Places to Chat
Somebody takes a
Chatterbox: Down to Earth
Somebody takes a
Somebody takes a quick glance around at the Down to Earth section of Chatterbox City. So far, everything's going well. She just hopes that the admins would let her speech through in its entirety this time, instead of censoring the parts that were, in her opinion, the deeper parts of what she'd said. I guess it was kind of heavy, she thinks, sighing a little.
She's decided to administer this speech in public. The old-fashioned way. Her alter ego Shifting Sands had suggested the soapbox, but that had just seemed so... low-tech. Still, it did have a nice feel to it, so she'd programmed a quick something into her MIRIS.
"MIRIS, deploy holo-soapbox," she mutters to her AI.
"Deploying," the computer replies. An image of a soapbox projects itself onto the center of the plaza, shimmering blue. Somebody takes a tentative step onto the box, which is, as supposed to be, solid enough. She clambers up onto it, takes a deep breath, wishes she'd brought a thesaurus, and begins.
"Twice now in my time on the Chatterbox, I, Somebody, have threatened to leave!
"Twice now in my time on the Chatterbox, you, the CBers, have convinced me to stay!
"I am experienced in guilt-leaving! I am experienced in rage-quitting! I have done it here! I have done it in P.E.! I have done it in choir! I have done it during art time in 5th grade after getting into an argument over whether "funner" is a word! (And it isn't by the way. I don't care what Dictionary.com says. Dictionary.com whispers the words of corruption.)
"And I am experienced enough to know this-- LEAVING IS NOT THE ANSWER!!!
"Giving up, quitting, and leaving is the quick and easy way, but NOT the right way!
"Think of... oatmeal. Think about it-- the quick-cooking variety (pour into a bowl, add water, and derp-face) tastes way worse that when you make it from scratch. This is like oatmeal!
"Anyone can run away and leave the problem! Any STUPID, COWARDLY person can do that!
"But smart, brave, intelligent, clever, creative people like us-- like YOU-- like EVERY CBER WHO HAS WALKED THE PAGES OF THE CHATTERBOX-- can sometimes fall into this trap as well.
"And some of us have. Danie, Brookeira, Maple, Air, some other people I can't at the moment recall.
"This is a hard time here. But we CAN and we WILL happily welcome these new Chatterboxers into our community!
"We CAN and we WILL-- ALL of us, whether we joined two years or two weeks ago-- get through this! We can quiet this, we can have great RPs, we can show the new Chatterboxers the great community we are! What have we shown them?
"We've shown them we're quitters! We've shown them we are closed minded! But NONE of this is true! Let's show the newer Chatterboxers the Chatterbox full of brave, clever, intelligent people! And no, I don't have a thesaurus on me!
"We can get through this, hopefully without anyone else leaving! And we can come out of this a bigger and better Chatterbox family than ever before! RIGHT, CBERS??"
The silence that had settled over the plaza during her speech is broken as a murmur sweeps through the crowd.
"Please! Don't let anyone else leave!" Somebody shouts, brushing away a strand of brown hair that had escaped from her ponytail during the speech.
After standing there for a second, she deploys her hoverboard and turns off the holo-soapbox. "I'll be waiting for the verdict," she says, hoping she hasn't looked like an idiot, "in my secret HQ."
And I think I'll keep this holo-soapbox, too, she thinks to herself as she streaks through the sky to her HQ. It's pretty nifty.
submitted by Somebody, age Who cares, Secret HQ
(November 3, 2015 - 6:32 pm)
(November 3, 2015 - 6:32 pm)
You are awesome.
I can understand why some CBers leave, because for a while I myself just had absolutely nothing to say on the CB, and I just didn't feel like doing anything on computers in general. But for most of us, we leave because there isn't anyone talking about the stuff that we like, or doing the sort of RPs we like, or something like that. I'm pretty sure I phrased that wrong, but I hope you know what I mean because I can't think of how to say it better.
And, as Somebody said, we shouldn't leave just because of that, because leaving in protest to AEs or sloppy spelling or a general feeling of not-being-as-good-as-it-was-before doesn't help at all, because now that you've left there's only going to be a larger percentage of us doing that sort of thing, and now you aren't there to tell us how it was before, and how awesome we're doing now, and what you think about AEs or sloppy spelling or whatever.
The CB will only change if you're here to change it, and for most things you don't even have to announce that something's wrong, you just have to do whatever it is that would help solve the problem if everybody did it, and most people will be influenced just by osmosis. If you spell well, sloppy spellers may slow down a little and try to write like you because they think you're awesome because you are awesome. Every single one of us here on the CB, newbies and oldies and in-betweeners and people who've left and people who don't know whether they're old or new or whatever because it's so vague and it's arbitrary anyways: we're all awesome.
The CB is a family, whether you acknowledge it or not, and we're only going to change things -- or keep things the same, whichever people want -- by doing things, not saying them. Problems usually aren't as big as you think they are, but whether they're big or small the only way they'll be fixed is if you are part of the solution. Leaving doesn't help, it just makes us all more sad and more likely to leave, which in turn makes it even worse.
I hope this kind of made sense and wasn't way too vague and sort of contributed to what you said. If it made no sense or you didn't read it because it was too long, I basically agree.
The only way to make the CB more awesome is to be awesome on the CB.
(November 3, 2015 - 8:55 pm)
Thank you, Pied! Now to top with this thread!
(November 4, 2015 - 1:47 am)
Yes!!!
(November 4, 2015 - 9:45 am)
Omigandalfsomebodyiloveyoubecauseyouareawesomeandfantastical!!!
Wow! These are my thoughts exactly, but put into words! Lovely, beautiful words!
Yes, everybody! Dont leave! Stay, and help reform the Cb! Show the newbies what a welcoming and lovely place the chatterbox can be!
(November 4, 2015 - 2:54 pm)
Thank you for that. Everyone is posting threads about leaving, but this is the first one that is really positive and encouraging.
(November 4, 2015 - 4:25 pm)
@Somebody <!--break-->
Wow. Wow. I just wanted to say to you one thing: Thanks! Thanks for all you do. After reading this, I just felt like I could stay. I felt like we really ARE one big family. I myself, still consider me a "newbie." I don't remember when I came on, but after everyone started leaving, I felt like I should leave too, because I feel like I'm considered one of the newbies. We newbies need leaders like you, and all the older CBers. WE NEED YOU. Show us what to do! Show us what it's like! Please, we look up to you guys for guidance! So thanks again. Please, please, show us how it's done. Thanks again. *Walks away crying*
(November 4, 2015 - 7:06 pm)
This is great.
(November 5, 2015 - 7:48 pm)
First, Somebody, you are awesome. And you have a great message.
I want to make it clear that I'm not just "leaving" because I think the "new" CB is crazy or weird. It's just that I'm really busy and that I want to let you know where I'm going. I guess I do have an opposition to apathy on the CB. And I really want to apologize for that, everyone. Somebody is right. I'm sorry.
Also the fact that... I haven't left. I keep dragging myself back to see how CB is going and making posts like this one. I haven't done an RP in a long time, but that's just because I haven't found one.
So I will be back soon! Or I am back! And you really are awesome! Thank you, Somebody. Thank you.
(November 10, 2015 - 12:40 am)