So I guess I've been sort of the center of today's discussion for awhile and that's a little weird for me, and I feel bad for the people who already hate me because now they don't get a reprieve from me even when I'm not talking, but I guess I should take a quick minute to weigh in. I guess.
I kinda feel like the community has been trying to destroy itself lately. Like, Duckroll came out with a new rule that I feel is really common sense and every few days that rule has to be brought back up and wrung to death in discussion and it's sad. Worse still, though, is the need for any of these discussions about things that aren't really about anime.
I came to AnimeGAF and got into anime because I needed a way to let off steam in between homework assignments at school. As such, the allure of the place has always been to me that it be fun. In the name of preserving that fun, I've tried to improve and hold my tongue. AnimeGAF has frequently seen a bad side of me because, I admit, I frequently used the community as a means to letting off my steam.
I really don't blame the people out there in the community who think ill of me anymore, though, because I've come to realize I really was sort of a nuisance for a long time. Apparently, I still am, heh.
But I digress. I think it's important that the community be a place where we can have fun, yes, but I think sometimes that fun needs to be reigned in. I'd like to point to PersonaGAF as an example of what I mean. Today, Caladrius posted a goofy list of pairings and we all laughed for a few hours. Then people commented that we needed to get back on topic, and as best as I can tell, we did. There was no arguing, no wringing of hands over what the topic meant, nor any sort of ongoing war over what should belong. We policed ourselves and got back in line because we all knew that the person who said it was right.
It's okay to have fun. Sometimes things go off topic for a bit and that's funny. That's natural. But it's wrong to derail things at the expense of the actual topic. After a laugh's been had, it's time we got back to talking about anime. I mean, come on guys, it's not like there isn't a vast world where we can carry on off topic things without doing it here.
As to long posts and short, a balance of the two is always great. I'm not doing it to get awards. I enjoy it when people do read them, yes, but I enjoy it because I enjoy writing and enjoy being read. When I did ridiculous things while watching shows like Geass, it was sort of an in-the-moment thing that I found fun, but I can only imagine how grating it was to others. And as others made that clear to me, I realized I was impeding the fun of others and sought to find a way to do both. Maybe not everyone should have to change, but I thought it best if I tried to. I don't think anyone is asking that every post be a long inspection of every episode, but we could do with fewer non-sequitur posts about "in the moon-a and in the june-a". It's also embarrassing guys that there are people even capable of describing a period of this community as "the age of the lewd."
To that end, I don't think anybody wants this to no longer be a fun community where people can come together and chat about anime, but I think that there are people who would appreciate that this thread be a fun place where we still talk about anime and spend less time bitching about how we can't post shots of naked women with wild abandon. I mean, come on guys, some of the shit said in here causes the mind to reel.
As one closing statement, it's been really weird having my name and posting patterns thrown around all day. I'm not really hurt. Indeed, I expect that some of you meant only praise for me with what you said, and I will take the good intent over the perceived insult any day, and thank you for that. But I don't want to be the centerpiece of a community debate. But I do think we could all stand to remember that on the other side of those avatars and nametags are real people with real problems and real lives. All of us have something we can contribute to making this place great, and all of us have things we want out of this thread. We can find a way to make it work, but first we need to stop making it harder on ourselves than it really, really needs to be.