Social Experiment Forum

[Willravel]

Why does an anarchy forum have a democratic hierarchy of moderation? That's really confusing.

[abaya]

Nope Sharon, you haven't offended me either. No one has said anything to me directly, since I'm not even registered (and therefore not posting). Guess I'm glad we have C:A to bring out people's true colors. Still sad, though.

Originally Posted by willravel

Why does an anarchy forum have a democratic hierarchy of moderation? That's really confusing.

Yeah no shit, I was just saying that to ktspktsp. Wouldn't a truly anarchic forum have *no* moderators or admins, period? Just a heap of members posting whatever, without any hierarchy?

[Daoust]

And no penalties or infractions or anything like that. I view the infractions as an attempt to police and moderate, but they don't work. They make the place worse. If there were no infractions or points, and people could just write whatever they felt like, it truly would be anarchy. Mind you, it's pretty crazy in there now, but it's more stupid than crazy.

[Willravel]

Originally Posted by abaya

Yeah no shit, I was just saying that to ktspktsp. Wouldn't a truly anarchic forum have *no* moderators or admins, period? Just a heap of members posting whatever, without any hierarchy?

I didn't get a chance to read the whole thread.

I'm left wondering, after recieving a warning for mentioning TFP, what the real point is. If we're going to have a DEMOCRATIC forum, I'm all for that. Mob rule is absolutely fascinating. The thing is, this isn't it. This is anarchy. You rule yourself and no others, and no one rules you.

[Ourcrazymodern?]

Support systems are good things. Anarchy wouldn't reduce the birth rate but it would increase the death rate...

[World's King]

Originally Posted by Ourcrazymodern?

Support systems are good things. Anarchy wouldn't reduce the birth rate but it would increase the death rate...

Both of which will be affected by the rise in rape.


Just saying...

[Ourcrazymodern?]

And I do agree
Royalty I recognize
according to law!

[ngdawg]

Originally Posted by Daoust

And no penalties or infractions or anything like that. I view the infractions as an attempt to police and moderate, but they don't work. They make the place worse. If there were no infractions or points, and people could just write whatever they felt like, it truly would be anarchy. Mind you, it's pretty crazy in there now, but it's more stupid than crazy.

No, it's mean, nasty and dirty. Stupid ended about 8 hours ago....or intensified-hard to tell. I wish Hal would close it.

[Infinite_Loser]

Heheh. I think it's pretty nice.

[Menoman]

I am a firm believer that censorship in any form is a bad idea.

Censorship always retards creativity, true emotion, being true to yourself.

In that aspect I really enjoy the forum, I act how I act around my friends, we dog on each other jokingly, we get mad at each other sometimes and have nasty words.

I have a blast in the "Flame the person above you" thread, it's just funny as hell, a big joke (I've noticed people are taking it much too literal though).

I do think people who dismiss this forum with a 'holier than thou' attitude should take a step down and look at themselves. You're no better than the person calling my mom a fat whore, different probably, but no better. It's all in the mind of who is looking at this type of thing. I laugh when someone dogged on me in that thread, sucked it up and went back at them.

but you are right, it is a game, one that can turn very sinister and it already has somewhat, but that seems to be dying down.

[ngdawg]

Sinister, yea....
At first it was cathartic, no harm, no foul, but foul is taking over.
I don't think anyone is taking a 'holier than thou' attitude. Some don't want to get blunt or be hurtful; others take great satisfaction in it, revel in it. I think that's a more 'holier than thou' mindset than just walking away.
I want to take a second and make my own apologies for contributing to the demeanor; it seems what started out as a 'let's get real here' took a nosedive into a 'let's sling mud and be hurtful'. Guess sometimes instead of abandoning a worthless hole, against our own better judgement, we dig harder thinking something will come of it. Again, I apologize.

[Menoman]

Why would someone apologize for being themselves?

Unless it was all an act, there is no reason for apology. Again, it's Anarchy. It's not Anarchy-but-play-nice. You can do whatever the fuck you want NG and nobody can call you on it, it's not wrong.

The only way to be wrong is to break the rules, which if there are none, you can't possibly have something to apologize for.

I think you should just let loose and have some fun with it.

Seriously, go re-read the thread (you know which one) it's fucking hilarious!

[pan6467]

I find myself over there having FUN.....

I post I don't care what others think, I let my humor and words fly.

