inuprincess
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Posts: 306
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Post by inuprincess on Oct 15, 2006 7:43:36 GMT
Hm, research various volunteer oportunities then type up many many reasons why you should volunteer at this place, why this site needs your company. If that doesn't work, print out different examples of evidence on why this site needs your help (that you're interested in). For example, if you want to volunteer at an animal shelter, go to PETA website and print out evidence on the horrors of kill-animal shelters, whether its pictures or articles or even a video that'll most likely persuade them.
I understand this. My college is forcing community service down my throat but in all the sites, there's nothing dealing with animals, which angers me. Now, I'm in Habitat for Humanity, thought it'll be fun, its boring....
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Post by Ryan on Oct 15, 2006 8:38:59 GMT
As Dragonfox said, everyone cares about the bigshots like Ryan and Alaric and everyone else is left behind. Two words - Laggan Railway. With each new story, gets very little in the way of comments. I feel as ignored as everyone else does at times. There's been times I've uncovered stuff, it's been totally by-passed at the time, only to be mentioned again by someone else later with no reference to where it came from. I would honestly agree with what Clay's said, but Alaric's had a loving "fan-club" built up who look on at his work, single it out for praise and no-one else gets a look in. I find it slightly unfair to everyone else, because frankly, we all put 110% into our work. If everyone else was recognised a little more often, then perhaps this problem wouldn't continue to arise! It's no gripe against Alaric at all, he's a good mate, but I think we all what I'm talking about...
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Truro
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Post by Truro on Oct 15, 2006 9:28:08 GMT
I know the feeling Jimbob. Remember the last picture I submitted to the Thomas Fan Art thread? Everyone ignored it, and commented on the picture that was posted a few seconds after it. No one even acknowledged the picture until I made an MSTnoodle-like rant. In fact, the whole incidents put me off drawing Thomas characters.
But enough about me, we're supposed to be helping Jimbob.
The best advice I can give is to expand your interests, and join other forums. As Alaric says, on one of them, you'll probably find an audience who'll go for your story in a BIG way.
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Post by Alaric on Oct 15, 2006 10:11:44 GMT
If I can speak in my defense here... I have an IW too, you know. Nerds. And if you read the comments, you'd notice that a lot of people who have read it only found out about it through another thread or its wiki page. The only reason people liked it was because it was different to what you normally got, but since it started we've had some superior IWs started that work on the same theme. Don't let the sig fool you-a number of those people have only posted once, and honestly I doubt many of them still read it. The most any one person has commented is three or four. The latest chapter hasn't recieved any feedback. So where's my so-called 'fan club' there? Look, I'm sorry if my 'popularity' bothers you. I never meant to become a 'bigshot', it just kinda happened. People seem to like what I do, and I'm always grateful for that. If you feel I'm overshadowing you, well, I'm sorry. I didn't want to. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to stop posting? Do you want me to leave for a bit? Shall I delete some of my stuff? I'll do whatever you guys want me to do if you think it'll help.
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Post by Cläy on Oct 15, 2006 10:16:21 GMT
Alaric said:True, true, but it's human nature to want to be validated by having people comment on your work. The length of Gifted is just one of those things, yeah, and if I look at it from another person's POV than it's understandable. I know if I went into the thread and saw the massive block of text I'd be rather intimidated... B&BS is more a release for me. Spontaneous would be the word. I'm loving that people like it and can relate to it, but to me, personally, it's always going to be the lesser of my IWs.
jw24 - That's pretty harsh from yuor parents there. If they're not willing to listen to you, I'd suggest you try out at the library for a few weeks and see how you go. If they ask you how you're liking it, tell them the truth. What sort of things would you be wanting to volunteer for instead, by the way?
