Subject:
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Which Way AFOL's?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 8 Jul 2002 19:14:01 GMT
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“The LEGO community”. Some, when hearing this phrase, harken to time spent
on the livingroom floor at age six or seven, Whiling away the hours building
a town or village, complete with cars or horses or spaceships, all inhabited
by little yellow plastic men: a true LEGO community. But, then again, there
are others of us who, when presented with the phrase “LEGO Community,”
envision something totally different. We are the AFOLs: the Adult Fans of
LEGO. We encompass a wide audience; from the college student who doesn’t
want to give up their beloved bricks, to the seasoned veteran who produces
complicated sensors for plastic robots or gigantic castles for tiny toy
knights. AFOLs encompass not only all ages, but all areas of the globe. We
hail from Europe, South and North America, the Orient, the South Pacific and
speak languages too numerous to recount here. We, amazingly, get along
rather well. But, recently, tempers have flared. With our many and varied
backgrounds, it was inevitable that egos would collide. We, as a “LEGO
Community,” based upon the age old principles of Play and Fun, have reached
our Rubicon. The decision now lay upon our shoulders, do we tear ourselves
apart, or do we work together, build some boats and cross happily into the
unknown future?
First, I would like to address the purpose for our being here. Aren’t we
actually a community to share ideas? We come together, whether it be in a
church basement, a friends home or in the ever-expanding reaches of the
world wide web, to exchange our ideas for building with pour beloved bricks.
Why then do we allow our petty differences. We are a community of many
parts: we must all face this fact. We are, contrary to some statements, all
different. Can’t we use these differences? Recent conversation, however,
has been leading otherwise. How many opportunities do each of our insults
to each other destroy? If, today, I were to discover a similar community
with such infighting as occurs in the LEGO Community I would shy away
instantly. How many lurkers have done this? We will never know. How many
fresh ideas has this kept from the good of the community? Again, we will
never know. We can still change this fact. I don’t mean to use a rotten
cliché, but, “why can’t we all just get along.” I will acknowledge that
there are differences between Americans and Canadians and French, Germans,
Dutch, Portugese, Fleebnorkers and all of the rest. I will live with those
differences. It is, in fact, those differences which harbor creativity. A
quote, for instance, about a “Boot Sale,” in England may inspire an American
to build a shoe shaped Spaceship. Architecture, at least to us town-fans,
is a main inspiration. Again, architecture is a very regional art. If we
were to capitalize on our differences instead of attacking them, we would
greatly benefit.
This, however, isn’t to say that pride is bad. I am not one that believes
the old adage, “Pride cometh before the fall.” If, instead, we continue to
express our local pride, be it Lebanese or Budapestian or Ivory Costish, and
a community pride, a one-ness of purpose so to speak, we will survive and
flourish. There is no need for group XYZ to stop saying they’re good
people, just stop saying your better.
I am constantly amazed by this community’s creativity. I don’t subscribe
to any specific groups or read only specific forums, so I get a pretty good
cross section of the population. That having been said, I’ve gotten
inspiration from countless different people. For me, Train inspires Space,
Space inspires Castle, Castle inspires Town and so on and so forth. We have
to put aside our Theme differences as well. “Space.” is a fine rallying
cry, as is “Castle.”, but we can’t let the rivalry get too malicious. It is
this maliciousness that turns people away. Recent responses to the highly
debated topics have sounded like personal attacks. I, as well as you, my
reader and friend, are guilty of this. The divisive feeling have spread
beyond theme lines. We are one community that acts like many. One forum
hates another hates another. The rivalries, not to name names, have become
Net vs. Acronym and .loc vs. .loc and countless other less public hatred.
Each group in these debates, however, (you must remember that I cross the
lines, hovering from group to group) has an equal amount of talent. There
were plenty of times when I have seen inspiring constructions at one site
that the other hadn’t published or even thought of. But, yet, each faction
is either ignoring or putting down these ideas.
What spurred this entire article happened this morning, when I caught
myself generalizing about a certain group of people based upon one post.
One post, I then realized, cannot be the basis for hatred. If we each were
to find our one hate inspiring post and act upon it, the community would be
riven instantly.
So, in conclusion, let us build boats, not burn them. We must cross this
rubicon together. The greater community lay at stake.
-John Rudy
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Which Way AFOL's?
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| That is a pretty bleak picture you paint. Are you sure it is as bad as it sounds. In my mind most of the lugnet community is quite friendly. There has been a small amount of bickering recently, but nothing to warrant any concern. In any large group (...) (22 years ago, 8-Jul-02, to lugnet.general)
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