Does this forum have a tendency to feign outrage over trivial things?

[Paul Kemp]

I suppose I'll comment on this, as I admittedly do tend to lurk despite not really intending to post much any more (although I never "contributed" much any way...). I don't necessarily believe that I owe an explanation to anyone, especially a few forum members in this very thread who I'm not even familiar with, but I'll just give some background on my thinking in regards to that post and the state of the forum, which has been a part of my life on-and-off for a long time and there are some here I could consider "friends."

First of all, what an odd thread this is in of itself. I find it to be a bit more bizarre than my post is.

My post wasn't necessarily "outrage." Really it was more about me and my place on this forum. It was the culmination of a build-up of things that have made me feel like I've outgrown the forum - not in a sense of maturity or anything like that but outgrown in the sense of that I've moved on from being actually interested in what brought me to this forum in the first place. When I look at things I'm interested in or "into" now, politics probably isn't even in the top 10. Because of this, I've decided that I should spend more of my time focusing my places where I have more in common with my surroundings and places that actually enjoy the same stuff I do.

That post came from a place of disconnect. When I saw Silver was moving back to sports rather than focusing only on politics, my response was that it was pretty cool for him to return to what he loves. Some of the posts in that thread seemed to indicate (although admittedly, they seem pretty benign now) that Silver in a way was selling out or focusing on something that's not very "important," ignoring the fact that perhaps those things are more important to him than politics. I saw a bit of myself in Silver there in relation to the forum. I guess I was a bit frustrated that some here would expect the guy to eat, breathe, and sleep politics (although I suppose that should be expected on a political mapmaking forum) and not his own interests.

So whatever. To be honest, that post was more of an opportunity to use that excellent .gif I found. I had intended to cut down on posting here before that. In retrospect, I probably just shouldn't have posted anything because who cares really? Of course, most of my posts could be lumped into that category.

I don't know. I'm sure I'll end up posting more again in the future , especially as elections get closer and maybe my interest in politics goes back to what it once was. Who knows, maybe I'll do it sooner than expected or maybe this is the start of me "posting again" but for now though, I'm just gonna do my own thing. I'll check back in and read every now and then.

As a last thing, anyone that thinks I was/am trying to look "cool" by not caring about politics or whatever clearly knows very little about me or my interests... as most cannot be described as "cool."