First, let me preface this by saying that this has really nothing to do with the blog itself or anyone I know that reads this blog. Nor am I writing about any other blog here, but I am sure this happens on other blogs too.
I have decided I am going to take down some of the links that I have listed on the right side of the blog. Those links were put there primarily for me as a shortcut to a lot of stuff I try to keep up with. Not that they are a bad thing, but I have of burned out of a few of them. I never write about this in public, but will try to explain here.
Over the years I have noticed that many message board forums tend to gather a certain group of people. They are usually filled with the "die hards" that are really enthusiastic about whatever subject the forum is about. This is usually good because message forums often tend to be the first place new information comes out.
Certain patterns tend to take place in them though. It would be hard to categorize all the different types of characters you would get in them. Flamewarriors comes to mind. In almost every message board I have been involved in there are good and bad phases. Usually, some egos clash, frustration builds until a "war" occurs, then a period of resolution. Some may leave, but usually the cycle just starts again.
Some people have their own agendas when they write messages. I often read them and say to myself, "Okay, why was this person writing about this?" I ask that because usually there is something going on in the background that is not apparent in why they are writing their message. A person that is new to the message forum might not pick it up.
A lot of the same questions get asked over and over again. If it is an area of controvery then old debates usually start up again and again. It is a cycle after all.
Let me get to the point. It is not all the links I have listed here, but other things I follow too. Over the past month or so a lot of tension has built up on some sites I visit or receive by e-mail. It is the "war" phase. If one goes to these areas for fun after a hard day of work, then it can be really frustrating if you do not like this type of soap opera drama.
In the past year I have really backed off the amount of messages I write on open public forums. Someone may ask a question I know very well, but I decided it is best to "sit it out." I have mentioned this before in a different way a few months back, but sometimes there is a village idiot mentality out there. Meaning, some people start talking like they are experts on something when all they are doing is a few Google searches and not doing proper research on a topic. Their "knowledge" tends to be rather trivial.
I usually refer to this as the Dunning-Kruger effect which is where people that have little knowledge think they know more than do and those that think they know little know more. I have seen it happen a lot in my different areas of interest. Eventually, when I start talking about my martial arts background and bring up some of my favorite Japanese movies this will come up. There is one guy out there that has seen lots of Japanese movies, but flat out does not know what the heck he is talking about. If you try to correct him he gets bent out of shape and threatens to leave.
It seems like in my favorite areas there always is one person who is like this. They tend to post the most messages and, maybe not consciously, take over the board. The type that responds to just about every message. Soon, others stop writing messages, and the dominant personality tends to be the majority message writer. Then, after a period of time, they tend to repeat themselves over and over and it is like, "OKAY, I GET THE IDEA! FOR THE 100th TIME YOU HAVE WRITTEN THIS!"
In the next few weeks I will start taking down some of the links. If you like some of those areas you may want to make a note of them. Although I still intend to visit them at times, I do not use them as much as I used to for the above reasons.
With all that said, let me make a few notes:
1)I intended to go over my martial arts background and open my new area on my interest in Japanese Samurai movies at the beginning of this month. Unfortunately, a few days before I intended to do it my computer started to have problems where I had to wipe out my harddrive and start over. I will probably start that up in the next month or two. This will be a side issue that this blog will cover and not really replace anything that I do. If this is not something you have an interest in, then have no fear because it will not dominate this blog. I will explain when I start writing messages about it.
2)I have said this before, but let me say it again. I want this blog to have a bit of variety in how I do my blog entries. The stuff I do that a lot of you like is the movie location entries. I know this and I have tons of material to show and more areas I know about, but just a matter of getting to them. Some things I do are not as "popular" as the movie location entries, but I still like to throw them in so I do not burn out of just doing the movie locations. I have a few hiking videos I have really put off that I really want to put up. So, if you think there is a pattern here you are right. I tend to do a bunch of one type of thing and then throw in something completely different as a change of pace. That is just the way I am or I start burning out. I am going to start posting more movie locations again for the next few weeks and go from there.
