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Communities, Systems, and Programming
I am a geek on many levels and subjects. I know it, I embrace it.
I am a language geek. I love words and the older they are the more likely I am to love them.
I am a tech geek. I love technology and that I have witnessed the Space Race and smartphones and MRIs and Laser surgery and 3-D television is so bloody cool I cannot describe it.
With that, it should be no surprise that I am a sci-fi geek. Although not much impressed by most modern sci-fi, I love the writers from the 40's, 50's, and 60s.
And while there are more geek interests, the point of this blog is that I am a structure geek.
I love debating, I love architecture, I love rules based systems where the challenge is to use the existing constraints in a new and dynamic manner.
In programming this allows me to understand issues quickly and offer suggestions for resolution. In systems this lets me identify inconsistencies and map out paths to remove them. In communities this lets me identify how it states it wants to function and flag incidents or stances that are in violation or contradiction.
And this is one reason I am viewed as abrasive. I approach the issue with the idea that a resolution is desired and I am often mistaken in that stance. Because the sad fact of the matter is that most people do not want a resolution. Rather they want an excuse for behavior or decisions or actions that are detrimental. They want absolution without admission of guilt.
And I am incapable of that. Flat out not able to do it because it is as foreign to me as the ability flap my arms and fly.
In programming this leads folks to spent 700 hours designing an 100 hour program. In systems this leads to processes that are layered with complexity and contradiction rather than a straightforward path. In communities this lead to people joining a community and then complaining about the rules.
And this is alien to me. I understand questioning the inconsistent application of rules and I understand the process of suggesting modifications to rules but I will never understand joining a community and complaining about the rules just because you do not believe they should apply to you.
I have witnessed communities where the rules are:
"I and people I like can do anything we want" and I do not join those communities because even if I am one of the people who is liked, I am opposed to the attitude and the inevitable childishness that become the modus operandi. I have also been the target of such communities. One of these situations lasted for 2.5 years and only stopped when they begged me to do so.
Because here is the bare fact of the matter. Rules define the behaviour of a community. If you do not like the rules, do not join the community. Joining a community and insisting the rules do not apply to you is silly.
Standards for and expectations of acceptable behviour are essential to allow those who may not be as strong willed or articulate to more fully participate in a community. Additional voices and points of view allow a community to improve faster and more consistently. And, of course, sometimes it is the weakest amoung us who have the best idea or perspective.
The alternative is to have people like me dominate every discussion we join through whatever means we choose including caustic and demeaning remarks that drive people to tears and incredibly stupid decisions. And while I am fine operating in that environment due to my lack of concern about the opinions of others of me, I have discovered most people are not. I also happen to be bright enough to know that folks who do not agree with me are not necessarily bad people, that I can disagree vehemently with someone on something and not have to conclude they are evil.
It's not that I think I am a better person than anyone else, because I know I am not, it's that I know I understanding how to operate within whatever set of rules exist and I spend my time learning them before I try to change or break them rather than breaking them and whining that I am doing nothing wrong.
It's not that I am tough, it's that I've thought of and accepted the consequences of my actions.
And it's not that I am always right, it's that I am not afraid to be wrong.
And although I have been wrong a lot in my life, I am rarely wrong twice in the same manner because I have the capacity to change rather than the need to defend bad decisions.
While recent events may have inspired parts of this blog, this blog is not about any single individual or act. If you believe I have attacked you directly, you are mistaken but I would ask you to scream at me via PM so I can block you and thus cut off that avenue of communication between us. Should you decide you are the one person in life who can finally cow me, I promise one of us will be amused and one of us will not. I also promise I will give an example of how to be as insulting and demeaning as possible without breaking the rules of this community and when you break them I will report you for said violation and push for disciplinary action.
Imagine the circumstance where I have made you so angry that you have lashed out and been forced to face the consequences while knowing that I have been untouched by the situation. This is my plan of action and my prediction for the outcome. It is not a threat.
I am a language geek. I love words and the older they are the more likely I am to love them.
I am a tech geek. I love technology and that I have witnessed the Space Race and smartphones and MRIs and Laser surgery and 3-D television is so bloody cool I cannot describe it.
With that, it should be no surprise that I am a sci-fi geek. Although not much impressed by most modern sci-fi, I love the writers from the 40's, 50's, and 60s.
And while there are more geek interests, the point of this blog is that I am a structure geek.
I love debating, I love architecture, I love rules based systems where the challenge is to use the existing constraints in a new and dynamic manner.
In programming this allows me to understand issues quickly and offer suggestions for resolution. In systems this lets me identify inconsistencies and map out paths to remove them. In communities this lets me identify how it states it wants to function and flag incidents or stances that are in violation or contradiction.
And this is one reason I am viewed as abrasive. I approach the issue with the idea that a resolution is desired and I am often mistaken in that stance. Because the sad fact of the matter is that most people do not want a resolution. Rather they want an excuse for behavior or decisions or actions that are detrimental. They want absolution without admission of guilt.
And I am incapable of that. Flat out not able to do it because it is as foreign to me as the ability flap my arms and fly.
In programming this leads folks to spent 700 hours designing an 100 hour program. In systems this leads to processes that are layered with complexity and contradiction rather than a straightforward path. In communities this lead to people joining a community and then complaining about the rules.
And this is alien to me. I understand questioning the inconsistent application of rules and I understand the process of suggesting modifications to rules but I will never understand joining a community and complaining about the rules just because you do not believe they should apply to you.
I have witnessed communities where the rules are:
"I and people I like can do anything we want" and I do not join those communities because even if I am one of the people who is liked, I am opposed to the attitude and the inevitable childishness that become the modus operandi. I have also been the target of such communities. One of these situations lasted for 2.5 years and only stopped when they begged me to do so.
Because here is the bare fact of the matter. Rules define the behaviour of a community. If you do not like the rules, do not join the community. Joining a community and insisting the rules do not apply to you is silly.
Standards for and expectations of acceptable behviour are essential to allow those who may not be as strong willed or articulate to more fully participate in a community. Additional voices and points of view allow a community to improve faster and more consistently. And, of course, sometimes it is the weakest amoung us who have the best idea or perspective.
The alternative is to have people like me dominate every discussion we join through whatever means we choose including caustic and demeaning remarks that drive people to tears and incredibly stupid decisions. And while I am fine operating in that environment due to my lack of concern about the opinions of others of me, I have discovered most people are not. I also happen to be bright enough to know that folks who do not agree with me are not necessarily bad people, that I can disagree vehemently with someone on something and not have to conclude they are evil.
It's not that I think I am a better person than anyone else, because I know I am not, it's that I know I understanding how to operate within whatever set of rules exist and I spend my time learning them before I try to change or break them rather than breaking them and whining that I am doing nothing wrong.
It's not that I am tough, it's that I've thought of and accepted the consequences of my actions.
And it's not that I am always right, it's that I am not afraid to be wrong.
And although I have been wrong a lot in my life, I am rarely wrong twice in the same manner because I have the capacity to change rather than the need to defend bad decisions.
While recent events may have inspired parts of this blog, this blog is not about any single individual or act. If you believe I have attacked you directly, you are mistaken but I would ask you to scream at me via PM so I can block you and thus cut off that avenue of communication between us. Should you decide you are the one person in life who can finally cow me, I promise one of us will be amused and one of us will not. I also promise I will give an example of how to be as insulting and demeaning as possible without breaking the rules of this community and when you break them I will report you for said violation and push for disciplinary action.
Imagine the circumstance where I have made you so angry that you have lashed out and been forced to face the consequences while knowing that I have been untouched by the situation. This is my plan of action and my prediction for the outcome. It is not a threat.