Marquis
Jack Dawkins
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2002
- Posts
- 10,462
I don't recognize every newbie to the board and probably quite a few not-so-newbies as well. But I've been here for some time now and there are a lot of posters I've seen post for long enough to get, I think, a decent sense of who they are and what they're about.
What I find weird is how often I see questions from newbies being treated so impersonally.
An epiphany I had on another forum gives me a theory on this. The other forum is a body building forum. When I first joined the forum, I started a thread asking what people worked out with. How much weight did they use when they benched, squatted, curled, whatever. I wanted to be able to make weight to body style comparisons with their pictures. A way to give myself goals and also get an idea of how to build proportionally.
Everyone refused to answer my question, in fact, I was jumped on by all with a lecture about how that wasn't important and thinking that way would be detrimental to making gains.
Bullshit!
Well, not total bullshit, but entirely sincere either. Everyone who lifts weights knows exactly how much they lift. I later realized that they didn't want to talk about that not for the newbie's sake, but for the sake of the rest of the group, the other established members. Few wanted to risk the relationships they'd built on the forum by inadvertently making others envious, patronizing or distrustful.
I think perhaps the same effect occurs here sometimes. I suppose it could explain why newbies so often complain about feeling a cold reception. The truth is, this forum basically belongs to the people who post here. If you just showed up, even if you start your own thread, it is basically our territory.
So!
As a compromise, I dedicate this thread to awkward questions and frank answers.
Here newbies can come and ask whatever they want, and seasoned litsters will answer in the most direct and personal way possible.
However: no one with more than 1500 posts may respond to anyone with more than 1500 posts.
At least not in this thread, this is for the newbs.
Let's do this. You be Awkward. I'll be Frank.
What I find weird is how often I see questions from newbies being treated so impersonally.
An epiphany I had on another forum gives me a theory on this. The other forum is a body building forum. When I first joined the forum, I started a thread asking what people worked out with. How much weight did they use when they benched, squatted, curled, whatever. I wanted to be able to make weight to body style comparisons with their pictures. A way to give myself goals and also get an idea of how to build proportionally.
Everyone refused to answer my question, in fact, I was jumped on by all with a lecture about how that wasn't important and thinking that way would be detrimental to making gains.
Bullshit!
Well, not total bullshit, but entirely sincere either. Everyone who lifts weights knows exactly how much they lift. I later realized that they didn't want to talk about that not for the newbie's sake, but for the sake of the rest of the group, the other established members. Few wanted to risk the relationships they'd built on the forum by inadvertently making others envious, patronizing or distrustful.
I think perhaps the same effect occurs here sometimes. I suppose it could explain why newbies so often complain about feeling a cold reception. The truth is, this forum basically belongs to the people who post here. If you just showed up, even if you start your own thread, it is basically our territory.
So!
As a compromise, I dedicate this thread to awkward questions and frank answers.
Here newbies can come and ask whatever they want, and seasoned litsters will answer in the most direct and personal way possible.
However: no one with more than 1500 posts may respond to anyone with more than 1500 posts.
At least not in this thread, this is for the newbs.
Let's do this. You be Awkward. I'll be Frank.
