use 43things less, and just for talking about goals only

I’ve got an idea…

i’m going to write down my goals… that way I can look at them and know what I need to get done

Now I know what you’re thinkign “You have 43 for that!” NO! because A) this list is too full of crap and B) 43 is probably not enough for my situation.

So let’s see how this works.

... the real reason I came to this site over two years ago was I thought that if I listed my goals and looked at them daily, posted my thoughts, and received/offered help to/from users, that I could accomplish them much more quickly, and much more efficiently…

Well, it’s worked… somewhat. There are still many dinosaur goals on my list I would like to complete this year. Now, what I didn’t expect was to meet and interact with so many wonderful people on this site, many of whom are or were a huge part of my everyday life. However, lately I’ve been less and less interesting in being here… and this is for various reasons…

One, I don’t need this to consume my life. It’s nice, but I have to concentrate on other outlets… such as actually COMPLETING THESE FRIGGIN’ GOALS…

which brings me to the second reason, which is I’d rather use my time here to just post about my goals, reply to comments left on entries, and offer help to other people when I can. That’s not to say that I won’t engage in the usual stimulating conversation you might be used to seeing… but I feel I should lay off of it when possible, which brings me to another point…

Most people just can’t handle themselves on the net. I don’t care who you are, but this is very difficult to deal with. Someone will read into what you say incorrectly, abuse anything and everything you say to a tee, get offended if you leave them out of something, etc. It’s very hard to convey emotion just through text… some people try to help by displaying an emoticon at the end of their message. ;) which usually let’s the person know you’re not being hostile… and that emoticon makes a HUGE difference.

Now, at the same time, you might take something wrong, or get huffy (and I’ve done this to, especially when I look back at the comment I replied to and thought… “well, I didn’t really need to reply that way huh?”). A trap I need not fall into, so from now on, any comments I deem to be hostile will be ignored or in rare cases… deleted. Don’t take to mean that if I don’t reply to your comment, I think it’s hostile… I simply don’t have as many hours in my day to reply to people anymore.

OK, back to my point… The problem is, people aren’t seeing most people over the net as humans, but as computers. There is a MUCH smaller barrier to saying whatever is on your mind over the internet, but you certainly wouldn’t say it to the same person to their face for fear they will knock your lights out. Emotions seem to run 1,000 times higher over the net because of the lack of that barrier. So if you leave someone out, or give too much attention to another person, or say something offensive… their reaction online would be magnified n-fold to whatever it would be in real life. Well, I’ll have none of it. which is why, on teh community interaction side of things, I’ve been, and will continue to be, keeping a low profile. I don’t need certain things to get to me because I already have so many positive things in my life right now (and negative things, but we don’t need to dwell on those) and I am also at a very integral point in my life where I need to concentrate on making it better…

But this isn’t a “fuck off” message to 43T. Far from it. Although for the people that have simply walked out on the site, I can see why it’s being done. While there are very good people here, who know how to behave themselves… there are still the children, whiny, egotistical, jealous, power-hungry, clique-ish, insulting. I’ve been a member of many many online communities where I have fallen into these traps, and I already have people like this in my life, and I come online to get away from them. So please try to stay away from me if you intend on being these things… or better yet, I’ll just stay away from you. I am truly truly sickened by the behavior of some of the people in this community.

Now, I hope no one gets offended, although I don’t see why since I didn’t name specific names… but if you do, oh well. I don’t care. I posted this for a few reasons 1) to assert my anger towards the state that online communities, particularly “Web 2.0”-style ones like this, have become. 2) as an affront to my feelings on this site in particular, and my intention on not backing down on my beliefs 3) lay down the details of how I am going to be using this site now and in the future 4) because I really felt like posting a long-ass post, and I feel I have to vent, so to speak…

I think to sum it up, I want to stay involved. But not immerse myself, because that can become quite unhealthy…

Comments welcome, as always.