I wasn't gonna comment on this or the follow up thread. I was kinda waiting , expecting them both to die. Silly me.

I don't have an issue with the post. I DO have an issue with the drama. As someone who has engaged in some heated discussions in the forums, the one thing I always try to remember is that it is a FORUM. A public forum, if you will. Once you put yourself 'out there' as it were, you can't be thin-skinned about it, whether it's a serious post or just lighthearted. There is always bound to be someone who has an issue with it and will exorcise the same right you did when you created the thread and voice their opinion.

On the other hand, seeing longtime members bitch and moan over a post when there have been SO many (and some still active after years) similar posts is really discouraging and depressing. I don't see them posting in some of the older and still very active threads that the thread needs to die or go away. This is very inconsistent behavior and may be why some people are so quick to play the 'clique' card. When one person is singled out over all the others, it can make other folks suspicious.

On the third hand...I freaking hate cruising the entertainment sites or news sites or whatever and every other article is about Justin Bieber.  However, I have the option not to click on any of them, or comment, and move on to what does interest me. I'm not wasting my time. I am not going to change that sites particular policy on what they post or allow to post or consider worthy of posting (whether I am a long time member or just driving by)  and I don't have to suffer the backlash of 4 million Bieber fans.

And finally, on the fourth hand (I have to stop here because I need my fifth hand to primp my hair while I look in the mirror and admire how fucking awesome I really am) and this is the hardest thing to write because it I consider everyone here family (even skinhit...and you to John..though you are more like the cousin I have that I refuse to speak to because he's such an arrogant ass ) I do not understand why anyone would want to demean themselves with these 'Good-Bye Cruel Website' posts. Such drama. And that is exactly what it is. Why can't it be said in the original post. Hell, edit the original post and put it there. I have been forced to drag out, for my three year old, the old 'Pity Party' routine my grandmother used to use on me when my daughter throws one of her 'I don't want you.' 'You're mean' and my favorite 'I'm taking all my kisses and hugs back!'. I don't see these 'Adios' threads as much different. However, I don't comment if I can help it, because I would be the only one saying 'You know where the door is. And it will be there if you want to come back.' Sorry if that sounds harsh or cynical.

The old saying 'You can pick your friends but you can't pick your family' is very appropriate here. This is a family. Whether you like it or not. A 'virtual' family, perhaps, but still a family of folks that share some very unique and similar interests in skinning and desktop customization. If you can't support your family, at least tolerate it.  It's just a post. It's not like your sister ran off and married Glen Beck. (Yeah, that was for you, John. )

Thanks buddy

Who is Justin Bieber?

Po, you know in my opinion, you are pretty much on the top of respectable individuals here.  There isn't much you can post that I won't either agree with or learn from, but as much as I know you love your grandmother and think she had a handle on drama situations, I need to disagree with her here.  The "Good-Bye Cruel Website" posts are individual poster's ways of saying "I loved you, and you hurt me..." and to say that's a pity party is to invalidate that person's feelings, which is probably why they HAVE to be dramatic about it...because in this world, there are a lot of people who would like to invalidate others.

In my experience the "good bye, I'm leaving" posts are usually written in the hope that someone will try to talk them out of it.

One of those instant teenybopper shake and bake child sensations.

Hope springs eternal.  After being rejected and hurt by a post, don't you think it makes sense to want to be talked out of it by "the rest of the family?"

It's a matter of personal preference, I suppose. I have gotten PM's from folks who were going to leave. They didn't feel the need to do an entire thread on it..or a whole new separate thread.  There are cries for help and cries for attention. It's difficult to tell the difference sometimes. I'm not labeling anyone or anything in particular, I'm just cautious when I see these kinds of threads.

 

And..on a site with so many members of different backgrounds, philosophy's, etc.......you can't honestly post and expect everyone to agree - and by the same token you have the right to post to begin with, they have the right to respond  ...and you reply to the response and so on. If you can't 'hang' in a virtual world, you're gonna have bigger issues in the real world.

In the end, if a person gets 'hurt' they have the right to leave AND post about it. I was just making a 'personal' observation that the people who shred someone over an innocent post and the response to say 'fare-thee-well' BOTH seem to be on the overly 'dramatic' side.

 

A cry for attention IS a cry for help...it's a feeble attempt to express a need that is unfulfilled. 

If you're able to help, and you care, then you respond...mainly because it hurts you more to know the scars left behind could have been prevented.  (I'm not just talking about the forum here....I ignored my own offspring's cry for help because I thought it was just another cry for attention, and now she has to wear long-sleeved shirts to job interviews to cover the mess she made of her wrists). 

It costs so very little to brighten someoneelse's day, I really don't know why there has to be such a damn shortage of love in the world.

No.

It can SEEM that way, but the 'help' needed applies to bigger and/or other issues, in some cases.  A three year old banging their head on the floor for a lollipop is not a cry for help, unless you are considering the damage they are going to do to the floor or their head.

I would definitely be concerned about the damage to their head.  Obviously there is something not right with a child who would be willing to inflict pain on themselves like that just for a lollipop; that child has a NEED to be shown a less destructive way of dealing with their desires and frustrations at not achieving them instantly, and a loving parent would see that need and find a way to teach that child in a way the child could understand and cognitively process so that when that child is an adult, they have developed coping skills, so they don't end up being involuntarily committed for banging their head on the floor in response to unfulfilled needs.

I dont recall ever seeing a 'Goodbye' post where the person really left. In my opinion, it's just a cry for attention. If I ever leave (yeah, like that's gonna happen) I will not make a post about it, I will just...go.

It's easy to say that when you feel wanted, loved and appreciated...and are complete in other aspects of your life.  Not everybody here is as blessed as some of the rest of us.  Some in our "family" don't have the emotional support system that others of us have.  Some come here because they are lonely, and don't feel significant in their "real" world.  Loving those people, giving them just a tiny bit of what they aren't getting in real life...it costs us nothing.  It's not like giving love means we have a deficit of love because of the output.