Anchorhead said:
TV's Frink said:
Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that we only make fun of nutjobs. There are plenty of people who appreciate the SE or the PT who are tolerated or even embraced, to an extent.
I think you're absolutely right about that. That's why I'm bummed my co-worker won't give us a chance. I tried to link her to some of our better conversations, but she may have looked into some others too. In fact, it may have been around the time Matt started coming off the rails. If she saw that she may have gotten the wrong impression.
We get some people coming here who kind of want to stir things up and talk about how dumb we are being, and it probably is unfortunate that we have always been so quick to chase those ones away. We're not very good at converting the uninitiated. We do have member who like the SE and the PT, maybe even some who claim to like those better than the originals and they are treated just fine. It is really an issue of respect. If you have respect for our opinions, we'll have respect for yours.
But if you look at this place from the outsider's perspective, this place is quite a puzzle. Imagine you are a young fan of this series (teens to twenties) and you just can't get enough of it. You join every SW forum you can find and you stumble on this one place that apparently hates every part of it you have ever seen and won't shut up about these special feature on the '06 bonus discs they like but still complain about for some reason. (You never bothered wasting your time with those bonus discs because they just seemed to be boring youtube quality work prints with missing scenes and stand in special effects). Not only that, but they seem to say things about George Lucas, who is kind of a hero of yours, they say he isn't that creative, they call him a bad director and claim he takes more credit than he deserves, and they act like he owes them these stupid work prints in higher quality. What do they expect? They're really old work prints! How high quality do they expect to get them in?
When you are coming at this place without knowing anything, it has got to be a weird enough experience. On top of that, most likely these guys have had their ignorance exposed to the ignorance of others and mixed with George propaganda like the originals having been unfinished versions. When they come in here feeling like they need to defend the honor of George Lucas and the SW Saga as it stands (the only way they've ever known it and the way they love it), we tend to do what is natural and defend our stance, usually in a way that makes them leave, or if they do stick around it is so they can continue to "fight the good fight" and point out to friends the cool witty comebacks they "pwned" us old geezers with.*
If we had been better historically with being kind and coolly explaining to those types that it is okay they like what they like but there is nothing wrong with us wanted the originals, which have great cultural value regardless of the version you prefer*, I wonder if the shape of this place would be any different?
*Sometimes winning is relative. I remember watching a debate with a friend and afterwards he commented enthusiastically, "Oh man, 'A' just handed 'B' their head! What a massacre!" the comment caught me off guard as I had just been thinking how 'B' had just made an embarrassing mess of poor 'A'. I have a feeling just about any of these outsiders who come in and get into a shuffle here leave thinking they showed us a thing or two, while we stand back and have a laugh at their expense and wonder if they'll be back for more of a beating.
**I know this was done, but beside it there were often just as many "if you don't like it then you can just leave" or other type comments that were returning abrasion with abrasion.
