Forums > Social Discussion > Um - everything?
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Running hippy spinning lemming
15 posts
Location: Scotland
Running hippy spinning lemming
15 posts
Location: Scotland
Posted:
Ok… I can feel this post is going to take ages to write… so be warned it will take even longer to read! I’m also aware that I probably shouldn’t post it as it makes me very hypocritical I think, apologies now for what i am about to say...
I been thinking lots as I have been wandering around to my lectures today, I came online for a few mins in a break I had earlier and wow, this place had gone crazy…
I really didn’t wanna continue discussing things that no longer need to be discussed, so I’m gonna try not to, I just need to say a few things on a general topic,
Things are changing, this we know…. the number of people new to poi on this site is huge, especially when you consider that lots of peeps don’t register and start an intro, every time I do poi around a new bunch of people I can almost guarantee that at least someone will ask me to teach them….. (note HOP is taking over the world thread)….
I think it must be very daunting for newbies coming to this site, we are a lovely group of people but as there are sooo many of us its impossible to know everyone, as Vixen said in the ‘feeling like an outsider thread’ - just sometimes there are certain threads that are a bit "In" - stuff that only a certain few would understand – this is a good point, I’m not saying that this is bad or good, it’s a natural progression from friendships that are forced to relate across the internet…
*** takes a minute to hug any scared newbies *** (realises this thread will also be long and scary –
)
I can completely relate to this thread, I have never met anyone from HOP, I don’t get to chat to you all personally, I haven’t figured out how to use the chat room properly etc…. There are people who have been around since I joined and I’m still only just saying hi to, still though I don’t know how much more time I could spend replying to posts and so think it is just my lack of meeting people which makes it seem like I don’t know many people…. I don’t feel it has anything to do with any bad feelings from the HOP community or a lack of wanting to be friendly to new people…. Its just not possible for those who are very involved in the site to talk THAT much to everybody… not enough hours in the day!
I was trying to figure out if it is any coincidence that a thread about being an outsider has come up at this point…. I think not, I think that everything that has happened recently has been building up for ages……
Some of the things I have noticed (in my relatively short time at HOP) are that in the poi moves the nature of discussions has changed, most subjects can be found by searching, is it possible that we have almost run out of things to discuss? I remember reading about the matrix, the notcolman 5 etc I still cant do any of them but they were new at the time, now I think there is much more understanding, so things that have been done, have been said, and things that are to come, are either very advanced so you need extra super powers to understand or no one has thought of them yet!
Its not bad that the discussions have changed but it IS different, there is no point re-discussing things that have been said, and there is no need for the forum to have a turnover rate that is through the roof, this is not my point, my point is I think that people have moved…. We all like to chat, we cant be without it, so instead of discussing our lovely poi we have moved over more to the social chat.
It has been said so many times that HOP forums are addictive, this I believe to be true.
Many of us seek refuge in the internet, I spent ages lurking around mainly due to the fact that I didn’t own a computer, I still don’t, but right now in my life I am finding that I need this to keep me going, I don’t have many other distractions so I have been making an effort to get myself to a computer and come online…
This is probably a problem…. I have to pay for my internet usage, I’m not spending much time at home, every time I log into a computer I go through my routine which at times can take say two hours, I know this isn’t helping me get all the work I have to do done, especially when I finish a posting session and then spend the next few hours wondering if anyone has replied…. And here I am for example, right now, right now to me writing this seems more important than a lab report I have to do, but even if I didn’t have work to do I would probably still be here writing this instead of being out socialising or something
***Mmmmm…. Considers if internet is effecting social life or if lack of social life led to internet usage?***
Anyway… so when I read this by Dom it made think about my own motives, time, lifestyle….
“HoP is not a substitute for real life, not even a poor one. People you meet on 'HoP' are very real, but most of them are not really a part of your everyday 'real' life. Conversations and threads on HoP are not real conversations: face to face, with facial and tonal emotions”
Ok so now I’m scaring myself…. Got to stop thinking….. where was i?
Oh yeah so we have a huge increase in the number of HOP users, we cant all talk to everyone firstly due to numbers but also due to the physical time needed to post and we seem to have a large increase in the use of the social chat area where discussions generally lose direction pretty quick! Oh and high turnover rates of threads that means to actually physically read it all we prob all have to spend far much more time on the internet than would be recommended.
The turnover on the social chat area is huge, I’m sure we all post a lot more often but say a lot less each time, maybe this is why the serious discussion gets used less too,
I guess we are all trying so hard to talk to everyone through fear of not feeling like an outsider, or not wanting to come across as unfriendly, and we are all spending time talking about random subjects (which take less time to say) which are bound to become involved so others cant relate as much, on top of this we are all using the internet more (due to advances in modern technology – grr) and it seems the crappy nature of life that all our lives are becoming more stressed out – modern lifestyles etc…. maybe we need to go back to living in bushes!
