Opinions are like assholes, everybody has them! G'day folks, Macca here with a little wordy article. Recently on a forum, a friend of mine decided to share his opinion on the hobby, which also happened to belittle a person. The fallout was very noticeable from this incident, and I wanted to share some of my own thoughts on the do's and do not's of good hobbying.
The Golden Rules:
1) Whenever you share any opinion in this hobby that makes fun of someone or something, you will be perceived as in the wrong. Don't argue with this, just accept it.
2) The best thing to do, is to is to quietly back away from the topic. Go somewhere else, and let your nerd rage cool off.
Some Examples?
When on one forum, I was forever seeing a group of gamers who would post rules questions. You know the type, "what does a bolter do" or "how do I move". Basic questions that anyone who has read the rules or had any games should know. After a while, I decided to open my mouth, well, not actually my mouth, I made the now-infamous flow chart:
So, where did I go wrong? Well, first of all, whilst humorously
intentioned, the people who felt it was directed against them felt that
it was putting them down. Thus, I was an elitist, and a jerk. I failed
rule number 1. If I hadn't have posted it, I would have still been on
that forum, as myself and several others all got the banhammer for that
one. Thus, I should have followed rule 2.
Another time, I was on a page that didn't allow any reference to blogs, websites, specific painters or any some such. If we chose to upload a photo with a watermark, it got pulled. Needless to say, one day an argument broke out on the page, with people complaining about their work being stolen etc. I understood the reasons why the page had the rule, they didn't want to just be a page where people only came to advertise their own shit, aka "Joe Blogs Commission Fuck Job, you pay, we fuck your miniature." (I might copyright that name...)
Anyway, point was, I didn't agree with the admins, they felt I was disrespecting their power base despite me playing the middle man, so guess what happened to me? I got booted from that forum too!
So Can I Actually Comment On Anything?
Yes! Of course you can! However, there are a few things to take into account:
-The circumstances. Maybe this hobbyist is doing what they are doing because it's all they can do. They didn't have the bits to convert marines with close combat weapons, so they used ork arms. It's ugly, but give the guy a break, this hobby costs a lot of money and not everyone has it.
-Their experience. They post up a picture captioned "really proud of this model", but when you look at it, it's like your 4 year olds' drawing of a cat, it looks nothing like it should. Seriously, who the fuck draws a pink cat with 7 legs?
-Will your comment provide actual feedback that will improve them?
-Will you provide positive criticism? Aka something better than "you paint like shit, burn your brushes and punch your mum for having you."
If your comment doesn't actually do any of the above, then it's probably best to apply golden rule number 2, because sure as the pope shits in the woods, it's going to bite you on the ass as per golden rule number 1.
Also, a quick point is the way in which you word your answer. Yes, for myself, I can put a miniature up and get told by my mates "looks shit fuckhead", but I know they really only mean it is half-shit and that I should burn it. Now, that's fine with my friends, but if I go on some random forum and post nice work asshole", I'm 99.99% sure that I will probably cop the torch and pitch fork treatment.
I guess it can all be summed up as:
Don't be a dick.
So, the overall article here may be a bit boring, but I do think it has some valid points, specifically the two golden rules. I am still on the slow road to shutting my mouth, so I can personally vouch for how hard it is to shut up, but I am sticking with it. Yes, I have some very strong opinions, but they are best expressed in a well thought-out manner in a forum like this, as opposed to a shit throwing competition with trolls on BOLS or Facebook.
Do you agree? Let me know below, in fact, I encourage you to share stories of where you failed the golden rules, or where someone else did. Just be sure to keep it courteous, and remember that 'Joe Blogs Commission Fuck Job' is taken.
~Macca
Totally agree! (I mean, no i don't, you're shit and you should feel bad!)
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, definitely swings both ways. You can be just as much of a dick by overreacting to something as when you're being a jerkoff and insulting people.
That said, that flowchart is the best thing I've seen. I honestly think it's worth the ban.
It was ;)
DeleteI agree with what you have said there Macca i think it can be summed up in this way as someone said on Goulburn Buy Swap or sell " If you have nothing nice to say don't say shit"
ReplyDeletePretty much. Or you can say a negative so long as they can see a very obvious positive hidden inside. If they paint horribly and chunky, say "I like your choice of colours, but if I could recommend one thing, it would be to thin your colours more. At first it will be frustrating as the colours won't always appear think enough, but with time you will see massive improvements in your technique."
DeleteI avoid forums these days. Got tired of trolls and whining about GW.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for whining, just so long as people offer feasible improvements, something better than 'GW is shit, because I like Warmachine'. If they instead say: "GW has continuously given customer relations a wide berth when it comes to raising issues in the area of balance or feedback, however they do have an excellent shipping and returns policy, which ironically wouldn't be as prevalent if they had not failed so spectacularly with the finecast range."
DeleteAt least here you say positives, as well as negatives, as well as pointing out the irony in a specific process. Of course I could write a whole essay on what GW's done wrong (indeed I have written a whole essay on it!) however, it serves the point.
Nice article, too many people take comments personally and too many haters.
ReplyDelete