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Why is There So Much Hate Towards BZPower?


Toa Green Ninja

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Generally speaking the people I see railing on BZPower are a pack of individuals who think throwing around insults, slurs and casually insulting people for who they are or taking screenshots of personal statements or harmless statements to mock the poster and quite frankly they don't deserve to be on the website, anyway.

 

I'm happy they hate BZP, means they'll stay away. Although some join it in some sort of tsundere "I love BZP but I need to look edgy and cool by hating on it around all the 'cool' kids" or in poor attempts to troll, but whatever.

 

They aren't exactly remarkable people whose opinions really matter.

Edited by Kitania
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I can't really take anyone who thinks BZP was the cause of Bionicle's cancellation (referring to the link in the OP) that seriously - obviously is a group of people being salty and emotional with regards to BZP for whatever reason - doesn't seem to be a huge concern to me.

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Considering that this is the only LEGO board I'm active on, I haven't seen many Anti-BZP haters. I'll have to say I'm surprised at the claims of left-wing bias (I find this place refreshingly apolitical) and claims that BZP destroyed the line.

 

BTW? Could someone describe the theory? How could BZP supposedly kill off BIONICLE?

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Considering that this is the only LEGO board I'm active on, I haven't seen many Anti-BZP haters. I'll have to say I'm surprised at the claims of left-wing bias (I find this place refreshingly apolitical) and claims that BZP destroyed the line.

 

BTW? Could someone describe the theory? How could BZP supposedly kill off BIONICLE?

The theory, from what I've gathered, is that Lego used BZP to gauge fan involvement in the Bionicle theme (to the exclusion of all other sites and communities), and that BZP's downtime in 2010 meant that Lego couldn't do so, and assumed that without BZP they might as well cancel the line, or something like that. There are so, so many flaws with that logic. It ignores the more concrete statistics Lego had and never shared relating to fan interest (like visits to the Bionicle website itself, sales numbers, etc., which would be MUCH more important for such a monumental business decision. It ignores the fact that the decision to end the Bionicle theme would have been made back in mid-to-late 2009 at the latest, long before BZP went down. It ignores the fact that, no, Lego DIDN'T ignore other fansites, even if BZP was always the closest to them due to its effective staffing and policies.

 

I hear that this bogus theory comes from The Three Virtues, which is one of the concrete reasons I dislike them as a news source and community. With less than an hour of talking out of their rear ends, they managed to create a long-lasting, widespread conspiracy theory discrediting BZPower with zero evidence and scores of factual inaccuracies. That's pretty much the opposite of journalistic integrity, and while from what I can tell they've improved some (no doubt thanks to having actual news to report on rather than just rampant speculations and accusations), I can't help remaining bitter about that and seeing further misinformation sourced from them as "more of the same.

 

So yeah. Someone earlier mentioned TTV seemingly getting more hate than BZP, especially here ON BZP? This just shows that that's not all baseless. TTV has had a big impact on the online Bionicle fanbase, and it hasn't all been for the better.

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Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

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That has got to be one of the most stupid conspiracy theories I've heard. And I'm fond of reading about them.

Edited by Mr. House
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I occasionally return to BZP for a nostalgic trip back. Hit me up on discord if you need anything. 
 
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The theory, from what I've gathered, is that Lego used BZP to gauge fan involvement in the Bionicle theme (to the exclusion of all other sites and communities), and that BZP's downtime in 2010 meant that Lego couldn't do so, and assumed that without BZP they might as well cancel the line, or something like that. There are so, so many flaws with that logic. It ignores the more concrete statistics Lego had and never shared relating to fan interest (like visits to the Bionicle website itself, sales numbers, etc., which would be MUCH more important for such a monumental business decision. It ignores the fact that the decision to end the Bionicle theme would have been made back in mid-to-late 2009 at the latest, long before BZP went down. It ignores the fact that, no, Lego DIDN'T ignore other fansites, even if BZP was always the closest to them due to its effective staffing and policies.

Only that BZPower's downtime was already after the cancellation of BIONICLE, which Greg has mentioned in the LEGO Message Boards was already decided on in late 2008 - if I recall right. So yes, it's entirely baseless indeed. Edited by Gatanui
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That has got to be one of the most stupid conspiracy theories I've heard. And I'm fond of reading about them.

