I've always wondered why people never pay attention to the good things that you do. People only pay attention to the bad. You could be doing great things 99% of the time, but people always focus on the one mistake, the 1% where you do something bad. Why is this? I feel bad for everyone that has been good, but ruined it all with just one mistake.

Very astute observation, I believe it can be very contextual but the simple answer of it would be (in my opinion), that it's a thing of human nature, we set this level of acceptance and over time it has raised/lowered in different parts of the world, without any sort of fame behind your face the things you do don't mean that much to people, the ones who it does matter to will never know it happened because there was nobody there to make a big thing of it.

But the moment you make a mistake it falls below that invisible bar of expectations they set and now you're on a certain list that most people make it difficult and time consuming to get off of. (If you cared to get off of that said list in the first place.)

But that's just my take on it, again the contextual nature of the question could change my answer dramatically, but that was just a general response.

I feel as if it stems from wanting to be considered "superior" to others. Like you said, do a bunch of good things, but make one tiny mistake and you're done for. Someone would take that mistake and try to put you down to make themselves look better. I've seen this happen many times, mostly it was done by the people who didn't want to take any flak, so instead of doing that they decided to have someone else take the fall. It's pretty sad to see it happen, but it happens all the time.

I've talked about this multiple times before to those who complain that they're not trusted status. Bad always outweighs good. For example, if there was a door with a 50% chance that you would see a room with an eternity of splendor and fun and a 50% chance that you would die or get the opposite, would you open the door? Most people say they wouldn't because bad outweighs good.

Before I was trusted again, I was being perfectly kind and everything. Then one day I did something only a little bad and I lost 2 trust points. People tend to notice bad more than good, especially if it's regular that someone is acting good (since they get used to that person acting that way).

TheFadedWarrior : I made a mistake that cost me 5 trust points, which is what inspired me to make this thread. I know I am not an angel, but this made me realize more than ever how much bad truly does outweigh good.

Evil stands out more at first glance.  It demands attention, while truly good acts are done with the intent of having the attention diverted elsewhere, not at self, unless you have something important to say.  

I agree that bad outweighs the good because it has a greater effect on one's decisions, using the example that thefadedwarrior gave, even though it is 50-50, the percentage that you will get something bad is enough to motivate most people in to not opening the door and taking the risk. Or it could just be a way of putting you down, let's say you get honor roll 3 9 week periods, but on the last one you get a C, people won't focus on how good you did the other 3 weeks, they will only focus on the one C you got and find a reason to put you down about it. 


Plus, if you tend to do good things on a daily basis, it is more noticeable when you do something bad because it will be different and stick out differently than when you do good things. Hopefully this makes some sort of sense. 


Were you ever notified for why you lost that many trust points? Because 5 seems like a lot, if there is one thing I wish the TP system would cover, it would be the reason why you lost the tp in the first place, like a notification or something because, all that shows is 5 less trust points on your profile, but it doesn't even explain what you did in the first place so you can avoid doing it the next time around....

I always feel like people are looking out for screw ups. As if the world is constantly staring you down to witness your mistakes.

That's probably why it feels like when terrible things happen the world just seems to collapse around you. But you know, good acts don't go unnoticed. It just feels that way because bad news is so much more fun to talk about, but people see the good too. They're probably just not inclined to talk about it as much.

As it's been said already, there are a few reasons that people notice bad more than good. One reason is because when you are a good person, doing good comes naturally, and so when people see you doing good, they just see you being yourself. However, when you do bad, it stands out like a sore thumb.

Another reson is that one bad deed can destroy much good. For example: say Nation A supplies Nation B with enough food to help them through a time of famine. Good. Now the day after the famine officially ends, Nation A bombs Nation B's food supply. Bad. Now if you were the leader of Nation B, would you just shrug it off and call it even, since you were no better or worse off than you were before Nation A got involved in the Famine in the first place? Bear in mind that this is a singular attack, and there is no threat of a second strike. Simply put, most people would seek revenge, and completely dismiss the good that was done.

How about with relationships? Find a girl you like, start talking to her and trying to charm her. Now once she goes on that first date with you, tell her she's ugly and boring. Think she'll stick around for the rest of the date, or even like you anymore?

You see, it isn't that people are unfair and judge too harshly, so much as it's that people can see that the power of one bad deed can destroy months or even years of work that was accomplished by a series of good deeds.

A wise man once said "A brother offended is harder to be won than a fenced city".

I don't condone people being harsh, but the best advice I could give is the same as I've heard: "You've dug a hole, and now you must fill it in with a spoon". I know you mean well, because that's just the tgags that I know, and I wish you well. May you manage to regain the trust of those who were affected.

tgags123 : i don't get it either its like hey i did somthing productive whatever kid,i'm sorry i got a B on my test YOU SON OF A...

Yeah lol. Well i never really pay attention to the good things i do only the bad things. It sucks really.

I would say that people today EXPECT good things to happen, so when something good does happen, they just dismiss it as something that is nothing more than normal and is supposed to happen. But when something bad happens, people react because they feel that the action is not customary.
(Yes, I learned this in my Sociology class)

That is just the way the world works man. If I save a mans life then ten minutes later I kill a man, what action do you think people would remember me for? The murder. It probably has something to do with our the way our ancient ancestors minds worked. Maybe it is helpful for bad events to be more memorable. Say one man went left and found a tree with fruit and another went right and got ate by a lion, it may be more important to remember lions are to the right than it is to remember fruit trees are to the left. That is just my theory.

I think it is because the people expect the good actions and are used to them by now at least. but the bad actions people are most likely not used to.

Wait?  Good acts go unnoticed, but bad acts can ruin you? I think that people are just too dumb to notice the good stuff.