We Like Brownies, Too
Mendax has a well-written opinion that you might find interesting. Mr. M is a popular blogger and has much more insight into the workings of WoW and every other gaming platform than we’ll ever have. However, we have an Issue with the previously linked post.
We hope he shall not smite us for quoting a snippet or two here:
“…we’re also seeing a number of WoW blogs adding their own fora, which is an all-around bad idea, and one that I don’t wish to see continue.”
Snippet numuro dos:
“For example, for WoW Hunter theorycrafting, we already have Elitist Jerks and TKASomething, which means the new BigRedKitty Forums [sic] are unnecessarily redundant. In fact, the only niche this latter forum fills is to collect known WoW Hunter bloggers in one place, but this could easily have been done on the aforementioned, existing fora as well. While the atmosphere at BigRedKitty’s (BRK’s) place may be less “hardcore”, adding a third theorycrafting blog into the mix will only increase the time necessary to find useful theorycrafting information.”
So you may be asking, “Yo, BRK. Whatdaya think of that cat Mendax and what he’s throwin’ down’?”
We have one response:
1. We find the use of the term “fora” quite intriguing. From our research, the conventional plural of “forum” is “forums”; “fora” has a distinct meaning all its own. However, considering we’ve seen it listed as “accepted jargon” on many of our reliable research sites, we won’t throw a red flag, but instead consider this our BRK Lesson Learned of the Day.
2. BRK is not a theorycrafting site; we’re an anti-WoW-Forums site. Foshizzle.
3. Forums may be outdated, but not everybody can get to WorldofWarcraft.com from work, ya know what we’re sayin?
4. Not everybody thinks EJ is the happiest place on earth.
5. Where else are ya going to go and ask a level-10 hunter question and not get hammered by the forum-denizens if not BRK?
6. You want a complete, centralized repository of hunter-information, you might have to wait until the Library of Congress is given funds to develop, construct, cost-overrun, and require SSN-identification to access the Robert C. Byrd Federal Hunter Theorycrafting Blog and Fora. But is that what you really, want?
You want to know why we started our own forums? One reason:
1. We got yelled at to do so.
2. The installation of the forums was darn-tootin’ easy.
3. We paid for hosting and all the bells and whistles that come with it, so we’re gonna use em.
4. It was a cool technical challenge to configure the thing to our satisfaction.
5. To challenge all the other WoW-forums out there to do a better job of being nice to their participants.
6. Cookies.
With no disrespect towards Mendax whatsoever, we heartily disagree with his analysis and opinion of this subject. If a forums sucks, it’ll die. If BRK’s forums suck, they’ll die. If our blog starts vomiting great blubbery chunks of calamitous ideas and inane posts, we’ll die too. That’s the way love goes.
But if we, or anybody, creates a warm, friendly, inviting atmosphere where ideas are discussed and participants not ridiculed, we think that’s a Good Thing, regardless of the subject of those forums.
Actually, in this vein, we have a one more thing we’d like:
1. Non-Blizz Mage forums
2. Non-Blizz Shaman forums
3-8. You get the idea, right? You wouldn’t read and contribute to a Blessing of Kings Forums? ‘Course you would. We sure would. Our ret pally alt is level 13 and hankering for some knowledge.
9. A Raid Leader blog and forums
10. A Guild Master blog and forums
11. WoWAce to add a “Addons for Total and Complete Noobs, Yeah, We Mean You” board
12. Cookies. Chocolate with chocolate chip. Seriously, where are the cookies?
Note: We would’ve replied directly on Mendax’s site, but he requires registration/login to comment.
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22 Responses to “We Like Brownies, Too”
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That Mendax guy seems very knowledgeable I agree and has obviously been participating in online communities forever and a day but I really found his tone quite condescending. Interesting reading sure (I had a bit of a delve into other non WoW posts) but what I think I found most interesting was his tone when writing about more ‘n00bish’ (in his mind) ‘webscape’ participants. I’m going to confess to being a cultural theory nerd here and it’s interesting to see similiar attitudes within the online world as can be found in more ‘traditional’ media. Discourses of power and the idea of legitimised and therefore more valuable sources of information/communities as opposed to non-legitimised. And what’s it all based on? The length of time one has participated, the knowledge and application of codes of behaviour and so on. I could totally write a doctoral thesis on this stuff (maybe one day I will) because it’s fascinating.
But erm… this is not an academic blog so I’ll shut my yap
Merry Christmas BRK and Mrs BRK and all the community here
All,
Just looked at Mendax’s site. Not an Elitist Jerk. Just a Jerk.
Not sure I’ve ever seen a larger set of self-serving, pompous bullshit… “Fora”… Forums mean the same thing, idiot, but make you look like less of an ass.
Anyhoo, Happy Christmas (because we can still say that here..) and happy hunting in 2008 to all!
Forum is a latin word, and fora is the correct plural form.
That said, I’ve rarely seen it used.
The opinions expressed by Mendax are highly debatable, I must say. I constantly visit both EJ and BRK, because they cover different aspects of the game and they have a totally different approach.
I don’t find them redundant at all.
Happy holidays folks.
http://www.roguespot.com. Non blizz non EJ forums for people who like to stab things.
If I can figure out how to do it on Wordpress, I’ll start a Shaman forum. I thusly volunteer!
PS: “Fora” is only plural if you speak Latin. Since I took for years of it in Catholic high school, I know from whence I speak. Last I checked, Latin is a dead language and we are currently speaking and writing in English on these sites. English has begged, borrowed, and outright stolen words from dozens of languages, Latin being only one of them. In English, we say “forums”. (Note even in the dictionary.com listing that “forums” is listed first, as the preferred plural.)
