NPF sucks!

Solid Snake · 01-04-2012, 01:37 AM

Okay, lemme go into "Serious Mode" for a moment, all joshin' aside.

I...really don't see leaving from (or returning to) NPF as such a big deal?

I've been away from the forums for countless several month long intervals and I've experienced weeks and even months when I've genuinely believed I had left NPF for good and would "never come back." I think it's only natural in the course of one's experiences in a community -- any community of friends, in real life or on the interwebs -- to experience moments when you're just "out of sync" with the group, and to, alternatively, experience moments where you're totally in the zone.

...Like, I've had stretches on NPF where I've been incredibly active to the point where everyone seemed to expect Snake's participation and where Snake was on everyone's tongues, but I've also totally had long droughts where I've lurked or never even showed up here for months on end. Sometimes those droughts were due to just sheer busyness. Sometimes I was just irrationally angry about something someone on NPF did and my boycott was a manifestation of that anger. Most recently, for a personal example that combines both elements, you can point to my short-lived Mafia inspired boycott, which was elongated further by a natural disappearing act in December due to fall semester exams.

...But, I guess my point is: I'm not really sure why people just naturally deciding to leave NPF merits a referendum on the community itself? I mean, it seems like RPG and RMB and Ryong are more or less just having a natural "out of sync" period, so they're going to show up less and lurk more or whatever else that means, and that's fine.

But it seems irrational to expect a community, which matures and undergoes gradual metamorphosis just as individuals do, to adhere to one's personal standards, which also evolve and change over time. In other words: NPF changes, and you change too: Your interests may eventually diverge from NPF's. Or, you may find a new group of friends, IRL or on another website (this happened to me to some extent in 2005-07) who totally supplant NPF as your go-to hangout crew. Or, you may find yourself maturing into someone who desires to converse or interact in a different way than the community at NPF seems to gravitate towards or appreciate.

...But that's not a fault of NPF; it's not a reason to point fingers at NPF and insinuate that it's the problem. (I was dead wrong when I pulled a similar stunt in Mafia, by the way.) That's silly thinking. Leave or stay if you'd like, to the best of my knowledge NPF isn't a closed-doors kind of place and everyone's totally invited to hang, as my own continued existence seems to suggest, but if your problem is everything I've just described, the solution is generally to just walk away from NPF for a few weeks / months / whatever and see if you eventually find yourself yearning to stop by again, and show up if you do.

* This message is just the feelings of Solid Snake and in no way represent how the "NPF Community" as a whole feels about such matters because Snake doesn't represent jack shit.

** Also, if your problem is less with the NPF community at large and more with a single user, like fuck that Snake and his hammy melodramatic bullshit or fuck (insert your least favorite user here), I'd recommend contacting the Mods and/or the asshole user in question before embarking on an exodus. I can't speak for anyone else, but personally my paranoia-induced, self-obsessed fear is often that I'm the culprit for the ill feelings, and if that's actually the case, the solution is not for multiple users to leave on my own sorry-ass account, but rather for me to leave and everyone else to stay. (If your problem is not with me but with another person, replace my name with his and it's still a similar message.)

EDIT: Shit, Fenris Mod-ninja'd me there. Still leaving this up because I wasted too much time typing it to want to delete it.
(Yes, this took me over twelve minutes to write.)

***Fenris*** · 01-04-2012, 10:25 AM

Thread split from PA Thread

**Revising Ocelot** · 01-04-2012, 10:47 AM

Regarding the lack of the Serious Discussion forum, I believe that's what the

tag is for these days.
The problem is that it's frequently interchanged with

due to looking similar and/or stupidity. Maybe the latter should be bright green?

As for NPF sucking in general, I think that directly correlates with my level of posting activity.

Red Mage Black · 01-04-2012, 10:45 AM

As I said in the PA thread, I also agreed with Ryong and rpg. Though I guess the saying, "You never leave high school," is a pretty accurate statement. As life becomes a big popularity contest and like marketing and politics, it's not always the quality of what you put out, but how you sell it*. I can't say that applies completely to NPF, as some of the stuff you find on NPF are awesome gems. The Sketch thread or just the Art thread in general. People perfecting their talents, despite to me, their stuff already looking gorgeous enough.

