A Bedtime Story For Newbies

After taking a quick glance at the Gentry threads, I’m wondering if perhaps a little trip down memory lane might be appropriate. As a long-time member (one and half years!), I have seen many changes here on F-Chat and am wondering if perhaps we should institutionalize some of these changes; or, at a minimum, make new members aware how this board has matured over time.

When I first discovered F-Chat, I was agonizing over buying a Ferrari and somehow stumbled across this board. At first, I didn’t put any stock in anything that I read. After all, this is the Internet, right? This is the place where nobody knows your name, and you don’t know anybody’s else’s name; but everybody is an instant expert in everything, even if they are only 15 and don’t have a driver’s license.

But, the more I hung around, the more I noticed that some members actually seemed like real people! Moreover, if you asked a straightforward question, wonder of wonders, you would actually get a straightforward answer from real people who knew what they were talking about. Stunning! Imagine that!

However, in the early days, F-Chat was like Dodge City before Marshal Dillon. The flakes and BS were so deep that you needed hip waders just to cross the street.

But then the High Sheriff in the form of members like BRUCE arrived riding a red pony and toting a hot keyboard that never ran out of CAPS. To a newbie, BRUCE may seem like an SOB who has nothing better to do but to run around and tap dance on people’s head just for grins. The truth is that BRUCE is a real Alan Alda, touchie feelie, kind of guy. He is nothing but a big panda bear. However, BRUCE and a few other members serve a very real purpose here because he has a passion for hunting down flakes and running them out of town.

So my advice to you newer members is to, THINK BEFORE YOU HIT THE SEND KEY! Ask yourself, IS THIS POST NECESSARY! Please understand, no one should be afraid of asking a straightforward question, even if you are going to ask everyone’s opinion of an F1 over a stick for what must be the umpteenth time (sigh). But please, please, don’t ask really dumb stuff like, ah, is the F1 shifter in a TR reliable? Use the search function. Read some books. Educate yourself, and then ask your question.

Also don’t ask questions like: “How much money do you guys make?” Or make statements like, “My Daddy used to own a 250 GTO that he ran at the local drag strip.”

Because if you come across as a total waste of time, SHERIFF BRUCE will come strolling out of the Longbranch saloon and pistol whip your butt out of town. Clearing out the riff raff is BRUCE’s job.

Finally, if BRUCE makes a post saying that he has reconsidered your behavior and that you might be okay after all, don’t promptly prove him wrong with your next post.

You need to keep in mind that most of us here on F-Chat are over 16 and do have a driver’s license. Some of us even own, or have owned, a Ferrari. So show your elders a little respect, and F-Chat will welcome you with open arms.

Dr “BRUCE IS MY FRIEND” Who

 

Tillman, because you have been here longer than me, I will defer to your wisdom. However, I don’t think that Bruce is guilty of bullying. He is blunt, true. But the role that Bruce, and some others, have historically played here on F-Chat is to establish a minimum level of congeniality and credibility.

Plus, Bruce is man enough to admit when he is wrong. I recall when he got upset at the gangster rap in the Tri-State section. But he later got into the swing of things and is now a honorary member of the EC banger group. (Personally, I still don’t like this phony rap crap, but I never go there so it doesn’t matter.) Bruce also changed his mind about Gentry.

However, I didn’t state my original point very well – namely, I’m guessing that the average age of the F-Chat group is older than 99% of all the other boards out there. This is important because the age difference has a big impact on the culture of F-Chat.

My 17-year old son, for example, is into basketball, and he has walked me through some of the basketball chat sites. Crude, vile, vulgar, banal, and inane are just a few of the adjectives that come to mind. However, the killer is that they are all boring. All after, how many times can you read, “You sux. No, you sux. No, you sux worse” before terminal boredom sets in?

The bottom line is that the Internet protocol of most young folks is to post first and think never. These kids are veterans of Instant Messaging, chat rooms or whatever. If you pause to think before posting, you lose.

This is why we need to have some peer reinforcement on F-Chat that just spewing whatever comes to mind ain’t Kosher. Posts don’t have to print-ready copy, but they do require some thought to be interesting. I’m sure you recall that many posts during the early days of F-Chat didn’t fit this bill. (I’m not going to mention any names, but I do remember someone making hundreds of one-word posts...)

But, I have noticed a tremendous improvement over the last year or so. F-Chat has attracted many interesting members who bring a lot to the table. (Old Guy, where are you?) Jim’s thread about #0846 made F-Chat an interesting place to hang out. I’d hate for us to go backwards to where F-Chat stands for Flaming Chat.

Granted, it is a fine line. We need to encourage Newbie posts because everybody has to start somewhere. However, many of Gentry’s posts were all over the map. If he ended up getting bullied, it was because he set himself up. I stopped reading his posts after they went from Bentleys to Lear Jets to who knows what. We need to be friendly, but we also need firm.

Dale

ps I think that the charitable solicitation issue is one that Rob needs to rethink. If he is going to allow people to do this, there should be some clear rules. Otherwise, I think posts should be limited to giving a link to another web site that solicits donations.