil mastermind etc.
2. "Bay12 forums are the last bastion of sanity!
The last forum you were on was the Minecraft forum. It's like a law of nature. In your head, "video game forum" is equivalent to "those Minecraft and Call of Duty fans who were mean to me in junior high". What about other obscure (compared to previous) indie game communities? Oh wait, you haven't heard of them. And they haven't heard of you. Go look for them before declaring yourself a Chosen One due to your obscure indie game being sooo much kewler than all the other ones. Seriously, we are a small community, so we don't get large influxes of morons or very much spam attention (and our game's difficulty does help a bit, but Adventurer mode is pretty simple when it comes to basic not dying of thirst so there's not much excuse there). Large communities are visible and attract your attention, too, which doesn't help when you judge all communities. In fact, go play Dungeons of Dredmor. It's fun and everyone seems pretty decent. Seriously.
3. "Bay12 forums are filled with diabolicality!"
This one is more truth-y than the previous. Yes, we have famous threads of horrible brutality. Except they're all the same, with the exception of the actual famous ones (mermaid genocide, dwarven daycare, that meat guy, etc.). "I killed some elves!" "I did something bad to goblins!" "This guy bit off another guy's face, it was totally gross!" Oh boy! There are also some famous megaprojects and mods made by people who like to keep their dwarves alive or people who just have fun testing their own little additions and many more different topics being involved in many threads, but who cares about those? They aren't helping to keep those slavering masses away from our last bastion of sanity!
4. "General Discussion is a derail-filled shithole!"
Okay, I just made that up. It's pretty true, though. Because there's acceptable change of conversation, and some topics aren't broad enough to sustain a very long thread so discussion will vary, but for those of you who openly encourage complete changes of topic, you aren't helping. Yes, I'm writing a very long angry post only tangentially related to the original topic, but someone needs to say this shit. Stop bumrushing onto a single off-topic post and turning it into a multipage self-referential discussion about derails and how bad they are. Stop saying how good at derailing you are. Try to stick to the topic, or at least intelligently discuss the derail if it's relevant. At this point, the space program thread isn't related to anything. It's a gigantic role-play where a bunch of people discuss facets of an imaginary mission. Yes, I said it. Jokey replies about it totally being real are just plain annoying, unless anyone's got a large corporation with a dedicated research facility and tons of money, which they don't because then they wouldn't be mentioning adamantine space daggers or whatever. So, why isn't it in Forum Games or anything even remotely suitable? Because everyone's still clinging on to the awesomeness of having, like, totally derailing it, lolz. And then you opened another separate thread even less related in the same General Discussion that wasn't suited for the first one.
4b. "Why can't you take a joke?!"
Because all this crap about being insane and not insane and evil and derailing has to stop. It's dumb. It's almost definitely scaring away more of the "not insane" (unless being insane is good) users who we seem to be the last bastion for. And hell, maybe it'll work. Or at least slow it down. Fight the power! Stand up to senseless, idiotic derailment! Make Bay12 safer at night! Or something. Just try to stay on-topic in General Discussion for once, dammit.
I would like to respond for my fellow forumites. Not in a multi-paragragh ragefest, since you have already used that so it would be uninteresting, but Simply. The entire bases of the internet is the complete freedom to do as you please. Naturally, this means that people abuse it,make it unsafe, and end up turning it into the alleys of a ghetto at night, random people unable to trust any but those they know, constantly being attacked by others.
Bay12 is different. The essential reason is that we are one of those lone groups in the alley, one that left and decided to build a new, not free of random murder and dismemberment, but still new, community. It was founded by lonely men, the toady one and his brother, three toe, in a effort to create a place where they could discss with otheres the fruit of their labors in creating the Fortress, but what they made matured into more. The alley was free, and discussion of the dark methods that bind our community together was open, and lively, with all free to do as they wished without fear of persecution. Collaberative efforts from members soon made great and mighty fortresses, whose names were known and feared by many. Soon others, refugees from darker places of the world, came upon the community. Some joined, others, sickened by the nightmarish creations of the community, fled from this land. but this was not the point. The point was to create a community where they could dicuss a game, a complex game, and what they did in it. Over time it developed Noteriety for the cruel methods used to avoid losing, and the death and destruction that followed, this was to some a metter of pride, to others, a matter of shame. Those who believed the latter withdrew from the darker edges of the forum, or simply ignored the parts theydisliked, and contiued to operate as valued members of the community, a testament to the stability of the forums.
The noteriety of the forums eventually spread, to causing each to attempt to outdo each other in cruelty. This led to far in certain incidents, and while some slipped by without gainign true censorship, if still bringing stories of the forums evil far and wide, others did not escape the glare of the almighty founder. The incidents were censored, those involved censured or banned, and life continued.
Efforts to unite the community always had a backlash amosnt the initiater though, lest the inherent difference of opinions over the forums nature simmer to a boil. Unrelated to this, too much ado, the Toady one opened the General discussion, with hopes that it would absorb questions about his masterpiece that fit into no category. But, alas, the overlapping interest caused massive chaos. Threads would be overtunrned, fighting over obscure topics; sub-forums were invaded by marauding bands whose allegiance was to one or another. Finally, The Founder himself stepped in, his wrath instantly bringing the field to a stand-still. Knowing he could never sustain and contain this inherent rage, he bottled it away, in the repurposed General discussion forum, in hopes that it would keep all calm.
Sine then, there has been peace. Forts have risen and fallen, Adventurers have killed and been slaughtered; and threads outside of General discussion have remained at peace usually. All is as it should be.
So let this be a warnng to you, newcomer. Your efforts to chastise the forum shall fail, and may even incite riot and rebellion. your metaphors will mean nothing, your soliloquies will fall on deaf ears, and Blood may be spilt. So, heed me, Stranger passing by, that here, in accordance the laws of the forum, we lie. This, is GENERAL DISCUSSION!!!
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Topic: What will happen when Dwarf fortress becomes user friendly? Let's make plans. (Read 10520 times)