* I hate to use Liz as an example for something... AGAIN... so no offense to her. As people know, she can get pretty overzealous about something, but that's the type of thing I mean. Sometimes it isn't the topic of the post people might be interested in, but the way she says it. Looking for the reactive post.
Well, I don't think Liz should be only example, I think Fifth deserves a mention. Instead of looking for what he might think of the topic, people also might look for his 'hate' comments on the matter. What witty, yet hateful thing he might say towards whatever topic he posted in. The point of this is saying that the popularity also stems from either doing what they 'kind of sort of' expected from you or turning their minds around and posting something the complete opposite. (With no connection to the hipster cliche.)

Edit: I also realize that my example became longer than my overall post. As I said, I talk too much.

Osterbaum · 01-04-2012, 10:54 AM

The Pygmalion (or Rosenthal) effect.

The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk · 01-04-2012, 11:32 AM

Indeed.

shiney · 01-04-2012, 11:40 AM

Oh hey, Funka's here. Hi Funka. Guess that's proof positive that some people can't stay away.

Karrrrrrrrrrrresche · 01-04-2012, 11:48 AM

As much as I agree with the sentiments presented I think it would also help if, perhaps, rather than sighing and giving up you just persisted.
It's pretty obvious that there's plenty of people who also want a serious and reasonable discussion. If you all just do that, there's pretty much nothing that can stop you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shiney

Oh hey, Funka's here. Hi Funka. Guess that's proof positive that some people can't stay away.

Wait, what?

EDIT: Also I too feel like I've been forced into a niche, people expect me to have a mustache, and say mustachy things... I cant' even play mafia anymore because people take one look at my mustache and assume I'm evil or something. But I can't shave the thing because I am Kareshwithamustache so who the fuck would I be if I didn't have a mustache?
I dunno... the whole thing just kinda makes me want to end it all. Pick up a razor blade and slash my mustache right the fuck off.

***Fenris*** · 01-04-2012, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KareshWithoutAMoustache

But I can't shave the thing because I am Kareshwithamustache

Are you, now?

Karrrrrrrrrrrresche · 01-04-2012, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fenris

Are you, now?

OH GOD

01-04-2012, 01:37 AM	#1
Solid Snake Erotic Esquire Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 5,563	NPF sucks! Okay, lemme go into "Serious Mode" for a moment, all joshin' aside. I...really don't see leaving from (or returning to) NPF as such a big deal? I've been away from the forums for countless several month long intervals and I've experienced weeks and even months when I've genuinely believed I had left NPF for good and would "never come back." I think it's only natural in the course of one's experiences in a community -- any community of friends, in real life or on the interwebs -- to experience moments when you're just "out of sync" with the group, and to, alternatively, experience moments where you're totally in the zone. ...Like, I've had stretches on NPF where I've been *incredibly* active to the point where everyone seemed to expect Snake's participation and where Snake was on everyone's tongues, but I've also totally had long droughts where I've lurked or never even showed up here for months on end. Sometimes those droughts were due to just sheer busyness. Sometimes I was just irrationally angry about something someone on NPF did and my boycott was a manifestation of that anger. Most recently, for a personal example that combines both elements, you can point to my short-lived Mafia inspired boycott, which was elongated further by a natural disappearing act in December due to fall semester exams. ...But, I guess my point is: I'm not really sure why people just naturally deciding to leave NPF merits a referendum on the community itself? I mean, it seems like RPG and RMB and Ryong are more or less just having a natural "out of sync" period, so they're going to show up less and lurk more or whatever else that means, and that's fine. But it seems irrational to expect a community, which matures and undergoes gradual metamorphosis just as individuals do, to adhere to one's *personal* standards, which also evolve and change over time. In other words: NPF changes, and you change too: Your interests may eventually diverge from NPF's. Or, you may find a new group of friends, IRL or on another website (this happened to me to some extent in 2005-07) who totally supplant NPF as your go-to hangout crew. Or, you may find yourself maturing into someone who desires to converse or interact in a different way than the community at NPF seems to gravitate towards or appreciate. ...But that's not a fault of NPF; it's not a reason to point fingers at NPF and insinuate that *it's* the problem. (I was dead wrong when I pulled a similar stunt in Mafia, by the way.) That's silly thinking. Leave or stay if you'd like, to the best of my knowledge NPF isn't a closed-doors kind of place and everyone's totally invited to hang, as my own continued existence seems to suggest, but if your problem is everything I've just described, the solution is generally to just walk away from NPF for a few weeks / months / whatever and see if you eventually find yourself yearning to stop by again, and show up if you do. * This message is just the feelings of Solid Snake and in no way represent how the "NPF Community" as a whole feels about such matters because Snake doesn't represent jack shit. ** Also, if your problem is less with the NPF community at large and more with a single user, like fuck that Snake and his hammy melodramatic bullshit or fuck (insert your least favorite user here), I'd recommend contacting the Mods and/or the asshole user in question before embarking on an exodus. I can't speak for anyone else, but personally my paranoia-induced, self-obsessed fear is often that I'm the culprit for the ill feelings, and if that's actually the case, the solution is not for multiple users to leave on my own sorry-ass account, but rather for me to leave and everyone else to stay. (If your problem is not with me but with another person, replace my name with his and it's still a similar message.) EDIT: Shit, Fenris Mod-ninja'd me there. Still leaving this up because I wasted too much time typing it to want to delete it. (Yes, this took me over twelve minutes to write.) __________________ *WARNING:* Snek's all up in this thread. Be prepared to read massive walls of text.

