From: srstoneb@bu-ast.bu.edu (Steve-o Stonebraker) Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers Subject: Re: Spqqky has botcon 2001 exclusives on e-bay. Date: 8 Jul 2001 05:19:40 GMT Organization: Boston University Lines: 67 Message-ID: References: <20010707004303.17565.00002881@ng-bh1.aol.com> X-Trace: news3.bu.edu 994569580 7877 128.197.73.33 (8 Jul 2001 05:19:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@bu.edu User-Agent: slrn/0.9.6.4 (Linux) On 07 Jul 2001 04:43:03 GMT, Zobovor wrote: > Why is it perfectly acceptable to criticize Hasbro and Takara, throwing > around words like "sucks" and "clueless," but the slightest criticism of > anything remotely BotConesque is taken as herecy? I'm probably in the minority on this, but to me, it's *not* OK to throw around insults to Hasbro and Takara like that. First of all, even though they are "faceless" corporations to us, those companies are made up of people, and the decisions that get made that fans regularly greet with terminology that could make paint peel are made by actual people who are doing their best, trying to make their customers happy and serve their employers well. We may never meet those people, and they may never read what is said about what they do (I'm sure very few of them know *anything* that is said), but they still exist, and it's careless to say that they're morons instead of something like "I disagree with this decision because X, Y, Z." (As if we, as fans, really have enough perspective about the toy biz to be able to say authoritatively that a given decision was good or bad.) Secondly, as has been discussed before, saying that something suxx0rz is just plain destructive. "I don't like this," is fine. "This is a huge pile of feces," is not. The difference in tone is critical. Statements about sucking come off really, really badly to people who hold an opposite opinion. It is a stronger, broader statement than "I dislike it" which carries a heavy burden. Among other things, it implies that the person saying something sucks disdains all other opinions, often to the point that they seem to say "people who like this must have no taste". And not surprisingly, people don't respond well to that. Negativity harms community. To me, and to many fans, rudely dissing fan projects is even worse than dissing official stuff, for reasons that others have stated elsewhere in the thread. The short version: they're just doing something they enjoy, and hope that others enjoy it too. They aren't forcing it down anyone's throat. If you don't enjoy it, then for Primus' sake just grow up a little bit and say "Eh, I think it's sorta silly" instead of bitching and cursing. There is simply *no reason* to get upset with *anybody* when all they are doing is pouring their time and love into the fandom. If somebody is being destructive, or disruptive, or mean, or whatever, then I can understand getting irritated. But when it comes to drawing style, or self-insertion fanfic characters, or exclusive toy names, or anything of that sort which does nothing but expand the fandom and bring happiness (or amusement) to fans, then criticizing that contribution in a manner which lacks respect is just unacceptable to me. Rude, childish, and utterly pointless. That's how I feel about "X sucks". > I appreciate 3H's efforts immensely, and fully acknowledge that they > have probably done more for the fandom than every single other person > combined, but they're not faultless. I don't think anybody has ever said otherwise without their tongue in their cheek (various posts about 3H shrines in the basement, and such). Criticising them is A-OK. But like any other aspect of Transformerdom, there are people who are very fond of 3H, so it's only fair to ask that the criticisms be made with a civil tone. --Steve-o Hydra & Buster's Masterforce/Victory subtitling project needs donations! *** http://members.xoom.com/_XMCM/hantaakiraa/pt/fansub.html *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve R Stonebraker | Transformers FAQ Keeper | Astrophysicist srstoneb@yahoo.com | http://astro.bu.edu/~srstoneb/ | AOL IM: srstoneb