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Sam and Friends BookWhy am I still here? Seriously, why am I still here?
I have to be perfectly honest... I don't even LIKE MC anymore... I really don't, because this place keeps continuing to go to heck in a handbasket. Let's face it: nothing's ever going to change for the better around here, and while some say "Things can only get worse before they get better", after all this time, I don't think things are ever going to get better around here.
Hostility around here has seen a bit of an explosion lately, and although this has been a recurring problem here from time to time, and I think our very own Beau and Prawnie have pointed it out before, topics are becoming less and less civil and more and more hostile; the community atmosphere continues to disappear, and as I've said before, I know quite a few once-familiar faces around here who have mentioned that this is pretty much the reason they don't come to MC anymore: it's gone from being a community to being "high school". The more I think about it, I think this is one reason why MC has gone to pot lately, there are so many wonderful members of this community who used to brighten up this place with their very presence, who have been here for years, and most of them are pretty much gone because of the state-of-affairs here, and as such, that little bit of sparkle that helped shape MC into what it was has gone as well.
As the people of MC, this is our forum, and as such, only we have the power to "restore order" as it were, but it seems like a large number don't even want to try; even remembering here not too long ago where people began looking to have more "controversial" discussions, because they felt things were too low-key around here. Our lovable Kev was apprehensive about such discussions because of how easily they tend to get heated and trouble usually ensues, though in one particular case, things actually didn't reach a heated level, so he let the discussion be. Anymore however, things do get heated, and trouble does begin brewing, and this where a lot of our "famous drama" comes from (and yes, that's what MC has become famous for anymore, the drama): in such discussions, there's two sides against each other - the side where people are overly defensive and take general comments and opinions too personally and whine about it, and the side where people kind of egg it on with sarcasm or being facetious.
That said, on a personal note, almost every other forum I've been a part of have had these very same problems, though unlike MC, it was actually encouraged at these other forums, and as a result, I somehow always found myself becoming the "village idiot", and now, it seems like I've become the village idiot again, and at the very place I used to consider a cyber-home-away-from-home for seven (more particularly the past five) years; over the past few months, I've seen people come crawling out of the woodwork to have it out with me, either in completely direct calling out, or oh-so-try-to-be-subtle-so-people-will-know-who-it-is-without-dropping-names-hint-hint-hint.
One thing I'm not proud of, to say the least, is that looking back on this thread in it's entirety, is that I'm painting a poor picture of myself, because more recent parts of this thread, I'm really the only one speaking out about the nature of the community anymore; it looks like I just keep coming back to this thread to whine, but this is not the case - maybe perhaps MC still holds some kind of spot inside me that I'm the only one who speaks out about the community, while others simply don't want to say anything, in hopes that things may go back to the way they were without making any mention of it, I don't know. Again, I know quite a few who would probably be doing the same thing I'm doing, but because of such drama, they just don't show themselves here at all anymore.
Maybe I'm kind of in the same category, maybe that's why I'm still here, albiet all the drama, maybe there's a part of me dangling by a piece of dental floss tied around a broken mast, still hoping that our community may still return, but I don't see how, because for the past two years, past few months in particular, just about anytime it would seem the community may be returning, there's an immediate about-face, and things continue to go even further south than they were the previous time.
*Grabs suitcase with bumper stick that reads "CANADA OR BUST"*
I have to be perfectly honest... I don't even LIKE MC anymore... I really don't, because this place keeps continuing to go to heck in a handbasket. Let's face it: nothing's ever going to change for the better around here, and while some say "Things can only get worse before they get better", after all this time, I don't think things are ever going to get better around here.
Hostility around here has seen a bit of an explosion lately, and although this has been a recurring problem here from time to time, and I think our very own Beau and Prawnie have pointed it out before, topics are becoming less and less civil and more and more hostile; the community atmosphere continues to disappear, and as I've said before, I know quite a few once-familiar faces around here who have mentioned that this is pretty much the reason they don't come to MC anymore: it's gone from being a community to being "high school". The more I think about it, I think this is one reason why MC has gone to pot lately, there are so many wonderful members of this community who used to brighten up this place with their very presence, who have been here for years, and most of them are pretty much gone because of the state-of-affairs here, and as such, that little bit of sparkle that helped shape MC into what it was has gone as well.
As the people of MC, this is our forum, and as such, only we have the power to "restore order" as it were, but it seems like a large number don't even want to try; even remembering here not too long ago where people began looking to have more "controversial" discussions, because they felt things were too low-key around here. Our lovable Kev was apprehensive about such discussions because of how easily they tend to get heated and trouble usually ensues, though in one particular case, things actually didn't reach a heated level, so he let the discussion be. Anymore however, things do get heated, and trouble does begin brewing, and this where a lot of our "famous drama" comes from (and yes, that's what MC has become famous for anymore, the drama): in such discussions, there's two sides against each other - the side where people are overly defensive and take general comments and opinions too personally and whine about it, and the side where people kind of egg it on with sarcasm or being facetious.
That said, on a personal note, almost every other forum I've been a part of have had these very same problems, though unlike MC, it was actually encouraged at these other forums, and as a result, I somehow always found myself becoming the "village idiot", and now, it seems like I've become the village idiot again, and at the very place I used to consider a cyber-home-away-from-home for seven (more particularly the past five) years; over the past few months, I've seen people come crawling out of the woodwork to have it out with me, either in completely direct calling out, or oh-so-try-to-be-subtle-so-people-will-know-who-it-is-without-dropping-names-hint-hint-hint.
One thing I'm not proud of, to say the least, is that looking back on this thread in it's entirety, is that I'm painting a poor picture of myself, because more recent parts of this thread, I'm really the only one speaking out about the nature of the community anymore; it looks like I just keep coming back to this thread to whine, but this is not the case - maybe perhaps MC still holds some kind of spot inside me that I'm the only one who speaks out about the community, while others simply don't want to say anything, in hopes that things may go back to the way they were without making any mention of it, I don't know. Again, I know quite a few who would probably be doing the same thing I'm doing, but because of such drama, they just don't show themselves here at all anymore.
Maybe I'm kind of in the same category, maybe that's why I'm still here, albiet all the drama, maybe there's a part of me dangling by a piece of dental floss tied around a broken mast, still hoping that our community may still return, but I don't see how, because for the past two years, past few months in particular, just about anytime it would seem the community may be returning, there's an immediate about-face, and things continue to go even further south than they were the previous time.
*Grabs suitcase with bumper stick that reads "CANADA OR BUST"*