It ranks up there with the one with the Nazi base on the Moon—at least they were able to make a terrible movie about that.

 

In related (derailed) trains of thought, I cannot see how anyone justifies thinking a site has a political leaning when one of the major tenants of said site is the strict avoidance of any political discussion.

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That has got to be one of the most stupid conspiracy theories I've heard. And I'm fond of reading about them.

It ranks up there with the one with the Nazi base on the Moon—at least they were able to make a terrible movie about that.

 

In related (derailed) trains of thought, I cannot see how anyone justifies thinking a site has a political leaning when one of the major tenants of said site is the strict avoidance of any political discussion.

 

I guess some people mistake BZPower's strict policy on disrespect and discrimination (and also its ban on religious discussion) for some kind of political agenda or something. In particular, some people don't like that we respect the LGBTQ community and allow them to express themselves in that regard just like everyone else. Edited by Gatanui
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That has got to be one of the most stupid conspiracy theories I've heard. And I'm fond of reading about them.

It ranks up there with the one with the Nazi base on the Moon—at least they were able to make a terrible movie about that.

 

In related (derailed) trains of thought, I cannot see how anyone justifies thinking a site has a political leaning when one of the major tenants of said site is the strict avoidance of any political discussion.

 

I guess some people mistake BZPower's strict policy on disrespect and discrimination (and also its ban on religious discussion) for some kind of political agenda or something. In particular, some people don't like that we respect the LGBTQ community and allow them to express themselves in that regard just like everyone else.

 

you hit the nail right on the head. unfortunately.

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Alright,

 

I don't think people truly understand here why bzpower get so much hate.  There are a variety of events that still leave very bad memories within the community.  At some point, people need to talk about, and fix these.

 

The first main even that angered people off was the censoring of all outbound links especially those pertaining to MOD.  You can't keep on shoving MOD to the sidelines and pretending it doesn't exist (surprise it does).  The fact is many of those core fans that influence the entire setting still hate bzp for that very decision.

 

Next, if I remember correctly (forgive me if I don't) we did have a big problem with people that were not able to keep their mouth quite shut tightly on political and spiritual beliefs.  Though we do occasionally hit that topic here, in the past I seem to remember multiple heated debates between not just users, but staff, on this board (BRB, MAKING YURI SIGNATURE).

 

Finally, there were in the past (and still are now) some members here in high places that tend to make cults of personalities around themselves, leading them to be very self centered.  I will not specify anyone here, simply out of respect, but this is the big whopper that send people out.  Watch out for it, you can see it a lot.

 

These key things were all a long time ago.  I don't even remember my username from back then.  I think we need to somehow re-make our public image from being a tight-knight group to a more open one.

 

Edit: why is the word "" censored?

Edited by Aurora the cat
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The first main even that angered people off was the censoring of all outbound links especially those pertaining to MOD.  You can't keep on shoving MOD to the sidelines and pretending it doesn't exist (surprise it does).  The fact is many of those core fans that influence the entire setting still hate bzp for that very decision.

While we could debate endlessly over whether censoring them completely was an appropriate course of action, Mask of Destiny eventually became somewhat of a haven for banned BZP members, and since their moderation was nowhere near as strict as BZP's that meant said members were essentially free to gripe publically about how unfair BZP was. BZP's strict link guidelines may have been harmful in some ways but they DID do a good job of ensuring that offsite drama like that STAYED offsite. Whereas now drama from Eurobricks or 4chan or Tumblr or YouTube or wherever has a nasty tendency to leak into BZP discussions, and absent the context of where it comes from it can get quite alarming. I'm not in any way advocating going back to the old policies, but I am saying they weren't completely unfounded by any stretch of the imagination.

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Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

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The first main even that angered people off was the censoring of all outbound links especially those pertaining to MOD.  You can't keep on shoving MOD to the sidelines and pretending it doesn't exist (surprise it does).  The fact is many of those core fans that influence the entire setting still hate bzp for that very decision.

