Thanks, Forge

[JamesDJIII]

Split from http://indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11810

...was someone somewhere babbling something about the Forge being a bunch of niche navel gazers with no relevance to the hobby at large?

I don't get this. I really don't get this. It makes me angry to read that. It made me angry to read that on Another RPG Forum.

I've never come across a more usefull set of discussions and role-playing materials before. By useful, I mean diretly applicable to the games I either play in or GM for.

If you've ever labored, without pay or without recognition, or despite the slung insults and childish naysaying, I just wanted to say: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

You saved me from becoming another someone who gave up on this hobby out of frsutration and anger.

[Andy Kitkowski]

Yeah, it's all good. It's sometimes hard for me to ignore rampant posting on other boards from people who feel that they need to "put the Forge in its place" (especially the dismissive "Cult of Ron", "Drink the Cool Aid", "Elitist", "Pretentious", etc- espeically when you look at the "track record" or general behavior (online and off) of people who say these things).  But I guess in the end that's just the best thing to do. Replying in kind just generates more heat and wasted time for everyone involved.

It kinda reminds me of that "Good Will Hunting" clone movie with Sean Connery and the Black Kid who Writes, and the Grumpy Scholar who Pees on Everyone's Works... There was a comment to the extent of "They can't create for themselves, so they spend their time working to put down the works of people who can".

But anyway, I don't need to be a Soothsayer to see this thread here being a place to chime in with "Me Too!s" until it gets closed (this is a great discussion for next year's anniversary thread, though- See Inactive Forums).

So with that, I'll leave this thread be with some practical advice from an industry professional (something more substantive and helpful than the usual "Relax", "Ignore them", "Let them have their fun")

This week I had brunch with Rich Dansky and friends.  As discussions do when you get 4 RPG gearheads at a table, talk turned to Large RPG Message Boards, and Criticism from Knuckleheads. Dansky, being the author of a dumpload of White Wolf stuff, gets an enourmous amount of flak from the vocal fanbase (or WW haters) for this or that. This is how he deals with it, more or less in his words:

"When I see another long-winded vile-dripping spew, I sort of skim through it, and at the end, I imagine in my head the words, "...and I have a very small penis".  It makes me giggle, and I can move on without feeling the need to respond or to take the criticism seriously."

So that's the practical advice for the day. When you read the regular fan bile about Your Favorite Game, Your Favorite Author, Your Favorite Message Board, etc, just imagine the words at the end of the diatribe "...and I have a very small penis", and everything, like a Gestalt shift, gets put in its proper meaningful place.

[MR. Analytical]

Oh come on Andy... don't tell me you didn't find GMS's "Try to Koolaid" funny.  Nobody does crushingly arrogant dismissals better than GMS :-)