tiltjlp
PN co-founder
We've all heard, and many of us have said, that the VP community has gone downhill since it's inception five years ago. I've only been arounf for two years come fall, but I will say that it has changed. Now VP is my only experience with an online community, so I have some questions to pose. And of course I have some opinions and observations to, but I wonder if the community really needs healing.
Yes, there are problems and issues, but real life communityies have these too. And yes, we have some folks with huge egos which get bruised, and they don't always react the way may of us feel they should. But again, I see this is real life. So my main question is this, is an online community really much different than any other community, other than we don't always know as many personal details about each other?
All the elements of a standard community are here, I believe. Real, solid friendships and trust, honest dislike and mistrust, honesty and trickery, altruistic attitudes and selfish motives, power struggles and selfless and caring service, falling outs and patching things up. Maybe the one differing factor is that here we visit each other daily, where in real life we seldom see everyone in our community every single day. That along is what I think the problem is, we're available to one another every single day, so we might not value each other as much as we should.
Sure, we pat each other on the back when our tables are released. Some of us even team up with partners to work on projects. And once in a while a thread will be started that pays tribute to certain members who seem to be tireless in their dedication to not only making tables and helping with scripting problems, but have taken leadership roles. At VPFF, there is a thread like that about Destruk, and yes, he should be thanked for all he has done. But as he himself pointed out, he didn't do it alone. Not that he doesn't rate the praise, because he surely does.
So maybe the one thing missing from our online community is heart. A heart would allow us to ignore those who irritate the socks off of us. A heart would allow us to realize that we all have weaknesses, and that we need to show a little understanding and commpassion. And I'm not tlking about Kinsey now. There have been bash-o-ramas directed at other folks who may or may not have deserved it. And one continues.
Wrench has made more tables than anyone else, and he will admit that they aren't all, or maybe any, masterpieces among them. In a way he's even been blamed for IRP removing originals from their site. But that part is BS, I think. Originals weren't removed because of how many tables IRP hosted, but because of the volumn of downloads. So if Wrench's work is as horrible as some say, they would also not be very popular, and not be downloaded very often. But that isn't the issue. Wrench is simply doing what we all try to do, enjoy himself. So why knock him?
I've played some of his tables, and as with any other author, some I did like, alot, and some I didn't care for at all. But there are a few things I do like about Wrench. His release stories are wonderful and creative, the man is a talented writer. He has never, as far as I have seen, said anything against anyone, unless something was said to or about him first. I'll admit, I didn't really care for Wrench at first, and we joined VPF at the same time. But I do like him now, and not only because I find him entertaining. In my opinion, Wrench is a plus for VP.
Another problem I see, is that some of us aren't willing to meet the other person half way and yes, I can be that way sometimes. But I'm usually willing to change if I realize I'm wrong. A good example is PacDude, or simply Dude as I call him now. At first I couldn't stand him at all, even to the point of starting a hasty PM flame war with him, which if I hadn't had the sense to end, would have rightfully gotten me banned.
Now I won't lie and tell you Dude is my favorite person in VP. But I can tell you that I eventually sent him a PM apologizing for starting all that junk with him. And I did something else. I began to read his sometimes seemingly endless posts with an open mind. Yes, Dude is full of himself, and is an egoist, and won't let a topic drop, but a lot of what he says is right. And we get along well enough that when I asked for permission to experiment and maybe use one of his invisible ramps for one of my tables, he said yes.
Now don't think that I'm a saint, because those fames to Dude prove otherwise, and besides that's not my point. My point is that if I can see that I'm not always right, and that sometimes I misjudge people, maybe I'm not the only one in VP that needs to lighten up. So rather than focusing on what is wrong with VP, I'm like us all to reflect a bit and see what each of us might be able to do to make it better. And it doesn't take a group effort to start making improvements. I think we all need to try to improve our little corner of VP, since that's really the only part we have any influence over. Let's stop worrying about the past. Whatever Kinsey did or didn't do, that's history, and no amount of fussing about it can trun back the clock.