If I can speak in my defense here... I have an IW too, you know. Nerds. And if you read the comments, you'd notice that a lot of people who have read it only found out about it through another thread or its wiki page. The only reason people liked it was because it was different to what you normally got, but since it started we've had some superior IWs started that work on the same theme. Don't let the sig fool you-a number of those people have only posted once, and honestly I doubt many of them still read it. The most any one person has commented is three or four. The latest chapter hasn't recieved any feedback. So where's my so-called 'fan club' there? Look, I'm sorry if my 'popularity' bothers you. I never meant to become a 'bigshot', it just kinda happened. People seem to like what I do, and I'm always grateful for that. If you feel I'm overshadowing you, well, I'm sorry. I didn't want to. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to stop posting? Do you want me to leave for a bit? Shall I delete some of my stuff? I'll do whatever you guys want me to do if you think it'll help. Let me just state, first and foremost, that I still read Nerds and copy it into Word as soon as I can. I admit I don't comment as often as I should, but as I've said, I feel empty platitudes (which would likely be all I'd offer) are worse than nothing as it shows they're not fully getting the text. BUT - As I see it, plenty of people look at other threads/the Wiki page etc and think, "Wow! Alaric's got an IW! He writes a lot of good stuff, I bet this won't be any different!" The volume of feedback coupled with the number of people who have posted said feedback in Nerds (among your other work, Parodies, Rogue/Renegade and such) compared with that of other IWs/SiFictions/etc is a tad daunting and - if I'm perfectly honest - annoying. I know it's not your fault, and I know there's nothing you can really do about it. It's just common jealousy. I don't think not posting/leaving for a while/deleting stuff will achieve anything worthwhile, to be honest. I enjoy your stuff as much as the next chap. This is really just a situation that's happened and we'll all have to deal with it in our own ways, I believe.
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Post by stepneydude on Oct 15, 2006 13:31:59 GMT
Two words - Laggan Railway. With each new story, gets very little in the way of comments. I feel as ignored as everyone else does at times. There's been times I've uncovered stuff, it's been totally by-passed at the time, only to be mentioned again by someone else later with no reference to where it came from. Lol, what I meant by "big shot" is that everyone seems to look up to you because you "invented" this forum (figuratively speaking, I mean Cesar "invented" the forum but you just made a job of bringing it back.*). Because you're a moderator, everyone justs wants a piece of you, everyone wants to know you and be friends with you. Of course, that's not a bad thing, but then because we're talking about so many people here it seems unfair to everyone else - and you're always getting cast in redubs, being the star in SiFiction etc. and it's never your fault. I feel quite bad as I'm actually guilty of a few of these points. It's all a matter of status, I suppose, and by calling you a "big shot" I wasn't trying to get at you personally. * Although I have kinda shot myself in the foot there, as Cesar didn't get all that spectacular of a greeting upon his return - considering he created the forum and all.
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Post by Alaric on Oct 15, 2006 13:32:50 GMT
Let me just state, first and foremost, that I still read Nerds and copy it into Word as soon as I can. I admit I don't comment as often as I should, but as I've said, I feel empty platitudes (which would likely be all I'd offer) are worse than nothing as it shows they're not fully getting the text. BUT - As I see it, plenty of people look at other threads/the Wiki page etc and think, "Wow! Alaric's got an IW! He writes a lot of good stuff, I bet this won't be any different!" The volume of feedback coupled with the number of people who have posted said feedback in Nerds (among your other work, Parodies, Rogue/Renegade and such) compared with that of other IWs/SiFictions/etc is a tad daunting and - if I'm perfectly honest - annoying. I know it's not your fault, and I know there's nothing you can really do about it. It's just common jealousy. *Sigh* Ok, I see your point. I over-reacted, I'm sorry. It just didn't seem fair that I was getting knocked for being liked (I know no one was doing that, but that's how it felt). To be honest, I don't care if people post feedback on Nerds or not. I know people are reading it, and it's a pleasure to write it regardless. I've never felt ignored because of it, and I apologise for misleading you if you thought that. I was only using that as an example because people were saying 'Oh, everyone will comment if Alaric posts something', which I wanted to show wasn't the case. I mean, surely if I had this 'fan club', they would have instantly jumped on it. Didn't think it through though. It's just everyone in the thread was seeming to gang up on me, as if I was stopping people from being noticed, and I didn't think that was fair. For the first time (And this isn't exaggeration) I've found a place where I stand out, where people really like what I do. Not just as friends, some people actually admire me. Sounds bigheaded I know, but it seems true. And I'm still getting over that. So to start being 'blamed' for stuff because of it was a bit, well, nasty really. I know none of you meant that, that's just how it felt.
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Post by bobwinkle007 on Oct 15, 2006 16:05:47 GMT
Wow. I never would have thought that the most popular people on this forum actually felt left out.
Sometimes you're the star and sometimes you're not. You can't be popular all of the time. Your work isn't always going to be insanely popular.
