Fell off the Wagon
I really need to look up where the whole on the wagon/off the wagon thing comes from when talking about addiction. Ok well I did – thanks Ask Yahoo – here is the origin. Now I fell off the wagon concerning my aforementioned obsessive behavior with the AZB forum. Seems I am still popular there with not one but TWO threads about me going in the main forum. It's gratifying to see that I seem to have a lot of people who want to see me go back. And the usual antagonists posted up their usual drivel. And I spent way too much time today checking those threads.
This time though I didn't rise to the bait – well not really but sort of. I did use Karen's account to clear up a few misconceptions in private to the people who posted them. And I called a few folks to clear the air which really felt good.
I don't plan to go back to posting on AZB. Right now we are getting more cases done than ever. I think I have responded to more emails this month and especially this week than I have all year. Being committed to being "right" is a major time and energy drain. It's actually a lot more fun to just get stuff done and feel relieved and peaceful instead of the getting the short adrenaline boost from telling someone off.
I am glad to know that some folks are reading the blog though even if they don't comprehend what they read and manage to take it out of context. But for those folks I hope that they notice that comments are open on my blog now so they can say their piece to me if they disagree with something I write here.
Well I don't know if it's better to be infamous or famous but I will take my combined 14 pages of attention on AZ and enjoy it. To those of you who like me – you rock! To those of you who don't, suck it up.
When my "ban" is over I won't be back. Karen will be there though and she can reach me if there is something that needs my attention. Meanwhile AZ Billiards is a great place to be for billiards info if you can avoid the mini-trolls. So don't hesitate to visit if you want to talk pool.
Oh and before I forget a big shout out to Justin at TAR. They have a big PPV coming up that everyone should go an see. With all the free promotion he is giving me and Karen I thought I would return the favor. www.theactionreport.com
I think remaining on the wagon is a good decision, John. You could post under Karen's name – or your name – on case-related matters only and just avoid the other threads. Don't even read them. Should someone try to bait you, ignore it unless it concerns your cases. If someone needs help with their non-JB case, by all means try to help them unless it's a case by Justis or another AZB casemaker who will answer for their own cases. Be like Jack – use AZB only for your marketing. It may seem a little selfish to use AZB and not "give back", so to speak, but it will be good for business and for your own peace of mind. Keep innovating and best wishes, as always.
@ Rich – exactly! I mean I don't want to play the victim here. I give as good as I get. It's just that it's lose/lose because every minute that I give to a "fight" is a minute that I could give to my family or my customers or my employer (I do have a day job as well). And that minute is gone forever.
The internet IS great for communicating and entertainment but it's a huge drain on time and focus. I think that socially we are starting to see this more and more how it affects society as a whole as well as how it affects people individually.
Personally I think that the net effect will be that people will overall develop thicker skin and be more adept at navigating social minefields and eventually trolls will lose their button pushing pushing power when people develop immunity to their baiting.
Forums tend to weed out who is hyper sensitive and who is not. I do also think that the people who own forums will become more adept at moderating them properly while not at the same time crushing free expression. To me they have a duty to shape the environment. Kind of like a playground where you pad all the dangerous edges so that the kids can run as fast as they want to and jump where they want to but still relatively safe.