JetFireDX wrote:
I just want to ask, do we HAVE to be "doing something" tangible here? I read Amiga.org everyday, but I don't always post. Most of the time I hit forums too late and somebody has already stated the same thing I would say. But it is not because I feel like I personally need to be accomplishing anything, I just like to read about what others are doing and occasionally throw in anything I might know to help out. Thats enough for me. I think some of the people on here are real characters and can be funny as hell and then there are those that are overly sensitive. Everybody is who they are. Still, I think it is fun to come on and read the happenings of the day. If one person comes on needing help with their A500 they haven't touched in 12 years and they get their question answered, isn't that doing something? I certainly don't consider it a waste time, does anybody else? Now whether or not we are helping "move the platform forward" or not depends on the person and their personal views and what ideas/companies they support. I don't blame anybody to choosing one over another. That is no different that the Win vs Linux vs Mac argument. Use what works for you.
I will now go back to my usual viewing position in the shadows.
edit*** booya 200th post! :-D
Since I'm relatively new to the Amiga.org scene, AND I was (and am) one of the original old-time Amiga owners, I think that qualifies me to speak from both sides of the story - so to speak. As a 'newbie' returning to the Amiga scene after many, many years, I was able to get lots of fast, friendly help, and advice from many of the posters here, that was extremely helpful, and really saved me a lot of time and head scratching (kudos here to my friend redrumloa, who spent way more time helping me, and advising me, than I deserved!). I was also able to learn stuff about the Amiga that I actually never knew - I don't think there's any other 'dead' platform that has such a vast, and still potent and alive support network, especially and including the Aminet archive. And, the coolest thing, most of the support (and software) is free. So, in that sense, yes, the community is very, very supportive, and even productive. But, on the other hand...
I've noticed a certain element of 'negativity' that, well-reflected on, and documented here, can't do anything, but, in the long run, tear the community down, which is what prompted me to write the original post. Now, truth to tell, some of the negative aspects of this forum, are actually common to almost all Internet-based forums and interactions: running the full gamut from extreme apathy (paradoxically, since it takes effort to post and read posts), to extremely passionate opinions concerning hardware and software, bordering on hostility, and astonishing rudeness. Because of the nature of the forum form (basically, I can't see you, and you can't see me) people tend to be more willing to be rude and negative, not only with long-time online friends, but, even with complete strangers. I've seen this phenomenon with the online gaming community as well - the lack of direct human contact tends to breed 'bad' behavior, in some people.
But the issues of this forum run deeper. There is a great sense of hurt, betrayal, and pain, evident even in those posts that are from the so-called ‘apathists’ (again, a contradiction of actions and terms, since, if you are apathetic, why bother to post). Just ‘whom’ has created this sense of betrayal is not really clear, at least, not to me. That’s because I, personally, came back to the Amiga for reasons somewhat different than those who actually ‘stayed’ with the Amiga, back during the Great Exodus to the PC platform. For me, and some like me, the original concept of the Amiga is forever frozen in time. I can’t help but still remember the Amiga for what it once was – almost like the memory of the childhood sweetheart that is jarringly different from what that person might actually look like ‘right now’. So, every one of my posts (especially, it seems, the most inflammatory, and controversial ones) are all based on that older image of the Amiga, and, of course, my humble projections of what it ‘could’ have been. In this, I have remained consistent throughout. IMHO, I think that those of the community who stayed around, and have been around since Day One, may have lost some of that original ‘child-like’ awe, and enthusiasm for the platform, and have now become disappointed, saddened, and embittered, (jaded) by all the corporate shenanigans cataloged here in these posts. I certainly know what they feel, since, when I was deep in the PC community, I’d hear, from time to time, how ‘such and such’ a company was going to resurrect the Amiga, gotten excited about it, only to be disappointed time and time again when they managed to fumble the ball over and over again. And, adding insult to injury, and salt to the wound, I’ve watched the ‘meager’ and ‘clunky’ PC, which couldn’t even play card games, for chrissakes (!) climb as a pretender to the throne, to computer supremacy. It’s enough to make anybody feel, sad, mad, and betrayed. I remember once, I really ‘snapped’ when I heard ‘industry wag’ John Dvorak (I’ve hated him ever since!) say Amiga users should quit ‘whining’ about how great the Amiga ‘used’ to be, and why it failed, and just get over it. That attitude of easy, and light dismissal of the Amiga by the entire industry only makes matters worse.