And about Alaric. There is a reason why he's so popular. He comments on just about everybodys work. He even commented on my filler chapter for "SiF Adventures." He also advertises in his signature.
Maybe if you comment on other people's work, they'll want to comment on yours. A signature can be used for IW advertising.
Learn from Alaric, he has some good strategies.
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Post by Alaric on Oct 15, 2006 20:11:30 GMT
Wow. I never would have thought that the most popular people on this forum actually felt left out. Everyone gets like that sometimes. Even I do, on the rare occasion. Not usually on the forum though, because I've made some amazing friends. Like Jimbob, old iron, Chris, Stepneydude, Ryan, Old Bean, Halford, you yourself Bob, Chris Burrell, Chris the Xelent, Jake, Truro...the list goes on and on, so you'll forgive me for not posting everyone. Have a look on the members page if you want to see the unabdriged version. But it's really easy to feel left out if you work your socks off and not get any appreciation shown. And I'm just as guilty of that as anyone, which is why I promise to try harder in reading more of people's work and leaving constructive feedback. Which might take a while, so I'd better get started,
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Post by Ryan on Oct 15, 2006 22:09:38 GMT
I'm not offended at being called a "big shot" in the slightest, but there are times when I do feel ignored myself. Like when I post parodies, stories etc. it's hit or miss whether or not they take off or not. I can remember the first installment of Summer Holiday didn't seem to go down too well, and purely through discouragement, put editing on Ep 5 on hold for a while. It knocks your self confidence. And as for the forum creation and maintenaince, I'd like to think there's a lot more to me than that though. Most people I'm friends with here just picked up on my MSN address and we all got chatting from there, hence the fact I've got a close group of friends on the forum. And in turn, I've been doing the redub/multimedia projects for ages now, and from that, shown I've got a wide voice range for use within them. And if the character I portray in the SiFictions appeals to people, then that's great, people feel they know me better. The fact is, Alaric, I'm sorry if I made you feel bad. And I have never said for a second it is in any way your fault, or that you're rubbing anyone's nose in it. But mainly when people see the comments you're receiving for your work, it really makes you feel like, " What's the point in trying?" Purely because you know it'll never measure up. Wow. I never would have thought that the most popular people on this forum actually felt left out.
Sometimes you're the star and sometimes you're not. You can't be popular all of the time. Your work isn't always going to be insanely popular.
And about Alaric. There is a reason why he's so popular. He comments on just about everybodys work. He even commented on my filler chapter for "SiF Adventures." He also advertises in his signature.
Maybe if you comment on other people's work, they'll want to comment on yours. A signature can be used for IW advertising.
Learn from Alaric, he has some good strategies. That's EXACTLY what we're banging on about! Every bloody time Alaric posts something, you're always one of the ones straight afterward kissing his arse and praising it to the high heaven, and any other time from what I've seen, no-one else ever gets anywhere near the same. Alaric, you are the master of SiFiction, whether it's serious or comedic. Great job with "Rogue." That basically tells everyone else, " Don't even try, you'll never be as good as Alaric!" And when you're putting your heart and soul into working on these things, it's really discouraging. I've seen Old Square Wheels, FlyingScotsman and other people posting parodies or fiction which are equally as good if not better in places as Alaric's, but they never receive the same accolades and attention. Everyone tries hard and despite not reading everything that's put up and giving feedback accordingly, it hardly merits people totally by-passing it. If someone writes something that could appeal to me, I'll read it, and if I like it, I'll tell them. If not, I'll by-pass it. From what you're saying, it'd be commenting on other people's work just for the sake of getting feedback for your own, which is totally cheap and vulgar. I'd rather be ignored that resort to those kind of tactics. Personally, I look at people's work and comment on the standard of what they're doing, NOT to return favours for commenting on mine. If that's what you're choosing to do Bobwinkle, then that's totally s***.
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Oct 16, 2006 12:17:09 GMT
Goodness me, what a lot of posts. Well, other people have addressed JimBob's points pretty well, the only thing I'd add is that I had a friend who suffered as a result of the "dude who's a jerk at school" thing. He knew this guy called Robert who was really nice outside of school but totally ignored him while they were there. My friend just ended up dropping the guy, because he felt that Robert just wasn't a true friend, he was more into his own image.
jw24, the approach I'd use in your situation would be to point out that volunteer work would be worthless if you weren't any good at it - which could well be the case if you're doing something you hate. Say that you'd benefit far more from doing something you'd be enthusiastic about. Whoever you're volunteering with would get a greater benefit and you'd learn more.
