HI! oldschoolboyz here with the latest..is it confessional...??? Irrelevant......anyways, this thread is devoted to what you have learned from vizzed versus what you did not learn from your mom or dad...meaning you learned it from vizzed instead of them. Remarkable isn't it....where we learn things from. I find it interesting that the learning process seems to never end in life though we may put it on pause on occasion. Anywayz, feel free to share your various enlightenments on what you have learned here...that you did not learn from mom and dad. yay! thank you!!!

What I learned from Vizzed...that I did not learn from my mom and dad:
1. Regardless if the compass points north always you still can go in your own direction...just beware of fire. omg! yes! and Thank you!!! Flaming is flaming but, it is just that...flaming. That's why we solve our problems "constructively".
2. Friends do not come in dorito bags though it is still ok to eat doritos. hahaha...oh yeah! This one really is super cool as making friends in the vizzed community I find that definitely it is not a manufactured thing when it comes to that ( and I'm sure anywheres else for that matter).
3. Bacon is bacon as bacon is to bacon so what bacon really is is bacon although we may not be sure about "all" the bacon. I hope this one presents a relief to some people. Yes, there is bacon and if you are not sure if it is bacon then just simply remember this answer: what is bacon?!
4. Some people have a sense of humor, whether or not they are powerful. This one brings a tear to my eye...and a really happy LOL moment. I mean really...there is room for everyone...even if it is wacky wavy inflatable arm flailing tube man.
5. PERMAHI IS BAD FOR YOU!!!!....say hi when you are ready for that and not all the time. While random moments may occur and be notoriously funny there is ultimately a time and place when to do your greetings....and don't forget to do your shoutouts!

Well, I guess that covers it for me at this point. I really look forward to what anyone has to add to this pile. If you do and if even if you don't at least you have made a choice. Thanks and happy vizzing!

I learned that people are so intensely focused on trying to make sure no one is ever offended by anything they say, they can't actually handle criticism or thoughts and ideas counter to their belief systems.  It's amazing to read the posts where people are coming out, basically negating anything they're saying because they're trying to be soft and super-appropriate.

Sometimes you gotta disagree, folks.  And there's nothing wrong with it.  This is a great place to learn conflict management because no one is coming to your house and you aren't losing school friends.  Don't fight but argue and exchange ideas.


I also learned people are so anxious to fit in they always give the Mods permission to move their threads.  This dovetails with point number 1.  If a Mod moves your item, they'll move it.  You telling them okay is maybe a way of taking criticism for picking the wrong area to post and now it's not so bad that they said, "You're wrong, Mr/Ms Poster."

I posted in a wrong board a few times.  Those threads got moved.  I said, "Oh well," and kept things moving.

Lastly, I learned there are a lot of great ideas and wonderful viewpoints from people and places I'd otherwise never get to meet or talk to.  Some of the folks I chat with, and they know who they are, are open minded even if we're on opposite ends of the spectrum in our -isms.  It makes for great sport to debate skillfully and it's eye-opening to see what life is like on the other end of another laptop.

You guys:
play4fun :
Singelli :
thephantombrain :
thenumberone :
legacyme3 :

You guys are the ones that keep me engaged.  I'd be out the door in a heartbeat of you all left.

If I've learned one thing and only one, it's that status and "power" do not make you happy.

I'm a former global moderator of this site, and did that job for over a year. It was a great experience and at times, I even had fun.

But it was also a very difficult time as well. When you have power, you are relied on to use it, and urged to by people who don't understand the weight of a decision. I learned this in real life as well, but first on Vizzed.

The internet is a much less stressful place to have power, but that doesn't mean it is stressless.

All status is, is a fancy way to try and tell ourselves we matter. The truth of it is we matter regardless of what we are or what we have done. Status is a completely empty concept by its nature. All power is, is a responsibility you are given. It isn't cool or amazing. More often than not, it is a burden, an obligation.

Things are a little different now so current globals may not have that issue. Or they might have it to a greater degree. Not my call to decide.

There is a concept that I've toyed with for a long time. That concept is that it's not what you say but it's how you say it. warmaker's right, we should never be afraid to voice our opinions. I SHOULD NEVER BE AFRAID TO VOICE MY OPINION. However, there is a way to word every thought that you desire to put into words which will make it easier for the person on the receiving end to accept.

My parents weren't the best at this and certainly never taught the idea to me by regular example.

Now let me give an example. Say there was another user that created a thread where they were obviously angry or annoyed at another user and you happened to be friends with the person they were annoyed at. Your first instinct might be to get all bent out of shape and make a post saying awful things in an inappropriate way or tear them down in a PM. There are other options though. The option that I prefer is to first try and diffuse the situation with some humor or a compliment of some kind. Then you offer a correction to the behavior. Ninety-nine percent of the time this will stop or slow any aggressive behavior.

When I handle situations in this way here and in face to face interactions with others, I earn their respect and respect myself as well.

Some readers of this may think that conducting themselves like this on the Internet is ridiculous because it's such a non-personal place that it doesn't matter if you make the situation worse, get the other person even more agitated or maybe get perma-banned. I disagree. Behaviors and actions online carry over into real life and the next thing you know, you might get demoted at work, a bullet in the face or some other totally avoidable negative consequence.

After re-reading warmaker's post, it occurs to me that my post may seem to contradict his post but I choose to believe that it compliments it instead. (See what I did there? )

Also, to keep this thread fairly light-hearted as was probably oldschoolboyz original intention, I've learned from Vizzed that it's possible to have at my disposal tens of thousands of games to play and be totally uninterested in any of them for months or years at time. Had I have known this was possible when I was a kid, it would've completely blown my mind...

warmaker :

It is called the dislike button.

When it is the mods job to decided what's an offensive post.

That way minorities aren't shooed off.

Oops.

I dont really know for sure one way or the other.

It helped me analytically. Its something of a game to me. I read peoples comments, and I remember what individuals say. I built a psychological profile in my mind, anticipate their behaviour, their actions etc. Having so many different people here has kept it interesting. To that extent, I often read threads without even commenting. It's like low stakes gambling, guess who's going to cause an argument,anticipate what certain commentors will have said in a thread.
Some times I have been off mark, have seen what I would have anticipated as uncharacteristic actions. and thats more interesting to me than being right, because its more knowledge. Practical knowledge. If you can observe peoples habits and traits, you gain a lot of strength in conversation. My ability to hold, and even steer a conversation is better now than it was a year ago. Its probably better than it was yesterday.
Drawing similarities is pretty usefull to figur out quickly what peoples personalitys are like. I talk to a lot of people, and even if I have nothing in common with them, I can still hold the conversation.

Equally I'v learned a lot about America, American's, their perspectives versus mine. Iv gone from being in the majority here[my country] (in regards to beliefs, morals, education, political opinions) to a decisive minority.
That too is interesting. There are times I have been right, and I have stood by what I've said.
Likewise there are times I've been wrong, and aknowledged it. The only shame in losing is if you don't learn something from it.

Its engaging for me, I've enjoyed the time here.