We have all kinds....(A message to the community)

Hey guys.

There is something I want to bring up, and I hope you all can read this with an open mind and come to understanding with what I say.

We find ourselves here, at probably the largest central hub community in the yoyo community. We have players from all over the world coming together in this one central location, to talk about yoyoing, share experiences, make friends, connections, and just to have a good time and friendly environment. You have people of all nationalities, interest, ideas, lifestyles, and while all are different, they all find the connection that yoyoing brings, and it allows everyone to grow closer to each other, and be a supportive group of individuals for the growth of others both inside and outside of the community.

Because we are pretty much the central hub of the yoyo world right now, we find that we get people who have all sorts of beliefs, lifestyles, and interest. It goes beyond the classifications of “nerds” “jocks” “goths” etc from high school, and goes into very diverse types of people who are all totally unique, and some have found similar interest while others find themselves totally individual in their ideas and beliefs.

Sometimes, these unique personalities and interest can clash with anothers, and this can cause tension and debate, but like in the real outside world, we find that quite often, the cause of this result, is failure to understand the viewpoint of another.

One thing that always gets me, is how some can judge someone else for something they believe, are into, do, etc, when they have no understanding of why that person does that “thing”, and they refuse to even try in the slightest bit why the other person does this thing whatever it may be. And in return, this might cause the other individual to lash back, and you end up with a bad situation.

Recently, I have noticed this happening on the forums. People judging others for beliefs and ideas, and failing to understand that within this little world of ours, there are going to be very different ideas and beliefs within. Everyone is different, and has different influences. Even things like where you grow up can affect who you become and what you find yourself into. We need to come to the understanding of this, and learn to accept people for who they are, and while we may not agree with everyones interest and ideas, we can learn to let it live and choose to ignore things if we want, instead of lashing out and bashing those with differing ideas.

I believe that all of us here want to see community growth. We all want to see the yoyo community grow and welcome in people from every region. Part of seeing this happen, is learning to accept people of all kinds. We want this to be a friendly and open community, as this sort of community will attract others to come and be a part of it, and that will go on to others, and continue its growth.

I have talked to many different people who have been put down and judged and discriminated against for their beliefs and activities, Im not singling out one group of people at all. To those that I have talked to, I want to appologize on behalf of the community for the things that have been said to you and acts done to you.
The Otaku
The Metalhead
The Christian
The Buddhist
The Athiest
The Mormon
The Raver
The Goth
The Brony
The Whovian
The Furry
The Straight
The Gay
The Trans
The Werewolf
The Shaman
The Juggler
The Isolator
The Skater
The Trekkie
The Gamer
The Star Player
The Geek
The Artist
The Punk Rocker
The Lolita
The Visual Kei
The Scene kid
The Hipster
The Puppy
The Master
The Vamp
The Gangster
The Hypebeast
The Dancer
The Neko
The Therian
The Otherkin

And there are many more out there.
That list of people is not made up, I have talked to people on the forum and in the chat who are all these things, its really amazing to see how diverse the people are here on this forum! And when you look at these people, you can see that there are obviously LOTS of differing ideas and beliefs here. But you know, I truly believe, that as a community, we can all work together to understand where these individuals are coming from, and learn to accept them and their actions for who and what they are, and not judge, but support.

If we want to see the community growth we want, we gotta take action to make it happen.

And it all starts with coming to the understanding and acceptance of others, cause we are literally, probably the central hub for the new rising yoyo community of the world.

J.

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This should be required reading for everyone who is/signs up on this forum.

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One person can’t really apologize for the entire community, just for their single role in that community. Apologies are nice and can be a starting point, but without change it’s all just words.

It takes each of us acting in accordance with the rules and in consideration of others to make any positive change.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

I fail to understand how anyone who throws can be anything less than understanding and tolerant. Our passion for these toys and the art we create with them is so often wildly misunderstood and derided that one would think our commonality on that topic alone would be enough to create a stronger unity and sense of community.

