Memoirs of a Newbie
Sep. 28th, 2006 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
talonkarrde‘Chat is either droughts of silence punctuated by moments of activity, or bouts of activity interspersed with undisturbed peace’. There's so much drama in chat - sometimes friendly drama, where we're all supportive of someone having problems with parent(s), and sometimes nasty fight drama, perhaps over a religious issue or someone’s relationship...or even just random play drama, because we don’t get enough of the real thing, we pretend it, and laugh as the newbies get scared.
And I wonder what we share in common that makes us gravitate to and participate in such a thing. Granted, some people dislike the drama that occurs. But even those that hate it have ways of dealing with it that don’t include leaving – perhaps they watch, perhaps they try and defuse the tension – but when a fight breaks out, it never ends with everyone but the fighters leaving; in fact, usually it’s the fighters who leave, and everyone else that remains commenting.
It’s not that drama is good, but rather that all of us have become accustomed to it in some way. But why is there such drama here, at youngwizards.net? I have been part of the Harry Potter fandom (please don’t crucify me) as well as a RP group and various other groups, but I never see this kind of activity.
In HP, posts would be arguments for or against various ships or meanings – here, it really doesn’t seem to be an issue, though I’ve never seen an up-to-date poll on who likes Kit or Ronan more. And as for other, smaller groups, they tend to be very morphable, finding and losing new members enough that almost everyone is unrecognizable in a few months. But we remain here – a group of twenty regulars who stay as boulders in a river and watch as the newbies float in and out around us, and occasionally get hooked and stay. I was one of those newbies…as were we all.
But the fact is that we don’t argue about the books – indeed, we hardly ever talk about the books. What we talk about is ourselves. A complete read-through of the ToGR thread could probably give any newbie a great deal of insight on the regulars – and past-regulars – here. Even the conversations with Diane Duane herself are punctuated, if not focused on, how regular life is going/has gone since the last chat. And sometimes, of course, chat becomes a part of regular life, and drama strikes.
Perhaps the drama is the cause of youth and immaturity? The average age seems rather low, with members as old as 10 or 12 frequenting chat(though some ten or thirteen year olds are more mature than those five years older…), but most of the members are in their teenage years. As such, much of the drama has been the usual teenage drama – but even that isn’t something I haven’t seen in communities.
There's been more than a few making and breaking of relationships between us, and many fights and then make-ups, something that I have not seen elsewhere. It was easy to leave a HP community because no one really cared who stayed or left; there were so many, and even easier to leave smaller communities because everyone was gone after two months. But this community holds its members, old and young, in age and membership.
And why? For those of you that stay, what compels you to stay? We all know that chat or the forum can be so wretchedly boring/annoying sometimes (and sometimes I contribute to those states)...and yet we stay. I’ve been told that ToGR used to get almost continual updates – and now it is updated perhaps once a day. And yet the oldbies stay. Even after long fights with someone else, even after temporary bannings and internet withholdings. We come back, we make up, and life goes on.
Why do I stay? For the people. I stay for the friends and the opponents, the drama and the silence, the sheer life we share. There is bad drama, yes, but there are moments of sheer giddiness, where you thank whatever deity that you do or don’t believe in that led you to brothers and sisters of the spirit.
Moments like when it’s really late and everyone helps one of us past a crisis and then collectively breathe a sigh of relief. Moments like when you typo something and fight to correct it before someone else does, just because you know them well enough to know that they will. Moments like when chat is scrolling faster than you can read and some newbie is going ‘what’s going on here?’ and you’re too busy to respond because you’re keeping it going except to say, ‘don’t worry’. Moments like when we all sit around to listen to the latest crush or funny story. And more moments, an infinite number of them.
While the newbies may be annoyingly newbieish sometimes, we have a community here that is as vibrant (and quirky) as anything I could dream of …and the foundation is that we were all newbies once, but we stayed, and learned, and gradually made the transition to the people we are now. And that is the advice I would give to any newbie that wants to join us in these hallowed cornerless rooms of chat. Stay and learn – don’t change yourself to whatever others want you to be, but keep an open mind and open ears. Oh, and spelling and grammar are always appreciated, if not required.
What has my tenure here held?
In these nine months I've made some friends (and perhaps an enemy or two), started a relationship, and caused a fair bit of drama on my own - but I think if I look back after five or ten years and someone asks me, "How did you become who you are today?" I would say many things.
But I would also say, "Because of a forum and a chatroom. Not completely changed because of them, nor changed only by them and no others. But I have been changed by bannings and break-ups, arguments and relationships. And it has been worth the while. I have talked with myths and argued with clones. I have philosophized with flowers and watched games of dragons made by young ones. I have helped them out, hopefully, because they have helped me.
A mathfreak taught me friendship, a painted bird taught me serenity, a clone taught me respect, a villikuka taught me empathy, and a mermaid has made all the difference.”
And then I would look at them and go, “And do you wish to meet them?” and introduce them to the site.
What does the future hold for us? If I knew, then it would no longer be surprising and unique; and that would take all the fun out of it. All that I know is that it will be dramatic, fun, and there truly will be an ErrantryCon con one day, and we will meet each other not as new faces, but as old friends.
A popular phrase goes, “Live for the nights you will never remember, and the friends you will never forget.” I disagree. I won’t forget the friends I’ve made here, but I also will never forget some of the nights.
