Vital Viper
31 October 2007, 08:51 AM
Well I am sure most of you are aware of the resent spike in the subject of popularity on the forums. This is clearly a topic that everyone has something to say concerning. This discussion is perfectly fine although is also a very touchy subject. With me being just a little popular :rolleyes: I seemed to become the target of people who disapproved of popularity.
The reason I'm posting this is because I realized how wrong their assumptions were towards me just because the only side they ever saw of me was the huge crowds and sarcastic videos.
The trouble with popularity is that you don't understand it until it happens to you. and then when you try to explain it people think you are just being full of yourself.
On that note I have a question, what one thing could you take from me that would make me lose my popularity? Now go back in time and say "if I didn't have this when I was normal would I still have become popular?"
The first thing that pops into most people's head is "It's because your a mod here." Although the other mods here can tell you that despite being mods they probably haven't become super popular on CP. The key to really understanding why I'm popular now is understanding why I was popular from the beginning, hence the second question. I was popular long before I was ever modded.
The real answer? Kindness. I do my best to treat everyone with the respect they deserve. Even as someone who is looked up to I refuse to 'look down' on people and claim I am better than they are. Back when I was a normal penguin I earned the respect of the early users of the forum through answering questions about the game and helping all the new users. Although you can't take kindness away because it is a character trait if I wouldn't have had it I would have never become the penguin I am today, and if I didn't have it now my popularity wouldn't last long.
So I guess this is the million dollar question, "If you are so kind what is with all this ego?"
It is simpler than it sounds. There was a long time ago back when I was still coming to terms with my popularity where I let everyone telling me how great I was go to my head. At a certain point in my Miniclip experience it was ever so harshly pointed out to me that I had become the opposite of what I began as, and I was beginning to lose favor withing the community. From that point on I was more careful with the way I acted and slowly turned the ego thing into a popular joke. You may have heard of the ego sword, ego juice, or watched alot of my CP vids that use me being popular as a joke. This went on for awhile before I realized it was starting problems and misconceptions all over again. This time people simply didn't know much about me and used the jokes as interpretations of who I was. I then simply cut out the ego jokes and began an effort to better communicate effectively online. It is still impossible for me to be able to talk to everyone out there and convince them that I'm not the ego freak that people assume me to be.
If I had such an ego then:
-Why would I host a Nonmember club?
-Why would I care enough to add fans at all when I could just say no to everyone?
-Why would I close my own fan club?
-Why would I want to be a positive role model to all the penguins out there?
I follow a simple rule. Treat other the way you want to be treated. Often when fans yell something like "You are the greatest!" I'll respond "No you guys are!" and I mean it. I would be nothing without my fans and I owe any popularity I do have to them.
Popularity is the accumulation of respect. Over time I've accumulated allot of respect for different reasons, but most importantly I do my best to respect each and every person that respects me. Despite my greatest efforts I can't please everyone. Someone once told me that the only way I would ever be able to satisfy all my fans is if I was automatically everyone's buddy list. I really do hate removing people but it is something I have to do to keep things fair.
I respect everyones opinion and contrary to popular belief I do not expect everyone to like me. As much as I try I can't please everyone, and thats not my fault.
Now lets cover a few specific misconceptions:
The CP President thing- A long time ago on the old forums we basically had a huge popularity contest that will never happen again that was 'disguised' as an election. When the final poll close Big Balla had beat me by over 40 votes. It was a bummer but also a reality check. That silly pole helped me realize that people didn't appreciate the way I was acting. Well fast forward to that faithful night on Fish's Chat where RFS and I actually talked for once instead of arguing like we always did on the forums. Turns out he had actually gave Big Balla 50 votes so that I would lose. An article was posted in the then popular "The Truth" forum newspaper, and everyone got to find out that I did win after all. Needless to say the title is abstract and gives me no extra power or responsibilities. The CP President thing is more of a joke than anything and I do not use it to command troops. The last time I did use it was for the ending of all armies thread because I thought it was ironic that I was the clubs/teams mod that got to post that. :rolleyes:
If you look up 'popular' in the dictionary it says "Vital Viper"- As neat as that would be it is untrue. I didn't ask to be popular, and I sure don't brag about it. I'm popular, can I say that? It's not like it is a lie. I'm not claiming to be the best/most popular because in my honest opinion the CP moderators who work day in and day out to keep CP safe and fun deserve all the crowds and respect. I simply pride myself in being a positive role model for others.
I'm always right because I have lots of fans that will defend whatever I do- I've also heard this one used in combination of me being a mod. The fact is that it is untrue. No one is perfect and the ego thing is perfect evidence of that in my situation. It is true that majority rules(in most cases), but if I do agree with people some would call fans (that I call friends) only because they understand my situation better than most people do. As a popular penguin AND moderator here my actions actually face stricter evaluation than any normal forumer.
I'm popular because I have tons of rare items- Despite my penguin being 642 days old I really don't have all that many rare items I don't have the Beat Hat or Christmas Scarf, and most items that were sold back the have come back since. The rarest item I have is the red lei that I hardly wear because I love my cape so much. Anything I wear on my penguin revolves around the cape, and I normally don't wear anything I would consider rare. I feel I am more respected for how I make the clothing combinations look, rather than the fact that I used a particular rare item.