While we could debate endlessly over whether censoring them completely was an appropriate course of action, Mask of Destiny eventually became somewhat of a haven for banned BZP members, and since their moderation was nowhere near as strict as BZP's that meant said members were essentially free to gripe publically about how unfair BZP was. BZP's strict link guidelines may have been harmful in some ways but they DID do a good job of ensuring that offsite drama like that STAYED offsite. Whereas now drama from Eurobricks or 4chan or Tumblr or YouTube or wherever has a nasty tendency to leak into BZP discussions, and absent the context of where it comes from it can get quite alarming. I'm not in any way advocating going back to the old policies, but I am saying they weren't completely unfounded by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Oh, so that's what's going on...*facepalm*

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Alright,

 

I don't think people truly understand here why bzpower get so much hate.  There are a variety of events that still leave very bad memories within the community.  At some point, people need to talk about, and fix these.

 

The first main even that angered people off was the censoring of all outbound links especially those pertaining to MOD.

Sorry, but while maybe newer members might not be aware of this, those of us who have been here the "whole" time (or closer to it in my case) are well aware that some had issues with this. Whether you agree with it or not, it's important to understand the reason that it was done. This was in the context of the earlier times of the 'net, where widespread interconnectedness was not yet really established. A lot of effort and money was put into building and marketing BZP by its founders (they couldn't just post on a LEGO facebook page or something for example), and they felt it was unfair of other sites that had not put that level of resources into their sites to get free advertising off our backs. At that time, this WAS reasonable and those "hating" because of this are clearly in the wrong. The internet has changed a lot since then, so our policy has adapted accordingly.

 

However, it is not true that MoD was completely censored. Occasionally when they reported something before we found out about it, our news page would cite them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

well, looks like there arent alot of outsiders actually answering this.

 

BZPower is hated mainly because of its administration, who seem very elitist and disingenuous to alot of super casual easy going fans *think of the people on 4chan*

 

aaand i'd think that secondly, its the strict rules and "liberal bias" are things a few people arent used too either

 

so BZP just seems like a good place if you grew up with it, otherwise it doesnt look very appealing to newer fans, who want to have more relaxed discussions on stuff.

 

oi, ban me for disagreeing with everyone. :U

 

EDIT: and stuff Aurora said. :U

Edited by cyan-king
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well, looks like there arent alot of outsiders actually answering this.

 

BZPower is hated mainly because of its administration, who seem very elitist and disingenuous to alot of super casual easy going fans *think of the people on 4chan*

 

aaand i'd think that secondly, its the strict rules and "liberal bias" are things a few people arent used too either

 

so BZP just seems like a good place if you grew up with it, otherwise it doesnt look very appealing to newer fans, who want to have more relaxed discussions on stuff.

 

oi, ban me for disagreeing with everyone. :U

 

EDIT: and stuff Aurora said. :U

It seems most of the grievances outsiders have with BZPower are poor reasons, Moderation is actually pretty well balanced, being somewhat casual compared with some sites, while still being effective. The rules and regulations are pretty straight-forward and easy to follow, and the "liberal bias" is out of the question because political discussion is discouraged here. We are encouraged to keep an open mind here. The community is much better than it used to be, and I like to think that the site itself has matured in the 13 years it has been around. We did indeed have a very strict advertising policy, but that has loosened significantly. I do concur with the points enumerated by Aurora in that as a community we simply need to refresh our image. BZPower is not the same site it was six years ago.

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aaand i'd think that secondly, its the strict rules and "liberal bias" are things a few people arent used too either

I really think a lot of people don't realize the rules aren't anywhere near as strict as they used to be.

 

And I don't even know what you mean by "liberal bias." Political discussion is still highly discouraged. The only thing I've seen that could possibly be misconstrued as "liberal bias" is allowing members who are LGBTQ+ to be open about it.

Even then, allowing people like me to go "yo everyone I'm trans" on our profiles is not liberal bias. That's just Living In The Modern World and Not Being Terrible.

 

 

so BZP just seems like a good place if you grew up with it, otherwise it doesnt look very appealing to newer fans, who want to have more relaxed discussions on stuff.

While I personally did grow up with this site, I've seen a significant influx of newer fans in the past two months, so I'm not sure how true that last item is either.

 

And nobody's going to ban you for civilly disagreeing :) You really have to be actively and confrontationally unpleasant to get banned around here

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well, looks like there arent alot of outsiders actually answering this.

 

BZPower is hated mainly because of its administration, who seem very elitist and disingenuous to alot of super casual easy going fans *think of the people on 4chan*

 

aaand i'd think that secondly, its the strict rules and "liberal bias" are things a few people arent used too either

 

so BZP just seems like a good place if you grew up with it, otherwise it doesnt look very appealing to newer fans, who want to have more relaxed discussions on stuff.

