description
GzN and me
Posted 10-21-2007 at 09:53 AM by Slugsnack
Lots of people been asking why I quit GzN and whatnot. Just gonna give a short explanation to save myself the trouble of replying to every PM. It's not particularly interesting so you may as well navigate elsewhere if you don't like reading.
Basically after a long, long time I realised (as you do with a lot of things), too late of course that I had been wasting far too much time with GzN. Truly the time had been wasted, not used to a particular purpose.
I had given thousands of hours. Towards the end I was in a routine. Getting home ASAP to spend the time in my room to go on GzN to post. Going on forums all day until just before I went to bed. There was no purpose. This is fine with a lot of things in life though. A lot of things aren't supposed to have a purpose. On the other hand, with something like this, the scale that I became addicted to this site is frankly disgusting. Those thousands of hours were spent where I taught little to the other users of these forums. Certainly, I didn't end up learning much during my time here.
It became time to stop this madness. My grades had also started to slip. Whereas before I would typically get high A's in all of my subjects, as time reeled on, I realised I was getting closer and closer to a borderline A/B. Indeed, it came as no big shock when I realised that at the end of the exams last year I had barely been able to scrape 3 A's and 1 B.
In my opinion, these forums typically consist of these groups of people:
1) The "pros", of which these forums contain very few. Of this group, most are very inactive/don't post or post merely to boost their self-esteem so their "superiority" is more clearly asserted over the rest of the forums. In general, this group does not help but show off instead. Of course there are a few that do contribute (I don't mean just uploading hacks) but those few are inactive.
2) The leachers that come, download hacks, ask a few questions on how to use them, leave and come back when the hack gets patched. The cycle continues..
3) The downloaders/uploaders. These people go around other forums downloading then come back and upload here to get a good e-reputation. Same applies but vice versa.
4) The people that actually want to learn. Typically, one of the smallest groups here. Most people are content to just be part of group 2.
5) The "wannabe pros". These people might know a tiny bit but exploit this by making out that they know heaps. They will beef up everything they know and it will not be revealed as bullcrap until someone more knowledgable comes along. Otherwise these people will look at other forums, cherry-pick good quotes then pass them off as their own. These members often claim to be able to do things they can't.
6) The rest. These people really don't do too much. Just contribute to the general body of the forums by being there and posting.
7) Trollers. 'nough said.
Obviously trollers have been excluded. So what is my point in doing all this ? I am simply giving my interpretation of these forums. You may take that whichever way you please but in my opinion, EVERYBODY belongs to one or more of those groups. So my point being ? Even if you truly excel in group 1, I realised being on a forum 24/7 isn't really going to help you out in real life.
When you get out there and people ask you what you've done, you can't very well say "hung out on forums acting/admiring/learning to be/being pro". In fact those thousands of hours you wasted are going to turn you round and kick you in the ass.
Yes, I took a long time explaining that but that's just how I am.
So what's up with me now ? I noticed a swift and solid change as soon as leaving GzN. I am now boosting my exam grades back up, re-consolidating shaky bits of knowledge, improving my social life and have recently completed the university application process to the following institutions:
Cambridge - Computer Science
London Imperial College - Computing
Bristol - Computer Science
University College London - Computer Science
Southampton - Computer Science
So yeah, life is going uphill for me now. Now that things are stabilising, I think I can spend a little time every now and again on GzN to help somebody learn something if I deem it necessary (eg. a few posts every week or whatever) but I hope that I will never go back to the state I got myself into a few months ago.
Everything is bad in too large doses remember
A lot of things in moderation are fine though.
Enjoy life guys
I won't try to dictate your life for you or tell you to quit/spend less time online. That's up to you. Whatever I say, I am still just another guy online, I won't be affecting any of you. Hindsight is a nice thing to have though.
Basically after a long, long time I realised (as you do with a lot of things), too late of course that I had been wasting far too much time with GzN. Truly the time had been wasted, not used to a particular purpose.
I had given thousands of hours. Towards the end I was in a routine. Getting home ASAP to spend the time in my room to go on GzN to post. Going on forums all day until just before I went to bed. There was no purpose. This is fine with a lot of things in life though. A lot of things aren't supposed to have a purpose. On the other hand, with something like this, the scale that I became addicted to this site is frankly disgusting. Those thousands of hours were spent where I taught little to the other users of these forums. Certainly, I didn't end up learning much during my time here.
