The Fall of ‘The Click’
– a guest entry; anonymous contributor.
What a difference a year makes. A year ago, our community was alive and strong. More than that, it was flourishing. But now little remains of it except hard feelings, burnt bridges, and a handful of friends banding together for the sake of it’s fading chances of surviving.
What happened? I will try to explain…..
Ever seen the movie “Aliens”? Not the slow and boring first movie, depressing and badly-written third, or blasphemous fourth. I’m talking about the second one done by James Cameron. If you haven’t, I’ll give you a quick rundown of the important stuff. It’s in the future, and all of a sudden this colony planet loses contact with Earth. They send some hard-ass jarhead Marines over with big guns, lots of explosives, motion trackers, and Bill Paxton. Their mission is to find out what’s happened to the colonists or why they’re not returning Earth’s phone calls. Well, these Marines encounter the aliens and start dropping off in bunches. The remaining grunts try to stay alive by barricading themselves in the medical lab, but to no avail. The aliens still get to them and the marines start dropping off one-by-one. In the end, only one Marine survives, along with Ripley, Bishop the ‘alf an android, and 9 year-old girl who screams a lot. Then the sequel “Alien3” comes out and it kills them off too……
While it’s not an exact match, I think the comparison fits.
We had this great online community at this place (I will not name it and give those fascists free advertising). The users themselves varied, but there were a set number of them who were considered regulars. 20, maybe 25 of us, with a dozen regulars who visited quite frequently. While some users were better friends than others, it was a very close-knit community. We had a common vocabulary we used, common sites for humorous influences, we all knew each other’s personalities enough for inside joke references, and we even had a common village idiot target (who brought it all on herself with her bigotry, ignorance, and intolerance, I might add…). In short, they were great times.
Then a cloud of darkness descended upon us. Let’s call this cloud “Dave”. Dave owns and runs this site and was generally very cooperative, supportive, and in many ways helpful. But out of the blue he turned to the Dark Side. Mind you, this site was moderated by volunteer administrators who would ban unruly and disruptive users. They were to ban only when certain rules were violated, and they were to always give a warning first. Well King Dave comes on one night with no name and bans two users, for what he calls “excessive swearing”. One, he gave no indication that he was who he said he was, he was using an anonymous default name. Two, he gave no warning, breaking his number-one rule. Three, what he calls “excessive swearing” was the use of a profane word ONCE. Now people, understand something. Just because there are kiddies on the internet doesn’t mean that we should censor every thing we say or do. If you’re 10 years old and haven’t heard the word “Fuck” yet, there’s little hope for you maturing into a normal person. If some 10-11 year-old kid wanders in to this place, well, I seriously doubt it’d stunt their mental growth if they saw a few “bad words” that they’ve likely already heard from movies and/or their father trying to fix the furnace. If they’re 13-14, these kids already use language around their friends that would make Richard Pryor turn red with embarrassment. So what good does it do to censor these kids who are going to hear, and use, these words anyway?
Like it or not, profanity is a part of today’s language. That doesn’t mean it’s ok to go spouting blue air left and right, but the occasional use of the words, at least on the internet, should be acceptable. Profanity is most commonly used to emphasize drastic or extreme feelings or descriptions. Can you imagine how stupid we would all sound by saying “Darn it! I can’t get this bleeping Windows program to work!” or “That goshdang broad stood me up! That stuff-headed butt!” or “I do not like those freaking Mets!”? Censorship does nothing but piss off the population, causing more heartache than protection for the innocent children who hear and see this stuff anyway. Not to mention that it’s these kids, whom we are supposedly trying to shield their eyes from the horrors of Planet Earth, that are using this language the most, and quite excessively I might add.
Mr. Dave refuses to acknowledge this and sees all profanity as bad and evil. He then began to rule accordingly, sitting anonymously there in the room, just waiting for someone to slip up and say the wrong word. And when they did, BAN. Even if you said it 20 minutes ago, once he sees it, you get your IP address sent to that dreaded dungeon littered with the numbers of the damned.