 

oi, ban me for disagreeing with everyone. :U

 

EDIT: and stuff Aurora said. :U

 

I don't see how the Administration is disingenuous, or elitist, in the context of Bionicle? Some individuals can be passionate about what they like to do with the building systems, though I haven't seen any of the Administration actively discouraging discussion, insulting users, or claiming they know of the only right way to do something? And, frankly, if your example of "casual, easy going" fans are the people on 4chan I think we have an extremely different view of "casual and easy going." But if you could give examples? I see this thrown around a lot, but I don't see it occurring. 

 

The site can be more left of center socially, if only because this website actively discourages insulting, belittling or demeaning members on the basis of their identities. If anything it's promoting to keep a child-friendly safe place for all fans and not just a small few who think they are inherently better than everyone else and can toss around slurs, insults, degrading remarks without care. But as for actual political discussion? That's not allowed on the forums. Either way, the only criticism I ever see in this vein are a bunch of whiny teens on other websites complaining about the "SJW's" because we don't let them come on the site and attack members, while we actively support and promote the members of the community those individuals deem lesser.

 

But, comparatively speaking, BZPower's one of the more comfortable websites I've been on in recent years. The Administration actively works to keep a tolerant atmosphere by removing those who would actively try to start flame wars, who would go out of their way to make other members feel uncomfortable, who would otherwise try to take the fun away from the toyline this place is all about just because they can. It's a lot nicer than signing onto other sites to come across a debate between individuals who hate/dislike or delegate any form of social activism to "those SJW's from tumblr" (when most of the stuff they talk about predates tumblr's existence, but I mean, who needs to look up facts when all you want to do is insult minorities?).

 

In my years here I've never seen anyone banned for voicing a civil opinion on a subject, though I hear horror stories from back in 2005 and before (I wasn't a member then, so I can't attest to them). I have seen people banned for disrespectful opinions, hateful opinions, racist opinions, and opinions and positions that only serve to belittle, deride, degrade and hurt other members to the point of making them feel uncomfortable on the website.

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I think the biggest reason why BZP has become out of touch is that the fandom "bottlenecked" after Bionicle was cancelled.

 

The fandom stagnated because there was no new content, and gradually sites like BZPower became more of a "social club", with only the really dedicated members staying on. The frequent forum crashes and downtimes only further intensified the stagnation.

 

BZP's draconian policy of not linking to or even mentioning other sites in the past, ended up fracturing the fandom in the long run. Far from the Unity we should strive for.

 

Also, BZP is too often the last site to report on Bionicle news. Sites like TheThreeVirtues and Eurobricks reported on the leaks when they were mere rumors, and really got the ball rolling in terms of hype. I know that this is against BZP's leaks policy, but EB had a leaks thread up for months and they still got review sets.

 

In theory, "BZP respects Lego's wishes and doesn't talk about leaked content so we can continue to bring our members product reviews".

But in practice, "BZP doesn't discuss leaked content so a handful of staff members can keep getting free parts".

The policy of not discussing leaks really only benefits a handful of people.

 

Because BZP refused to acknowledge the leaks' existence, Bionicle fans ended up moving to other sites for discussion, and BZP missed out on a great opportunity to capitalize on the hype and grab new members.

 

Also, times have changed. Back in 2002, Bionicle wasn't always welcomed on other Lego forums and so BZP served a niche in the days before widespread social networking.

But nowadays general Lego sites welcome constraction discussion, and Lego has its own message boards. Not to mention places like tumblr, facebook, deviantart, etc.

 

If BZP is gonna get new members and stand out from the countless other bonkle discussion sites. It can't be "the only Bionicle fansite" anymore.

We need a way to keep users here that doesn't involve pretending that the rest of the internet doesn't exist.

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In theory, "BZP respects Lego's wishes and doesn't talk about leaked content so we can continue to bring our members product reviews".

But in practice, "BZP doesn't discuss leaked content so a handful of staff members can keep getting free parts".

The policy of not discussing leaks really only benefits a handful of people.

And what makes you so sure that BZPower would still get review sets even if they broke LEGO's rules? It's true that Eurobricks does... but it's a big assumption to think LEGO is necessarily going to treat all fansites equally, especially since as some people have noted, the LEGO Group's CEE team leader for Europe is a former Eurobricks staff member.