If you don't like what others are doing there.... stop crying, bitching, complaining, saying Hal needs to close it..... etc. Do the simplest thing on Earth.... don't go in there.

I admit I don't like the fighting and the meanness of some of the posts, I happen to like NG and Sheesus and JJ and it's sad to see some people I like fighting.... but ya know what..... I start reading them, if I find it is upsetting.... I STOP READING THE POST........ I then post try to add some humor... I'm sure someone will be "higly offended by such juvenile behavior" ..... know what GO FUCK YOURSELF......

If you can't make room in life for a little fun, I pity you
If you can't make room in life for a little craziness and absurdity, I feel sorry for you
If you punish others, think less of them, and get pissy because someone else found a way to release and have some fun and you want to spoil it....... I am ashamed for you and I truly feel you must be one miserable person here, there and in real life.

[ngdawg]

I was having fun. where some thought I was 'pissed', I was laughing as I typed..put in the cutesy little laughing things...
I 'let loose'...and got turned on by people I thought were decent folks. I said I'd leave, I left, got talked into going back and just use another name. Try to explain the name change-didn't matter.
Then those stupid 'infractions'-when you hit it you leave a 'message'-they were not pleasant to say the least. No biggy, neither was I once things got rolling.
Most of the threads were fun, but even there, participants got not-good 'infraction' messages. They left. I stayed on. I'm a big girl, no big deal. If Don Rickles can do it, I can and I know I'm a bitch or can at least play one. Type some more, laugh somewhat evilly...
But it got worse. I gave an audience, took the bait...final straw was the 1,000 word tirade at me by someone that, until then, I had respect for. Every word he said was evil, nasty, untrue and hurtful. It was not meant as satire, biting comedy or even as a defense. The intent was clear. Hope he reads this-he won.
I don't like mud wrestling. I think doing things, even telling the complete honest truth, can be done without evil intent, even humor.
It's funny how, when you have conversations with other people and share a common thought or idea out of noticing actions and one person decides to bring that out into the open, they kill the messenger. I'm a bitch for saying what other people think or whisper; someone else is stupid because they don't like the same food or movie. If I stick up for myself or even others, I'm a 'whiner'. At least six people ran from there in the first 48 hours...are they chickens? Nah, just smarter than me.
Yea, Pan.. I left. I didn't care what others thought either, until the thoughts became hurtful words. I stopped laughing. I can take a joke. That ain't it.

/me waits 4 more weeks for racing to start so I have something actually fun to do.

[mixedmedia]

So Anarchy necessarily means that frat boys (or men who still act like frat boys) who think they're soooo fucking funny are free to get their jollies however they like and at whomever's expense they feel like ganging up on that day? And if we don't like it we should go fuck ourselves?

Well, listen, Babe. If the tripe being tossed back and forth over there were funny, that would be one thing. What I see are a bunch of kids sitting there giggling hilariously at their own comedic brilliance while they type whatever dunderheaded, JUVENILE trash that their other half-wit friends think is funny into a computer and trying to call it anarchy. I realize now, in the internet world, if all are given free reign then the goons who have probably been pushed around all their lives and have chips on their shoulders the size of Mount Rushmore are the ones who will "rise to the top." And I suppose, being a charitable sort of person, you ought to have one place where you feel "special." You guys have fun.

[Chimera]

The experiment is working very well, in my opinion. This thread alone has defined aspects of us all that may never have come to light had Anarchy not been created. I see this as an extention of the Larger Experiment we call TFP, and a damn good one at that. It may not be TFP2.0......but only because it is not truly seperated from this place at all, nor should it be.

[pan6467]

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

So Anarchy necessarily means that frat boys (or men who still act like frat boys) who think they're soooo fucking funny are free to get their jollies however they like and at whomever's expense they feel like ganging up on that day? And if we don't like it we should go fuck ourselves?

No if you are going to sit there and complain about it or act like it is juvenile and beneath you..... then why go? My feeling is if you don't like it don't go. If you go just to complain then F* you.

Even got a li'l laughy there to really drive that point home, didn't ya?

