Excuse the following rant - it's hardly the ideal way to bring my blog back to life, but I need to vent a little and I figure this is the safest option since people presumably won't bother reading my blog if they don't actually like me .
Sheesh... what a lovely "welcome back to RO" PM to find in my inbox >.> (from a member who joined shortly before I resurfaced)
I'm leaving this site because of you. You're everywhere I turn on this board. No one can say anything without you having to add your bit. You're like a 'know it all stalker' here.
As an added touch, the message title was accompanied by a big red thumbs-down emoticon.
I get it, you think I suck. Guess what?
That feeling just became mutual >.>
Oh, and I love the complete lack of both details and
constructive criticism - blanket accusations are always welcomed and helpful feedback!
I attempted to send this response:
Is there something wrong with doing my best to help? It's not like I go around telling everyone else they're wrong or trying to shove my opinions down peoples' throats - I'm quick to agree to disagree in the majority of cases and unless I've got a lot of research to back what I'm recommending, I phrase things as simply being my opinion or my thoughts on something. I know I can be overly-chatty at times, but that's just my personality - I talk a lot and I've been spending a lot of time on RO lately. No one else has ever complained about it so I assume if I bother anyone, they simply choose to ignore me.
If your goal here is to make me feel guilty for genuinely trying to help people, it's not going to succeed. Why? Because it's silly to leave a community you otherwise like because one person's posts rub you the wrong way when you could simply disregard that person's posts instead. After all, it's not like I've been going around personally addressing or criticizing you.
[There was a little bit more to the message, as I had thought of a single potential misunderstanding which I attempted to politely explain - if my post was misinterpreted as being at all directed towards theirs, it would've been because I left the thread open for quite a while and then posted without refreshing it first (meaning I didn't even see their post before submitting mine). I've omitted that bit, as the specifics it gave would defeat the point of removing the PM author's name from their quoted message - just because I need to vent a bit doesn't mean I should call the person out by name publicly.]
...only to find that I'd been placed on ignore.
Since when is it a crime to be chatty??
I rarely disagree with people and when I do - especially if it's on a public forum - I strive to have facts that support my side and to disagree as diplomatically as possible. I may not always succeed but if I have something very snarky to say, I'll at least say it privately. I never try to instigate arguments on the forum - if I rub someone the wrong way with a post, it certainly wasn't deliberate. I would *never* make personal attacks on anyone no matter how much I disagree with them. I do my absolute best to get along with everyone but I completely understand that not everyone will get along with me... and if I know I bother someone, I'll even try to avoid posting anywhere that could strike up a conflict with them - I'd rather keep my mouth shut than start drama on the forums because god knows no one else wants to get dragged into that.
I also spend a lot of time going out of my way to help, frequently doing extra research just to make sure I'm giving the best answers I possibly can... simply because I love bunnies and truly want to help other bunny slaves by sharing any knowledge and experience I've gained in my almost year and a half with Nala and Gaz. I'm always open to learning new things and willing to consider evidence that suggests I'm wrong about something. I strive not to phrase my posts as absolutes (unless I specifically state the "absolute" as being my own
personal opinion or I have research to back it up and know that the information I'm providing is widely accepted/very unlikely to be contested), leaving room for opinions that disagree with mine.
As much as I feel I'm entitled to my own opinions, I feel equally strongly that everyone else is entitled to theirs. On occasion, I even try to help two dissenting opinions understand each other better -
in this thread, for example (from the linked post to the bottom of that page), I saw a potential rift forming between breeders/pet owners and attempted to explain my take on why the two groups do certain things VERY differently and why those differences
don't equate to different qualities of care. The whole breeders vs "pet people" issue can get pretty volatile around here - I honestly think a lot of it comes down to people not realizing that the hay on their own side of the fence isn't always better, it's just a different cut
... so, I made an attempt to diffuse things by trying to mediate. While I didn't do a perfect job, I felt like I helped at least a little bit to derail the potential drama by attempting to look at things from both sides.
Yet, despite all that, I'm apparently offending someone simply by being very active and chatty on the forums. Odd, since I always thought that chatting was the main purpose of forums.
~~~~~
I would NEVER send someone a PM like the one I got tonight, as I was raised to believe it's rude to criticize and judge someone's personality so harshly (especially since it's not something one can just magically change about themselves even if they want to).
While we're at it, I think it's unreasonable and just plain asinine to inform someone (who hasn't deliberately provoked you, no less) that they're a massive problem while simultaneously denying them any opportunity to try to work things out (by putting them on ignore even as you send them a message).
That PM is tantamount to saying "By simply being yourself, you ruin this
entire forum for me, so I'm going to throw a temper-tantrum at you and then stomp off like a little kid." Wouldn't it make far more sense to use a
tactful approach and at least attempt to come to an understanding of sorts with the other person that makes it possible for the two of you to coexist peacefully on the same online forum?
Is it wrong of me to think that the person in question needs to get over themselves and learn to disregard my posts if they dislike me so damn much instead of blaming me for ruining the forum and then stomping off?
After all, just because I talk too much sometimes doesn't mean anyone else is obligated to actually listen!
/rant... *sigh*