Subject:
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Re: The AFOL mind
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sat, 3 Apr 2004 22:06:37 GMT
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Viewed:
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656 times
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In lugnet.general, Anthony Sava wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Felix Greco wrote:
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I’ve found a conversation seems to come up a lot in reference to AFOLs. Are
we a bunch of dorks? Is what we do just nerdy? I have had this
conversation with AFOLs and nonAFOLs alike.
I think I’m a cool guy. I can relate to other guys- I workout, play
guitar, scratch my head about female behavior, I work hard. Yet, the people
I interact with in these other areas have said they just “don’t get” what I
do with lego.
...
Felix
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It just takes all kinds.
But to the question of “Are we dorks, are we being nerdy?”, depends on your
definition I suppose. I mean, nerds are typically described, IMO, as left
brained people, characterised by logical thinking and math skills. And in
that sense, yes, what we do is engineering in a sense, building structures,
some more sound than others. Then there are the other nerds, described
possibly better as dorks, dweebs, and geeks, those who are either right or
left and right brained, who use their imagination more often then others, who
tend to become obsessed with whatever they’re into. And in that respect I’d
have to say we’re that too. We’re not only engineering structures, but we
also create beautiful (if not functional like the Technic guys) things. And
we’re pretty gall dern obsessed, I freely admit it myself.
So to me, yes, we’re all dorks and nerds, doing geeky things. But my
question is ‘Is this a bad thing?’
My name is Anthony, and I’m a dork, I’m a nerd, I play with LEGO, and I think
that’s pretty cool.
--Anthony
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I’d never analysed the difference between nerd, dork, geek etc..., not wanting
to identify myself as any of them. I think that others’ opinion of a Lego fan
being any of those things depends on how you put it across. OK, so there’s a
range of amounts of acceptance in the person you’re talking to, but if you can
communicate well and see it from their point of view, they’re less likely to
dismiss your hobby.
I developed academically faster than socially in my teens, and struggled with
self image due to lack of real communication. Now that I’m 30 and more socially
adept I can convince most people that there’s something good about Lego as a
hobby. I’m also more assertive and determined to win them over, but my
motivation has changed. As a teenager it used to be “I want you to like me” but
now it’s “Here I am, take it or leave it”.
Since we communicate here we are a community. A dork etc... is fundamentally
someone seen as an outcast, not worthy to belong to a community. Therefore none
of us are dorks.
I have been through this with non-Lego railway modellers, having exhibited a
Lego railway at their exhibitions for three years. Some, usually those of P4
persuasion (a very precise scale) tend to dismiss Lego trains as toys. Those
from the more common O, OO, HO and N gauge fraternities are generally more
accepting, particularly the exhibition managers looking for layouts to invite to
their own exhibitions. They see the crowds and the number of requests I get to
run particular trains and realise that Lego trains will attract visitors and get
them more profit. For those not so ready to accept it, I can prove that my Lego
trains are built as well to scale as many of theirs.
I would say that Lego has advantages over other pursuits that people commonly
follow to the point of obsession. My wife much prefers to be a ‘Lego widow’
than a golf or football widow because at least I’m at home and available.
Besides that, she will always be more important to me than Lego. Her love and
support, shown particularly at railway exhibitions, facilitate my Lego interest
rather than conflicting with it. She knows that Lego gives me enjoyment and
pleasing me gives her enjoyment. That’s love.
What is important is to find the people who are prepared to take an interest and
even share it, and to be interested in them and their interests. Then you have
community. That’s what’s so great about Lugnet and our local clubs. A big
“Thank you” to those who run them.
Within our community, there are those who are more dedicated to particular
pursuits. With us having computers and archive files, we no longer need to do
things like memorising all the numbers of all the Lego parts ever made, which if
broadcast would turn others against us.
Each of us is gifted in different ways and our expression of our Lego interest
reflects this. I consider myself technical but now also social. Now that we
are a community let’s celebrate our diversity, encourage each other to build and
share and together develop worldwide interest in Lego. There are others out
there who are into Lego but not in a community of AFOLs. They’re probably
thinking poorly of themselves and need our encouragement.
Mark
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: The AFOL mind
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| (...) I think you're a cool guy Felix. After all, you ARE Jack Stone! ;) I don't know if this adds to the discussion, but I'll talk about it anyway, though I'm sure Lugnet is tired of me talking about it. This last weekend, TexLUG held it's (...) (21 years ago, 3-Apr-04, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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