Do, I guess this all boils down to a pair of questions. How can our VP community be improved? What can and will you do yourself to help the community to improve? And since this is my post, I am imposing one rule. No dredging up old history. If we focus on tomorrow, next week, and next month, maybe we cn make a difference.
John
Yes, there are problems and issues, but real life communityies have these too. And yes, we have some folks with huge egos which get bruised, and they don't always react the way may of us feel they should. But again, I see this is real life. So my main question is this, is an online community really much different than any other community, other than we don't always know as many personal details about each other?
All the elements of a standard community are here, I believe. Real, solid friendships and trust, honest dislike and mistrust, honesty and trickery, altruistic attitudes and selfish motives, power struggles and selfless and caring service, falling outs and patching things up. Maybe the one differing factor is that here we visit each other daily, where in real life we seldom see everyone in our community every single day. That along is what I think the problem is, we're available to one another every single day, so we might not value each other as much as we should.
Sure, we pat each other on the back when our tables are released. Some of us even team up with partners to work on projects. And once in a while a thread will be started that pays tribute to certain members who seem to be tireless in their dedication to not only making tables and helping with scripting problems, but have taken leadership roles. At VPFF, there is a thread like that about Destruk, and yes, he should be thanked for all he has done. But as he himself pointed out, he didn't do it alone. Not that he doesn't rate the praise, because he surely does.
So maybe the one thing missing from our online community is heart. A heart would allow us to ignore those who irritate the socks off of us. A heart would allow us to realize that we all have weaknesses, and that we need to show a little understanding and commpassion. And I'm not tlking about Kinsey now. There have been bash-o-ramas directed at other folks who may or may not have deserved it. And one continues.
Wrench has made more tables than anyone else, and he will admit that they aren't all, or maybe any, masterpieces among them. In a way he's even been blamed for IRP removing originals from their site. But that part is BS, I think. Originals weren't removed because of how many tables IRP hosted, but because of the volumn of downloads. So if Wrench's work is as horrible as some say, they would also not be very popular, and not be downloaded very often. But that isn't the issue. Wrench is simply doing what we all try to do, enjoy himself. So why knock him?
I've played some of his tables, and as with any other author, some I did like, alot, and some I didn't care for at all. But there are a few things I do like about Wrench. His release stories are wonderful and creative, the man is a talented writer. He has never, as far as I have seen, said anything against anyone, unless something was said to or about him first. I'll admit, I didn't really care for Wrench at first, and we joined VPF at the same time. But I do like him now, and not only because I find him entertaining. In my opinion, Wrench is a plus for VP.
Another problem I see, is that some of us aren't willing to meet the other person half way and yes, I can be that way sometimes. But I'm usually willing to change if I realize I'm wrong. A good example is PacDude, or simply Dude as I call him now. At first I couldn't stand him at all, even to the point of starting a hasty PM flame war with him, which if I hadn't had the sense to end, would have rightfully gotten me banned.
Now I won't lie and tell you Dude is my favorite person in VP. But I can tell you that I eventually sent him a PM apologizing for starting all that junk with him. And I did something else. I began to read his sometimes seemingly endless posts with an open mind. Yes, Dude is full of himself, and is an egoist, and won't let a topic drop, but a lot of what he says is right. And we get along well enough that when I asked for permission to experiment and maybe use one of his invisible ramps for one of my tables, he said yes.
Now don't think that I'm a saint, because those fames to Dude prove otherwise, and besides that's not my point. My point is that if I can see that I'm not always right, and that sometimes I misjudge people, maybe I'm not the only one in VP that needs to lighten up. So rather than focusing on what is wrong with VP, I'm like us all to reflect a bit and see what each of us might be able to do to make it better. And it doesn't take a group effort to start making improvements. I think we all need to try to improve our little corner of VP, since that's really the only part we have any influence over. Let's stop worrying about the past. Whatever Kinsey did or didn't do, that's history, and no amount of fussing about it can trun back the clock.
Do, I guess this all boils down to a pair of questions. How can our VP community be improved? What can and will you do yourself to help the community to improve? And since this is my post, I am imposing one rule. No dredging up old history. If we focus on tomorrow, next week, and next month, maybe we cn make a difference.
John
ad4: 
, yet.............. 
