So, I really wanted my first started topic to be special, but I can't for the life of me think of anything special to go with. So we'll do this subject instead.
As anyone knows, part of the fun of internet forums is the ability to create an online persona. Or at least it is for me, but then I was always kinda weird. For a long time, I've wanted to do some parodies of the kind of tremendously stupid comments people leave online and for a while, this seemed like an excellent place to do that (in between the all the meaningful posts I've made obviously, which probably aren't as meaningful as I try to pretend they are). I thought this because, for reasons of hardcore moderators - which I actually approve of and applaud their efforts - the Escapist forums aren't that bad and therefore, my comments wouldn't be lost amidst other comments that are just like them.
I'm coming to realize a problem with this idea though. A parody is an over-the-top exaggeration of something for the purpose of humor. The problem is that no matter what I say, there's always someone who will post something a hundred times more ridiculous than I could possibly imagine and they absolutely mean it. This makes it impossible for me to do this, because people will automatically assume I'm serious in what I'm saying, which at times makes me look absolutely insane (which is true, just not in that way).
So, this leads me to wonder. Can people really be that stupid, or is this huge trend of terrible posts that break all boundaries of good taste merely a vast conspiracy of people trying to make people think they're all crazy and/or racist? You know, like a meme that got waaaaay out of hand.
As anyone knows, part of the fun of internet forums is the ability to create an online persona. Or at least it is for me, but then I was always kinda weird. For a long time, I've wanted to do some parodies of the kind of tremendously stupid comments people leave online and for a while, this seemed like an excellent place to do that (in between the all the meaningful posts I've made obviously, which probably aren't as meaningful as I try to pretend they are). I thought this because, for reasons of hardcore moderators - which I actually approve of and applaud their efforts - the Escapist forums aren't that bad and therefore, my comments wouldn't be lost amidst other comments that are just like them.
I'm coming to realize a problem with this idea though. A parody is an over-the-top exaggeration of something for the purpose of humor. The problem is that no matter what I say, there's always someone who will post something a hundred times more ridiculous than I could possibly imagine and they absolutely mean it. This makes it impossible for me to do this, because people will automatically assume I'm serious in what I'm saying, which at times makes me look absolutely insane (which is true, just not in that way).
So, this leads me to wonder. Can people really be that stupid, or is this huge trend of terrible posts that break all boundaries of good taste merely a vast conspiracy of people trying to make people think they're all crazy and/or racist? You know, like a meme that got waaaaay out of hand.
