A BIG thank you

Ok, so I'm going to tell you something, but please understand it's NOT meant to garner sympathy. My father died over the weekend. And the last few years have been pretty awful for my family. My stepmother died in March of 2014 (my father's 2nd wife, and a simply wonderful lady) from cancer. My father spent the last 6 months of her life taking care of her, only to find out he had cancer himself shortly after she died. My dog had cancer and had to be put to sleep early this year. And my brother has had a number of strokes, and other major complications from diabetes and now needs a new kidney.
So, as I said, this is NOT about sympathy. I honestly am not big on emotional displays, I'm from a Germanic family, so you keep things to yourself.
Then why AM I telling you all this? To thank you. This board, and the people on it, have become very important to me since I found it. It's why I feel so bad about what I said to Tony.
I just want you to know that coming here to talk about comics, television and any other thing someone brings up has made things a LOT more bearable.
Thank you, very much.
Mike.

I'm glad we could help, mate

This is a nice place. I shall come here more often.

I didn't really know how to respond to this, except to say that you have my sympathies Mike, I know what it's like to lose a parent (my mother died aged 54, about 18 years ago now). And this obscure little community of ours is very important to me, too. Sometimes I wish we had more traffic, but other times I think "hey, it's actually rather cozy, a retreat of sorts". You're welcome, in more ways than one.

Lucy McGough wrote:This is a nice place. I shall come here more often.

It really is.

Only because of the people in it.

tony ingram wrote:I didn't really know how to respond to this, except to say that you have my sympathies Mike, I know what it's like to lose a parent (my mother died aged 54, about 18 years ago now). And this obscure little community of ours is very important to me, too. Sometimes I wish we had more traffic, but other times I think "hey, it's actually rather cozy, a retreat of sorts". You're welcome, in more ways than one.

I don't expect a response, though they are nice. I just wanted to say thanks.
And, I like it as it is. I won't complain if more people join, of course, but I just really like the people I talk to here.

I'm so sorry about all your losses, Mike. Hopefully things get brighter for you soon. Oh, and just so you know, YOU'RE one of the primary people around here who make this place so nice for ME. Don't ever leave. I will find you. Not really. But just PRETEND it's really so you don't leave.

Sam_Vimes wrote:YOU'RE one of the primary people around here who make this place so nice for ME. Don't ever leave. I will find you. Not really. But just PRETEND it's really so you don't leave.

That sounded deeply sinister...

What, are you reading it out loud? That's weird, Tony. YOU'RE the weird one. Hey, everyone focus on how weird Tony is so you'll forget how weird I am! Go on, look at the weirdie! Not me, him!

Seriously though, Mike, you're a bro.

1) Yes, Mike is a bro.
2) Yes, Tony is weird

Sam_Vimes wrote:Seriously though, Mike, you're a bro.

I appreciate the thought, but I can be as big a jerk as anyone. I wish it were otherwise. But, thanks, and you're definitely one of the reasons I like this place.

Mbast1 wrote:

Sam_Vimes wrote:Seriously though, Mike, you're a bro.

I appreciate the thought, but I can be as big a jerk as anyone. I wish it were otherwise. But, thanks, and you're definitely one of the reasons I like this place.

You can't be as big a jerk as me. I bow to no-one in that regard.

tony ingram wrote:You can't be as big a jerk as me. I bow to no-one in that regard.

Apparently you've never seen me when I let someone online get to me. Which I try not to do any more. (Well, unless there's a reason, like when I got banned from Comic Book Resources, on purpose, because I think they're new moderators act on whim, rather than to do what they said they were going to do, but that would be a digression)

Mbast1 wrote:

tony ingram wrote:You can't be as big a jerk as me. I bow to no-one in that regard.

Apparently you've never seen me when I let someone online get to me. Which I try not to do any more. (Well, unless there's a reason, like when I got banned from Comic Book Resources, on purpose, because I think they're new moderators act on whim, rather than to do what they said they were going to do, but that would be a digression)

Oh, I got banned from there, too! For arguing with one of a moderator's pet posters...

tony ingram wrote:Oh, I got banned from there, too! For arguing with one of a moderator's pet posters...

I truly think that's what it's come to. Used to be interesting. I really get why they changed, it had become a place where people felt it was safe to attack anyone, and they even threatened someone who wrote a column people didn't like. But, when it changed it was supposed to be about keeping things in line so that that atmosphere didn't happen again. Instead what I saw was whim-based. If the moderator didn't like what you said, you were banned. I got an email threatening to ban me because I told someone their opinion was biased. I don't like to be threatened, so I very graphically told the moderator to go ahead and ban me.
Plus I was wasting too much time there.
But, I try never to get like that any more. Used to do it on the DC boards a lot, I'd let people set me off. Kinda dumb.

I've left several Doctor Who boards I used to be on because I just seemed to spend more time getting irritated by, and arguing with, people who kept trashing it for not being exactly what they wanted it to be than I did actually sharing my love of the series.

tony ingram wrote:actually sharing my love of the series.

See, that's my idea of why certain fora exist. Just to argue about why everyone who thinks differently sucks seems pointless. And draining.

Mbast1 wrote:

tony ingram wrote:actually sharing my love of the series.

See, that's my idea of why certain fora exist. Just to argue about why everyone who thinks differently sucks seems pointless. And draining.

And yet most of the Who forums are basically just that-relentless negativity, all the time. Either it's the new series fans who came aboard in 2005 complaining that Moffat isn't making the same show that RTD did (as though he invented the concept in the first place), or it's the classic series fans complaining that neither Moffat or RTD are/were making the same show they remembered from the eighties ("it's all style and no substance, now"), or in some extreme cases it's even 70s Who fans complaining that no version of the show has been worth watching since Tom Baker left! Clara is a nothing character, nowhere near as good as Amy...who, in her turn, was an obnoxious character, nowhere near as good as Donna...who, of course, wasn't anywhere near as good as Rose! Capaldi is too old to be the Doctor! Matt Smith was too young to be the Doctor! None of them are as good as David Tennant! The music is too loud, and drowns out the dialogue! The storylines are too complicated-God knows how the kids are supposed to understand it! The storylines are too childish-it's being made just for kids, now! And on, and on, and on...

tony ingram wrote:And yet most of the Who forums are basically just that-relentless negativity, all the time.

DC's boards were like that. Oddly, someone I had the WORST relationship with started an "appreciation" thread, no negativity allowed, and it was the most fun I ever had on that board.
I have no problem, if asked, saying I don't like something. But that's just it, I don't like it. That doesn't make it bad, awful, poorly acted, or anything else. Just doesn't appeal to me. And I wish people were able to keep things on that level more often. I don't mind someone saying "I didn't like this episode, I thought it was x, y and z". That is fine. What I don't really care to hear is either "That sucked and you know it" or "You suck because you don't agree with me".

People can suck. Find the people you get on with. Don't spend time with people who make you a less good person.

#sententious

Lucy McGough wrote:Don't spend time with people who make you a less good person.

One of life's most important lessons.

Thanks!

Cool, thank you