It became time to stop this madness. My grades had also started to slip. Whereas before I would typically get high A's in all of my subjects, as time reeled on, I realised I was getting closer and closer to a borderline A/B. Indeed, it came as no big shock when I realised that at the end of the exams last year I had barely been able to scrape 3 A's and 1 B.
In my opinion, these forums typically consist of these groups of people:
1) The "pros", of which these forums contain very few. Of this group, most are very inactive/don't post or post merely to boost their self-esteem so their "superiority" is more clearly asserted over the rest of the forums. In general, this group does not help but show off instead. Of course there are a few that do contribute (I don't mean just uploading hacks) but those few are inactive.
2) The leachers that come, download hacks, ask a few questions on how to use them, leave and come back when the hack gets patched. The cycle continues..
3) The downloaders/uploaders. These people go around other forums downloading then come back and upload here to get a good e-reputation. Same applies but vice versa.
4) The people that actually want to learn. Typically, one of the smallest groups here. Most people are content to just be part of group 2.
5) The "wannabe pros". These people might know a tiny bit but exploit this by making out that they know heaps. They will beef up everything they know and it will not be revealed as bullcrap until someone more knowledgable comes along. Otherwise these people will look at other forums, cherry-pick good quotes then pass them off as their own. These members often claim to be able to do things they can't.
6) The rest. These people really don't do too much. Just contribute to the general body of the forums by being there and posting.
7) Trollers. 'nough said.
Obviously trollers have been excluded. So what is my point in doing all this ? I am simply giving my interpretation of these forums. You may take that whichever way you please but in my opinion, EVERYBODY belongs to one or more of those groups. So my point being ? Even if you truly excel in group 1, I realised being on a forum 24/7 isn't really going to help you out in real life.
When you get out there and people ask you what you've done, you can't very well say "hung out on forums acting/admiring/learning to be/being pro". In fact those thousands of hours you wasted are going to turn you round and kick you in the ass.
Yes, I took a long time explaining that but that's just how I am.
So what's up with me now ? I noticed a swift and solid change as soon as leaving GzN. I am now boosting my exam grades back up, re-consolidating shaky bits of knowledge, improving my social life and have recently completed the university application process to the following institutions:
Cambridge - Computer Science
London Imperial College - Computing
Bristol - Computer Science
University College London - Computer Science
Southampton - Computer Science
So yeah, life is going uphill for me now. Now that things are stabilising, I think I can spend a little time every now and again on GzN to help somebody learn something if I deem it necessary (eg. a few posts every week or whatever) but I hope that I will never go back to the state I got myself into a few months ago.
Everything is bad in too large doses remember
A lot of things in moderation are fine though.Enjoy life guys
I won't try to dictate your life for you or tell you to quit/spend less time online. That's up to you. Whatever I say, I am still just another guy online, I won't be affecting any of you. Hindsight is a nice thing to have though.
Total Comments 9
Comments
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The conversation you gave me made much sense, and I still remember.Posted 10-21-2007 at 04:01 PM by Kohaku
- your just like me lol i come here little heh and spend tons money on my carPosted 10-21-2007 at 04:02 PM by
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I hope more people see this, this is all very true and all should understand that what he said is all very true, don't spend all your time on forums, games, etc...
things that are fun or addicting are almost always a waste of time or wont get you anywhere in life.Posted 10-23-2007 at 08:42 AM by masta_pupa 
- What can I say slug? You are a 100% right and quite frankly I was quite addicted to PC a couple months ago, but now I'm a lot more social and life has been much better. Still, I miss talking to you Mike, you should at least get on MSN more =P.Posted 10-25-2007 at 11:36 PM by
- basically u summed everything up about the GzN groups n yea wasting ur time on the pc is a waste of time but ppl r bored so wat r u gonna do...Posted 11-02-2007 at 01:46 PM by
- Be imaginative. Sport ? Something that's intellectually challenging ? Everyone's different. Either way I'm not telling you to do anything because I doubt I can change anyone for the better or the worse.Posted 11-23-2007 at 02:24 PM by Slugsnack
- ^^
You told me this the 1st time i talked to you...and i read it again i cant stop smiling... ^^
that was really kool Mike!
and if you get into a London collage...come round Wimbledon kk ^^
AND YOU BETTER DO SOME SPORT!Posted 01-07-2008 at 11:11 AM by -
i love you<3
15char loserrPosted 05-20-2008 at 08:03 PM by Satan - Noioooooooooooooooooooooooo we love you.. GoodbyePosted 08-27-2008 at 10:30 AM by The Legend
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