To this point in my experience on this BBS, I had never received any negative rep. In fact, I am sure that I was secretly proud of that fact, and as a result continually made it a point to offer only positive or at least amusing contributions that I may have in order to facilitate the existence of homerecording.com/bbs as an amicable, informative discussion board.
Occasionally, that amicability must include some friendly razzing or joking at the minimal expense of others, including myself. I can honestly say that I can remember no close friends in my life with whom I have not shared a good joke that made one or another of us look bad, or, on rare occasion, both. Society, I think, in general, is maintained by a balance of various social exchanges among peers—and this includes the occasional chuckle. Thus, while I may be willing to apologize to the kids in the video based on the (quite true) Mom-adage of, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” I feel that anyone who may be here (other than those kids) that takes my comment seriously enough to negative rep me and respond with “f you too” needs to spend some time prioritizing and finding other things to be passionate about. This is not a schoolyard wherein I’m the bully pushing around and maliciously teasing some kid who plays a crappy song and does a bad job at it. It is a message board on which even a jokingly-posted video of the clear runner-up in a talent contest might propagate good information that can be used by musicians in a variety of contexts.
So what is it that we can take from this thread? I maintain that it is the following: we all have a bad show here and there, and there is absolutely no point in taking it too seriously. We can learn from our mistakes and work to better ourselves as artists and as persons. But it is absolutely crucial that if we should receive the rare offending laugh or comment, we must turn it into some form of constructive criticism—even if we have to do the analysis and application by ourselves.
That is exactly what I attempt to do. I made a quick joke at the expense of someone else, and because I don’t feel that it was by any standard crushing, I do not feel ashamed in having done so. The comment I received, in its rather blunt and primitive expression, has nevertheless made me a better person. It has made me realize that I should approach base comments with the same sort of optimism that I would hope receives my occasional joke. After all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
So in summation, I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the person who negative repped me, and would like to take the opportunity to restate that one can learn much from what I have come to realize: criticism among friends comes in all forms, and it is probably better to laugh along, take it in stride, and improve oneself than it is to get down in the dumps, angry, and tell the world, “f you too.”