Its an evil cycle, I know I need HOP right now, but I also know that I do no favours to myself being here so much…. Yet without it I would be lost, it is a safe place for me, I love my poi, I want poi to become a bigger part of my life and this is the community of like minded people I have, this is also the place where I know I don’t have to deal with real life.
So, where am I going with this thread? I don’t really know, I’m a pessimist, and have thoroughly managed to depress myself,
I guess I would conclude that we shouldn’t take out our feelings on others (I am not accusing anyone of doing this), but we should realise that these things have happened and we find ourselves in this situation.
I am sure that in the future the population of HOP will rise whether we like it or not, people will come and go cos things change, people will be over dependent on the site especially as the [censored] we have to deal with in the real world shows no let up, etc etc….
Again I am lost at where to end, I don’t think there is a solution, I hope I haven’t annoyed anyone with this post, and I’m sorry for again dragging up a very discussed topic,
I generally believe that the world is very [censored] up, and I don’t hold out any hope for us being able to sort it out…
But I hope for HOP that maybe we can try to get back out there and do more poi, invent new moves and spend less time posting in the chat and getting stressed out
***realises I am a complete hypocrite and will still post too much in the chat area – have I learnt anything in writing this post – probably not - except that i need to be able to learn the advanced moves so i can discuss them - aaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!***
Anyway i think I have given myself repetitive strain injury now, and I should shut up before I embarrass myself and bore you guys to death….
For those of you who made it this far here is my favourite Maori saying I have found so far – I decided best way to end a depressing thread about our future is with something beautiful from our past…. Oh and everyone probably needs to visit the ‘hugs’ thread right about now!
Ko Papatuanuku to tatou whaea
Ko ia te matua atawhai
He oranga mo tatou
I roto i te moengaroa
Ka hoki tatou ki te kopu o te whenua
Means....
The land is our mother
She is the loving parent
She nourishes and sustains us
When we die
She enfolds us in her arms
Ok… I can feel this post is going to take ages to write… so be warned it will take even longer to read! I’m also aware that I probably shouldn’t post it as it makes me very hypocritical I think, apologies now for what i am about to say...
I been thinking lots as I have been wandering around to my lectures today, I came online for a few mins in a break I had earlier and wow, this place had gone crazy…
I really didn’t wanna continue discussing things that no longer need to be discussed, so I’m gonna try not to, I just need to say a few things on a general topic,
Things are changing, this we know…. the number of people new to poi on this site is huge, especially when you consider that lots of peeps don’t register and start an intro, every time I do poi around a new bunch of people I can almost guarantee that at least someone will ask me to teach them….. (note HOP is taking over the world thread)….
I think it must be very daunting for newbies coming to this site, we are a lovely group of people but as there are sooo many of us its impossible to know everyone, as Vixen said in the ‘feeling like an outsider thread’ - just sometimes there are certain threads that are a bit "In" - stuff that only a certain few would understand – this is a good point, I’m not saying that this is bad or good, it’s a natural progression from friendships that are forced to relate across the internet…
*** takes a minute to hug any scared newbies *** (realises this thread will also be long and scary –
)I can completely relate to this thread, I have never met anyone from HOP, I don’t get to chat to you all personally, I haven’t figured out how to use the chat room properly etc…. There are people who have been around since I joined and I’m still only just saying hi to, still though I don’t know how much more time I could spend replying to posts and so think it is just my lack of meeting people which makes it seem like I don’t know many people…. I don’t feel it has anything to do with any bad feelings from the HOP community or a lack of wanting to be friendly to new people…. Its just not possible for those who are very involved in the site to talk THAT much to everybody… not enough hours in the day!
I was trying to figure out if it is any coincidence that a thread about being an outsider has come up at this point…. I think not, I think that everything that has happened recently has been building up for ages……
Some of the things I have noticed (in my relatively short time at HOP) are that in the poi moves the nature of discussions has changed, most subjects can be found by searching, is it possible that we have almost run out of things to discuss? I remember reading about the matrix, the notcolman 5 etc I still cant do any of them but they were new at the time, now I think there is much more understanding, so things that have been done, have been said, and things that are to come, are either very advanced so you need extra super powers to understand or no one has thought of them yet!
Its not bad that the discussions have changed but it IS different, there is no point re-discussing things that have been said, and there is no need for the forum to have a turnover rate that is through the roof, this is not my point, my point is I think that people have moved…. We all like to chat, we cant be without it, so instead of discussing our lovely poi we have moved over more to the social chat.
It has been said so many times that HOP forums are addictive, this I believe to be true.
