[quote]BrickHead wrote:
[quote]MrZsasz wrote:
[quote]florelius wrote:
@ MRzsasz. I was thinking more in line what could help this forum.
I will argue though that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their development and that it is possible too give people constructive critisism and still be treating them in a classy manner.
[/quote]
I see what you are saying, maybe it’s just a case of semantics. Respect to me should be earned but it seems like we are both talking about common courtesy. I don’t think we are at odds here, I just think that the term “respect” is tossed around too much. I can respect someone who has achieved something or shared their knowledge to high degree, but I expect everyone to behave with good form whether I respect them or not.
To give an example from this site, when I first started posting, and even today, there seemed to be quite a group of cliques on the forums. Strangely, the forum I found most open was the Steroid forum. I consider that the golden age of that forum when you had guys like BushidoBadBoy, Cortes, Schwarzenegger, Juice, Prisoner, and even shy ole delicate Rainjack. A ton of knowledge and accomplishments there but I never felt like they were looking down on me. I tried to learn before asking and never found it hard to fit in there. There were disagreements among the members but these were never to the point of real name calling, more a heated discussion among friends, ex the Bushy vs Prisoner Insulin thread. There was support and knowledge and humour and just fun times. I think if both sides, the old guard and the newbies, start things off right, the camaraderie that Prof X mentioned is doable. [/quote]
Good post.
There should also be tolerance of others’ beliefs, even if one doesn’t agree with them or they’re silly. However, there does come a point in which statements become RIDICULOUS to those who are knowledgeable about bodybuilding or just a fan who’s followed the sport, even if one doesn’t have the best body. I consider myself a tolerant person and, despite my sarcasm and obtuseness at times, I am quite an empathetic and sensitive person (those on this board who hang out with me in person know this) and although I might lose patience or become temporarily hostile and irritated with some who’ve slightly offended me, I’m not vengeful or grudge bearing (I have better stuff to occupy my mind with these days).
HOWEVER, with that said, I am tolerant of what others say, but when you have people claiming stuff that doesn’t add up, and there’s evidence to the contrary (eg, examples that prove otherwise), I find it hard for an intellectual adult to just read or listen without saying something pointing it out. Someone tells me they have the stats of IFBB pros when natural or they don’t have the same physique or body comp as them, what are people supposed to say to this?
[/quote]
No doubt, but that’s where I said it needs to go both ways. How many times have I watched someone post in OMG WTF textspeak asking how to set up PCT when there is a sticky right there and get mad when someone points it out. If you want to be treated with courtesy(in this case show some effort at learning), you have to expect to do the work. In your references to things that have come up in the many mudslinging threads in this particular forum, adding fuel to the fire serves little. If someone says their buddy squats 800lbs at a bodyweight of 135lbs, then the onus is on them to prove it. Once you have asked/explained that, they provide it or you disregard what they have to say.
I see people who bluster and angrily provoke, but I see just as many people with these snide little remarks that add just as much fuel to the fire. But, I can also point to members that have provided years of help on here that I think every member holds in high regard. They might now agree with them on things but that doesn’t change what they bring to the group.
I think one of the biggest blocks to communication is how open the written word becomes on the internet to interpretation. One of my old professors said you can always tell someone new to a discipline because they can find once sentence in a 500 page book that they feel isn’t correct and then disregard the whole thing.