As for the being ignored thing, it's common all round. I've pretty much abandoned Spit City because it just wasn't getting readers, and I was putting so much work into it. However, what I would say is that the appearance of popularity is greater for certain members, for a number of reasons.
1. Redubs. This has been covered elsewhere, and I don't think it's necessary to restart it here. 2. SIFiction. These works, in theory about everyone here, are in practice only about a very small number of members and basically function to make these members look really amazing. Okay, every so often someone will make an attempt to include the rest of us, but it'll usually be along the lines of "Gonzerelli, FlyingScotsman and inuprincess were there, too. Then they left. Meanwhile, Ryan, Alaric, thehalford and Eliot picked up their magic swords, seduced several beautiful women, used their incredible superpowers and set out..." And that'll be it from us. 3. The fact that some SIFers know each other outside of the forum.
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Post by Alaric on Oct 16, 2006 15:13:27 GMT
2. SIFiction. These works, in theory about everyone here, are in practice only about a very small number of members and basically function to make these members look really amazing. Okay, every so often someone will make an attempt to include the rest of us, but it'll usually be along the lines of "Gonzerelli, FlyingScotsman and inuprincess were there, too. Then they left. Meanwhile, Ryan, Alaric, thehalford and Eliot picked up their magic swords, seduced several beautiful women, used their incredible superpowers and set out..." And that'll be it from us. That's what separates the good SiFiction from the rest. There are those who acknowledge that there are many members that have not yet appeared, let alone star, in a Sifiction and choose to do something about it ( Salmon Adventure, Sif Adventures), and there are those that take the basic cast of Knights of SiF, add themselves into it, and just go from there. The temptation to do the latter is because, as has been explained many times, the characteristics are already set out. Including new members means having to characterise them in a similar way. And it's always possible that they could be offended by the role you give them. For my part, I'm trying to include a lot of members in Renegade that didn't make it into Rogue by basing them off how they act on the forum, with the disclaimer that its a fictional story and so sometimes people will need to do stuff they normally wouldn't in order to help the narrative. I think taking that sort of approach in future SiFictions would be the best, as that way people can write about whomever they like without fear of offense, and hopefully this will encourage them to use members that havent been heavily featured (if at all) rather than use the stock personality traits built up from past stories. Ryan, I know you were trying to prove a point, but I think you're being unfair to Bob there. What he's written is standard hyperbole. He does it all the time. FlyingScotsman, this is brilliant. I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard while reading a parody! This is too funny- keep it up! This is one of the most stupid things I have read in a long time. I love it. I have no idea why this is making me laugh so much, but it is. Crazy SiFiction, Stepney. It's awesome. Darthboco, that is the most awesome caption ever. Everyone does that sort of thing. Heck, you've done it. All it means is 'I like this very much'. If he said stuff like that to me IRL, it'd be obvious he was exaggerating to make a point. Yeah, I get too much attention (Which I'm sorry for). But that's my fault. Bob's just being friendly in his comments. If people choose to take him seriously, they're reading into stuff that isn't there.
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inuprincess
Goods Engine
(courtesy of Chris) Red and spicy like hot sauce.
Posts: 306
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Post by inuprincess on Oct 17, 2006 18:57:33 GMT
About the ignoring thing, I would read more stories if they were centered around Thomas and Friends. I mean I really join this site to learn and have fun with the talking trains. That's why I don't really pay attention to the SIFiction, because I'm not really interested about reading about real people. If more people wrote more Thomas and Friends stories, I would really read them.
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Post by Ryan on Oct 17, 2006 22:02:54 GMT
Time to swallow my pride here... I'm not going to blame it on anything else, but I will admit, I was totally out of line with a lot of my comments and I sincerely apologise. I hope you can forgive me what I've said.
ALARIC: I apologise for what I said to you mate, you're a valuable contributor to this place and we'd be a helluva a lot worse off without you and people like you. But the fact remains, we all feel a little left out and isolated at times. I'm no exception. And you're right, I was reading in to things that were mere exaggerations and purely weren't there.