Many of us seek refuge in the internet, I spent ages lurking around mainly due to the fact that I didn’t own a computer, I still don’t, but right now in my life I am finding that I need this to keep me going, I don’t have many other distractions so I have been making an effort to get myself to a computer and come online…
This is probably a problem…. I have to pay for my internet usage, I’m not spending much time at home, every time I log into a computer I go through my routine which at times can take say two hours, I know this isn’t helping me get all the work I have to do done, especially when I finish a posting session and then spend the next few hours wondering if anyone has replied…. And here I am for example, right now, right now to me writing this seems more important than a lab report I have to do, but even if I didn’t have work to do I would probably still be here writing this instead of being out socialising or something
***Mmmmm…. Considers if internet is effecting social life or if lack of social life led to internet usage?***
Anyway… so when I read this by Dom it made think about my own motives, time, lifestyle….
“HoP is not a substitute for real life, not even a poor one. People you meet on 'HoP' are very real, but most of them are not really a part of your everyday 'real' life. Conversations and threads on HoP are not real conversations: face to face, with facial and tonal emotions”
Ok so now I’m scaring myself…. Got to stop thinking….. where was i?
Oh yeah so we have a huge increase in the number of HOP users, we cant all talk to everyone firstly due to numbers but also due to the physical time needed to post and we seem to have a large increase in the use of the social chat area where discussions generally lose direction pretty quick! Oh and high turnover rates of threads that means to actually physically read it all we prob all have to spend far much more time on the internet than would be recommended.
The turnover on the social chat area is huge, I’m sure we all post a lot more often but say a lot less each time, maybe this is why the serious discussion gets used less too,
I guess we are all trying so hard to talk to everyone through fear of not feeling like an outsider, or not wanting to come across as unfriendly, and we are all spending time talking about random subjects (which take less time to say) which are bound to become involved so others cant relate as much, on top of this we are all using the internet more (due to advances in modern technology – grr) and it seems the crappy nature of life that all our lives are becoming more stressed out – modern lifestyles etc…. maybe we need to go back to living in bushes!
Its an evil cycle, I know I need HOP right now, but I also know that I do no favours to myself being here so much…. Yet without it I would be lost, it is a safe place for me, I love my poi, I want poi to become a bigger part of my life and this is the community of like minded people I have, this is also the place where I know I don’t have to deal with real life.
So, where am I going with this thread? I don’t really know, I’m a pessimist, and have thoroughly managed to depress myself,
I guess I would conclude that we shouldn’t take out our feelings on others (I am not accusing anyone of doing this), but we should realise that these things have happened and we find ourselves in this situation.
I am sure that in the future the population of HOP will rise whether we like it or not, people will come and go cos things change, people will be over dependent on the site especially as the [censored] we have to deal with in the real world shows no let up, etc etc….
Again I am lost at where to end, I don’t think there is a solution, I hope I haven’t annoyed anyone with this post, and I’m sorry for again dragging up a very discussed topic,
I generally believe that the world is very [censored] up, and I don’t hold out any hope for us being able to sort it out…
But I hope for HOP that maybe we can try to get back out there and do more poi, invent new moves and spend less time posting in the chat and getting stressed out
***realises I am a complete hypocrite and will still post too much in the chat area – have I learnt anything in writing this post – probably not - except that i need to be able to learn the advanced moves so i can discuss them - aaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!***
Anyway i think I have given myself repetitive strain injury now, and I should shut up before I embarrass myself and bore you guys to death….
For those of you who made it this far here is my favourite Maori saying I have found so far – I decided best way to end a depressing thread about our future is with something beautiful from our past…. Oh and everyone probably needs to visit the ‘hugs’ thread right about now!
Ko Papatuanuku to tatou whaea
Ko ia te matua atawhai
He oranga mo tatou
I roto i te moengaroa
Ka hoki tatou ki te kopu o te whenua
Means....
The land is our mother
She is the loving parent
She nourishes and sustains us
When we die
She enfolds us in her arms
Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering...
SILVER Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,276 posts
Location: Oxfordshire/Wiltshire, United Kingdom
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,276 posts
Location: Oxfordshire/Wiltshire, United Kingdom
Posted:
*Round of applause*
PLUS - i totally agree with what Dom said about it not being a substitute for life!!! xxx
*Round of applause*
PLUS - i totally agree with what Dom said about it not being a substitute for life!!! xxx
tHeReS gOoD aNd EvIl iN EaCh InDiViDuAl fIrE, iDeNtIfIeS nEeDs AnD fEeDs OuR dEsIrEs.
