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THIS IS WHY F:AT IS HOME.
- SuperflyPete
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THE EXCHANGE
We have this little secret exchange here that most of you know about: Secret Satan. Half the time people end up with a pile of rubbish despite spending vast fortunes on shipping and sourcing of the items you send. Nobody has ever gotten shitty, really. The disparate values of things sent and received here is as disparate as the economy of China and Sudan, yet everyone who participates is not only gregarious about it, but posts these stories of horror and triumph with as much joy and purpose as Homer ever did while writing the Iliad. This is beyond just some fuckers shipping random strangers bullshit. This is much more like a family gift exchange.
THE CULTURE
I’ve been a piece of shit here on occasion. So have a lot of us. But, we always come back, apologize, or somehow make amends. Our views are as individual and unique as the stars in the sky and yet we always come to an uneasy agreement. This may be the only place on the Internet where a Communist, Socialist, Liberal, Conservative, Brexiter, Christian, Athiest, Muslim, Buddhist, and Agnostic can all speak openly and candidly about things without it becoming a shitshow of Trumpic proportions.
Good luck finding that kind of discourse on Facebook.
THE INDIVIDUALS
Nowhere else on the web can so many individuals from disparate backgrounds and cultures and belief systems come together not only as a bunch of people talking games, but openly share their lives. Divorce, death, disease, loss of faith, family, parenting...we’ve all come together as a group and collectively decided that this is a safe place to discuss things that virtually other places would be unthinkable to discuss at. For all our bruises and blemishes, at the end of the day, this place is a universe of kindness, almost universally.
THE THOUGHT
There is no other place like this when it comes to in depth discussion. The discourse here is only very rarely interrupted by trolling, and even then, the trolling is mostly funny and lighthearted versus pernicious toward the culture here. People here talk about ideas, not individual instances. The game talk is beyond expectation. This is literally one of the last homes for reality in the board game industry. The hype wagon was hit with a flamethrower at the gates, and F:ATties have collectively chosen to abstain from the Cult of the New for its own sake, elevating games only when they are deserved.
CREATIVE SUPPORT
This is the only place where people’s egos do not get in the way of helping development. There are so many game designers, writers, painters, sculptors, modellers, and other creatives and yet despite being a very art focused site at its core, there is the overwhelming sense of support that is unseen elsewhere. No pissing contests between creatives. Just honest, earnest support of one another.
THE FAMILIAL ASPECT
I am a traveler. I don’t know if I’ve met more F:ATties than anyone else, but I’ve met dozens. I’ve gone out of my way to do so, and I am a person who doesn’t do things unless I am compelled to. To the last man, woman, and child, I’ve found each F:ATtie I’ve met to be the cream of the world. The best of the best. This has become a place of extended family as much as a hangout for myself and many others.
THE HONOR
This is the last, but not least, by a long shot. In all of my hundreds of transactions on the web, I put more faith in the people here than any other site. More than eBay, more than Macy’s, more than Amazon. People can buy and sell here with zero worries and in a world where expectations rarely meet experience, this is a fucking paradise. For instance, I went to Indiana yesterday to meet up with Brewmiester. I sold him a bunch of terrain for a not insignificant sum. At the end of the games, he handed me a wad of neatly folded money. I didn’t count it, because I don’t need to. Not here, and especially not with him, who I’ve known for a decade at least. Just stuffed The wad in my money clip and that was that.
I got home and unfolded it to put it in my safe and found that the sum wasn’t what we agreed upon; it was 10% short. I wrote him last night and asked if I had misunderstood the terms. Here’s the kicker: he not only assumed it was his fault, he had intended to overpay me by 60$. Something happened, and 100$ went missing along the way. Not only did he immediately assume it was him, he PayPal sent me $100 (again, 60$ more than the agreed upon amount). This is the kind of person that personifies this site. I refunded it all as I see no equity in taking advantage of bad luck and a dear friend, to begin with, but the mere idea that this kind of progression of events can happen in a world so absolutely cut-throat as gaming is transcendent. We are not random gamers who meet up here, we are a family.
So, when some people ( myself included) get ourselves in a tiff over the latest perceived shitpost, always remember who we are. We are family.
/end
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FAKE AND GAYSuperflyTNT wrote: BALEETED
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- southernman
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- SuperflyPete
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jeb wrote:
FAKE AND GAYSuperflyTNT wrote: BALEETED
God should have left your people in the desert.
Shit, they’re my people too.
Fuck you, Jeb.
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- Black Barney
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This is the best and most successful example of a self-policing web forum I've ever seen too. I'm on a few forums with light to heavy-handed moderation. We don't have to do that here and I tell people about it and they think it's Mecca here or something. They assume it's an echo chamber but it isn't. Not at all. The self-policing of the forums is what I think works best.
Also, you can't really post anonymously and let's face it, that's the leading factor in positive results.
I hate that Pete is going to beat me to 10k posts. Everytime he threatens to leave a thread I get all excited, but ultimately disappointed
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- SuperflyPete
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- hotseatgames
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hotseatgames wrote: I will second that Brewmeister is a great guy.
What the hell! I wanna hang with Brew! He's one of my favorite people that I've never met.
Also, he bought a T-shirt once upon a time so he's super cool in my book.
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- san il defanso
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I've met jpat and cdennet in passing. They were cool dudes, but we didn't get a chance to do much together.
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- SuperflyPete
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Super nice guy.
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- san il defanso
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I've seen some other sites try to recreate the forum atmosphere elsewhere. BGG user Calendale has (had?) a page that was just a message board, but I get the impression those sites run out of gas pretty quick. This place evolved years ago from a site full of malcontents and ne'er-do-wells. Now it's my only haven for meaningful conversation on the hobby. I didn't understand the idea of "internet friends" until I was on F:AT. But yeah, you all are like family in some sick way. I know there are MAYBE 25 power users here, but that has helped immensely with community for me. There is a large amount of trust between the users here, which is pretty special.
I agree with Pete's points, all of them. I've had nothing but positive experiences here selling and trading. This place helped me immensely in my creative pursuits in the hobby, namely writing and mini-painting.
Never change, F:AT, you stupid website.
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- SuperflyPete
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Some of you may have even noticed that I’m not a complete shitbird anymore. Just a partial one.
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- Black Barney
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When Pete drove his beautiful terrain up to sell it to me yesterday he ended up playing with some buddies I have been gaming with off and on since the mid eighties. He told me how lucky I was to have such great gaming buds and I realized how right he was.
I thought he deserved the extra bucks for driving the stuff up, taking the time to game with us, all the great deals he has given me through the years, and I know how much of his time and heart went into his terrain. Imagine my horror when I got his PM last night that he thought I had shorted him. I looked everywhere this morning, double checked my withdrawal and still have no idea how I ended up shorting him. I PMed him I was sorry and PayPal'ed him the difference.
During the day he refunds the PayPal, says he isn't going to take the funds for an accident, and about gets me crying again.
Then I get on here this evening and read his great post, the great replies and tear up again.
Thanks Pete and all of the rest of you great guys and gals on this site!
And repo I still have my F:AT shirt but don't get to wear it out in public too much anymore. I wore it so often it now has holes in it!
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