Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2002 1:43 pm
Interesting topic, Sleep, since I was thinking the other day about talking about my feelings about SYM.
When I look at when I joined GB (march 2001), it is the same time as a lot of the old-timers (although I'm not clear on when SYM was started--Fall of 2000?). I remember the Aerie-bashing threads and Alternate Male Romance threads on the BG forum, but didn't pay attention to them or SYM, since I was too busy playing BG, BG2, ToB, Fallout 1&2, PS:T. Then I ran out of games and found myself here one day, and got hooked.
Honestly, I am really put off by a lot of the griping by old-timers here on the "good ole days." It appears to me a lot of the time that they put zero effort into getting to know newer members, and only post to respond to other old-timers. Not all the old-timers, but a significant few. I've seen newbies post a reply to old-timers, which goes completely ignored. This is high-school age cliqueishness at its worst. I'm too old to have the patience to put up with it. Most of the time I just move on and try to get to know the more open-minded people here (new or old).
As far as the serious discussions on SYM go, I've learned a lot from them. When you have to explain your opinion on something, you end up having to learn more about your own opinion. For example, on the art threads, I ended up learning a lot more about conceptual art and post-modernism than I knew before. I'd been tossing these words around without being completely clear on them before--and now I am. It's helpful to me since my partner is a sculptor and I have to go to a lot of art openings in Manhattan. All I can say about them is that what is a waste of time to one SYMer may be very valuable to the next. I don't think it's possible to find a topic that everyone will find fascinating. I like the political topics, even though I know better than to think I can change someone else's POV. It's really fascinating to me to hear POV's from such widely disparate people. You can't get that in ordinary conversation in your own home town.
When I look at when I joined GB (march 2001), it is the same time as a lot of the old-timers (although I'm not clear on when SYM was started--Fall of 2000?). I remember the Aerie-bashing threads and Alternate Male Romance threads on the BG forum, but didn't pay attention to them or SYM, since I was too busy playing BG, BG2, ToB, Fallout 1&2, PS:T. Then I ran out of games and found myself here one day, and got hooked.
Honestly, I am really put off by a lot of the griping by old-timers here on the "good ole days." It appears to me a lot of the time that they put zero effort into getting to know newer members, and only post to respond to other old-timers. Not all the old-timers, but a significant few. I've seen newbies post a reply to old-timers, which goes completely ignored. This is high-school age cliqueishness at its worst. I'm too old to have the patience to put up with it. Most of the time I just move on and try to get to know the more open-minded people here (new or old).
As far as the serious discussions on SYM go, I've learned a lot from them. When you have to explain your opinion on something, you end up having to learn more about your own opinion. For example, on the art threads, I ended up learning a lot more about conceptual art and post-modernism than I knew before. I'd been tossing these words around without being completely clear on them before--and now I am. It's helpful to me since my partner is a sculptor and I have to go to a lot of art openings in Manhattan. All I can say about them is that what is a waste of time to one SYMer may be very valuable to the next. I don't think it's possible to find a topic that everyone will find fascinating. I like the political topics, even though I know better than to think I can change someone else's POV. It's really fascinating to me to hear POV's from such widely disparate people. You can't get that in ordinary conversation in your own home town.