Harmonic's Guide to Behaving on the Forums

Entry posted by Harmonic Revelations June 27, 2013

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This is a followup to the original Harmonic's Guide to Posting On The Forums (If you haven't read it, please take a moment to do so).

This one comes complete with pictures ( Some that I photoshopped myself to help illustrate my points) and also to make this article look beautiful.

I thought that maybe I skipped some things that really should have been put in there, but really, there were quite a few, so I decided I might as well make it into it's own post.

1.) Don't Make Drama when Leaving the Forums

This is a big one, and I made a joke about it probably yesterday (Maybe the day before that) about me leaving, just to see what would happen if I simply made a status about it. Enough people replied to that status for me to say inconclusively that making a status about it is okay, but not necessary.

You know what's not okay?

Making several blogs, dozens of statuses about leaving, making a post about it, and presumably flying a zeppelin with "GOODBYE" written on it fly over Canada in the hopes that Feldicorn will see it.

Do you know why it's not okay?

It's not okay because about nine out of ten times these users come back in less of a week. I guarantee it's usually because the users did it just for attention, and not because some magical fairy warned them that leaving would spell their impending doom.

Rather, if you're going to leave, do so, but don't turn it into some kind of dramatic grand finale because you're going to make yourself look bad and probably won't actually end up leaving at all. Make one blog post, or (And if it's particularly complicated, perhaps and) a status update, but don't do more than that.

2.) Don't claim other people aren't "Real bronies"

This one particularly bothers me, mainly because when it is said it's usually meant as an insult. Most common topics people say this in are debates about headcanon, opinions on episodes, and opinions on Fan Content (Especially R34 content), and it also bothers me because of how hypocritical it is. Saying something like that proves without a doubt that whoever saying it is immature, and illogical. Two things that haters love to target about the fandom.

By doing this, they are:

A.) Showing all of the tact of a mentally delayed cheeto dust covered comedy writer by targeting someone's personality over a minor difference of opinion.

Not pictured: Brain food

B.) Making sure that any logical person will side with your opponent, maybe even due to your immaturity.

"One day they'll pay, they'll all pay."

______

So what I'm saying is that this is working against your credibility if you think that just because someone disagrees with you they aren't a "Real" member of the fandom.

3.) Don't Fish for Sympathy

It should be noted that I'm not saying "Don't look for someone sympathetic", I'm talking about people who fish for it like they're in a contest to gather the most people to feel bad for you. I'm talking about people who turn everything into a sob story.

I'm talking about the guy who goes into a thread titled "What is your favorite candy?" and says "My entire family was murdered by a roving pack of Chocolate Bars."

"You bastard"

That guy is the worst. The worst part is that for people unfamiliar with people who fish for sympathy, it's hard to tell the difference between these guys and people who are legitimately sorrowful. Which is bad because it then makes it harder to actually help people who need it.

If I had to make a metaphor, it would be like a building collapsing and then a hundred people hiding themselves in the wreckage so that the emergency crews would have to look through all of them instead of those legitimately injured.

4.) Don't argue unless you intend to prove your point

This is a big one. Don't get into an argument unless you actually have some kind of evidence to back you up. There is no way to embarrass yourself more easily than going into an argument, actually starting to win using logic and reason, and then having nothing to drive your point home with because you had no point in the first place.

You might know what I'm talking about, for example, people who argue about things that can't be proven.

"Yes, Bell Bottoms are still in style on Saturn!"