Half-assed blog on my thoughts of the TWE disbandment. · 7:32am Dec 2nd, 2012
A bad and pointless choice there Knighty.
I'm not one to go out there and start being an ass to people who create sub-par stories that feature the cookie-cutter hero's with a Mary Sue tale at the end of the day. Same can go for some folks part of the Train Wreck Explorers who were willing to give out helpful advice (which correct me if I'm a wrong, but the TWE did not tolerate members who went out of their way to spam hate comments). But with the recent disbandment of the Train Wreck Explorers and nearly everyone praising this as if Jesus came to fix all of the world's problems, I beg to differ.
For those of you who are scratching their heads as to who they were, here's the details in a nutshell. It was a group dedicated to scavenge any and all fics that would make even a 5-year old's crossover with Sonic and Pickachu seem decent in comparison. Depending on the members, some would go out of their way to hand out advice to the ill-fated author, while to more unfortunate ones receive bitter comments with a nice picture of a train burning with the words "CHOOO CHOOO MOTHERFUCKER" plastered on it for a comedic effect.
To me, like any group out there. It had its own share of rough edges but the concept was fairly decent (find awful fics and give out helpful criticism, but correct me if I'm wrong again) and it could have given many new authors a chance for some criticism rather than the vague "Oh wow... Another typical Mary Sue story" comments.
I ask this question, is the removal of a group going to do anything with some of those bad apples?
In my eyes, hardly. Newbies will still receive the same treatment (if not worse) than what some of the TWE members would dish out. You'll still see those folks who are willing to help out those poor writers... Only for them to never bother writing a second time due to their stories not being featured in all its mediocre glory.
Honestly, you can't expect life to treat you kindly when you want it to. You have to expect hateful criticism or bashing from people who do this for no reason other to make themselves feel superior (or for the lulz), you have to expect the pain your gut will feel when that feeling hits you, but should that be any reason to give up? Not in the slightest. Aspire to be better, see what makes a great story and emulate (not plagiarizing) that style, and be willing to take the hits and get back up to try again and again. You'll get nowhere if you keep blaming it on something or someone and not doing something about your skills. It doesn't sound fair but in my life and experience, I've learn a lot more from the negative side of things than the positive. Mainly because if this world was nothing more than puppies and rainbows; bravery, patience, aspiring, morality, would be all but gone.
I know this comes of sounding like some half-assed Asian flick with a moral tossed in to make you feel that the sky-high body-count had meaning behind it. But I ask again, does this even help? It didn't remove hateful comments or people, just a group that made it easy to connect with one another. If anything, I "feel" as if Knighty has done this to feel nothing more than false pride. The pride of smiting down the enemy, to defend the poor and helpless who can't just tune in the report button.
The good feeling of just pulling the plug out of a group, and call the members "shits". Quite ironic isn't it? Knighty is against a group that has certain folks insulting people yet Knighty does the same no problem.
And no... This is not an attack of Knighty or me trying to start drama that will change nothing (say for a warning or a possible banning for me). I just am baffled on how many people see this as a good thing (let alone something that will change anything), and Knighty being uptight on this issue as it were a "Good vs. Evil" battle.
No victory was gained out of this, just the illusion of one since many folks don't want to dig for the bigger question as to how this will change for the better.
This, exactly.