I find it a bit sad and oddly appropriate that a man laments about how people treat each other on Giant Bomb and then a bunch of people reply to him with snideness, dismissiveness, and near mockery. Giant Bomb has and can be better than that. A lot of people just seem to not do well at all with criticism or the idea that things can actually be changed or improved. Which isn't surprising, considering how many in the world share that sentiment, but it's something we here can work on.
The most common response I have seen is that he's foolish for expecting anything more of Giant Bomb than every other place on the Internet. To me, that's possibly the worst way to defend anything. It's like having some friends that sometimes treat you like crap or treat others poorly, and when you complain, they just say, "Yeah, well, most people in the world are awful; so, stop expecting so much of us and suck it up." But that's just nonsense. It's okay and actually kind of great that someone might expect more of the people around here. As people in the Giant Bomb community, we should be complimented that anyone might expect anything of us.
One of the reasons I like Giant Bomb is because it was founded by a group of guys who said the status quo of game sites wasn't for them. They wanted their own site that would be something different, something more. And I think a lot of people here would say they seem to have achieved that. As fans of the site, can't we also want to do better than the status quo? Is "Well, we're not -as- awful as most places" really something to boast about? It's a silly defense, and it's a poor reason to dismiss any criticism. When someone brings up a problem, maybe we shouldn't just try to say there is no problem or there isn't enough of a problem for us to do anything; instead, we can try to find ways to make sure people have less reason to think there's a problem. Perhaps by solving the problem or at least attempting to do so.
And for those who say that's all well and good for individual users but you can't expect much of others, that's nonsense. If all of Giant Bomb was just anons, it'd be one thing, but Giant Bomb is a rather persistent community with many regulars. Sites often have turnarounds of weeks or months, but Giant Bomb has turnarounds closer to years. Giant Bomb has a pretty darn dedicated following even with its stream of new recruits. And those dedicated people who post regularly set the tone for all the rest of the comments. What you decide to do matters, and the comments you regularly make impact what others post. It's not always apparent, but there are clear tones to communities. And Giant Bomb has an ever shifting tone set by the staff and by regular commenters. If -you- take concerns seriously and be a good commenter, more and more people will follow suit simply to fit with what appears standard. No community is perfect, but you can certainly strengthen a community. And sometimes, there may be legitimate reason for Giant Bomb to want to improve its community here.
What ever happened to being proactive? Being defensive is overrated in modern society. People are too caught up in being told they're special and perfect the way they are; that they're at least better than the next kid. Can't we see that there's stuff to work on? So, when someone says, "I've been kind of disappointed with the GB community interaction,", why don't we try to figure out why he feels that way rather than just find excuses to dismiss his concerns? We can say people are just misunderstanding how awesome or at least above average Giant Bomb's community is, but maybe we should try to do something about why they're apparently misunderstanding. If Giant Bomb's community is actually better than other places around the Internet, why do many get a very different impression? Instead of dismissing it, we could take these concerns seriously, think about them, and maybe discuss ways to improve things. Heck, even if the discussion just becomes people saying they'll personally try to do better, that's something. Taking concerns into real consideration, though, is what matters, and dismissing concerns simply because we don't share those concerns doesn't get rid of people's reasons to feel the way that they do. No matter how well we think we are doing, for the sake of the Giant Bomb we enjoy and those who share in this site, certainly we can find ways to do better.
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