A look into how a reaction and response are formed
200WAD
ego
When something causes us to feel bad it almost always deals with something that is true. As in someone calling me fat would never offend me or cause a even a shadow of a negative reaction because it's too farfetched of a statement.
When I read therealbrandonwilson's comment on The magic of 200WAD, I immediately felt a little bad (reaction), and I wanted to reduce my immediate mental response so that I can form it into a simple list:
My mind immediately thought of why Brandon's opinion wasn't valid
Think of negative attributes about him
Convince myself he's just projecting his insecurities onto me
Here I ideated a post questioning for how long really
200WAD
remained a community?
In this post I imagined arguing that the the true magic couldn't have been the community because the community never lasted long enough and was driven only by the initial hoopla of streaking.
I further imagined arguing that because of this the true true magic long-term was that people ended up developing longterm habits regardless of connection to community
Realize that I was just trying to make myself feel better
But I could see how weak that post would've been even before I began writing it. The arguments weren't actual things I believed and were just made up by my
ego
to defend some sense of shame or anxiety I felt about the truth.
These days I'm more able to have initial reactions and see how my responses form. I used to be really bad at this and I was basically like a dog that was yanked around by my emotions. I write this in case anyone else feels like they fall victim to this to. Hopefully it can help.
It must a little bit different for you since you're the truly invested party. I do wonder if the issue here is one of perception. On one hand, more users may give the impression of a larger 'community', but with low engagement and interaction between members, it's not much of one - which is what 200wad was like by the time I stopped writing there.
Fewer users here, but it looks like more discussion is going on between us as well, therefore very much a community.
So, ask these questions: What is a community? What should an online writing community be like?
Yeah my perspective and interests here differ than back at
200WAD
.
Back then I actually didn't mind if the community was lacking because to me 1 on 1 relationships were more important. At the end of the day I knew that I would still have my relationships with you, keni, seun, and dealingwith
but now i curiously wonder though. Not in a
ego
defending manner but honest
curiosity
...
At what point do you believe the community was strongest and why? What made it that way? I know as a fiction writer your answer will differ from the more common user.
Who knew my "throw-away" comment would cause you such consternation. I wish I could find the original thread where we first discussed the magic of 200WAD to revisit the context.
Lol Brandon it wasn't that long of a conversation. I believei t was on
Telegram
Also it's less about your comment and more about things i was already thinking about. The comment was more of a key to opening that box that was already there so no worries on your part. If it wasn't your comment that opened it it would've been something else. Better to open it earlier.
therealbrandonwilson
GabrielGreco
I do wonder if the issue here is one of perception. On one hand, more users may give the impression of a larger 'community', but with low engagement and interaction between members, it's not much of one - which is what 200wad was like by the time I stopped writing there.
Fewer users here, but it looks like more discussion is going on between us as well, therefore very much a community.
So, ask these questions: What is a community? What should an online writing community be like?
Back then I actually didn't mind if the community was lacking because to me 1 on 1 relationships were more important. At the end of the day I knew that I would still have my relationships with you,
but now i curiously wonder though. Not in a
At what point do you believe the community was strongest and why? What made it that way? I know as a fiction writer your answer will differ from the more common user.
Also it's less about your comment and more about things i was already thinking about. The comment was more of a key to opening that box that was already there so no worries on your part. If it wasn't your comment that opened it it would've been something else. Better to open it earlier.