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One thing has been bothering me lately.
I'm not going to lie; this was inspired by the young lady who is being spotlighted right now, "oO Arcana Oo", although this applies to a lot of other people I've seen. A lot of people who become spotlighted here on Gaia adopt this "edgy" attitude and it's rather annoying, to me at least. They change their about--or, it is entirely possible that they just leave their about up without changes, but this is just as bad--to say something akin to "I'm me. Kiss my a**. I don't care if you don't like me."
I REALLY dislike this attitude.
Regardless of whether you change your profile to say it, or if it said it from the get-go: why are you on a community site if you don't want to make any friends outside of the ones that you have IRL? That's not what the point of this is. I realize that, of course, Gaia's not going to complain if you bring some of your RL friends here--in fact, they welcome that sort of thing. They want you to bring your friends because potentially, that's more money for them. I get that. And yes, people who do this are doing a service, essentially, for Gaia.
But that doesn't give you the right to be generally rude.
For example, the woman that is being featured now: no gratitude for the people who may have nominated her for the spotlight, no polite declines for random PMs and Friend requests. Just the about that has probably been on her page since she joined in 2003. There's no point of joining a community site if you don't plan to be social. Being social is the point of Gaia. It has been, since 2003. That's why when this site first opened, Forum posts were the only way to accumulate gold. The ONLY way.
She's got a nice profile--it's got a theme, it's got her name on it--cool, cool. But what is the point of making your profile impressive for others to look at if, essentially, you're just going to tell them to go away and not bother you? It makes no sense to me.
There are a number of other people who's profiles and Avatars have been featured in this way, and it's just as irritating. Acting like a tough s**t and being edgy for the sake of being edgy is not impressive to me. It's not. It simply makes me disappointed. While I value "being true to yourself" and all of that, you also have an obligation, as a person, to at least be polite to people who have not wronged you. Those out there visiting your profile? They haven't done anything to you. At the least, they're travelers. At the most, they're admirers and possibly potential friends.
That's how I feel. As a person, I feel obligated to make this world a better place; to show others that there is kindness and compassion in this world, and to show others that I am kind and compassionate. Actions speak louder than words ever could, yes, but when the person or people don't know you very well, your word is all that you are. There is a reason why a man's word had value in the olden times--the same is true now. "A man is only as good as his word." It's the message that you put out there about yourself, what your words and engagements and promises and interactions tell people about you.
All in all, if you are a person who is jaded and "misunderstood" or maybe just a self-proclaimed a*****e just for the sake of being an a*****e--because that's "always" been who you are, etc.: Just keep your profile listed as "Friends Only." Clearly, those are the only people that you want to see what you have to say anyhow. And I assure you, they are the only people impressed--or gullible enough to be impressed--by your attitude.
 Ziven S · Mon May 31, 2010 @ 02:49pm · 0 Comments |
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