Well, listen, Babe. If the tripe being tossed back and forth over there were funny, that would be one thing. What I see are a bunch of kids sitting there giggling hilariously at their own comedic brilliance while they type whatever dunderheaded, JUVENILE trash that their other half-wit friends think is funny into a computer and trying to call it anarchy. I realize now, in the internet world, if all are given free reign then the goons who have probably been pushed around all their lives and have chips on their shoulders the size of Mount Rushmore are the ones who will "rise to the top." And I suppose, being a charitable sort of person, you ought to have one place where you feel "special." You guys have fun.

If that is what it is then so be it. As you say everyone needs their little place. You don't see me attacking anyone do you?????? Do you see me supporting anyone who does????????

What I see is a group trying to make something and have some fun while playing and enjoying no rules, and another group who wants to turn it into TFP lite and expects the same rules. There it is open and you can explore different sides of yourself.... here it is well moderated and you are expected to act a certain way towards everyone. There it is Wild West... here it is civilization.

To some the appeal is more one way than another... to some they like both. In reality both are only what YOU make them to be. Sad thing is some decide it is not for them, thus they have to talk down to, scold and treat those who like it as if they were the ones who were ignorant.

Look the masses could attack me today.... so be it. If they do will it take away how I feel about the new place? No, because ..... and here is the shocker...... I don't go there for their approval........ I'll ignore it and just do my thing, if they ban me for it, or they try to make me miserable... then they are the ones with the problem. In reality, the ones passing the judgement are the ones who REFUSE to allow fun, for themselves or for others.

If I allow them to make me miserable because of words on a screen.....then I have a feeling I was miserable long before them.

Finally, some here want to act like everyone teams up and it is mob against innocent.... that's not true. In fact I see the vast majority minding their own business over there and just doing their thing finding out if they like it or not.

Don't like it walk away be done with it......... the more you bitch, moan, complain, call names and pass judgement on those there, the more you show everyone else (except that group you want to impress), what a control freak and how judgemental you truly are. And if you do pass judgement, then expect to be judged in return.....

[mixedmedia]

You told us to fuck off and you're not attacking anyone? I'm not attacking anyone by saying exactly what it is. Do I think that kind of behavior is beneath me? Well, yes I do. You don't like it? You want to be showered with approval and best wishes? Sorry, I will speak my mind, just as you are. And apparently I'm sad to say, just as those folks over there are doing. If you guys need rules to not behave like a bunch of children, then fine, whatever. I am far from a control freak but I do pass judgment on adults who choose to act like they never left junior high school. Wear your merit badge proudly, pan, if you like. But don't expect me to be told to fuck off and not speak my mind. That's the point, right? Do what you like and don't care what anyone else thinks about it?

[Charlatan]

It smells like the death of TFP.

When the social lubrication that we have worked so hard to establish here is stripped away it isn't pretty.

How long before the animosity growing there leaks into here? While it has been "interesting" to see certain people's true colours shining through, it is also disheartening.

Makes me wonder why I spend my time here.

[mixedmedia]

And just for the record, I don't intend to go back. I don't care to have anymore of my illusions dashed. It's really more sad than anything else.

[aberkok]

Originally Posted by pan6467

No if you are going to sit there and complain about it or act like it is juvenile and beneath you..... then why go? My feeling is if you don't like it don't go. If you go just to complain then F* you.

...

What I see is a group trying to make something and have some fun while playing and enjoying no rules, and another group who wants to turn it into TFP lite and expects the same rules. There it is open and you can explore different sides of yourself.... here it is well moderated and you are expected to act a certain way towards everyone. There it is Wild West... here it is civilization.

Pan, a lot of what you say backfires. Those who protest what's going on at C.A. have obviously hit some kind of nerve and you end up writing large posts telling them to back off. The notion that we all need to "chill and have fun" feels like a stand-up comic at a funeral and while I can tell you have a good heart, you can't deny that feelings are getting hurt over there.

You can't tell me the best advice against hurt feelings is "lighten up and have some fun."

I admit it, even though I haven't been personally slandered there, I feel bad inside knowing that people that I used to respect have been surprising me with the things they are saying...and that goes for both sides of the central conflict playing out. I am hurt. That's what motivates me to write so much here.

I anticipate a lot of "boo hoo, aberkok," from the punks, to whom I say two things:

1.) I'm being honest about my feelings, which is more than I can say for most.

2.) If you weren't behind a computer, I could show you some martial arts moves I learned in Hong Kong....to your face.

[ShaniFaye]

Please keep in mind that the "mass" majority over there you are speaking of are people left that think that kind of crap is "fun".

