Seriously, Erik, as always, you make pithy observations with the utmost style. I very much appreciate being able to play in the playground that Tech and Admin have built. I've been fortunate to write with you and others in some of those stories which took a grander scope than wrestling and fighting. And I get to have the wrestling and fighting too, not to mention the cyber sex. Seems like a great arrangement to me.
Many of us have also taken the playthings left for us to turn our stories from smash-and-bash transcripts to almost the level of graphic novels, with formatting, illustrations, and even video and music clips.
What I saw in the latest controversy/major change that many of the most vocal critics of the bifurcation was that it interfered with how they chose to interact in someone else's playground, with an entitled disregard for how others did - or wanted to - experience the site. (For the record, I have been having a MUCH better experience since the split.)
So cut the goddam cake!
Zeuscentauro (deleted member)
2022-12-25 16:58
Amen to this post.
Musclepunch (deleted member)
2022-12-23 00:21
Agreed. There are no guarantees in life and to gripe about changes to the site we may dislike doesn't help. Constructive criticism? Potentially helpful. To bitch just for the sake of bitching? Get out.
ErikAtlas (deleted member)
2022-12-23 00:10
TLDR - You do not deserve birthday cake.
I actually told those words to my son when he was five. He cried for a half hour. It was one of the hardest lessons I have ever had to deliver. We were actually 5 months away from his birthday so there really wasn't a huge build of expectation here. He still took it hard. Eventually I asked him why he was crying. "You said I'm not getting any more burthday cake."
"I said no such thing." He looked at me like I was the worst liar. "I was talking about what you deserve, not what you will likely get." he was solidly confused. I asked. "Why do you get birthday cake in the first place?"
"Because people love me?"
"Do you think that's changed since this morning? Did you do something that might have changed my love for you?"
"No..."
"Exactly. Nothing has changed. I expect you will get birthday cake. So what did I mean when I said you don't deserve it?" Of course he stared at me hoping I would stop fucking with him and get to the point. Honest, this is an Atlas kid and comes with the same temperament I have. I explained “No one has a right to Birthday Cake. You get it because people love you, not because you have a right. Same with Christmas. Same with any holiday. There is no right to it. No one gets to vote on it. All you can do to influence this is to behave in a way that makes sure people want to be around you. Then you will be surprised when presents show up."
I could see the lights go on in his eyes. "Oh my gawd, my friends are little brats." He said that and I had to laugh. I suggested to him his friends have been misled into believing something that isn't true, not an actual choice to be brats. He realized this understanding takes thought. "This is work," he said.
Ain't it just.
I am deeply enjoying my birthday cake right now, the metaphor. What Tech and Admin built here (my birthday cake) is far beyond my expectations of what cyber could ever be. We have achieved stories of huge scope. We meet each other in safety. There's always a flow of new people. But here’s the true thing, they didn't build Chatfighters for my use. They like cyber. They like making money. Maybe they have a personal fetish for tantrums. Whatever it is, we don't get to vote on it. We don't get to demand things. There is no majority rule.
In teaching my son, I have to explain some things that are a bit crazy about America and the World. We lionize freedom, but use it to preserve tyranny. Yes we do. Example. I will support your right to free speech, but you step into my house - my house my rules. I will defend that personal tyranny and if you offend me you must leave. If you insult me to my face, that response might get worse. (If you want to go to the back room with the red door where the moaning sounds come from, just ask, but don’t have expectations there either. My house, my rules) This is my personal tyranny and it’s not just tolerated here, it’s celebrated here.
It’s the same with your employer. They’re spending money, to make an operation, to make money. They don’t love you. They may love you at some point. But that’s not required. They have their rules and they will enact consequences when you fail them. They will lobby for laws that make them more money. They fight anything that gets in the way of that.
The arena of science. We don’t vote on that either. We don’t vote to decide whether there’s such a thing as Magnetar radiation from dying stars. But somehow they want to vote on whether covid kills people and we need to do something. (Hint: when the cure involves all businesses shutting down for a month, those businesses are already trained and ready to fight you - they've been doing it all the time. Expect they will say anything to protect their profits. It doesn’t have to be morally correct or consistent with their previous statements, or make sense or even be slightly true. It’s aimed at saving them money and securing their business. To them, they are not lying because they never intended to tell the whole truth ever. No advertiser does. No religion does. No political bent does. They are trying to compel you to their way of thinking and adopt it as truth. Period.) Personal Tyranny.
Tech and Admin built Chatfighters. It will be whatever they choose it to be. They do not have to salute your flags and sing your anthems. They will not call a meeting in their ready room. They are gracious enough to take input.
I am sure many of you remember Yahoo and how we did cyber there for many years surviving all of their indifferent policy changes and eventual corporate suicide, with no face to ever lodge a complaint or suggestion. Tech and Admin have a face we can speak to and lodge objections and they will listen and respond. They spend a lot of their lives doing it, time they won’t get back ever.
You do not deserve birthday cake.
Sometimes you get it.
Say thank you and make a wish already.
Candle out.
