Why people hate this forum

[NHA]

Sharing practical knowledge works well, but sharing opinions rarely results in anything of value.

Can forums actually accomplish anything (particularly ones full of fanboys)?

If we hypothetically elevate Star Trek to the same social status as philosophy/art and discuss that, will the forum be any different?

Everyone knows Picard is better than Kirk and Burzum is better than Xasthur.

[Athanasius contra mundum]

Sharing practical knowledge works well, but sharing opinions rarely results in anything of value.

Can forums actually accomplish anything (particularly ones full of fanboys)?

If we hypothetically elevate Star Trek to the same social status as philosophy/art and discuss that, will the forum be any different?

Everyone knows Picard is better than Kirk and Burzum is better than Xasthur.

Personally, I've grown tired of this sort of discussion. I enjoy articles like the recent explanation of the differences between death metal and metalcore on examiner.com by Brett Stevens, as it created an almost mechanistic blueprint of the constituent elements of each genre in order to create a fairly unbiased comparison. Other than that, I feel the most positive discussion is one in which the users at this forum effectively discuss ideas and their implications, but the forum seems to have a large user-base that prefers to make others feel inferior for not adopting what they've defined as the right ideas, and these users also seem primarily fueled by a sense of resentment against an outspoken dislike of a particular idea or metal band (in worse cases). Some of these users annoy me with their keen ability to side-track discussion, and unfortunately I often fall into their trap by smarting off back to them. However, I understand that a small group of forum trolls are here to bring out the users who have created a sort of sand-castle perspective of themselves; you know, those who feel that their failures are justified because they are anti-modern, or whatever. I support what they do, because they encourage productive discussion and make a satire out of brandishing the ego.

[death metal black metal]

For the purposes of being your sysop (old school term for "admin"), I tend to believe users come in two categories I can impose upon them:

1. People who are going to benefit.
2. Those who need something else first.

We get a lot of angry people in metal, and we get a lot of people who are angry in general and also angry at human stupidity here. A lot of them are looking for an excuse to kick ass and feel better about themselves. I find this is an unfortunate mentality. Of all the times I have observed it, I have zero recollections of it helping anyone, including the person feeling good about kicking verbal ass. Honest debate is a different story, but many internet people just want a chance to sodomize someone. I understand, but it's non-productive behavior. In the same way, I understand how fun it can be to do nothing but smoke pot, listen to Slayer and play vids all afternoon, but I see that as non-productive behavior and recognize that too much of it lets life slip away.

The angry forum people are of category #2. They need another life experience. We do them no favors by encouraging them to stay around here, so I think we should all be intolerant of bad behavior, but keep it from getting personal. "You're behaving in a shitty way" is sensible; "you're a fucking shithead because you behave in a shitty way" just leads to more pointlessness. All my opinions and only mine, and not related to Rules and Regulations in any conceivable way.

[beyond_godlike]

I think the real problem is that most people don't have a spine. They consequently engage in "group think" - which they ironically detest.

I find it interesting that this is the only place on the internet where a spine is needed. Most people go onto forums because they can say anything without repercussions. The amount of shame users here can make new posters feel is impressive. This may not necessarily be counter-productive because these new users will, however briefly, reevaluate their lives due to the unequivocal and wholehearted rejection and mocking of their ideas. In my experience, people are always listening, even if they deny it. To learn from someone is to humble oneself as one puts oneself in a lower status and humbling oneself is arguably the hardest thing for one to do. The reason this site rejected so violently is that these people see that truth is spoken here; unable to admit they were wrong, they lash out and flail helplessly at the truth. It is a futile struggle for them as the truth eventually overtakes them. And even if they do not adopt the views espoused on this site, at worst they would have reexamined their life. Well at least this is the case for some of the critics.

[Nimbostratus]

Nowadays, I'm reading more peer-reviewed journal articles rather than news/posts/blogs/articles. It's a minor personal issue; I shouldn't expect academic writing on a forum.

There's a lot of academic rubbish in .pdf, regurgitations that only seek appraisal and endorsement by being "critic". I'm very often more interested in the content of some blogs than in academic writings. But, sure, I'd like to know what good journal articles you've found, maybe they will look good in the Chasm section.

[Conservationist]

Metal heads are growing in legion. Their ranks are expanding, oozing under the pretty face of pop culture, ready to burst. There are TV shows, glossy magazines, arena tours and corporate sponsors. Ask around and you may be surprised how many friends listen to black metal, or at the very least have heard of it. We are everywhere.

