Oh, it's always a good day for math.

I love it when people go on about how neglected they are because nobody's posting in their topic, often with the nose-eye-viewed addition of 'look at this topic with its horrible horrible art?MOC/basketweaving and how many posts it's getting insert implication that the forum is filled with malicious tasteless hounds here'. Just love it. To pieces. Well, actually, no I don't. At all. I lie horribly here. It's a horrid attitude. For one thing, there's nothing I love more than a good ol' entitlement complex. Lying horribly again: it's a rather harmful attitude for one to have, expecially when you're talking about the world of creative works. Nobody owes you posts. Nobody. Don't care how good you think your piece is: nobody owes you posts.

But this entry is not me whining about entitlement complexes! No. It is about the other component I could go on and on about. It is about math, you see. Simple math. You see, there's a lot of people who feel they're neglected. I've seen like a gazillion blog entries and opening posts and replies about it. A gazillion is only a slight exaggeration. These then attract more people to commiserate about their perceived neglect. People love getting together to talk about these things. It's amazing.

This is where the most remarkable element comes in. You see, people are more than happy tp spend their time and energy telling their stories of how they got, like, no posts at all. Absolutely eager to do it. And people are just as eager to reply to that. It's a tragic misdirection of time, energy, and words, though. You see, if folks took half of the effort they'd normally spend talking about their neglect and instead invested that in some nice reviews for other folks? Happier times for everyone, ahoy.

You gotta give, too. Standing with your hands out and coughing 'ahem' won't do you a whole lot of good. It's not going to get you a lot of posts and it won't get you the best reputation. And, yes, reputation factors in. Not in the 'oh no popularityyyyy' way: in the 'y'know, I hear this guy really isn't all that nice' way. The way that matters worlds more than you might think. I've said it before and I won't stop saying it: the BZP populace is way smarter than it's given credit for. They're not inclined to give attention to those who insult them. There's folks who could stand a quick check in their own rear-view mirrors before asking why they never seem to get replies.

And don't post solely in 'the topics of people who look like they could take building/art (way) too seriously', for crying out loud. You really don't want to get me started on that approach. Review whatever you like (obligatory revival rules reference). Everyone likes a nice, helpful post. Just remember that you need to actually plant something before anything's gonna grow for you.