Complaints start to pour out from users and administrators alike against the new zero-tolerance policy. One administrator tried to help out by replying to an e-mail from a regular with the rules for banning listed. When this user then posted these rules on the message board, it was promptly deleted by the Dark Lord. Why? What possible harm could have come from letting people know the exact rules they were supposed to follow? Is it because it gives him full reign to ban whenever he pleases? The first sign of a corrupted dictator has emerged…
Then the world exploded. Lord Dave banned a user 20 minutes after he used another god-forsaken set of letters that he saw as PROFANITY! When this user redialed to ask why he was banned without warning, he was told “not if I don’t want to give you a warning. I run this site”.
The next day, he decides to reshuffle his administrators, disposing of four of them without warning or explanation. He then replaces them with one the most foul-mouthed and untrustworthy of people who couldn’t follow banning rules if their life depended on it, another who acts as though they need a sign from God before banning a disruptive user, and another who is so self-absorbed in themselves and their friends propaganda that they couldn’t think straight if the fate of the universe depended on it. When the dismissed administrators confronted him about this, Czar Dave essentially blasted them saying that “Being an administrator is not a social-status icon”, and then explaining that he had received a handful of complaints from users for being unfairly banned (all of them were well-known troublemakers who wanted revenge). So, on the word of some retards he dismisses his best administrators without warning, notification, or even a “Thank you” for the jobs they did. War erupts.
Many of the once-regular users declare that they will never return to this reckless hell again, walking away for good. Those who are still angered by it strike back by posting severe criticisms on the message board to inform all that come of the evil that runs the site. All of these posts are deleted. Making matters worse, one of those long-time regulars who was still around (and still retained the administrator’s powers) decided to ban one of these users without warning, feeling it was justified (someone who called themself a friend, acting instead like the school principal). BIG mistake. When she is confronted, she goes on a self-righteous propaganda tirade, slamming us and calling us swine (even though it was well known that she had broken every promise and vow she ever made in her own life). This sent shockwaves through the remainder of the community, literally splitting it in half. The part on the side of this foolish administrator (who also mindlessly follows the Dark Lord and his corrupted legions) remained at this site, but their numbers quickly dwindled as the fun that was once there evaporated. Those that were opposed fled to the darkest corners of the internet to seek refuge. The remaining administrators, all loyal to Fuhrer Dave, began disregarding all banning rules and banned whoever they felt like for whatever reason they could think of. Those who were supposed to keep the peace had turned into a feared and hated Gestapo.
What was once a great group that numbered nearly two-dozen, we were now down to five.
Alone and hiding, we strive to plan our next step. What was left of this once great group would rebuild and create a new home to hopefully revive our lost community. We will have total control, and make sure that our enemies and former dictator will never lay their eyes on what we have. But these hopes are constantly being boosted and then bombarded, like on a sine curve. No one knows for sure if it will be possible or not. But we all keep hoping….
As if this weren’t enough, more problems arose. One of the five of us plunged into a deep depression. DEEP depression. But while she continues to say that she will be over it and we did nothing to cause this, we can’t help but feel a bit deserted. Our messages are rarely, if ever, answered. She knows we’re worried, but continues to hide herself from us for going on three months. She has come out for a single day three times, always seeming all fine and good, like nothing’s wrong or anything ever happened. Then it’s back to seclusion. We’re worried sick about her, but what the hell can you do? It’s like that soldier in Nam that you keep calling on the radio but they won’t answer. Sooner or later you’re gonna have to declare that soldier MIA. How many Vietnam War soldiers are still MIA after a quarter of a century? Quite a few, my friend, quite a few….
So while we will hold out for her as long as we can, that five is now down to four, and while we’re not quite Ripley, Hicks, Bishop, and Newt, I can’t help but wonder……..are we too doomed in the metaphorical sequel?
