Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Subject: [META] Tiredness and negativity
References: <3B735170.71E8EB01@psu.edu> <20010810012603.28162.00003804@ng-cj1.aol.com>
Followup-To: 

On 10 Aug 2001 05:26:03 GMT, The Notorious Z.O.B. wrote:
> (There are so many people here who act like they're *tired* of
> Transformers that it was positively refreshing to read posts from 
> someone so enthusiastic about them.)

I like the way you've put this.  It's very similar to a thought I've been 
having recently...  Being hyper-critical has somehow become cool.  And, I 
don't mean being meticulously anal about every last detail, I mean, well, 
hating everything.  There's a vague Gen-X kind of notion that liking stuff 
isn't cool, and that if you're smart you should be able to see through all 
the crap that everything is and criticise constantly.  The only thing 
that's really cool to like is irony.  There's a nice, humorous, account of 
this in a classic Onion article:
  http://www.theonion.com/onion3637/aging_gen-xer.html

Now, that's a stereotype, of course, and I'm not saying that anybody is 
really, consciously trying to be 1337 by being above actually enjoying 
Transformers.  But I think a lot of people here -- including me -- let 
that sort of attitude seep in a little too much.

Making fun of G1, for example, has become rather popular.  Saying the
cartoon is painfully stupid, the movie is a piece of crap, etc., etc..  I
even considered writing a "G1 is not that bad (TM)" / "In defense of G1"  
post a while back when there was an especially large amount of bashing
going on...  G1 bashers get away with comments that would lead to a 
50-post flamewar if they were directed at Beast Wars.

It's not just G1, though.  Many aspects of Transformers are ridiculed on a
regular basis, and I'm at a loss to understand it.  If there's so little
enjoyment in Transformers for somebody that most of their posts are
negative -- saying various TF things suck -- then I have to wonder why
they are even participating in the fandom.

Amazingly enough, one of the things that I see complaints about most often
is rabid, complaining fanboys...  We complain about TRUKK NOT MUNKY'ers,
about ATT's tendency to hate everything new, etc..  (I suppose even this
post counts, in a sense, as a meta-complaint.)  The uber-fan tries to have
an elevated appreciation of all the camp and irony in their franchise of
choice, and then proceeds to do nothing but complain about those
qualities, and then tops it off by complaining about other people who are
complaining about the qualities *they* don't like.  And, I am amused by
the irony of it all, because the irony seems to be lost of the people who
most appreciate irony... which leads into a neverending ironic cycle.

It's not that I think people should never post negative opinions of
stuff... I just don't really see the point of doing it so often.  Wouldn't 
they be happier writing about stuff they *do* like?  Wouldn't we all be 
happier reading posts that were enthusiastic and positive?  Dry cynicism 
has its place, and can be very entertaining.  Even loudmouthed cynicism 
has a niche to fill.  But there's just so... much... recently...

It sounds cornball, I know, but I really think ATT would be a nicer place
if people would just stop complaining so much, not bother bashing things
that other people like, and just have some regular, old-fashioned good
times chatting about titanic self-aware robots from outer space that have
pieces of airplanes and dinosaurs hanging off of their shoulders.

My point is, when lots of negative posts are made, it creates a negative 
atmosphere for the group.  And in a negative atmosphere, people are more 
likely to complain, more likely to argue or flame, and more likely to make 
even more negative posts.

And, I'm *not* trying to say that I think ATT is a huge pile of slag.  I
love ATT.  I don't think it's the worst it's ever been.  I don't think
it's not worth coming here.  This is just something which has been
drifting through my mind, and your (Zob's) post brought it to the surface.  
So I figured I'd bring it up.  Is making ATT a better place really as easy
as trying to be upbeat?  No, but it's a really good start...  (Now let's 
all sing "Hands" by Jewel together.)

> Does anybody else here remember Dan Campbell's "form flame"?

Boy, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time...  I did a little 
Googling for "form flame" in posts by "campbell" in ATT, and read through 
a few... I'd forgotten how well he customized them to each individual 
posting.  I mean, there was the general ATT Form Flame which he'd modified 
from the original, but he always added new boxes -- some of which he 
didn't check -- that were appropriate to the target of the flame.  Very 
amusing...

                                             --Steve-o

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Steve R Stonebraker |    Transformers FAQ Keeper     | Astrophysicist
srstoneb@yahoo.com  | http://astro.bu.edu/~srstoneb/ | AOL IM: srstoneb