 

Besides that, respecting the LEGO Group's wishes is just plain nice. Why should a site only respect the brand they focus on if they expect something in return? If you like sites that don't hold themselves to the same standard as BZPower, nobody's stopping you from going there (I'm active in several communities, including ones that discuss leaks AND ones that don't), but it makes no sense to hate BZPower because you think they have too much integrity. And this topic isn't just about people who choose not to use BZPower out of personal preference for other sites, it's about people who seem to carry a grudge against the site.

 

We need a way to keep users here that doesn't involve pretending that the rest of the internet doesn't exist.

Well, it's a good thing BZPower doesn't do anything of the sort anymore. And it seems to be working out for the site just fine. The site is gaining new members regularly, which is only bound to increase when BIONICLE actually returns. And I believe there's been even more BIONICLE discussion here than there has been on Eurobricks, despite that site having such lenient rules about leak discussion and other things.

 

In your own words, BZPower can't be "the only Bionicle fansite" anymore. Part of that means acknowledging that if people go to other sites instead of BZPower because they like those sites' rules better, it's not a big deal. A site like BZPower can remain strong and healthy without viewing survival as a winner-take-all competition or trying to be everything to everybody.

Edited by Aanchir
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I think the biggest reason why BZP has become out of touch


With respect, "out of touch" is not proven by some people offsite making claims. (Or even onsite. :P) Let's not go around taking such claims as givens, yeah? It could certainly be argued the other way around, but we generally don't go there. We give other sites the benefit of the doubt that they can run their own sites the ways they want. They should extend the same courtesy to us. :)

A minor nitpick:

 

BZP's draconian policy of not linking to or even mentioning other sites in the past


Please see my post here for why this was not "draconian":

http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/15367-why-is-there-so-much-hate-towards-bzpower/?p=774309

Though if you just mean it without the connotation that word choice implies, as far more limited, it sure was. But let's note that making an "out of touch" argument and then complaining about that doesn't really work, since at the time we were by far the most popular site. ;)

You can try to make a case that our lower activity level after Bionicle ended is somehow "getting out of touch", but there's one massive thing you would be forgetting.

Bionicle ended.

I'm sure our being offline for a while didn't help, but what is the point of harping on that, since that wasn't our fault? But even with that, Bionicle did end just before that, so whether that was more to blame or just less activity in general, you can't know, so don't assume yeah?

Now, to a much more serious matter:

 

Also, BZP is too often the last site to report on Bionicle news. Sites like TheThreeVirtues and Eurobricks reported on the leaks when they were mere rumors, and really got the ball rolling in terms of hype. I know that this is against BZP's leaks policy, but EB had a leaks thread up for months and they still got review sets.


And again with all due respect, "other people get away with it" is NOT an argument for "it is right." Now those sites may disagree on whether it is right or not, but the LEGO company views it as wrong. Tell me, which is better: to do what's wrong just because LEGO might not punish you for it in a particular way? Or to do what's right, especially if it gives you no superficial rewards?

Parents out there and kids can know from this that we take right and wrong seriously. And this is where we are truly "in touch", and where it matters. :)
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In theory, "BZP respects Lego's wishes and doesn't talk about leaked content so we can continue to bring our members product reviews".

But in practice, "BZP doesn't discuss leaked content so a handful of staff members can keep getting free parts".

The policy of not discussing leaks really only benefits a handful of people.

Eurorbricks was given six tickets to NYCC, BZP was given twelve. None of those went to staff members.

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I've never found BZP to be a "hostile" environment, but I'd say we do like to debate a lot on here.

 

When somebody says things like that, with no basis to their claims, I just turn around and laugh.

Just like everyone else should.

Well, debating is what people on forums usually do, so I don't think we are actually that bad in that department.

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I've never found BZP to be a "hostile" environment, but I'd say we do like to debate a lot on here.

 

When somebody says things like that, with no basis to their claims, I just turn around and laugh.

Just like everyone else should.

Well, debating is what people on forums usually do, so I don't think we are actually that bad in that department.

 

BZPower is probably one of the best sites to hold a debate, actually, without getting into insults, yelling, and other such related things. :)

 

IMO there's nothing wrong with liking debate. I like debates. :P They're fun. 

