personwholikeswatches
Active Member
- 12/3/18
- 279
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- 28
How to be a valuable member of a community.
How does one become a valuable member of a community, you might ask? Well, don’t listen to me, because I am not(yet hopefully). Look to people like Raddave, occb2, yllekp, BigOffshoreDaddy, trailboss99 etc.. All of them and so many more have demonstrated extreme value to a relatively small community of watch enthusiasts in a rather obscure corner of the internet. These fine gentlemen didn’t become valuable members of their community by being jerks or paying for it. No, they worked hard at making their community a better place for everyone. They each have several thousand posts, which clearly demonstrates a time commitment that very few are willing to put in. What is required to become a valuable member of any community include: Dedication, Compassion, Determination, selflessness etc. Every one of the previously mentioned people has demonstrated all of these in spades. The way to be a crappy member of a community is to demonstrate a lack of caring for other members of said community. Calling respected members “cunts” does exactly that. It makes you come across as an asshole and an immature child because such an assessment is fair.
The first step to becoming a valued member of a community is having good manners and being polite. No name calling(unless justified, like name calling at a stupid teenager who thought that calling respected members of the community cunts was a good idea, though that’s just an obscure example). If you are about to post or say something in a community, first consider if said post will help the community be a better place for everybody.
The next and arguably most important step is to BE ACTIVE on the community. Participate in the discussion and conversation as often as you can, and help people where you can if you know more than they do. Don’t be condescending while you do it either, or that person may be put off from the community as a whole and not want to return. If you are active and polite enough, people will begin to respect and think highly of you. Long, unexplained absences and being an asshole will serve to dig yourself a hole to die in.
If you have the means, support your community in any ways you can. This could mean donating a few dollars to the cause, or showing up to meetups/hangouts of the members of your community or helping to organize said hangouts. This shows a level of dedication beyond simply being active and polite on the internet. It shows people that you have a level of dedication above and beyond the call of duty.
Another thing to do is create your own content that helps people and takes advantage of your skills. If you’re a watchsmith on a watch forum, create guides on disassembling or maintaining movements. If you’re tech-savvy, help make the website a more fluid, enjoyable experience for everyone who visits by assisting with things on the back end. If you’re a very eloquent writer, write reviews of items of interest in the community that people can read and learn from. Demonstrate your expertise so people know to trust what you have to say about certain things. Every one of these things will help both the new and seasoned members of the community learn more, and some of them may end up helping the community in the same ways that you do.
If you do make one or several mistakes, don’t defend yourself and justify your actions, because that shows a level of immaturity and unwillingness to better yourself. Be apologetic, and demonstrate why you are still a valuable member of the community despite the mistakes you made. If you are an asshole or break the rules, don’t defend yourself, and instead be apologetic and accept the advice people give to you instead of brushing it off as the insignificant words of less intelligent beings. Use the experience as an opportunity to learn and become a better person, do not flaunt your ego and perceived “intelligence” to people who see you for the way you are, instead of an idealized, self-aggrandized version of yourself that you see. Don’t act like you are the enlightened scholar of the world and the only reason people would criticise you is that they’re stupid. If you do listen, you may, in fact, realize that they were the ones who were enlightened the whole time, not you. By accepting the criticism of you that they offer, you will likely become a better, more happy person. Many of your critics may be much older and much wiser than you, familiar with the way the world works and how to do well in it. Listen to their advice and take it to heart if you want to be a better person.
In summary, the most important ways to be a valued member of a community are not being an asshole, contributing, and accepting criticism. By being an asshole, you show that you are an immature person not fit to participate in the community with the other people just trying to share their passion. By contributing to the pool of knowledge and helping people who need it you demonstrate a dedication to your community because you are willing to take time out of your day to lend a helping hand. Finally, by accepting criticism, you demonstrate a willingness to grow as a person and learn from your mistakes. No one likes someone who is stubborn and stuck in their ways, already convinced that they’re the pinnacle of humanity and that no one else can touch them. That is most assuredly not the case. By accepting criticism, you will likely become a better person and realize how much worse you used to be than you are now. It shows a level of maturity that you are most definitely not showing by being a stubborn asshole. These are the best ways to become a valued member of a community.