Those of us that don't and find it extremely juvenile had stopped participating, that doesn't mean we aren't reading to see to what lengths some are going to to tear people down and those that chose to defend them, it means we are no longer posting. I stopped posting the same night after it became apparent what behavior was going to "rule" the land

A lot of us are not "whining" we are in shock about the behaviors of people that some of us held a certain amount of regard for and unfortunately that regard is gone now.

Like you stated, I didn't go there for approval, but I don't condone whats going on and by continued posting there thats what I feel I would be doing.

[dc_dux]

A few lurking glances into the new playpen was enough for me to see that its not how I like to play and have fun.

I only hope Charlantan is wrong and it doesnt spill back onto TFP.

[hagatha]

Wow, I had a look and that was just sad. If anarchy looks like that, no wonder it doesn't work. You poor misguided youngsters, go outside and do something constructive with your time, the internet is rotting your brains.

[pan6467]

MM, you are one tough "broad", and I respect that immensely. You're right, you know, if I bitch about bitching and tell people that if they pass judgement they should go fuck off...... I should respect their opinion when they tell me to go fuck off....

For the record I was telling people that go to C:A only to pass judgement and complain about behavior to fuck off..... not you necessarily.

I like that in you..... tough, sassy and not afraid to let loose. You're a rare breed.....

Charlatan, I don't see this destroying TFP, in fact it may strengthen it. I see it as a place where people can go let loose frustrations, not take things too seriously and enjoy themselves. And I simply see lines being drawn.

Do I think Daoust and Sheesus and JJ and NG and so on will hate each other and destroy TFP because of what was done over there?

No, I simply see them being upset with each other and eventually those that want to be at C:A will be and those that want to be here will be and those of us who enjoy both places will wonder back and forth.

There is a place and time for both behaviors and attitudes.

Originally Posted by aberkok

Pan, a lot of what you say backfires. Those who protest what's going on at C.A. have obviously hit some kind of nerve and you end up writing large posts telling them to back off. The notion that we all need to "chill and have fun" feels like a stand-up comic at a funeral and while I can tell you have a good heart, you can't deny that feelings are getting hurt over there.

You can't tell me the best advice against hurt feelings is "lighten up and have some fun."

I admit it, even though I haven't been personally slandered there, I feel bad inside knowing that people that I used to respect have been surprising me with the things they are saying...and that goes for both sides of the central conflict playing out. I am hurt. That's what motivates me to write so much here.

I anticipate a lot of "boo hoo, aberkok," from the punks, to whom I say two things:

1.) I'm being honest about my feelings, which is more than I can say for most.

2.) If you weren't behind a computer, I could show you some martial arts moves I learned in Hong Kong....to your face.

I agree. I am hurt and shocked by what others I respect are doing. But as I stated, I ignore it, move on and do my thing.

I think a lot of it has to do with the power and the "send good vibes" send bad vibes" type structure. It does eventually lend itself to mob mentality.

Doesn't mean I need to get caught up into it.

My posts above are to just try to get some people to realize that it doesn't matter what people think or say about you, just be you, in doing so and opening your eyes to what is truly there you may find more people support you than disagree with you.

If I post there, it doesn't mean I condone bad behavior, it means I like the idea I can post a different way there.... I use a lot of Monty Python there .... absurdity begets absurdity....and maybe people actually see one of my posts and smile while 99 hate them, hate me and attack me. I don't care about the 99, but the one I made smile made my posts worth it.

But in the end it's all opinion..... yes, perhaps I go into length defending what I percieve shouldn't need defending.... but I'm sharing my opinion and why I enjoy C:A.

[mixedmedia]

Thank you for your kind words, pan, both here and the say something nice thread. I don't take them lightly.

But I think the key thing that rubs me the wrong way about CA, and which aberkok mentions above, is that I don't believe many of the members over there are behaving honestly. It's a game to them. And a game that causes real hurt to people who don't deserve it. I don't see anything fun or constructive about that. I don't believe people need a place where they can go and verbally abuse people. In fact, I think indulging that impulse is unhealthy and highly deconstructive. As is evidenced by the mass dismay being voiced on this thread. I think it just goes to show that the filter of the internet does not prevent people from being hurt by what goes on there. I don't think the removed nature of the internet should free people from common decency. Most especially among its virtual communities where there is a certain amount of trust in each other that has been painstakingly nurtured. I hope that this doesn't signal the end of TFP, goddammit I just got here! And truthfully, I don't think it does, but I do think there will be lasting residual baggage to be dealt with because of what has occurred at CA. Some lessons are hard-learned.