_________________________
In conclusion I hope I have cleared up many of the common misconceptions about me. I also hope that lots of people who just watch the forum read this as well so that i can continue to rebuild my reputation as a friendly, humble user.
:vitalviper:
-Vital Viper
The reason I'm posting this is because I realized how wrong their assumptions were towards me just because the only side they ever saw of me was the huge crowds and sarcastic videos.
The trouble with popularity is that you don't understand it until it happens to you. and then when you try to explain it people think you are just being full of yourself.
On that note I have a question, what one thing could you take from me that would make me lose my popularity? Now go back in time and say "if I didn't have this when I was normal would I still have become popular?"
The first thing that pops into most people's head is "It's because your a mod here." Although the other mods here can tell you that despite being mods they probably haven't become super popular on CP. The key to really understanding why I'm popular now is understanding why I was popular from the beginning, hence the second question. I was popular long before I was ever modded.
The real answer? Kindness. I do my best to treat everyone with the respect they deserve. Even as someone who is looked up to I refuse to 'look down' on people and claim I am better than they are. Back when I was a normal penguin I earned the respect of the early users of the forum through answering questions about the game and helping all the new users. Although you can't take kindness away because it is a character trait if I wouldn't have had it I would have never become the penguin I am today, and if I didn't have it now my popularity wouldn't last long.
So I guess this is the million dollar question, "If you are so kind what is with all this ego?"
It is simpler than it sounds. There was a long time ago back when I was still coming to terms with my popularity where I let everyone telling me how great I was go to my head. At a certain point in my Miniclip experience it was ever so harshly pointed out to me that I had become the opposite of what I began as, and I was beginning to lose favor withing the community. From that point on I was more careful with the way I acted and slowly turned the ego thing into a popular joke. You may have heard of the ego sword, ego juice, or watched alot of my CP vids that use me being popular as a joke. This went on for awhile before I realized it was starting problems and misconceptions all over again. This time people simply didn't know much about me and used the jokes as interpretations of who I was. I then simply cut out the ego jokes and began an effort to better communicate effectively online. It is still impossible for me to be able to talk to everyone out there and convince them that I'm not the ego freak that people assume me to be.
If I had such an ego then:
-Why would I host a Nonmember club?
-Why would I care enough to add fans at all when I could just say no to everyone?
-Why would I close my own fan club?
-Why would I want to be a positive role model to all the penguins out there?
I follow a simple rule. Treat other the way you want to be treated. Often when fans yell something like "You are the greatest!" I'll respond "No you guys are!" and I mean it. I would be nothing without my fans and I owe any popularity I do have to them.
Popularity is the accumulation of respect. Over time I've accumulated allot of respect for different reasons, but most importantly I do my best to respect each and every person that respects me. Despite my greatest efforts I can't please everyone. Someone once told me that the only way I would ever be able to satisfy all my fans is if I was automatically everyone's buddy list. I really do hate removing people but it is something I have to do to keep things fair.
I respect everyones opinion and contrary to popular belief I do not expect everyone to like me. As much as I try I can't please everyone, and thats not my fault.
Now lets cover a few specific misconceptions:
The CP President thing- A long time ago on the old forums we basically had a huge popularity contest that will never happen again that was 'disguised' as an election. When the final poll close Big Balla had beat me by over 40 votes. It was a bummer but also a reality check. That silly pole helped me realize that people didn't appreciate the way I was acting. Well fast forward to that faithful night on Fish's Chat where RFS and I actually talked for once instead of arguing like we always did on the forums. Turns out he had actually gave Big Balla 50 votes so that I would lose. An article was posted in the then popular "The Truth" forum newspaper, and everyone got to find out that I did win after all. Needless to say the title is abstract and gives me no extra power or responsibilities. The CP President thing is more of a joke than anything and I do not use it to command troops. The last time I did use it was for the ending of all armies thread because I thought it was ironic that I was the clubs/teams mod that got to post that. :rolleyes:
If you look up 'popular' in the dictionary it says "Vital Viper"- As neat as that would be it is untrue. I didn't ask to be popular, and I sure don't brag about it. I'm popular, can I say that? It's not like it is a lie. I'm not claiming to be the best/most popular because in my honest opinion the CP moderators who work day in and day out to keep CP safe and fun deserve all the crowds and respect. I simply pride myself in being a positive role model for others.
I'm always right because I have lots of fans that will defend whatever I do- I've also heard this one used in combination of me being a mod. The fact is that it is untrue. No one is perfect and the ego thing is perfect evidence of that in my situation. It is true that majority rules(in most cases), but if I do agree with people some would call fans (that I call friends) only because they understand my situation better than most people do. As a popular penguin AND moderator here my actions actually face stricter evaluation than any normal forumer.
I'm popular because I have tons of rare items- Despite my penguin being 642 days old I really don't have all that many rare items I don't have the Beat Hat or Christmas Scarf, and most items that were sold back the have come back since. The rarest item I have is the red lei that I hardly wear because I love my cape so much. Anything I wear on my penguin revolves around the cape, and I normally don't wear anything I would consider rare. I feel I am more respected for how I make the clothing combinations look, rather than the fact that I used a particular rare item.
_________________________
In conclusion I hope I have cleared up many of the common misconceptions about me. I also hope that lots of people who just watch the forum read this as well so that i can continue to rebuild my reputation as a friendly, humble user.
:vitalviper:
-Vital Viper