You named the exact reason I joined the BRK forums, because I happen to be a noobcake and don’t want served up on a silver platter! Your forums are a safety zone where I can ask questions, and get answers without the sideorder of pie in the face.
Mendax has no idea what this site and the “Fora” are about then. He just comments cause he has a need to tell folks whats what not whats real. Funny that his post has no responses …. me thinks someone has P***s envy.
I personally think BRK has filled a niche very nicely and I send all my rookie hunters here for education on the inner workings of hunterdom.
Is BRK’s site the be all to end all, I think not, but just like the game, it’s a work in progress.
Happy holidays everyone.
I’m particularly enthralled by the fact that people are taking exception to my use of “fora”, even though I never stated that “forums” was wrong. Many of my readers know me from Ars Technica, a well-respected tech site that runs a long-standing bulletin board. As the site is Latin/Roman-themed, the term “fora” is regularly used, and as gmm pointed out, is the “correct” Latin plural form of “forum”. I am well aware that “forums” is the most commonly accepted form of the plural use of “forum”, however. Common or not, “fora” is not wrong, despite the fact that using it makes its patrons appear as an “idiot” or “jerk”, as Spewage so intelligently put it. Apparently, my writing style is lost on those of his ilk, which is perhaps expected given new readers coming from the WoW blogging community.
As a final note, despite the implications asserted by some, I have no qualms with the BRK fora themselves; BRK is on my RSS list, and I’m a member of the respective fora as well, and happy to participate in the respective discussions.
Simply because someone doesn’t agree with a current trend does not mean that they dislike every instantiation of the trend. Perhaps people taking exception to my stance of the forum trend should have paid attention to the end of my post on the matter:
“BRK’s forum has shown initial success, and it’s served to bring Hunter bloggers together, so let’s be content with that and move forward.”
Am I shitting on BRK’s forum? I think not. I just don’t want to see every Hunter blogger out there creating a brand new forum because they think it’s the thing to do. The brunt of Hunter knowledge is still going to come trough the great front-post blog posts people like BRK have been writing, and let’s not dilute that with expectations that we need a dozen new fora to compliment them.
@2ndworst
I comment on what’s what and not what’s real? That doesn’t even make sense.
The lack of comments following my post has no bearing on my stance. I have no desire to discuss the traffic differences between BRK versus mendax.org, be that burst or sustained traffic, because it’s hardly important. I’ve run a successful forum, have moderated others, and don’t run mendax.org with the express intent of building a commenting readership. More importantly, BRK and mendax.org are wholly different breeds; mendax.org is not a WoW Hunter blog, and has never declared itself as such, so it’s no surprise that people are more likely to comment on BRK’s end, since you’re his readers, and not mine.
You may not agree with my views, and that’s perfectly fine, but you’re the one aggressively attacking a blogger with ad hominems, not I.
As an aside, no one named “Mendax” is posting at mendax.org.
We likes BRK….
We Likes his blog…
Mendax is bad…
BM Hunter good…
>quote from BRK
>”If our blog starts vomiting great blubbery chunks
>of calamitous ideas and inane posts, we’ll die too.
>That’s the way love goes.”
It’s called free market we need more of it.
Dear BRK,
Your blog has made me love my bm hunter to the point of resenting having to play my shadow priest. I wish every class had a blog just like yours. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
I really appreciate the BRK forums. The fact there is no “I’m better than you” attitude, as you get with other websites. I can’t access the WoW forums at work, not that I would want to. I don’t particularly care for forum trolls, or flame wars, and so far I haven’t experienced any on BRKs forum. I don’t pretend to know it all, or that I’m better than everyone else, and I appreciate a place that I can go to learn more, discuss my opinions, and teach others what I might know, without ridicule, or animosity.
Thank you BRK for providing a place that I really enjoy reading, and a community for Hunters Old and New to come together and become better as a whole.
You don’t need anyone’s permission to create a new forum for hunter discussion, BRK. It is a free world. Build it and they will come.
WoWMages.org - Non Blizz Mage Forum
I always come here to look for answers even before the forum. I would look in the comments of your posts to find what I need. I would much rather do that then go to any other site, ask my question and get 25 10 year olds talking about how much they ZOMGLRZSPEWPEW or whatever. Now that you have the forums I live here, and not because its the only wow site I can get to from work
I think everyone here really wants to make every hunter better. No matter how much you know, you can still learn something and that really shows here.
So a BIG thanks to BRK to taking time out of your day to do what you do.
Whenever I have a hunter question I come to BRK first. I don’t even go to other forums anymore. Much less the wow.com forums. I can’t stand having to sift through 100 posts of flames, and how needs this class needs to be nerfed so this class can kill them with less effort than previously required.
Keep up the great work BRK, after reading the previous replies I think the community you have built here speaks for itself. Happy holidays to all…
I do not even have a hunter and I read your forum every day. I have a Mage and a Shaman
I visit the BRK site for the fun and humor primarily. The easily digestible tidbits of gaming info are a bonus. The vast majority of forums (on WoW or any other topic) are cesspools of misinformation and irritation.
Grindurbonze & Pluckureyes.
PS. I too am looking forward to seeing BRK’s review of his new gaming toy (I did NOT find one under my tree).
Dear BRK,
I am happy to inform you that your request for Cookies ref. §2 Section 6 and §3 Section 12 can easily be achieved by selecting the “Remember Me” (or “Always Stay Logged In” / similar counterpart) in your forarums.
That being said, I am also happy to hear that your forarums has a rule against elitism, which has always been the bane of the Blizzard forarums.
I am looking forward to perusing your previous posts in advent of my first stepping into an instance on my Hunter when it is time for me to enter Hellfire Ramparts.
//peace
Anonymous Coward loves his trap mastery, and not having to create accounts on every stinking web site on the planet.
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