[Sultana]

I haven't even gone there to look and see what's going on, to be honest I am afraid of what I'll see, and who I'll see saying it.

It sounds like choosing between the red pill and the blue pill--return to the world I'm comfortable with, or see true colors (to an extent, there are still filters and motivations in place that may not be readily apparent) and know another version of "truth" and be unhappier. But I don't need to see all the ugliness of the world to know it exists. I don't delude myself into imagining that people package and present themselves here at TFP exactly and honestly the way they are "In Real Life".

Like M2, I don't think it's constructive to offer a place where people are allowed to operate to the lowest common denominator. We have the whole rest of the internet for that. I seek to spend my time in places where I can grow and better myself as a person and with people who will encourage me, and where I do the same for others. I don't mean to sound holier-than-anyone, those are just my goals and my action plan. Personally, I see NO benefit to rolling around in e-mud.

[abaya]

Originally Posted by Charlatan

How long before the animosity growing there leaks into here? While it has been "interesting" to see certain people's true colours shining through, it is also disheartening.

Oh, it already has, if you ask me. My feelings towards a good number of people have already changed, and there won't be any going back on that.

And for the record (Pan)... I checked it out a few times, never registered, and am not going back even to look again. Had my fill.

[ngdawg]

I think they are behaving more honestly than they could here. In true anarchy, true nature comes out.
There's a lot of threads that are just pasttime fun. Alas, it doesn't take but one to destroy any fun one might have had. Luckily, there were two..
I think it's really sad that, even if 5 people say the same thing, one can become the punching bag simply by virtue of existing.
The wonder is, how do you get to such a position of blatant hatred for someone to the point of being mean and hurtful just to kill their spirit, then come back to homebase and continue on? You essentially kill any position of respect for yourself, no? Can anyone with conscience do that and expect to walk through the door to open arms? Hell, I'd be embarrassed to even try..

[Sultana]

Originally Posted by Charlatan

How long before the animosity growing there leaks into here? While it has been "interesting" to see certain people's true colours shining through, it is also disheartening.

Just to mention, I don't think that a snap shot of someone at their worst behavior (or at least a behavior that the perceiver deplores, "worst behavior" being fairly subjective) is necessarily a glimpse of their truest colors.

Its funny, I was just thinking about this recently in a completely different environment.

But say you happen to find out someone you are friends with did something you think is awful. If that is a non-repeated behavior, it doesn't define their whole being, and I don't think it should be viewed as a snapshot of their complete essence in a nutshell.

Just because someone has lied, for instance (and we all have), doesn't mean it's correct to categorize them as a "Liar". In that case, we are all liars, and I believe that would be a pretty 1-dimensional way to evaluate people. However, if they lie all the time and never change that behavior, then yes, I think it would be accurate to consider them as "A Liar".

[ngdawg]

Originally Posted by Sultana

Just to mention, I don't think that a snap shot of someone at their worst behavior (or at least a behavior that the perceiver deplores, "worst behavior" being fairly subjective) is necessarily a glimpse of their truest colors.

Its funny, I was just thinking about this recently in a completely different environment.

But say you happen to find out someone you are friends with did something you think is awful. If that is a non-repeated behavior, it doesn't define their whole being, and I don't think it should be viewed as a snapshot of their complete essence in a nutshell.

Just because someone has lied, for instance (and we all have), doesn't mean it's correct to categorize them as a "Liar". In that case, we are all liars, and I believe that would be a pretty 1-dimensional way to evaluate people. However, if they lie all the time and never change that behavior, then yes, I think it would be accurate to consider them as "A Liar".

It goes way beyond any snapshot....some of the behavior has been seen in drips and controlled drabs; it's the sheer delight of taking that to a (self-approved) new height (or lows, whatever) that brings on evaluations.

[Halx]

I think this thread alone is a success.

[pan6467]

Originally Posted by abaya

Oh, it already has, if you ask me. My feelings towards a good number of people have already changed, and there won't be any going back on that.