All of this is, of course, not part of the “real world”. However, if you’ve been involved with something for a good amount of time, you tend to become attached to it, no matter how trivial it may seem to an outsider. Imagine you’re a character on the TV show “Cheers”. Wouldn’t you find it rather disheartening if Norm, Cliff, Fraiser, Carla, Rebecca, etc. all started leaving, and even some of your remaining friends would walk in and pretend you’re not there, even though you know you didn’t do anything wrong? There comes a point when you’re just going to have to put that beer down, pay off your running tab to Sam Malone, and walk out for good. You can’t have any regrets, because there was nothing left for you to leave behind. It left you behind long ago.
Friendships and alliances come in all shapes and sizes. You can make a new friend within an hour, but it takes months, and sometimes years, for that person to become a very good friend. Dave robbed us all of that. Dave struck our community down while it was still in it’s infancy. Thanks a lot, Dave. Now go to hell, and take your fascist administrator Gestapo with you.
You want to know how I feel? Abandoned. Left for dead. Cast away.
Deserted.
(that was written about a month ago.. following, is my reply, written over the last few days.)
G’night Sam, it’s been great..
I’m saddened, hurt, and disgusted to admit this, but the click is dead. The gradual attrition of war, real lives, and time has finally worn us down. There is no click for anyone to be a part of, should they even bother coming to look for it.
The once great click, which at it’s height, numbered as many as twenty, had gradually dwindled to five, and is now down to two. ‘Two’ does not meet the required number of members to be considered a ‘group’ under any mathematical or psychological reasoning, and therefore, I proclaim the click is dead. As passionate, and hopeful about the resistance as the pair of us have been, we now realise that we’ve simply been waiting for Godot.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. I’m here, but I can’t make Godot come find me. I’m known to frequent a lot of places, I’m always on ICQ, and I’m certainly not hiding from anyone. But if you don’t want to find me, then there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about it.
But, when I go to check my site tracker stats, and see that a particular IP, which is known to belong to someone i consider a good friend, has read my diary only a few minutes ago, and there’s no sign of that person on any messenger, or in any chat room, it’s difficult not to be offended. Especially when this happens day after day, for months at a time. If I could see that I had done something wrong by that person in the past, I would understand.
I’ve tried to understand it, but I can’t.
But honestly, attempting to understand the attrition is futile. There are too many contributing factors, too many variables, too many unknown elements. Each individual has their own reasons for disappearing, drifting or defecting. It’s now just a fact. I’ve moved on to trying not to care so much. I’ve taken too many blows to my heart this past year, and I’m scared to take any more. Friendships and alliances that were forged over common interests, mutual respect, and common enemies, now lie shattered, broken, or merely forgotten. All that remains are the remnants of shared memories of good times, bad fights, broken promises and scars from the actions of those who either defected or faded away.
The common enemies that we bonded over, are winning. I see any attempts at revenge as ineffectual, any further strikes against our former home are baseless, pointless, redundant. We no longer have the numbers to make any real difference; they hold the ultimate power, and they will retain it in the end.
I’m not surrendering because I’m tired of fighting, although I am tired of it. I’m not giving in because the ‘opposition’ are more powerful, or more likely to succeed, although they are. I’m certainly not defecting to the other side. I’m just being blatantly honest, when I say that there simply is no ‘click’ to defend anymore. We simply have to forfeit. You cannot imagine how much it hurts me to say that. The tears I shed over this realization burn and sting like no other.
We’re still around, but the unity of the group, and the passion and drive that made us what we were, is lost. We’re still friends, we will continue to stand by each other, supporting in times of need, laughing at the world, hating it at the same time.. We’ll probably continue to wreak occasional havoc on our former home, but we’ll be doing it for the hell of it, as opposed to “for revenge in defence of..” I’m still online as much as I always have been, as are a few others, but they come and go sporadically. I simply see no sense in wasting energy, trying to hold together a group that simply wants to die.
There can’t be a war, if there isn’t an army. I can’t hold faith in something that doesn’t want to exist.
I’m paying my bar tab as I write this..
-angel..