Okay… I’m gonna try my best here to explain some stuff, and apologize about other stuff.
When I came here… I posted… A lot. I still probably post a lot compared to some people, but definitely less than I did before. People aren’t willing to let go of that past though. Too many times people attack me without provocation, just because of that past. Well, let me clarify about it.
Not everyone has the same background and opportunities. I only managed to save up enough money this year to buy my 240, so obviously I don’t know about it as much as most of you do. This is why I have a lot of stupid questions. Over time, I learned to seek answers in other places, because of the extremely negative responses I’ve received here, and that’s fine with me. However, this reflects really poorly on the forum, because it’s definitely not a place that new users can freely share and exchange information.
Really, if I had been received with this kind of attitude anywhere else, I would’ve left immediately. But there’s a black S13 hatch in my garage, that I call Hayase (yea… I’m a loser… I named my car), and I love this car more than a lot of other things in my life, and because of her I stay here and put up with the crap people give me. And I think it’s the same for a lot of people. It is a car forum, and a lot of us are very passionate about our cars, so we stay out of that passion.
I’d like to apologize to all those that had a problem with me “post-whoring” and “filling up the forum with garbage” but I wasn’t trying to get anyone’s attention. There’s seriously so much anger here that people pounce on others for asking simple honest questions. When I came here, I was in the process of buying my car, and I wanted to know EVERYTHING, as naive and ignorant as that sounds. I also wanted to get to know people that know more than me and be friends with them, this is why I took such an active approach. I did my best to be friendly, but people interpreted it a completely different way. For this I am sorry, because as I said, I only wanted to make some friends.
It saddens me that in a place such as this, where people gather to be with others that they share a passion with, we have fights such as these. I realize we all have our differences, but at the top there it says The Southern Ontario 240sx Club Of Canada, so we have something in common! We’re in southern ontario, and we have a passion for the 240SX.
Before anything else, this place should be a community, and in order for a community to function, its members need to treat eachother with respect and understanding. The basis behind a community is unity and tolerance, and this is what should be developed. It’s not about what is said, but how it is said. I see a lot of mature, tolerant responses by people when someone asks a stupid question, sometimes they’re the answer the person was looking for, other times it’s: “Please use the search function or look at other threads before posting.”, but these aren’t the only kinds of responses I see. I also see insults being hurled angrily for no apparent reason, and that’s NOT okay. I’ve found that for the most part, the moderators do a fine job of taking care of things, but a lot of the times people that are not moderators or admins, decide to take matters into their own hands and post hurtful things. The best example I can think of was when someone (unnamed), posted a helpful FAQ and someone else (also unnamed) replied as follows:
"And you didn’t know this?
What the hell… It’s common sense you dolt…"
Is this the kind of response that someone that takes the time to share their knowledge with others deserves?
That’s the major thing, if you feel that a person’s post is unnecessary, then surely a post by you, insulting them and telling them this is FAR more unnecessary. And this is what starts flame wars. If someone posts unnecessary things, the moderators, who are really good at their jobs, will deal with them. For another user to step in and start insulting the poster is disrespectful and unfair. Many times people that have made a post deemed unnecessary did so because they felt that it was a useful, and helpful post. Vigilante justice is not allowed in modern society for a reason, because this ALSO breaks the law, and more often than not, the justice dealt by the vigilante is an injustice.
Anyway… I hope people read this and take it with a grain of salt, because I really don’t like the way things are going, and I don’t like how people are towards me. I realize I’ve made mistakes in the past, but I don’t think I’ve commited such a crime that I should still be persecuted.
To end, if I’ve offended anyone here with my comments, I apologize, it was not my intention to do so, and I hope that over time everyone can find it in them to forgive me, and forgive ALL the others with who they have “beef” with, so that we can be a true community.
Thanks,
Ant
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