---
I would appreciate it if you guys composed responses or similar memoirs of what you've taken away and the experiences you've had. I don't want this to just be a stand-alone piece.
And I wonder what we share in common that makes us gravitate to and participate in such a thing. Granted, some people dislike the drama that occurs. But even those that hate it have ways of dealing with it that don’t include leaving – perhaps they watch, perhaps they try and defuse the tension – but when a fight breaks out, it never ends with everyone but the fighters leaving; in fact, usually it’s the fighters who leave, and everyone else that remains commenting.
It’s not that drama is good, but rather that all of us have become accustomed to it in some way. But why is there such drama here, at youngwizards.net? I have been part of the Harry Potter fandom (please don’t crucify me) as well as a RP group and various other groups, but I never see this kind of activity.
In HP, posts would be arguments for or against various ships or meanings – here, it really doesn’t seem to be an issue, though I’ve never seen an up-to-date poll on who likes Kit or Ronan more. And as for other, smaller groups, they tend to be very morphable, finding and losing new members enough that almost everyone is unrecognizable in a few months. But we remain here – a group of twenty regulars who stay as boulders in a river and watch as the newbies float in and out around us, and occasionally get hooked and stay. I was one of those newbies…as were we all.
But the fact is that we don’t argue about the books – indeed, we hardly ever talk about the books. What we talk about is ourselves. A complete read-through of the ToGR thread could probably give any newbie a great deal of insight on the regulars – and past-regulars – here. Even the conversations with Diane Duane herself are punctuated, if not focused on, how regular life is going/has gone since the last chat. And sometimes, of course, chat becomes a part of regular life, and drama strikes.
Perhaps the drama is the cause of youth and immaturity? The average age seems rather low, with members as old as 10 or 12 frequenting chat(though some ten or thirteen year olds are more mature than those five years older…), but most of the members are in their teenage years. As such, much of the drama has been the usual teenage drama – but even that isn’t something I haven’t seen in communities.
There's been more than a few making and breaking of relationships between us, and many fights and then make-ups, something that I have not seen elsewhere. It was easy to leave a HP community because no one really cared who stayed or left; there were so many, and even easier to leave smaller communities because everyone was gone after two months. But this community holds its members, old and young, in age and membership.
And why? For those of you that stay, what compels you to stay? We all know that chat or the forum can be so wretchedly boring/annoying sometimes (and sometimes I contribute to those states)...and yet we stay. I’ve been told that ToGR used to get almost continual updates – and now it is updated perhaps once a day. And yet the oldbies stay. Even after long fights with someone else, even after temporary bannings and internet withholdings. We come back, we make up, and life goes on.
Why do I stay? For the people. I stay for the friends and the opponents, the drama and the silence, the sheer life we share. There is bad drama, yes, but there are moments of sheer giddiness, where you thank whatever deity that you do or don’t believe in that led you to brothers and sisters of the spirit.
Moments like when it’s really late and everyone helps one of us past a crisis and then collectively breathe a sigh of relief. Moments like when you typo something and fight to correct it before someone else does, just because you know them well enough to know that they will. Moments like when chat is scrolling faster than you can read and some newbie is going ‘what’s going on here?’ and you’re too busy to respond because you’re keeping it going except to say, ‘don’t worry’. Moments like when we all sit around to listen to the latest crush or funny story. And more moments, an infinite number of them.
While the newbies may be annoyingly newbieish sometimes, we have a community here that is as vibrant (and quirky) as anything I could dream of …and the foundation is that we were all newbies once, but we stayed, and learned, and gradually made the transition to the people we are now. And that is the advice I would give to any newbie that wants to join us in these hallowed cornerless rooms of chat. Stay and learn – don’t change yourself to whatever others want you to be, but keep an open mind and open ears. Oh, and spelling and grammar are always appreciated, if not required.
What has my tenure here held?
In these nine months I've made some friends (and perhaps an enemy or two), started a relationship, and caused a fair bit of drama on my own - but I think if I look back after five or ten years and someone asks me, "How did you become who you are today?" I would say many things.
But I would also say, "Because of a forum and a chatroom. Not completely changed because of them, nor changed only by them and no others. But I have been changed by bannings and break-ups, arguments and relationships. And it has been worth the while. I have talked with myths and argued with clones. I have philosophized with flowers and watched games of dragons made by young ones. I have helped them out, hopefully, because they have helped me.
A mathfreak taught me friendship, a painted bird taught me serenity, a clone taught me respect, a villikuka taught me empathy, and a mermaid has made all the difference.”
And then I would look at them and go, “And do you wish to meet them?” and introduce them to the site.
What does the future hold for us? If I knew, then it would no longer be surprising and unique; and that would take all the fun out of it. All that I know is that it will be dramatic, fun, and there truly will be an ErrantryCon con one day, and we will meet each other not as new faces, but as old friends.
A popular phrase goes, “Live for the nights you will never remember, and the friends you will never forget.” I disagree. I won’t forget the friends I’ve made here, but I also will never forget some of the nights.
---
I would appreciate it if you guys composed responses or similar memoirs of what you've taken away and the experiences you've had. I don't want this to just be a stand-alone piece.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
My memoir/apology
Date: 2007-06-22 07:50 am (UTC)Thanks
W.I.T.