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Well, I can talk about my personal experiences.

 

Way way back when Mask of Light was newly being discussed, another Bionicle site posted pictures of the Takanuva set before BZP did. It was a very minor website, I don't even recall the name. The issue was, however, that when BZP posted THEIR images a day or two later, they billed it as being "The First!!" on the internet. Some people in the forums took exception to this statement, given the above facts. But rather than man up and admit their mistake, BZP did something different. The posts in the forums that stated the error mysteriously started disappearing, as did the members who posted them. I didn't want to get swept up in the bullying ban sweep, so I did NOT say a word on BZP about the kerfuffle. I did, however, join the OTHER website just to post and lend my support to them, since I felt they'd been treated unfairly. Sadly, I was prosecuted for this. You see, I'd joined the other site with my usual screen-name - I didn't feel like I had to hide my ID on another site. But, lo and behold, when I tried to log onto BZP the next day, I found, to my shock, that I'd been BANNED. You read that correctly. I'd been banned for something I said on someone else's website. This was very petty and upsetting: I'd been a member for years, and I lost an inbox FULL of GregF replies. And the pettiness did not stop there. I tried to re-register under a similar user-name a few days later, only to have that quickly banned again. I sent calmly-worded emails to a couple of mods about it, only to have them ignored. I finally got one lower-tier mod to talk to me but he basically shrugged and made excuses. Only after registering under a completely different user-name for the third time did it manage to stick. 

 

Several of the big-name users also developed very bad reputations over the years. One member in particular, who I won't name, was very active on both BZP and BS01 in an official capacity. He was a bully, and none of his peers or bosses would ever address his behavior, not even once. In particular, I remember two or three of us compiling a long list of comments and PMs from the user that were clearly rude and inappropriate: but the bully only got the most minor slap on the wrist when the info was released. And I got yelled at by another mod for daring to question my betters, etc etc. 

 

(Slightly) more recently, in Bionicle's final years there were several "fan canonizations" that a lot of fans felt made absolutely no sense. How this pertains to BZP is that most of the questionable suggestions came from prominent members, and the feeling was that individuals were taking it upon themselves to get their own personal fannon ideas canonized, without taking the greater community into consideration, i.e., putting it to a vote, etc. So some negative feelings were created from getting the feeling that BZP had become and elitist fanclub.

 

Another issue I always had was with one of the original 3 founders, I forget his name, but he always had an ENORMOUS American flag as his avatar and took every opportunity to display his patriotism, while everyone else on the site was told to leave things like politics and other possibly-contentious issues at home. 

 

And I, too, was always peeved that people were absolutely forbidden from mentioning MoD, but that's been discussed to death. 

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Several of the big-name users also developed very bad reputations over the years. One member in particular, who I won't name, was very active on both BZP and BS01 in an official capacity. He was a bully, and none of his peers or bosses would ever address his behavior, not even once. In particular, I remember two or three of us compiling a long list of comments and PMs from the user that were clearly rude and inappropriate: but the bully only got the most minor slap on the wrist when the info was released. And I got yelled at by another mod for daring to question my betters, etc etc.

Hi.

 

I presume you mean me.

 

I like to think I "grew up" quite a bit since then. That was an incredibly rough point in my life and it was affecting me in so many ways that I couldn't even see until reflecting on it years later.

 

Even if it wasn't - I'm sorry. I know I was never the best person.

 

~|ET|~

Edited by Ektris
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E-T... Phone home.

 

"He walks among us, but he is not one of us."

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~|ET|~

 

I can't say whether that was about you or not, but still; That takes a fair bit to say :)

Although the present is different from what I've seen ;]

Edited by Iblis

~ Sophistry: A way to be antidisuncorrect. ~


 


 


In a decade you might convince maybe a small tribe of people.


In a decade you might also conquer one million km2 of land,


& in over a thousand years you might have over a billion followers.


 


I like building things. Please don't break the big ones.


& evidential philosophies that dare to extrapolate beyond


an individual's direct experience aren't easily built.

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(Slightly) more recently, in Bionicle's final years there were several "fan canonizations" that a lot of fans felt made absolutely no sense. How this pertains to BZP is that most of the questionable suggestions came from prominent members, and the feeling was that individuals were taking it upon themselves to get their own personal fannon ideas canonized, without taking the greater community into consideration, i.e., putting it to a vote, etc. So some negative feelings were created from getting the feeling that BZP had become and elitist fanclub.

