I see where you’re coming from. Personally, I’m not one to argue. I’ll respect the opinions of others, as you’re right, the community’s decision doesn’t matter. No matter what my poll says, it’s meaningless, since the moderators won’t take it into consideration, assuming they take thumbnails into consideration at all.
They would need to go anywhere else that permits thumbnail requests. Not like that’s something that’s allowed by everyone BUT the forums or anything, though.
(Hint: it’s completely fine to do this in… The wiki, the discord, the wixsite… yeah you get the point)
2 Likes
Hi guys, a quick update:
Since this post has now been hidden multiple times, I cannot edit it to un-hide it. It will be hidden until a staff member takes action :[
5 Likes
The irony is audible at this point.
1 Like
[Inspired partially by things said by @CringeKarlScott]
Hi.
I’ve been reading on this forum for a while now without an account, and, as we all know well, there are a lot of problems.
I think the biggest one is hypocrisy. It causes, like, everything.
But first, another perspective.
This is the biggest reason that the forum is dying.
I agree with this.
Well, actually, it’s this, paired with one other thing.
First, you’ve got what wingwave has said: people just don’t need any help anymore.
So with that in mind, you’d think the forum would just be kind of still, with no new topics, right?
Well, as you know, that’s not the case.
And that’s for two major reasons:
Off-topic posting, and hypocrisy.
First comes the off-topic posting.
People haven’t yet read the forum rules, so they don’t know what’s allowed and what’s not. They make, say, a thumbnail request post, and people explain to them that it’s not allowed. Generally, they acknowledge their mistake and close the topic.
This is okay. It’s not a problem…
Then comes the hypocrisy.
People who have read the forum rules and know exactly what they’re doing come along and see the new users’ posts.
Immediately, they think:
“Wait, this person got to make a thumbnail request post! Why can’t I? I know they got told not to do it again, but can’t I make just one?”
So they make just one.
Maybe they even actually stop at just one. (they usually don’t)
Immediately, they’re told that what they’re doing is against the rules.
But…
(here comes the hypocrisy)
To summarize, people justify their own bad behavior by pinning the blame on other people who did the same thing.
WhereIsMyCrown gives a good interpretation of it here:
And that’s exactly what’s happening here.
Now, to go more in-depth (credit to the guardian):
You think you’re better than others.
Humans aren’t cold logical robots, and we typically have a higher opinion of ourselves than is warranted. Most humans have a self-serving bias, where we evaluate our own abilities and performance far more highly than is actually the case. People who achieve a certain level of intellectual achievement in certain contexts can reverse this, but we mostly think overly-well of ourselves.
It’s no surprise; the brain is riddled with cognitive and memory biases that are geared towards making us feel like we’re good and decent and capable, no matter what the reality. The problem is that our judgements of other people are far more “realistic”.
In some cases, this can lead to hypocrisy. A pilot would be well within her rights to stop an untrained person from assuming control of a plane, even though she does that all the time. This isn’t hypocrisy, this is simple acknowledgement of ability. Likewise, some people may tell others to do something and not do it themselves because they genuinely think they don’t need to do it, but the other inferior people need to be told. Not very nice, granted. May even not be a conscious decision. But it’s also not deliberate hypocrisy, if you look at it that way. Not that this makes any difference to the outcome, as far as most are concerned.
But why are people hypocritical in the first place?
Well, it’s just easier.
The problem with practising what you preach, or maintaining a high moral standard, is it’s work. You tell people to give money to charity or abstain from certain indulgences, this means you have to do these things too. But what if you just said you do these things, but didn’t? You get all the benefits of people thinking you’re a good and capable person, but you don’t have to practice any restraint. It’s win-win.
An example of this is on Wikipedia. Every year, they make an effort to get donations, as they run purely off of them. And guess what? In the popup that asks you to donate, there’s an “I already donated” button. It thanks you for donating and gets rid of the popups for you for two weeks. Again, you get all the benefits of people thinking you’re a good and capable person, but you don’t have to practice any restraint.
Humans are prone to the principal of least effort, often known as the “path of least resistance”, which means they’ll go for whatever option requires the least work. Hypocrisy allows you to appear principled without having to be so, which is much easier than adhering to strict principles. Modern politicians seem to have grasped this fact, making big speeches about all the great things they’ll do and then never doing any of them. Given how they seldom seem to suffer any consequences for their hypocrisy being revealed (i.e. any political event of 2016), why would they stop?
So yeah. If you read all of this and learned something, thank you.
I won’t ask for likes or anything, it’s not like they do anything.
I might ask that you quote this and share it when needed, because this wisdom is really something everyone here needs.
I hope this doesn’t cause any conflict.
Thank you, and goodbye.
Edit: fixed some grammar and formatting mistakes, and added a paragraph on an example of hypocrisy on Wikipedia. Also, 16 quotes already! Thanks for sharing the wisdom, everyone! And 143 views? Clearly I’ve delivered my message. Thanks for all the support!
3 Likes
I think it’s best we wait until staff deal with it. It drives home the point pretty well if staff never do anything about this post.
1 Like
The thing is, most of the thumbnails that “win the polls” aren’t actually used. So, it really isn’t useful at all.
And most of the new people who make thumbnails too aren’t helping.
What?
What do you mean?
2 Likes
This is so ironic but I feel like this post, however needed and true, is causing more controversy and arguments : /
2 Likes
Yeah, it created a witch hunt for thumbnail requests lol, and multiple people are getting into hot water. (actually the water is kinda warm)
1 Like
yeah. it’s gonna heat up soon though… especially when the mods get involved
1 Like
Big words don’t solve big problems
2 Likes
or, alternatively, they could make a section for it
I wasn’t being rude in any way with my previous post. If I can’t be serious without being labeled as “mean” that’s a problem.
6 Likes
alright y’all I sense that this
might become a flame war so i’ll try to stop the problem before it starts : 3
changing subject…
are regulars still able to edit the title? if so, then can you write
click @CringeKarlScott’s link to read the guide? I know people will likely see it when they click the topic, but just in case.
2 Likes
100% precent argee.
wait has thumbnail reqs been officialy banned?
i saw it on leo_flowers bio