The comic below tells a story. It may tell that story a little crudely for some people's taste, but considering the subject I think it illustrates the point well and with appropriate tone. If you use online forums much then you will know exactly what I am talking about. If you don't then please allow me to explain.
Internet forums and discussion boards are a funny phenomenon. They allow anybody with an internet connection to write and share anything they want with potential readers around the world and down the street. Most of us who use these kinds of services do so in a generally positive or at least benign manner.
But some people do not approach subjects or reply to others like that. There are people who feel emboldened by the relative safety of typing from behind the computer monitor. So much so that they choose to take derisive and derogatory tones on forums, write argumentative, disdainful and sometimes intentionally hurtful things about other people and otherwise generally act like--as the comic puts it--huge dicks.
Some of the people who choose to take this tone do it because of their own personality issues while others are trying to deliberately insult other people. Some folks want so badly to be right about something (no matter how trivial) while others always have to get the last word in. Some like to argue about minutia while others are, well, just dicks.
I've been in a few online spats over the years. It's always the online spats, the bad parts, that people remember. They don't remember the times I've taken the High Road, because I didn't post anything. They also remember the times I've taken the Middle Ground (even just recently) and the rare occasions that I have sunk to the Low Road. Or, at least I think those occasions are rare. Thankfully, I have never visited the basement of the Slurring Slums or the hell of Insult Inferno.
On scootering forums, we discuss technical issues, we buy and sell parts, we show photos of our scooters and we generally banter and chat about all sorts of subjects not related to scooters. Unfortunately, there are times when people with bad attitudes stink up the forum environment.
Of course, there are lessons to be learned from these experiences. There are the obvious things like "be nicer to each other," "don't be a dick on the forum or your post will get deleted by a moderator," and "nobody likes a dick except other dicks." But probably the best I've read was a reminder that "it's just a scooter club."
Oh, right... This is supposed to be fun, remember? Scooters and riding and commiserating with friends? Sure, there is some work involved for some folks, but other than that, it's a hobby. It's scootering!
So relax, chill out and eat a sandwich. Then kick over your scooter and ride.
