E2 has just lost one of its longtime noders, dannye. I'm compelled to write something about it. First of all, You noders fucking suck and you need to stop dying and need my not-dying wisdoms, etc. Seriously.
So dannye and I just didn't get along. But hey, it's always sad to see such a great talent pass into the Great Beyond. And it's always sad for anybody to suffer and die from cancer; it must be so horrible and I hope I never have to experience it. Poor dannye and grundoon. :( Lots of feels.
dannye didn't get me. I probably never got him. Many have mentioned that he helped them be better writers. He was hard on them, as he was with most people, and that got them to decide to do better. Or something. I didn't have that same experience. I've tried to search my brain but I honestly cannot recall a single instance where a comment from him encouraged me to write better. Maybe once or twice he ate a factual writeup of mine and I came back with a better version that survived? Maybe? Don't get me wrong, I am not doubting any that have said he helped them, I'm just saying: YMMV. Anyway, sometimes the opposite was true. I'd write something, realize that would annoy him and other like-minded higher-up noders, and then I'd be all the more apt to post it! Of course these wouldn't be any of my factuals. He just did not get or appreciate or like my weird stuff at all (plenty of noders did/do).
The thing is, he didn't help me because of that, and the fact that most of his comments to me were negative and discouraging. I know that a lot of folks out there believe in the power of negative reinforcement and that by telling somebody they suck it spurs them on to improve. But I think that's bull shit. Maybe it does genuinely help some people. But my stand is that positive reinforcement, or encouragement, is far better and more effective; if you tell somebody they suck they're more liable to believe they suck and then subsequently they go on to suck more. By contrast, swankivy is one of the only people who helped me be a better writer. To be fair, 90% of her interaction with me as far as writing critiques was outside of E2. However, her comments were always - no exceptions - tactful and at least neutral, if not positively encouraging.
I am not claiming that any of dannye's comments to me ever said that I (or a writeup) "sucked" - using that exact word. But that was gist of most his critical messages to me. And he also chastized me in the catbox for my writing there fer cryin out loud. EMOTICONS: BAD! Really? I mean, really?
That all said, RIP dannye. I'll miss you anyway, you cranky old dude. I was as surprised to hear of his passing as anybody was.
There's just too much sad and depressing crap lately. This is just another one. Some of you are aware of the pile of shit I've personally been dealing with. And that is certainly going to get even worse before it gets better. Much worse, I fear.
Maybe I'll node the entire horror story someday, I mean the real version of it.