Nearer and Nearer!

Not dead, just nearer to my goal.

I made three pages today. Yes, not very valuable alone, but together, they make… ehm, a cool trio. This won't be a long post; it's just a report. I've also piqued Relith's interest, and she might do some art. She's been translating a bunch of things into Japanese lately, I heard. Anyways, I'm proud of making three pages (and slacking off on schoolwork :3 ) today. I put a lot of effort into them. It's not the code versions, just the Microsoft Word versions! But that's very good if you want to make sure your spelling (and grammar, though the grammar check is unreliable), and they are pretty long. For some reason doing social studies always makes me want to post to the blog. After the whole Eraser thing, it's hard to blame me. I realized that I have absolutely atrocious grammar! I don't know how to remedy this problem. I always thought that my grammar was decent.

I spent a large amount of time on the computer making pages today, but don't I always? I was a bit obsessive about order and wording of the pages; I might have to redo them sometime, or at least slightly edit them. They were all at least two pages long since I tend to ramble, fairly useless and hopefully original. I tried, though, and effort and heart count in these sort of things. I just don't know why someone would really read nearly four pages about Pokemon that resemble food, especially if I wrote it! I probably would, admittedly, but I tend to read extremely long things on weird subjects like that. It was kind of a survival guide about which Pokemon you can eat and thus disturbing. Answer: Nearly all Pokemon, though I zeroed in on the ones that really looked like food- I also want to marry Bulbapedia now. They really helped me on certain things, though I knew which Pokemon I wanted to use and about them.

I just hope someone out there will actually read my pages sometime. I tried to make them entertaining but as I'm not necessarily funny, the back of a soda can has more entertainment value than most of my work.

Anyways, more walls of text for pages later. My other two contributions were affiliation-related. They are also walls of text, especially the second one, which probably will prompt more than one aspiring affiliate into gouging their eyes out in defeat and frustration. I could prune it a bit, but I honestly tried to make it slightly more brief (and failed, apparently). Me putting my soul into somehow generally means it's a tl;dr moment for the world. I hope you guys are happy…

Before I go, I'd like to mention a great webmistress at pokemonfictions.com. Her name is Kioso, and you can tell she has a very lively personality. She's got some funny characters, and likes to do many things. I liked her website because it offered her own brand of new, original things, mostly related to her fictional universes. It was pretty entertaining, and I really enjoyed some of her ideas. I also enjoyed the layout, a nice black and purple outfit that looked quite good and like she obviously put some effort into it!

Unfortunately, today I returned and apparently Kioso has been flamed a lot, and spammed by trolls repeatedly. She's not some wimp, but she was pissed and got very upset because of these unwanted visitors. I didn't happen to see any of the flamers, but they were harsh, probably jealous. Things have gotten pretty bleak for Pokemon Fictions, since Kioso got fed up due to the hate. She was doing well before that, but now, looks like she's discouraged. Now, I know that every webmaster and mistress has had a moment like this, when they were frustrated and wanted to give up! I don't approve of badgering her to make new pages, or being rude or annoying to her right now, but I think we need to encourage and support her. It's not like she got bashed a bit and decided to take a break- she is sort of underrated, and doesn't feel like she gets nearly enough respect. Webmastering has gotten frustrating for her! I think we need to support her, and let her know that her site is worthwhile. I don't know Kioso personally, but she seems like a great person with a lot to say and to contribute to her site, and she's taking a well-deserved break, I guess- I just don't want her to fizzle out and quit. She needs to keep going, to keep being inspired, but she's really been overworked. I say we appreciate, encourage, and send positive, heartfelt messages about what we like about Pokemon Fictions, and honor her decision. She needs to know that she does have fans, and that people care about her site. She got some response when she posted the 'I'm taking a break' message, and is probably feeling a bit better, but she deserves a roaring response. I think most webmasters do in their times of need. She wasn't trying to be melodramatic and flounce around, and she's not doing this for attention: she was just honestly admitting her anger and frustration.

Much luck to Kioso.

My Opinion: The Youtube Community

Well, the Youtube community has definitely evolved over the years, but people who praise if for being a completely diverse group who brings you lots of videos usually know very little about what actually goes on on Youtube. I'm not saying that I'm some sort of expert on the Youtube community, but I have hung around some people. I've witnessed people bragging offsite about how they love Youtube because they can neglect proper grammar and typing skills. I've seen haters attack something they didn't like. I've seen almost impossibly stupid comments about Japan and how it is cool posted on videos of Chinese martial arts because the person was mistaken. Yes, Youtube is diverse. Though it mainly consists of different groups of really stupid, mean people.
There are a lot of users, and trolls, video flamers, haters, and noobs are just going to come, but this is a highly concentrated amount. Most haters attack anything they don't like, regardless of the reason. Trolls are just disruptive, but Youtube doesn't seem to have any standards for dealing with them. People commenting on an Anime Music Video often get sidetracked into heated discussion about pairings. Rabid fans defend their favorite artist, song, show, book, or anything to the end, but it just creates more trouble. I think it's time that everyone faced up to the fact that Youtube is unfriendly. You can find a few gems in there, but not before wading through the rubbish left behind by others.
I honestly think that Youtube needs to shape up. Obviously, you don't need to listen to me, but their community is vicious. It's full of people without a sense of humor. It's all about opinion, I guess. I acknowledge that people have different opinions on things. Stating your opinion is not the same as being rude. And is it really necessary to flame every single video of a pairing you don't like? Some Youtubers seem to think this. They go out of their way to cause trouble by posting comments with excessive swearing, rudeness, and many other tactics. Miley Cyrus is perhaps the most targeted person currently. Now, I don't really enjoy her, and she's not the best singer, but I'm not creating a fuss about it. The poor girl has enough trouble already, being involved with the current Scandal of the Month every time she takes a breath. Anyways, people are absolutely awful to her. They call her names, degrade her, spread rumors and slander. Then people fight back. Of course someone ought to do something about it, but with that mentality, it's going to cause an outright war, especially because there is immaturity on both sides. Fans who hurl themselves valiantly into the fray often just cause more chaos and unhappiness. And once the ball is rolling, people keep on commenting, recycling old issues and keeping the war going. These things can go on for ages.
A previous issue on Youtube was cruelty. All too often someone would post a video of them killing a spider or small animal. The issue is partly resolved now (I'm happy to see that many videos were removed) but it could return. Not all of these people are trolls. Personally, I would just report and avoid these videos, but many people take it upon themselves to send some acid comments and shocked, outraged rants to the posters, but if you want to play hero, prepare to have the thing go out of control. Fortunately, most people commenting on the video will be against it in this circumstance, but often owners of these sorts of videos are very ready for the barrage of unhappy messages. Often these people are trolls, and I think the Youtube community should all repeat the constant wise rule: Trolls are there for getting attention, and taking up arms against them is just giving them what they wanted.
Since many people on the Youtube community seem unable to distinguish trolls from regular people, they just go all out automatically. It's a troll breeding ground over there.
It's best to be polite in your opinion when commenting. Even the most politely phrased comment that only says: I don't like this show very much, sorry, can be taken wrong and will be targeted. Commenting just to state that you don't care for a certain thing is tedious, and though you can involve this in your post, be careful. Youtube could probably be a better community, but they're sidetracked with Miley Cyrus and other important matters. This is the sort of thing where people don't work out their differences.