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It is like politics at the dinner table.
Talk yoyo, that is the lowest common denominator.
Being mature is exactly that.
Conduct yourself in a way that you won’t regret.

This pretty much sums it up.

Also, despite the long list of various groups, I chose to believe that the entire OP was actually about My Little Pony and I have to say that I am more than a little bit curious to see what all the fuss is about with the show. I can’t imagine actually watching it regularly but I feel like I need to see at least 1 episode now just so I can say I have.

And I have never heard of “The Puppy”. Why would anyone discriminate against puppies? Or how would puppies be posting on a yoyo forum in the first place?

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This post was not specific to the MLP stuff going on, but a combination of things I have heard from others and discussed with personally in the chat and around elsewhere regarding the types of replies and messages that get shared here.

The Puppy goes with the Master, and I will not go into detail of this since this is an all ages forum, the list was not meant for discussion, only for reference as to all the kinds we have around here. Any truly curious may PM.

J

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Well said.

I agree with most thing you’ve said but I don’t get why people think that if millions join the community it will be better or something like that. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t be nice if more people started yoyoing but the yoyo community is amazing as it is and keeping it nice should be for us, the players, not anyone else.

Once you get to my age, you stop worrying about what some ignorant person on the other side of the world says about you. Maybe I’m being insensitive, but get used to it. Like the good doctor said, “those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.”

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That’s all well and good for us old guys who are beyond the need for peer approval and are in the process of self actualizing, but adhering to the good doctor’s quote is too much like ignoring the problem. The bulk of this community is comprised of people who are at an impressionable age and are often enough nerdy or artsy or unusual in some way other than being a yoyoer. It’s not hard to believe many of them are subjected to a torrent of tags and insults during their compulsory attendance of their various institutes of socialization. Josh is right in his claim that they should be insulated from those things when they come to this community, seeking like minded people to share their passion with.

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Ahhh dude awesome! You told me you were maturing especially older. I really believe it now. “Mad props” for the respect bro. I don’t really like labels and I know you don’t either but i know what you meant.

I’ve been bashed recently for some of my ideas on this forum. oh well, people will be jerks if they want to.

Yeah it happens, my hope is that it can be greatly reduced though, which I think is very possible just takes some work on our own part to get it done.

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Let’s keep the mythical beings or folklore creatures out. I am sure there are more accurate terms to describe people… the role-player?

Unless they are some weird cult-like group that normal people don’t know about.

Very nice post. This should be stickied to the face of the internet.

Found my groups

and jayyo this is an amazing thread and should probably required reading not just for us but for anybody

Oh no, Im not talking about the mythical creature, Im talking about the actual were’s and culture. There is one I met in the chat a while back who was really cool and got me to look into that community, different, but very cool to see other kinds of stuff that I had not known about.
Not for me exactly, but It was a learning experience that was great for me.

Thank you Josh for taking the time to get around to typing this. I myself was discouraged by the yoyo community due to many many choice of words about my appearance over the years. Especially when many people I looked up to, older yoyoers, were doing nothing but speaking behind my back saying nasty stuff.

Its disgusting, I never thought this community would be closed-minded and still is.

I was quite the heavy goth in my day, but also I was fighting a horrible depression that has cursed my life and battled other conditions at hand. I dyed my hair. I painted my nails. I wore makeup. Ripped clothes…Yeah, a punk-goth weird freaky looking kid. Still am but not like what I used to be.

But the point is, instead of them trying to get to know me, they used my appearance as a catalyst to hate on me.

shaking my head and to say the least, they never apologized or anything and even justified their words. How effed up is that?

~Z

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Yeah, Zammy, that’s ridiculous and completely unfortunate. To me, one of the amazing things about a hobby like the yoyo is how it can and should bring people together. Say what you want about Worlds, but I was amazed at how people from all over we’re brought together to share their joy/love for this toy. People who often didn’t really even speak the same language as each other trading tricks and tips. Our differences can bring us together and actually strengthen the community it seems like. Nice posts, guys.

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