BigOffshoreDaddy
How does one become a valuable member of a community, you might ask? Well, don’t listen to me, because I am not(yet hopefully). Look to people like Raddave, occb2, yllekp, BigOffshoreDaddy, trailboss99 etc.. All of them and so many more have demonstrated extreme value to a relatively small community of watch enthusiasts in a rather obscure corner of the internet. These fine gentlemen didn’t become valuable members of their community by being jerks or paying for it. No, they worked hard at making their community a better place for everyone. They each have several thousand posts, which clearly demonstrates a time commitment that very few are willing to put in. What is required to become a valuable member of any community include: Dedication, Compassion, Determination, selflessness etc. Every one of the previously mentioned people has demonstrated all of these in spades. The way to be a crappy member of a community is to demonstrate a lack of caring for other members of said community. Calling respected members “cunts” does exactly that. It makes you come across as an asshole and an immature child because such an assessment is fair.
The first step to becoming a valued member of a community is having good manners and being polite. No name calling(unless justified, like name calling at a stupid teenager who thought that calling respected members of the community cunts was a good idea, though that’s just an obscure example). If you are about to post or say something in a community, first consider if said post will help the community be a better place for everybody.
The next and arguably most important step is to BE ACTIVE on the community. Participate in the discussion and conversation as often as you can, and help people where you can if you know more than they do. Don’t be condescending while you do it either, or that person may be put off from the community as a whole and not want to return. If you are active and polite enough, people will begin to respect and think highly of you. Long, unexplained absences and being an asshole will serve to dig yourself a hole to die in.
If you have the means, support your community in any ways you can. This could mean donating a few dollars to the cause, or showing up to meetups/hangouts of the members of your community or helping to organize said hangouts. This shows a level of dedication beyond simply being active and polite on the internet. It shows people that you have a level of dedication above and beyond the call of duty.
Another thing to do is create your own content that helps people and takes advantage of your skills. If you’re a watchsmith on a watch forum, create guides on disassembling or maintaining movements. If you’re tech-savvy, help make the website a more fluid, enjoyable experience for everyone who visits by assisting with things on the back end. If you’re a very eloquent writer, write reviews of items of interest in the community that people can read and learn from. Demonstrate your expertise so people know to trust what you have to say about certain things. Every one of these things will help both the new and seasoned members of the community learn more, and some of them may end up helping the community in the same ways that you do.
If you do make one or several mistakes, don’t defend yourself and justify your actions, because that shows a level of immaturity and unwillingness to better yourself. Be apologetic, and demonstrate why you are still a valuable member of the community despite the mistakes you made. If you are an asshole or break the rules, don’t defend yourself, and instead be apologetic and accept the advice people give to you instead of brushing it off as the insignificant words of less intelligent beings. Use the experience as an opportunity to learn and become a better person, do not flaunt your ego and perceived “intelligence” to people who see you for the way you are, instead of an idealized, self-aggrandized version of yourself that you see. Don’t act like you are the enlightened scholar of the world and the only reason people would criticise you is that they’re stupid. If you do listen, you may, in fact, realize that they were the ones who were enlightened the whole time, not you. By accepting the criticism of you that they offer, you will likely become a better, more happy person. Many of your critics may be much older and much wiser than you, familiar with the way the world works and how to do well in it. Listen to their advice and take it to heart if you want to be a better person.
In summary, the most important ways to be a valued member of a community are not being an asshole, contributing, and accepting criticism. By being an asshole, you show that you are an immature person not fit to participate in the community with the other people just trying to share their passion. By contributing to the pool of knowledge and helping people who need it you demonstrate a dedication to your community because you are willing to take time out of your day to lend a helping hand. Finally, by accepting criticism, you demonstrate a willingness to grow as a person and learn from your mistakes. No one likes someone who is stubborn and stuck in their ways, already convinced that they’re the pinnacle of humanity and that no one else can touch them. That is most assuredly not the case. By accepting criticism, you will likely become a better person and realize how much worse you used to be than you are now. It shows a level of maturity that you are most definitely not showing by being a stubborn asshole. These are the best ways to become a valued member of a community.
BigOffshoreDaddy
