Parable
Since: Aug, 2009
Jimmmyman10
cannot into space
from polan
Since: Mar, 2011
Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Malph
(4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#8: Apr 19th 2012 at 9:49:22 PM
I am pretty sure no one cared that much about me
The Absent People thread cared.
We care about everyone (unless we don't know them).
edited 19th Apr '12 9:50:11 PM by Malph
dRoy
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
from Most likely from my study
Since: May, 2010
Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Inhopelessguy
Since: Apr, 2011
dRoy
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
from Most likely from my study
Since: May, 2010
Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Haldo
Indecisive pumpkin
from Never never land
Since: Jan, 2001
Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
Inhopelessguy
Since: Apr, 2011
Total posts: 14

or, How I Ended Up Depriving Myself of My Favorite Place on the Internet for 50 Days and Resulting Realizations (of Dubious Relevancy)
(for those with short attention spans, skip to the end)
Hey guys, it's me. I was originally planned to post this in the Absent People thread but it got a bit long - not to mention that I want to make a loud return - so I am launching a separate thread. I hope no one minds.
Do note that what I am saying here is mostly based on my impression of this site 50 days ago. Also, I apologize in advance for any kind of unintensionally offensive or excessively generalizing remarks.
1. The Hard Beginning
I stayed away from TV Tropes for over a month because I decided to participate in Lent. I used to spend great deal of my days in the site so I figured that it was my biggest luxury at the moment. By the God, was it hard! I cannot emphasize how much time I used to spend in this site; at least 3 hours per day. It was well on its way to becoming an addiction. Much of my life used to revolve around the contents of this site. Only after two minutes, I wanted to quit this altogether and pretend I never said anything. And yet, I figured going back on my words, especially when it is done in religious cause, is really disrespectful so I had to delete TV Tropes from my Favorites page with trembling hands.
For the reminder of that week, I suffered from withdrawal syndrome. It worsened when I started to read Eyeshield21 I started to see trope every few pages or so and I had this urge to go check if this series has a trope page of its own and if certain awesome moments are included. I think the threat of TV Tropes ruining one's life is greatly downplayed. Then one day it came to me.
2. The Realization - Cutting Down on M & A
All this time, I realized that I could not analyze any element of any work of fiction without using the terms I borrowed from TV Tropes. I also realized that when I do use those tools, my analysis on the works was quite shallow. It led to a horrific conclusion; I could not pay enough attention and think through anything. Every comments I made about any work was all superficial and obvious. This is particularly bad, considering that I am planning to be an English writer. This required immediate attention and I got to it.
So what was my problem? I was ridiculously illiterate. Whenever I looked a trope page, I never even bothered with Literature examples. I was frequently ran over by "teal deer" syndrome whenever I had to read anything more than a paragraph. This was made particularly worse because I spent too much time in manga and anime. I am not trying to discredit them, but at least where my experience is concerned, they don't require much focus and I even came to believe that immersing myself only in M & A for years has been one of the things that drastically shortened my attention span.
So I started to look up some recommended reading lists from high schools and universities, made a reading list, and started to read. I am a really slow reader, but I am at least getting somewhere. I got to say, this may sound obvious but I like how elaborate and complex most good books, as in those so called "classics", are. I actually get something after reading those kind of works. Again, this is not to discredit anything; I grew up with M & A and I still love them. In fact, I will resume hanging around that part, just not as frequently. I need to read more.
3. The Realization - Why TV Tropes is Still My Favorite Site Ever
For the first couple of weeks, I still needed some forum goodness and I looked around couple of sites with large forums. I never used any of them over a week. All of them lacked what made me love TV Tropes so much.
For one thing, TV Tropes has the most exhaustive yet organized forum. As far as my (admittedly short) experience goes, TV Tropes is the only place where I can see people talking about, for example, military in one corner and RPG in another. Bascially, if you like a subject (that is SFW, of course), there is a thread about it. I could have any kind of question and there would be at least someone who is quite knowledgeable in that field that could answer it. In fact, sheer number of people who are majoring on something is incredible. I think it would be safe to say that this site has some of the most educated forumgoers.
It is not just the number of topics that are discussed here, either. Those would be, and should be pretty messy, if it were not for the way this site is organized. At least for me, it is easy to find whatever I want. Also, I really, really, REALLY, love the color scheme and forum outlines. The words are large, the background bright, and everything looks really simple and pleasant. Making a new post does not feel tedious at all, and functions like URL linking, pot-holing, and quoting is a lot simpler. I will be honest; I wish more forums looked like this site's forums. For this I give kudos to Fast Eddie and anyone who is responsible in the design of this site.
4. What I Missed the Most
Above all, what I missed the most about this site the most was also what made it my favorite at the first place; people. TV Tropes, in my opinion, has the best posters. Majority of them are nice, polite, and actually uses proper grammar. People here (do note that I am referring to those I knew more closely) actually thinks before posting. That is, when they are not being easygoing; then the sanity takes vacation, even though the etiquettes remain. I particularly enjoyed places like Troper Updates (come to think of it, how many forums have threads where people just talk about their lives?) and some of the thread helps me feel better when I have some of the worse days.
Of course, this is not to say that everyone is completely nice and discerning the whole time. I have seen of the most outrageously stupid and offensive remarks on this site and some of the nicest people being, well, not nice. Hell, I probably have over dozens of thumped posts and almost got banned at one point. In fact, this site is the first place that taught me there are a LOT of wise-cracking pricks in the Internet. And yet, I only rarely came across anyone who is genuinely insufferable the whole time. Most people are willing to explain their thoughts in a polite and coherent manner and fairly quick to apologize for rudeness. And for the really hopeless cases, there are friendly and understanding (but sometimes scary) moderators who get their jobs done and very well at that.
5. Conclusion
For your information, I actually needed to stay off of this site for only 42 days. I just wanted to do that for one more week, this time on my own will. The problem is that I forgot when Lent ended so I just did it for around 10 days. I cannot really tell, to be honest.
I am pretty sure no one cared that much about me, but there is no way I am going to leave this site, no chance at all. I love this site too much. Well, who knows, there might have been changes during 50 days that might affect that view, but I'll see.
Continuously reading, studying, and (hopefully) growing.