BOBWINKLE: Never intended for him to leave, but then again, I could have handled my points a bit better, and really, I regret not doing that. That said, I'm not someone who minces their words and if I've got a problem, I'll come out and say what I feel if there's a chance it will sort things out for the better. I have no real problems with him, just disagree with him on certain issues! It's like everything else in here! Some believe God created the Universe, others believe it was a big bang, go figure!
But if anyone has Bobwinkle's e-mail, drop him a line and tell him there's still a place for him here, if he wants it. You can't agree with everything someone says, and I feel I'm as entitled as anyone else to state my arguments and opinions, despite being the Admin. And again, I'm sorry for being snappy!
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Post by Alaric on Oct 17, 2006 23:53:04 GMT
See, this is why we like you Ryan. You aren't afraid to apologise when you have to. I'll admit, I was a little hurt by the things said in this thread, but only because everyone seemed so ready to agree with them. I'd hate to think I'm having any negative effect on the forum. I guess I was reading into stuff that wasn't there either, and for that I'm really sorry. I guess sometimes it's easy to forget that you're a regular guy like us. Sometimes it's easy to assume that, since you're the admin, what you say goes. Of course you're entitled to your opinion, and we need to respect that more than we do. As for Bob, well, I left a message on my blog (which he said he'd read) asking him to come back, and I've just made another post explaining the situation. New posts take forever to show up though, so we might be waiting some time.
Now let's put this whole thing behind us and continue dispensing advice to people.
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Post by Cläy on Oct 18, 2006 1:38:39 GMT
Wow, I seem to have opened a massive can of worms in the end... My initial post about 7 out of the 9 people posting because it was Alaric was based on perception only. Perception is bloody dangerous when it comes to forums. I apologise for that, but I think in some ways the clearing of the air in having this conversation can only result in good. Bob, as before, I'd love to see you back here. You're a smart guy who knows where he stands all the time. And just because I went and read the blog - heh, Captain Planet was cool.
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Post by Mark Iron on Oct 18, 2006 2:43:44 GMT
I mentioned what happened to him. He sent me this message and asked that I post it on the forums
I left the forum once a while ago and it was one of the dumbest things that I'd done. Then after a short period of time I came back. I apologize for that; it was immature of me and I don't want to do something like that again. I'm not coming back: to leave and return once was foolish, but to do the same thing again would be totally unacceptable. I shouldn't be able to do something like that again. You're a good guy, Ryan. You're right, you should be able to state your own opinions. I totally respect that. I guess I just misinterpretated your replies. I'm guessing that you meant: "I disagree with you and here's why." What I got out of it was: "I disagree with you and hate your guts." Honestly, it was scary. You're all good people and I wish you well. Thank you for the invite back, Ryan, but no thanks. My AIM's not working, so I probably won't be in contact with any of you. Don't worry, I didn't block any of you! Thanks for making this forum, Ryan. I'm sorry for any disturbance I may have caused. Note to the other members of SiF: Don't delete your own accounts. Ever. -bobwinkle
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inuprincess
Goods Engine
(courtesy of Chris) Red and spicy like hot sauce.
Posts: 306
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Post by inuprincess on Oct 19, 2006 22:11:40 GMT
That's kinda sad. I think he should join and not dwelve deep into it, like it sounds silly to join.
For the advice thread; what would you do if some girl hates your guts and tries to take your best friend away?
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Truro
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Posts: 1,041
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Post by Truro on Oct 19, 2006 22:44:46 GMT
Ignore her. If she hates you for no reason, then she's a complete waste of a human life. In collage there's one other student who's taken a dislike me for no reason. Once after I made a joke, he asked if I smoked somthing, before class. I simply put it down to him being a jelious wierdo. If he can't stand me being funny, then sod him.
And don't worry about this b*tch trying to steal your friend away. If she/he is really your friend, then they won't leave you for somone who hates you.
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inuprincess
Goods Engine
(courtesy of Chris) Red and spicy like hot sauce.
Posts: 306
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Post by inuprincess on Oct 20, 2006 5:52:40 GMT
Thanks. Yeah, I decided to ignore her, her...interesting ways, actually. She acts a bit bipolar or something. One day she's like hateful and snappy and the next day she's like spreading love...really weird character, but oh well. It might not be me afterall. My best friend doesn't leave one person for another, so I wouldn't worry about him. Did you put this person in his place? I would have fought her if she didn't have the past problems she had. I mean she had a terrible life and this may be the reason why she acts these ways, so I leave her alone.
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