And for the record (Pan)... I checked it out a few times, never registered, and am not going back even to look again. Had my fill.

That I respect Abaya. Someone who says, "it's not for me" and walks away.

I've lost respect for some people also.... doesn't mean they are bad people, just means what I expected from them was too high of a standard, perhaps they set it perhaps I set it.... doesn't mean I dislike them, just may not look at them the same way I did before. But such is life and friendships.

It isn't for everyone.... probably isn't for me, but I'm too lost in being able to pass the scriptures of Monty Python and working to get 1 out of many to smile and have a better day for even a brief second, to notice.

Damn, I'm wordy and I don't say anything...... it's official.... I've become a true psycho babbler......

[Halx]

I'm finding it interesting how people react. "I've lost respect for _______." To me, that's taking yourself too seriously. Losing respect for someone because they let loose in some fashion is as fake as it gets. In my head, my little world, we're all the same. We have pains, resentments, annoyances, peeves and prejudices. If you let them come to the surface, its no different than if you keep them inside; you still have them. Judging people on such a scale is pretentious and simply not *real* - real in the artistic sense.. you know, keepin' it real.

Face it, people, the world is dirty. The TFP just cleans it up a little, but it doesn't change the people participating in it.

[ngdawg]

Ok, this is probably gonna fall on deaf cyber-ears, but...
I'm not even there and it's become a slugfest with everyone else.
KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!!
People I have good relationships with are at each other's throats with insulting crap, obviously designed to see who can sling mud the hardest.
Stop. Just freakin stop.




Gawd, I have heartburn....

[ShaniFaye]

**edit
I give up


Halx, I really hope for your sake what you got out of this was worth everything its causing

[mixedmedia]

Originally Posted by ShaniFaye

sorry, Shani, I agree with what was in this box

I am in agreement with you. There's nothing going on over there that's "real" in any sense other than there are actual words being used to purport it. And if I'm just old and not "with it" then so be it. There's nothing more "real" about being an ass because you can than not being one because you have to.

[dc_dux]

Halix.... is the new CA forum on a shared server with TFP? Are those who donated to keep TFP alive and growing also subsidizing this new forum?

I'm not a donor (for reasons of my own choosing) so you dont really owe me an explanation. I was just wondering.

[Sultana]

Originally Posted by Halx

Losing respect for someone because they let loose in some fashion is as fake as it gets.

So you'd not feel any differently about someone you previously felt a kinship with if they constantly burst into tears at any or no provocation? If they crapped on your desk (or monitor, I suppose, to try to make a better analogy)? If you discovered they liked censoring other people? Restricting sexual expression?Insert any behavior you don't care for/actively dislike here.

Yeah sure, we're fundamentally the same. We feel the same things. It's how we deal with it that defines us as a person. Letting loose is the not problem, it's bringing others down in the process that's the problem, don't you think? Going out and getting drunk and hung over to deal with something isn't gonna hurt anyone else, but getting drunk and then starting a bar room brawl or killing someone else driving drunk afterwards is.

[pan6467]

Originally Posted by Halx

I'm finding it interesting how people react. "I've lost respect for _______." To me, that's taking yourself too seriously. Losing respect for someone because they let loose in some fashion is as fake as it gets. In my head, my little world, we're all the same. We have pains, resentments, annoyances, peeves and prejudices. If you let them come to the surface, its no different than if you keep them inside; you still have them. Judging people on such a scale is pretentious and simply not *real* - real in the artistic sense.. you know, keepin' it real.

Face it, people, the world is dirty. The TFP just cleans it up a little, but it doesn't change the people participating in it.

I don't think it is so much "respect" as it is what you have come to expect from a certain person. It is easy to only see what the other wants revealed on the net. (In RL people have tells you can pick up personality "flaws" a lot more easily.)

So when you see a person you always expect to act a certain way, act a different way, and the expectations you had for that person are let down, it is easy to say "I've lost respect for......".

In doing so though, you may hurt the people you named's feelings, causing them to feel you are attacking them and thus they rear back and attack.... then the freefall starts.

And when the dust clears, the only 2 things that become truly certain is .... everyone has a darkside that someone else isn't going to like and that you've ruined friendships over false perceptions and lofty ideals the other could never have achieved.

As my sig on the other sight says (the opening sentences fronm the Great Gatsby) it is very true and they are words to live by.

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,' he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.'