Or so it has been said. I don't really look at sites other than my own unless it's something to read in my RSS feed, or on Digg, but Walt forwarded me a link to some Geauga Lake fan site where apparently me, Walt and Dick Kinzel are all sleeping together and party with Satan. It's all pretty hilarious.
This one kid (I shouldn't assume he's a kid, since there are plenty of really screwed up adults too), thinks that I had it out for him or that I was worried about his site competing with mine or something. He used some acronym for it that I can't even make into something remotely familiar. The guy said Kinzel reads the forums and hates the negativity. I suggested to Walt that someone should tell him Kinzel has his e-mail printed on paper by his secretary, but Walt said it probably wouldn't make a difference.
Clearly the guy puts a lot of weight in his online life, which is fine for him I suppose, but that's not how everyone rolls. The real world, where human beings interact face to face, is still the one where most people exist. I mean, my day job is all about what goes on electronically, but when I finally leave it, do you think I'll remember the code or the people I work with? That guy isn't even a blip on my radar, but the words in a discussion forum are apparently his reality.
Culturally we're in a strange limbo, at least among people under 40. More and more people, it seems, spend a huge amount of time worrying about how many friends they have on MySpace, how many Twitters they watch and having IM available to them 24/7. I don't get that. I personally want less of that, not more! There's something to be said for face to face conversation, having a beer with someone, hanging out around a campfire, having sex, etc. Even solo interaction with the environment is more rewarding, whether it's reading on your deck or seeing the sunset on the Pacific ocean.
The whole thing reminds me of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, where the duo travels around the country beating up people who think they suck. That's some hilarious commentary on the way things are. "You are the ball lickers!" :)
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to plot out who I'm going to hate next.
I read that thread today and just sat there shaking my head. Even people responding who I know are well into their 20's are so friggin' clueless.
You can't debate with them (to them it's an argument), and they can't see beyond their own beliefs. The whole conspiracy theory and the fact some of these people actually think you have such a love relationship with Cedar Fair and Kinzel just crack me up.
It's even more amazing that they really think you >care enough about their drivel as to honor them by hating them. People like that don't realize some of us have real lives, even the illustrious webmaster because, as you said, their entire lives are wrapped up in the internet.
But, I'm finding the entire internet is filled with people like that. I was on a MUCK for 14 years and played an old grumpy panther that carried a cane used to thwap people who did a global *hug*. I'd had the automatic response set up for 12 of those 14 years with no problems. Then one day a wiz asked me to remove the response because it was "too violent to people who were only trying to be friendly". I killed off the character and haven't been back.
The scary part is many of these people are like this off the internet as well.
I've been accused of not being able to see beyond my own beliefs either. But I'd like to think I live in the realm of the plausible and reality.
I say it all the time that people read/see what they want to. How many times have I said Kinzel is a micromanager who is way overdue for retirement? I've said the company failed big time. I guess that's still not as exciting as theorizing conspiracies.
More than anything, I'm wondering when "disagreement" suddenly became "telling someone else what to think" - because that's a new line of hate towards you and CB in general that baffles me.
There was a nice period of tranquility, but the "I hate Jeff" and "I hate CB" people seem to be coming out of the woodwork again questioning the way the site is run and making the sarcastic comments.
Sigh. I feel for you. :)
Jeff and I have always seemed to play Good Cop / Bad Cop on PointBuzz, so this is new territory for me. :)
I don't make debates personal, but there are apparently some who do. That is regrettable. Most of the name calling is typical Internet muck, but there are a few who seem unable to get past some self-generated grudge. I honestly feel bad for them.
I'm reminded of one example of that. There was a PointBuzz user who was removed for a very inappropriate personal attack on another member (laughably, he/she was convinced it was because we disagreed with him/her - that myth gets really old). Over the next month, at least three additional PointBuzz accounts were created to do nothing more than troll - third grade stuff, from an adult, no less. If that wasn't bad enough, other message boards were treated to opinions on PointBuzz ad nauseam. One community finally got tired of hearing "PointBuzz" come up in completely unrelated discussions and called the user out on it. Naturally, it lead to *that* board being labeled by this person as a bunch of jerks as well. Isn't it fun? :)
Oddly, this all turns out to be a somewhat interesting observation on human interaction. I'm sure there's at least a chapter about it in some psychology textbook.