TobiasK (deleted member)
2022-12-29 03:12stomps my foot I want my f'ing cake, Atlas!!!
Seriously, Erik, as always, you make pithy observations with the utmost style. I very much appreciate being able to play in the playground that Tech and Admin have built. I've been fortunate to write with you and others in some of those stories which took a grander scope than wrestling and fighting. And I get to have the wrestling and fighting too, not to mention the cyber sex. Seems like a great arrangement to me.
Many of us have also taken the playthings left for us to turn our stories from smash-and-bash transcripts to almost the level of graphic novels, with formatting, illustrations, and even video and music clips.
What I saw in the latest controversy/major change that many of the most vocal critics of the bifurcation was that it interfered with how they chose to interact in someone else's playground, with an entitled disregard for how others did - or wanted to - experience the site. (For the record, I have been having a MUCH better experience since the split.)
So cut the goddam cake!
Zeuscentauro (deleted member)
2022-12-25 16:58Amen to this post.
Musclepunch (deleted member)
2022-12-23 00:21Agreed. There are no guarantees in life and to gripe about changes to the site we may dislike doesn't help. Constructive criticism? Potentially helpful. To bitch just for the sake of bitching? Get out.
ErikAtlas (deleted member)
2022-12-23 00:10TLDR - You do not deserve birthday cake.
I actually told those words to my son when he was five. He cried for a half hour. It was one of the hardest lessons I have ever had to deliver. We were actually 5 months away from his birthday so there really wasn't a huge build of expectation here. He still took it hard. Eventually I asked him why he was crying. "You said I'm not getting any more burthday cake."
"I said no such thing." He looked at me like I was the worst liar. "I was talking about what you deserve, not what you will likely get." he was solidly confused. I asked. "Why do you get birthday cake in the first place?"
"Because people love me?"
"Do you think that's changed since this morning? Did you do something that might have changed my love for you?"
"No..."
"Exactly. Nothing has changed. I expect you will get birthday cake. So what did I mean when I said you don't deserve it?" Of course he stared at me hoping I would stop fucking with him and get to the point. Honest, this is an Atlas kid and comes with the same temperament I have. I explained “No one has a right to Birthday Cake. You get it because people love you, not because you have a right. Same with Christmas. Same with any holiday. There is no right to it. No one gets to vote on it. All you can do to influence this is to behave in a way that makes sure people want to be around you. Then you will be surprised when presents show up."
I could see the lights go on in his eyes. "Oh my gawd, my friends are little brats." He said that and I had to laugh. I suggested to him his friends have been misled into believing something that isn't true, not an actual choice to be brats. He realized this understanding takes thought. "This is work," he said.
Ain't it just.
I am deeply enjoying my birthday cake right now, the metaphor. What Tech and Admin built here (my birthday cake) is far beyond my expectations of what cyber could ever be. We have achieved stories of huge scope. We meet each other in safety. There's always a flow of new people. But here’s the true thing, they didn't build Chatfighters for my use. They like cyber. They like making money. Maybe they have a personal fetish for tantrums. Whatever it is, we don't get to vote on it. We don't get to demand things. There is no majority rule.
In teaching my son, I have to explain some things that are a bit crazy about America and the World. We lionize freedom, but use it to preserve tyranny. Yes we do. Example. I will support your right to free speech, but you step into my house - my house my rules. I will defend that personal tyranny and if you offend me you must leave. If you insult me to my face, that response might get worse. (If you want to go to the back room with the red door where the moaning sounds come from, just ask, but don’t have expectations there either. My house, my rules) This is my personal tyranny and it’s not just tolerated here, it’s celebrated here.
It’s the same with your employer. They’re spending money, to make an operation, to make money. They don’t love you. They may love you at some point. But that’s not required. They have their rules and they will enact consequences when you fail them. They will lobby for laws that make them more money. They fight anything that gets in the way of that.
The arena of science. We don’t vote on that either. We don’t vote to decide whether there’s such a thing as Magnetar radiation from dying stars. But somehow they want to vote on whether covid kills people and we need to do something. (Hint: when the cure involves all businesses shutting down for a month, those businesses are already trained and ready to fight you - they've been doing it all the time. Expect they will say anything to protect their profits. It doesn’t have to be morally correct or consistent with their previous statements, or make sense or even be slightly true. It’s aimed at saving them money and securing their business. To them, they are not lying because they never intended to tell the whole truth ever. No advertiser does. No religion does. No political bent does. They are trying to compel you to their way of thinking and adopt it as truth. Period.) Personal Tyranny.
Tech and Admin built Chatfighters. It will be whatever they choose it to be. They do not have to salute your flags and sing your anthems. They will not call a meeting in their ready room. They are gracious enough to take input.
I am sure many of you remember Yahoo and how we did cyber there for many years surviving all of their indifferent policy changes and eventual corporate suicide, with no face to ever lodge a complaint or suggestion. Tech and Admin have a face we can speak to and lodge objections and they will listen and respond. They spend a lot of their lives doing it, time they won’t get back ever.
You do not deserve birthday cake.
Sometimes you get it.
Say thank you and make a wish already.
Candle out.