Hey guys,

I received an email from a board member today who was going away. While this is not really about him, I have received quite a lot of feedback over the general state of the board for quite a while now, and thought it might be prudent to address it and not have to type it twice.

I really think we all need to take a bit of a look in the mirror and check our status just a bit before we really start teeing off on each other on the board. Take a good look in the mirror and repeat after me:

1. I apparently am a full-blown toy nerd, as I am spending my time on a toy BBS and am actually posting as well as reading. This will not get me any chicks unless my name is Skylar and my lady posts on her own.

2. Being a toy nerd is okay. I will not be bullied by the football players in the hallway for doing so. In return, I will not act like a bully others on this board, no matter how asanine and stupid they may be. Rolling eyes (ala Locomoco) are always acceptable.

3. If you won't say it to their face, don't say it in print. If you do, you might get a fistfull of knuckles, and that is no fun.

Here are a few of my thoughts from my email response as well, please take a moment to read them.

"Well, I have found over the years that there is no way to argue with anyone on a BBS (whether I am on the right or wrong end). Tone, inflection, pacing and casual debate are very hard to do in the easily misinterpreted online world. The way the words you type sound to you in your head are very different from the way a reader may interpret them. There is no winning, and it usually turns into a flaming long-form war of semantics. Most (if not all) of these people would never speak that way in person. I am still grappling with a way to lighten the board up.

As to the BBS. I have struggled with this a lot. I want to make it open, I want people to behave like adults, but most don't. Everyone who has been here three months thinks that they are OG and can throw poop on the new kids. I hate that. Then again, I don't want this to be romper room either, where no one can criticize or slag something that needs to be called out. That said, how do you split hairs and define the differences? I want to get everything back to an even keel, but it is tough when the people that should be helping are too busy throwing stones, and the new kids who should be listening are too busy yelling like babies. In the end, no matter who is right or wrong, it takes two to tango.

I am not saying all this to convince you to stay or go. That I leave up to you. If nothing else, I hope you still find the toys enjoyable, your collection fulfilling to you, and the rest can really fall by the wayside. Regardless of your outcome, I hope to see you at SDCC or another S7 function and that you enjoy what we make and promote."

As I said above, none of us wants this to be romper-room-Captain-Kangaroo-Hey-Kool-Aid! sweet, but let's find a nice middle ground. For the OG's, try to remember what it was like when you did not know anything about what was going on, and just wanted to know the score. To the new kids, just remember, you may not know everything yet, so before you call someone out, you better check out how deep they roll.

To quote the magazine "In the end, it's a magazine about toys, so relax."

-brian

too late at night for this crap, 4/17/07

Good read, thanks for taking the time Brian, I'm sure people here will respect your words.

Just kidding Brian. Very well said. People just need to realize that opinions are simply opinions and no matter what your intentions....a passive post could be construed as an angry rant....so proofreading is your best friend. Always remember the Golden Rule and don't post anything that you wouldn't say if the person was standing in front of you.

Brian forgot to mention the full sized secret base ring he will have at SDCC for all of us to duke it out in person. I call dibs on the obakedog head...

I'm glad you said something Brian - I've only been on the board about a year (although I've been a Super7 subscriber since issue 1 and a collector of japanese vinyl for more years than I care to remember) and thus I am unfamiliar with the background concerning the personality clashes here on the board. But some of the exchanges come across to me as bullying and that just ain't cool. Period.

i agree completely..

Same here, but I've noticed the majority of board members are really excellent people, and most of the trouble is caused by a very small handful, consistently.

yeah I used to argue but Flynn is right it goes nowhere especially since I live in Indiana and am not going to meet most of you. I just try to ignore the shit when I see it and have fun.

I feel a group hug coming on

My thoughts exactly. Altholugh I've been one of the lucky newbs who has only had totally positive interactions with fellow board members, I've seen what you're talking about. Anyway, message appreciated and understood Bryan.

Dean

I'm proud to be a Toy Nerd! And I love you guys!

POWER to the TOYS

I guess that's a good thing since you look like you could kick much butt in person!

Keep the pictures comin VGA. You always have somethin crazy to show.

IKe

Brian is completely right, but it's funny how when something like this is posted in the name of bringing unitiy and a certain calmness to the board, some peeps have to imediately start pointing fingers, throwing rocks and choosing sides (I think you're missing the point).

The whole Fresh Meat vs. OG shit is bullshit, everybody needs to take responsibilty for there own actions. Brian is particularly spot on with how words written on the board can be percieved, I for the most part am always clowning around, it's who I am, but it has been taken the wrong way, but I've always worked it out (when there's something to work out). I don't mince words though when I do feel strongly about something, but I am lame/lazy typist and shortened to the point comments come across as harsh, sorry but I don't write what I wouldn't say to your face.

Take a look into your own actions, take responsibilty and if you are without "sin", throw that "holier than thou" stone.

Just as guilty as the next guy, hope to be able to call myself OG in about 20 years toy fanatic,

Kurt

Internet BBS haters are pussies, end of story.

also, toys rule.

Differences of perspective are inevitable. Instead of arguing about who is doing what to whom, perhaps we should just focus on the core message and endeavor to keep it positive as we see fit. Again, from my perspective, this board mostly is a positive thing. Very.

Dibs on being Booger!

Brian made a very good point that it's easy to take things the wrong way on boards like this. As he wrote, there's no tone, inflection, etc. So we easily misread each other, especially when we're scattered all over the planet and few of us have a chance to meet in person.

Speaking personally, I'm very glad to have been lucky enough to interact in person with excellent folks like Muton, Shapeshifta, Brian, Isaac, KJB, Bwana, etc...Like I said, we've got a really amazing group of members!

All I'd suggest is that we treat each other with respect on the boards. Since it's so easy to be misinterpreted on-line, I think we could all do with chilling a bit more and cutting back on the sarcasm and rib-jabs. Like Brian says, it's too easy to misinterpret that sort of thing on the Net.

People come here to relax and share their love of kaiju. I say we focus on that.

funny, Kurt... you are actually about 20x nicer in person than your online persona...

this is meant as a compliment btw

I don't post very much on these boards, but I'm definitely happy to visit a forum about these awesome toys we collect. At times I get to live vicariously through the hardcore collectors when they post their fantastic treasures for all to see, and I continue to learn alot about this toy culture we're in from the very people on these boards. Thank you for that!

I also agree with xoconostle about this board being mostly a positive thing and I hope it continues to stay that route. Just enjoy the toys!

Fuck that!

Okay, then. Group fuck?

seeing that a overwhelming majority of people on the board are (straight) men I think this might be a real bad idea.

too many sausages, not enough bagels.