member
31 posts
Location: staines
31 posts
Location: staines
Posted:
im new to this site aswell and only get time to go online when im at school so don't get very much time to talk to everyone, im also completely clueless as to how to use this site and usually just clikck random buttons write random stuff and never find them again, ya know???and im a newby so some comforting hugz will be apprecialted and i had no idea what to do when my introduction turned into a conversation between these people and i had no idea what they were talking about, so yah basically jus thort id share the opinion. and aslo congratulate you on teh long email.
xxx
im new to this site aswell and only get time to go online when im at school so don't get very much time to talk to everyone, im also completely clueless as to how to use this site and usually just clikck random buttons write random stuff and never find them again, ya know???and im a newby so some comforting hugz will be apprecialted and i had no idea what to do when my introduction turned into a conversation between these people and i had no idea what they were talking about, so yah basically jus thort id share the opinion. and aslo congratulate you on teh long email.
xxx Pooh-Bah
1,662 posts
Location: Bristol
1,662 posts
Location: Bristol
Posted:
yeah, well done.
i think what you said is really good advice for everyday life as well as HoP. i can see the value in slowing down conversations generally. Taking time to say less, but think about what we say so that it MEAN something, so that we get to the root of what we're trying to say and don't end up talking random sh1t to eachother all the time.
when i sit down and think about the one thing i would say to most people, if i get right down to what i really really want to say to them, it would probably be ' i love you'. and that can't be a bad thing can it?
so
for making me read your incredibly long thread and realising this amazing thing for myself.
now i'm going off to find someone to hug in REAL LIFE!!!!
yeah, well done.
i think what you said is really good advice for everyday life as well as HoP. i can see the value in slowing down conversations generally. Taking time to say less, but think about what we say so that it MEAN something, so that we get to the root of what we're trying to say and don't end up talking random sh1t to eachother all the time.
when i sit down and think about the one thing i would say to most people, if i get right down to what i really really want to say to them, it would probably be ' i love you'. and that can't be a bad thing can it?
so
for making me read your incredibly long thread and realising this amazing thing for myself. now i'm going off to find someone to hug in REAL LIFE!!!!
I had a dream that my friend had a
strong-bad pop up book,
it was the book of my dreams.
feminine tiddly pom
505 posts
Location: cambs england
505 posts
Location: cambs england
Posted:
i havent been on for ages, but when i was it was always frantic immersion in threads and convs with people i don't know, but sympathesised with or laughed with etc, but im all busy at college, and i havent particularly missed HoP. i used it when i needed-bored, lonely, connected to the stream, but i still feel like an outsider here, but i don't particularly mind-ill log off, hopefully do some homework, then only think of HoP next time im on the internet at home, not when i next spin.
i havent been on for ages, but when i was it was always frantic immersion in threads and convs with people i don't know, but sympathesised with or laughed with etc, but im all busy at college, and i havent particularly missed HoP. i used it when i needed-bored, lonely, connected to the stream, but i still feel like an outsider here, but i don't particularly mind-ill log off, hopefully do some homework, then only think of HoP next time im on the internet at home, not when i next spin.
in state of metamorphosis
SILVER Member
veteran
1,389 posts
Location: Guelph, ON, Canada
veteran
1,389 posts
Location: Guelph, ON, Canada
Posted:
Just wanted to say that I read it all, but can't organize my thoughts enough to make a decent post
~ Bobo
Just wanted to say that I read it all, but can't organize my thoughts enough to make a decent post
~ Bobo
wie weit, wie weit noch?
fragst mich, wo wir gewesen sind...
du fehlst hier
member
117 posts
Location: Norwich, UK
117 posts
Location: Norwich, UK
Posted:
Great post.
I often find myself feeling like an outsider. i've done a little to try to intergrate myself in to the site, i've looked for people that are local to me and exchanged some numbers but still dont feel like i know anybody. I see exactly where your coming from.
I think the "dont post on topics that are already covered, do a search" philosophy on the site almost stifles the useful chat and helps to promote more of the random chat you mentioned.
I think one way to to develop more useful chat would be to expand the focus of the site, difficult i know with a name like home of poi, but by increasing the focus on other circus skills it can bring new life to the site. I keep track of the 'other toys' forum and it seems to get very little interaction from the majority of users...shame.
Just my ideas
Great post.
I often find myself feeling like an outsider. i've done a little to try to intergrate myself in to the site, i've looked for people that are local to me and exchanged some numbers but still dont feel like i know anybody. I see exactly where your coming from.
I think the "dont post on topics that are already covered, do a search" philosophy on the site almost stifles the useful chat and helps to promote more of the random chat you mentioned.
I think one way to to develop more useful chat would be to expand the focus of the site, difficult i know with a name like home of poi, but by increasing the focus on other circus skills it can bring new life to the site. I keep track of the 'other toys' forum and it seems to get very little interaction from the majority of users...shame.
Just my ideas
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