01-04-2012, 10:25 AM	#2
*Fenris* Administrator Join Date: May 2005 Location: East Coast Posts: 6,806	Thread split from PA Thread __________________ "FENRIS IS AN ASSHOLE" - shiney

01-04-2012, 10:47 AM	#3
Revising Ocelot Douchebag Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Probably somewhere in England. Posts: 1,897	Regarding the lack of the Serious Discussion forum, I believe that's what the tag is for these days. The problem is that it's frequently interchanged with due to looking similar and/or stupidity. Maybe the latter should be bright green? As for NPF sucking in general, I think that directly correlates with my level of posting activity. __________________ magic sucks Last edited by Revising Ocelot; 01-04-2012 at 10:54 AM.

01-04-2012, 10:54 AM	#5
Osterbaum The revolution will be memed! Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: FIN Posts: 5,967	The Pygmalion (or Rosenthal) effect. __________________ D is for Dirty Commie!

01-04-2012, 11:40 AM	#7
shiney Derrrrrrrrrrrrrp. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: The land of fartz and buttz Posts: 8,266	Oh hey, Funka's here. Hi Funka. Guess that's proof positive that some people can't stay away. __________________ boop

01-04-2012, 10:45 AM	#4
Red Mage Black Sent to the cornfield Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Where the Sun isn't so warm. Posts: 2,673	As I said in the PA thread, I also agreed with Ryong and rpg. Though I guess the saying, "You never leave high school," is a pretty accurate statement. As life becomes a big popularity contest and like marketing and politics, it's not always the quality of what you put out, but how you sell it. I can't say that applies completely to NPF, as some of the stuff you find on NPF are awesome gems. The Sketch thread or just the Art thread in general. People perfecting their talents, despite to me, their stuff already looking gorgeous enough. I hate to use Liz as an example for something... AGAIN... so no offense to her. As people know, she can get pretty overzealous about something, but that's the type of thing I mean. Sometimes it isn't the topic of the post people might be interested in, but the way she says it. Looking for the reactive post. Well, I don't think Liz should be only example, I think Fifth deserves a mention. Instead of looking for what he might think of the topic, people also might look for his 'hate' comments on the matter. What witty, yet hateful thing he might say towards whatever topic he posted in. The point of this is saying that the popularity also stems from either doing what they 'kind of sort of' expected from you or turning their minds around and posting something the complete opposite. (With no connection to the hipster cliche.) Edit: I also realize that my example became longer than my overall post. As I said, I talk too much.