As someone with a ‘fan club’ of my own on here, I have to say that Surf Mat needs to develop a thicker skin if he wants to continue enjoying using internet forums. Speshly if you’re gonna be an outspoken opinionated character.
I’ve crossed swords with Mat a few times, and find him a bit naive and ignorant on certain matters. Maybe he thinks similar of me, I dunno. But I din’t find him a hateful character, and I think he contributed a lot of positive stuff as well, and did seem to want to be helpful to others.
Moist people are actually probbly pretty much like their online personas, as faking it would actually be quite difficult over time, I’d imagine. You’d slip up eventually. There’s playing up for effect, and actually lying, but quite a bit of difference in between.
As for ‘insecure and lacking in self esteem’ I think that could be levelled at loads of people on here. But why should it be seen as something so negative? Jeeze, we’ve all got our own issues. So what if someone isn’t perfect? Who is?
I just take it with a pinch of salt these days. I’ve had heated arguments with folk on here, then got on great with them in real life. Life’s too short to go round hating and bearing grudges. You’re never going to agree with everyone, just accept that we’re all individuals and think differently about stuff.
I’ve learned not to get so wound up by stuff on here. Water off a duck’s back these days, if people try to goad me. I just try to imagine why they are doing what they’re doing, and analyse my own behaviour too. Not always easy, and people aren’t always all that self-aware. The forum can act like a barometer of your own mood and tension; it’s helpful to read stuff back sometimes, see where things might have been a little better handled. A recent dabble on another forum (yes I know, I’m sorry) revealed that quite a number of folk can’t manage introversion, and look to externalise their own anxieties by attacking others. At first I found it amusing, then I started actually feeling sorry for some folk, one in particular. I concluded that I’d been a bit sadistic, and perhaps should have backed off sooner, as it became clear that one person was genuinely angry and wound up. It’s not nice to do that to others, and I regret the whole affair tbh.
See, it’s not just the internets; a forum like this is a community, which people want to belong to. There’s real human beings at the end of each telephone cable. So what if they have big egos? So what if they’re insecure? So what if they don’t measure up to our own exacting standards? Are you perfect?
Look within, before you judge others.