It’s not 1990 anymore. Extreme metal has moved out of the basement. It’s no longer the sole providence of society’s rejects. It’s no longer the province of young rockers disgusted with the consumer culture nightmare of the 80s, it’s a full blown global culture. It’s one that’s just beginning to be studied in academia.

Most of today’s metal heads are essentially a generation of nerds. They didn’t go to the “beer party” in their friend’s garage to get their first taste of grind or death metal; they found it on the web. The encyclopedic nature of the internet allowed for absorption of metal culture on a massive scale. No more tape trading or grimy zines. They did battle with one another in web forums, hurling obscure names and references like so many iron spears. File sharing allowed for some of the world’s most obscure releases to grace the ears of metal heads around the globe once more.

http://thefastertimes.com/metalmusic/2009/12/02/hails-and-greetings/

Metal's situation, according to this article, is kind of the same place computer science is at: the trailblazers have gone, and now there's a population of nerds.

[Conservationist]

In my view, ANUS has two problems:

1) Incomplete content and older website
2) Occasional dipshits who give the place a bad name

Some of you seem really angry, and I think it's because you either have (a) a bad home life or (b) are dickheads. I choose to believe (a), that you're just going through a rough patch, until shown otherwise.

ANUS has some great strengths:

1) It says the magic words: "metal is Romanticism"
2) It has been around forever
3) Smart people gather here
4) Good taste in music
5) Good writing

I'd like to see more. I don't think we should form a groupthink against non-users of this forum, but neither do we need more self-pitying self-hatred.

[JewishPhysics]

2) Occasional dipshits who give the place a bad name

Some of you seem really angry, and I think it's because you either have (a) a bad home life or (b) are dickheads. I choose to believe (a), that you're just going through a rough patch, until shown otherwise.

I've seen several of these ambiguous complaints about the activity of certain people on this forum.  For once, I'd like to see someone actually call people out.  I'll get the ball rolling on this one by naming two of the biggest dicks on this forum: JewBob and Conservationist.  RedReign was kind of a dick, too, but he died or got bored or something.

[nous]

But for those who have received no commission to govern other men, but stand in a private character without office, it is needful that they secretly judge themselves inwardly, and beware of judging all things without, for in such judgments we do commonly err, and the true position of things is generally very far otherwise from that which it appears to us, as we often come to discover afterwards. On this point remember the proverb: 'He is a wise man who can turn all things to the best.'

Johannes Tauler

<3

[bovine]

I love it here but I disagree with most of you on most things. You guys need some loyal opposition, after all.

[wizard]

I have more or less been logging onto ANUS regularly for more than 5 years now. The forums I can say, although I don't 'hate' them, I wish I can see who exactly is doing all the typing - many people here give the impression they are extremely intelligent because they know how to fuse language and thought, read a few books by Nietzsche and know how to use a thesaurus. It always seems to me that everyone here is either deconstructing something, or simply praising something deconstructive. I would love to see people here who have actually accomplished something - not necessarily for the benefit of humanity, but have written a book, graduated with a PHD from an Ivy League School, formed a band which has released more than a demo (although I think some might have), written a few research publications - have an exquisite talent or hobby.

Most people here, from what I read, are a bunch of students with little or nothing to show for. I read alot of what Prozak has to say and disagree with as much as I agree with (besides the whinery) .

[Cargést]

The above post is why http://www.anus.com/metal/hall/index.php/topic,7534.0.html was a good idea.

[Vanguard]

A few elements of this forum stand out as adversariale to the the crowdist:
1) It promotes true elitism, which the crowd hates
2) It promotes quality Metal, which is quite unpopular to the new-school breed of Metalcore fans and beardo- Metal fans
3) Its core values are informed by a tradition that stands against new-school metal ideals

[Cargést]

Surely people hate this forum because this forum hates "people"?  At least as "people" are, now.

[Heydrich]

A few elements of this forum stand out as adversariale to the the crowdist:
1) It promotes true elitism, which the crowd hates
2) It promotes quality Metal, which is quite unpopular to the new-school breed of Metalcore fans and beardo- Metal fans
3) Its core values are informed by a tradition that stands against new-school metal ideals

That seems to sum up a good deal of it.

"beardo-metal..."  Haha, I had not heard this descriptive term before but it is quite accurate - just that aesthetic/image alone hepls me avoid even bothering with a whole range of garbage "metal" being promoted these days.