Gonna presume this one is about me, and the EM masks. Two problems:

 

1) Swert and I chose the powers based on major and popular concepts in Bionicle that had been talked about a lot in past topics, like their being biomechanical, disks in 2001 bouncing back to the user, Matoran being a spoken programming language, or Sentrakh being undead. So the desires of others were factored. Obviously tastes differ though so no such power will ever please everybody (but that is just as true for LEGO-only canon).

 

2) It came before the idea of voting on these things had really been thought of or (as I'm sure it did occur to a few before that) talked about. As soon as the idea came up, I strongly supported it and have ever since. To use this to complain about prior canonizations is what's called the "anachronistic fallacy". Greg agreed with it and we instituted reforms to that end. :) This happened thanks to BZP, in fact; it was where polls for it would primarily go (and attempts to extend this polling to other sites went essentially unanswered). Without BZP, that issue would likely have not been caught or practical to solve.

The Destiny of Bionicle (chronological retelling of Bionicle original series, 9 PDFs of 10 chapters each on Google Drive)Part 1 - Warring with Fate | Part 2 - Year of Change | Part 3 - The Exploration Trap | Part 4 - Rise of the Warlords | Part 5 - A Busy Matoran | Part 6 - The Dark Time | Part 7 - Proving Grounds | Part 8 - A Rude Awakening | Part 9 - The Battle of Giants

My Bionicle Fanfiction  (Google Drive folder, eventually planned to have PDFs of all of it)

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I feel like the people who hate on any website are those were banned from it, or other actions were taken against them. It's just a way to get revenge by publicly saying "oh, X is such a horrible website" and trying to rally followers despite it not really working

 

In addition, I think that some people might just be jealous of those who are indeed in the 'inner circle' of BZP. They may have thought, "hey, I like is site, I'm going to be on the staff now", and I'm not too sure on the process, but I'm assuming that one turned down either just accepted the loss, or turned to hating BZP and whatnot

BZPRPG:

Akamu, Toa of Ice :smilekohrak: :smilenuju: :smilekopakanu: :smilematoro: :akakunu: :kohrak: :matatu: :akaku: Talk to me about Destiny!
 

Ask me about stuttering and speech impediments!//Feel free to talk about Dungeons and Dragons with me!

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I actually didn't know people hated BZPower. I've never really seen people complain about BZPower or make negative comments towards the fansite, I've only heard of a few small conspiracy theories, but I don't really believe them and I think that BZPower is pretty good.

Edited by Rooster Nui
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I'm just passing buy, but I feel like giving my own opinion.

                                                       x

Honestly, BZP isn't the most 'friendly' Lego fan site out there. In these past few weeks I've seen numerous people harang each other over the most trivial things. (That topic about Gali's 'voice' comes to mind.)  Amongst other things, I feel like there's a sense of 'superiority' from member to member, like they're better or something. I have a few other complaints, but I run the risk of sounding like a total ####. 

But other than all that jazz, this place is pretty cool--I'm finding myself visiting here more these days than both EuroBricks and the TTV boards. I've been here for years, (I got an account from 2006/2007, but I haven't gotten around  to contacting Black Six yet to see if I can get it back) and BZP has change a lot since back then. 

Edited by Chasm

   te0FrhT.jpg                                                                                                                            

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I wasn't aware that there were such strong opinions about this site.

 

Then again, I live on a site that's considered as nothing more than a heaving pile of whining scumbags, despite being actually a rather strict community, almost on par with current BZP.

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It's inevitable. If something is popular, there will always be people who find a reason to hate it. The reason doesn't have to make sense to everyone. But if they see it as justified, then there's not much anyone can do to change their opinion. 

Embers - a new Bionicle Epic - Coming 2024 

Class Is Out - A Farewell To Corpus Rahkshi - Chapters/Review

BZPRPG Characters - Minnorak, Kain, T'harrak, Savis, Vazaria, Lash

BZPRPG Mercenary Group - The Outsiders - Description - History - Base

Ghosts Of Bara Magna - Ash Tribe - Precipere - Kehla, Somok, Skrall, Gayle, Avinus, Zha'ar

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