I came back to the office with a splitting headache in spite of the fact I had a great lunch – mutton bryani + a pint of Kilkenny – with a great friend on Friday afternoon. And before I reached the office I had canceled all my ‘Friday lim-jiu sessions’ as I think I want to rest early for the next day’s Haw Par Villa Picnic.
A few minutes after I returned to my desk, my MSN was abuzz with incoming messages about DK’s blog post titled: Are you in the ping.sg “in group”? (The post was a result of a post made here [pic].)
It was clear to me that DK was upset over a particular paragraph in that post. And I could empathise a lot with how he is feeling at this point of time since I was also become pretty upset about a month or so ago over a couple of groundless postings built on top of just one word: shallow.
On looking back at how ‘damage control’ was done over those postings, I could see some similarities.
A comment made during the first incident
can u all pls stop quarreling abt this already?
yes the word ‘shallow’ wasn’t used in any post or twitter, no i didnt create the story, n no im not going to explain anymore right now.
its over. live n let live.
ppl shdnt speculate abt who these ppl were (more than 3) n dont draw ur own conclusions. pls.
kris wrote that post cos he was upset tht i was upset. that is all.
i nvr intended to make a public spectacle of this. in any case, those ppl who think tht the community no longer fits what they r looking for, well, our doors are always open for u if u wanna come back one day.
thats all i have to say, n now i have doubts abt writing my own explanations anymore. i dont want any more eyes on this matter.. really. [source]
A comment made during the second incident
ok.. i believe that it’s time for me to say something. afterall, this huge hullaballoo was created and imagined from something that i wrote.
so here’s my official statement:
i’m going to watch my DVDs 🙂
BYE! [source]
On both occasions, the choice of words created a brouhaha. On both occasions, there were no proper explanation. On both occasions, the step to diffuse the tension by taking up responsibility for a bad choice of words or statements was never taken.
But looking at DK’s case in specific, I think he had it even worse than the first case. At least the comment for the first case had even looked like a plea – if not a demand – to put an end to it. However, the comment of the second case has pretty deftly and summarily dismissed DK. It practically also trampled upon dhope‘s attempt at reconciliation with contempt – though I’ll leave it to dhope to draw his own conclusion. In fact, it almost seems like a deliberate choice in doing so to make almost everyone else who had made a comment look stupid. If I had read further in between the lines, I think I would even detect a smirk in there. And frankly, that’s really not hard to imagine.
But wait, just who the fxxk asked me to imagine things anyway? Maybe I should call 1-800-DREAM-WORKS to see if they have any use for that imagination! But really, no one really cares how I feel or what I imagined anyway. I won’t delude myself that how I felt matters. There maybe those who disagrees completely with how both matter is handled but that’s not the same as caring about how I felt.
By the way, I think it’s better for me to end my post – before I hear the chorus of sycophants and ball carriers saying: ‘If you don’t like it and you are so unhappy, you can always leave. The ‘community’ can always do without you.’
Alternatively, you can just dial this helpdesk number: 1-800-WHO-CARES. (Dial this number too if you think I cared about your counter opinion to what I am saying here.)
Nuff said. Have a great weekend ahead – It’s REAL.
I’m beginning to love this song.
DK‘s last blog post: DK99 is banned from ping.sg
Quite a surprise turnout huh? Got banned for whatever unknown reason…
Paddy Tan‘s last blog post: The Mummy 3 – Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
I’ve run online communities before, so I am quite familiar with all the politics.
Where there are people, there will be politics — it’s unavoidable. Oh, the drama and energy spent on countering the “ones on the other side”! At the end of the day, when you look back, you just realize it was time that could have been better spent. 🙂
Someone betrayed you for a cat? Well, at least take heart that it’s better than being betrayed for a dog… 😉
Isaiah‘s last blog post: A Church “On Fire”
Looking on as an “outsider” at ping.sg, this is a storm in a teacup, an exercise in spent emotions and ruined friendships over a matter of utmost frivolity.
Then again, who cares what I think anyhow? I dialed 1800-WHO-CARES, and nobody cared enough to answer the phone. 🙁
Isaiah‘s last blog post: A Church “On Fire”
yeah loh, dun like just dun care lah, dun understand what so fun to debate such minor thing.
jialat‘s last blog post: What Makes This Indian Lady So Angry? She Keeps Shouting And Shouting
I draw a parallel between dk’s post and krisandro’s post. Both claim to love the community. But how come the 2 receive such a big difference in reaction?
itsReal…. =P
chillycraps‘s last blog post: crack propagation and human relations
1-800-DREAM-WORKS…
1-800-WHO-CARES…
HAHAHAHAHA… these really take the cake out of everything. I haven’t had such a laughable morning for a long time.
Ed‘s last blog post: You’re too small
i said that i was going to watch dvds because i didnt want to add to the discussion about how i suck. 🙁 sorry. and i’ve already apologized in my latest post. i hope that’s enough damage control.
Daphne Maia‘s last blog post: The ‘In Group’ Debate