VegettoEX wrote:I would just like to say that I don't care if you (general plural "you", there) find us arrogant or ignorant. If that's the case, you're free to simply keep on truckin' and find another place that you enjoy. We'll be sad to see you go, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. I *would*, however, like to point out that no-one's banned simply for not speaking English as their first language. In fact, those who do not have English as their first language tend to type better English than those who natively speak it (see our forum members languages thread for great examples).
It's those that natively speak English and have an absurd disregard for normal grammatical structure (and hey, curiously, they also tend to be the ones with severe attitude problems) that typically end up getting the boot.
Long after this thread has run its course, I'll take the time to post my thoughts:
I used to frequent a DBZ board or two back in the day, but I stopped when I realized the futility of it all. I found myself radically outnumbered wherever I went . . . not by so-called "foreigners" who get banned out of alleged prejudice, but by flaring tempers, holier-than-thou attitudes and a basic lack of structure and purpose . . . and I don't just mean the way people put their sentences together, either. While some boards were at least navigable, others were utter chaos, and usually because the moderators would allow just about anything to happen.
I haven't frequented any of the boards for a long time . . . and I imagine most of the ones I looked in on are long gone, anyway . . . so I could be speaking out of turn based on past experiences. But said experiences have served to keep me from exploring those different avenues again. I wasn't even sure just how much faith I should put into this board when I found it, though it turns out I was pleasantly surprised in the end for a variety of reasons.
I'm not against Oldboy's board or its members, as I know nothing of them; what irks me is this apparent god-given right a person will sometimes wield to judge a board or its moderator he barely knows anything about. Where the hell did this come from, and when?
As for the issue of grammatical nit-picking . . . who cares? It's just one of the things that someone who signs up here needs to get used to, though I suspect that not everyone can. That doesn't make me a better person than any of them; it just makes me different, makes this community different . . . and of course, it isn't as if you aren't warned at the door of that very fact. Or should EX change the name of his website to "Our Boards Strive to Be Different" for the grammatically impaired?
Someone from another board may look down on us and cry out that this board is elitist or egotistical or evil because of its grammar or rules (or rather, the mere presence of either), but why on earth should it matter to a person who makes the decision not to post here in the first place? It's
our place; live and let live. There's a board for everybody, and just because this happens to be the board of choice for some doesn't mean it should be open season on those of us who attend.
I'm not saying that the Dragonball community is comprised of idiots, but somewhere along the line Mike and Julian and everyone else here must have realized that our well-spoken group is a fairly small minority and made the board for that reason. I was twelve once, but that's behind me now; I'm ready to grow up and talk like an adult, and find others who can do the same . . . and now that I've found a place like that, I'm willing to let the moderators be moderators and do as they see fit to maintain the atmosphere of
intellect and camaraderie that caught my interest in the first place.
I've only been around for about six months, but from what I've seen EX tries his best to be fair. He isn't a bigot who goes around deleting random people and doesn't go out of his way to make things difficult . . . but even if he did, who said anything about this being a democracy?
VegettoEX wrote:Normally I don't care who says what about us, but when there's something like this where actual Daizenshuu EX forum members are involved, I take slight issue. "Taste your words to make sure they are palatable before speaking."
Heh. Well put!
