Does it count as abuse if you get kicked out of a different web forum/group/community (one founded and run by regular posters here) just days after expressing an unpopular opinion in a thread? Just curious...
Most of you will not know me too well, I don't post regularly but I do read most of the General Messages, ICHSIB, Tour Talk and Site Feedback threads. And Fight Club once in a while, although that's been fairly quiet lately. I do what Sue describes - I glance at most of the titles and read the ones i want to. There are quite a few of topics I have personally thought boring and equivalent to the well-beaten horse left out in the sun, but if they're of interest to you, more power to ya. Post away and I'll ignore them as I have been. :)
I have to say I'm pleased that I haven't noticed too many people attacking or flaming at anyone in this thread, mainly expressing their opinion. There's always one in every crowd, whether it's He Who Shall Remain Nameless or the guy in the back of the class picture sticking his tongue out and flipping the bird. C'est la vie.
I was picked on in school too. Do I wish it hadn't happened? Maybe, but I wouldn't be the person I am today without that. Maybe I'd have been a better person, but I don't think so.
I also fell in with a destructive bunch of people during my eighth grade year and picked on other people when I had the chance. Do I wish I hadn't? Absolutely. Knowing what I know now, I wish I could find every person I made fun of and apologize to them. Not gonna happen. And that's a shame.
I've also been picked on in cyberspace. On a different message board, I was cyber-stalked for a while last year by someone "pretending" to be me, right down to coopting both my screen name and my "real" name. This person was very disruptive and mean-spirited and I do not know for sure why it happened to this day. I had to make a decision as to what to do about it. I didn't want to leave or stop participating, so my mother kept saying "Why do you care so much about this jerk?" I had a friend asking why I was letting someone live rent-free in my head. Never did come up with a good answer for either of those questions.
For me, this other board was a haven, a refuge, a place where I felt like I belonged at the end of a day working with people I don't particularly like. Instead of reacting with anger and retorts and namecalling, I resorted to humor. I gave this person two posts in response and then said "I'm done, we're not doing this anymore." And I stuck to it. You know what? The other person eventually got bored (?) & went away.
I am trying to remember to get over myself on a daily basis, and remember that this is just a web forum, my job is just a way to pay the mortgage, etc. None of it is life & death, fortunately for me. If I don't like what's happening on a message board, I can go away for a few days or just plain stop reading someone's posts. If I don't like the job, well, at least I have one and I can come home to my quiet and my solitude and read a good book.
Anyhow. I'm rambling (which surprises some of you not a bit) and am also very tired, so I am going to say good night now. Sorry this is so long... at this rate I will catch up with some of you in post lengths if not post numbers!! Have a good one, wherever you are.
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