Guild Wars 2

I thought I would share this…

http://jaredrea.com/post/81402175490/the-world-inside-of-my-pocket

It’s easy to get caught up in the drama online. In an environment where everyone posts their opinion anonymously, it’s all too easy to forget the people you’re talking to are real people. It’s one thing to be frustrated or even angry, it’s quite another when you start to lose control and forget your humanity, or that of the people you are communicating with.

Certainly there are a few who won’t even venture so far as to read this full post, or even that of the blog, and it’s the unfortunate nature of the internet. I do hope that at least some will and reign themselves in.

I do not think the majority of you here truly intend to be cruel or to hurt people, but that anonymity makes it so easy because you don’t have to see the effects of how deeply your comments can wound someone. The next time you go to write something, take a step back and read it out loud in the tone you intended. Ask yourself, if this were someone close to you, a friend, a significant other, a family member, or someone you respect saying these words to you, how would it make you feel?

If it’s not appropriate in that context, if it would hurt your feelings(or theirs), then you probably shouldn’t post it.

I appreciate this post as well as the one in the link you shared. Although very true, I feel that what complete strangers say to you, or think of you, shouldn’t be something you let bother you. Sure, these people can provide helpful advice, but that should be the only thing you allow them to do. I suppose it’s all subjective, everything in life is, really. I feel that if someone has something negative to say, you can either take it personally or you can take it constructively. Why be hurt by something someone has said that you’ve never met, probably never will, and that often times has said something that has nothing to do with your question?
Again, it’s all subjective. This is simply how I feel about the matter.

Either way, people are able to say some very cruel things. Especially through the internet where the only thing that gives them any form of identity is their username. It’s an unfortunate realm our world has created but it’s not something we can readily change with the flick of a switch or even with years of hard work. Beginning with yourself is the best way to resolve this problem. So don’t let people hurt you that have no idea how to step outside their own shoes.

Also, as far as having people constantly harass you goes such as what was mentioned in the link you posted, that’s something famous, or borderline famous people have to deal with, not every day people. If someone is harassing you you can block them and that should hopefully be the end of that. When ever someone is being explicitly cruel to you you should never allow yourself to endure it, these people should be silenced (I’m not saying punished, although to a degree perhaps they should) and no longer allowed to communicate with you. You can’t reason with ignorance.

Anyway, I enjoyed this post although it will probably be deleted as it has nothing to do with the game. Take care and I’ll leave you with a quote of mine;

Life is about choice, and everything you do is a result of the decisions you’ve made. There are no wrong answers, there are no bad people, only actions and images which each person will interpret differently.

Maybe this is just the aspergers talking, but whenever I post anything on the internet, I know very well that there is a person behind the screen. The way I act on these forums is the same way I act IRL, and I have acted this way since long before I became accustomed to the internet.

There are evil people out there. As much as I’d like to pretend that every scrap of condemnation towards me and what I stand for are just inconsequential whispers in the wind, the fact is that this is not true. There is a principle in business of proportional representation: the idea that since the vast majority of the public are silent, the few people who send in letters of complaint or negative feedback in truth represent thousands each.

It seems farfetched, until you notice that what the youtube comment trolls yell about under random videos is the same stuff that members of congress and influential businesses believe. I draw ire regularly from people I’ve never even met, because they are under the same bigoted, paranoid, or stupid notions that most people just ignore on the web. You can’t really ignore these people when they are in your face. It is kind of a funny thing when grad students with degrees in physics and engineering are philosophically indistinguishable from 12 year olds who troll for attention on popular websites, largely because no one has ever bothered to tell them otherwise.

For evil men to succeed, it is only necessary for good men to do nothing.

As for GW2, I made a post about this subject awhile ago. Its pretty big, so I’ll just link to it there: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Collaborative-Development/page/3#post2991656

In short, monsters don’t deserve respect. Any given is purely out of charity, and this charity is often wasted and detrimental to everyone else.

I notice that the blogger doesn’t specify whether (during working hours) he uses his Twitter account to communicate with his employer’s customers, or to talk about his employer’s products. If he does, then he can’t really complain if some people on a worldwide service don’t adhere to his personal office hours.

Flowers. I only see pretty flowers and rainbows and unicorns everywhere.

Then again, so does this guy:

This is the price of “staying connected”. I never got into social media. I’ve never had a Myspace or a Facebook. I’ve never even looked at Twitter before. I don’t have a Tumblr account. Hell, I’ve never even considered the idea of using a dating website. I think the entire concept of telling people what you’re doing with your daily lives outside of your immediate friends and family is dumb. I don’t care what a random strangers accomplishments and woes are.

Basically what I’m saying is, if you throw your personal information out there willingly, expect someone to do something with it. I’m really surprised when people suddenly realize that there are people out there that will do this. I grew up during the era of never talk to strangers. It was drilled into my head by my parents, teachers, neighbors, everyone. Never. Talk. To. Strangers. I guess at some point during this dot com boom people forgot that lesson. Seems like people have to relearn it all over again. Online is no different than the real world.

Hi everyone,

Despite the fact that this discussion is constructive, we’ll now close it since it is not related to Guild Wars 2 or its universe.

Thank you for your understanding.