Rollo

Okay, there's some stupid stuff going on between Swift and 9redwoods and I just want to hopefully put an end to it, since people have been mentioning me and wanting me to be apart of it. Take it as you will, this is all I'm going to say on the matter, and I'm going to stay mostly neutral. Yes, neutral. Anything I say here should not be taken as a personal offense, because everyone is at fault and it can be fixed.

I'm going to explain everything either side is doing completely wrong and why this feud still exists. I'm telling you all this so you can understand where the problem lies, and so that we can fix this together. At this point it should be us against the problem, not us against each other.

First off, Redwoods and his pals. @9redwoods, you're a huge hypocrite. You tell Swift and Karyu to stop downvoting everything you say, and that the rep button should be used for things you agree or disagree with. But you do the exact same thing. You downvote what they say for the same reason they downvote you, because neither of you agree with each other. What both sides need to understand is that everyone is doing something wrong and everyone thinks they're right. You, Redwoods, don't take criticism well at all, and it rubs off on the criticism you give to other people. You have a fundamental misunderstanding of criticism and wallpaper-making in general and act like your way is the only sure-fire way to do anything. You give people advice that not even you follow in your own wallpapers, namely the whole camera angle thing. You seem insistent that placing it lower and facing up is the only way to make any wallpaper, since you comment that on every wallpaper ever. That is not how criticism works. That is terrible advice. The camera is meant to bring attention to certain areas of the wallpaper, and to possibly make it more exciting. Which means it's very conditional, every wallpaper is different. There is no one way to make a wallpaper, otherwise every wallpaper would suck. And when people call you out on this aspect, your two excuses are used interchangeably. One says "that's how I've always done my criticism" and one says "I've changed, I used to give that kind of criticism and now I don't". Which are complete polar opposites. Make up your mind or come up with a better excuse, because that's the reason no one falls for that bullshit. It feels like you don't actually know what people are telling you is bad, or just don't want to, so let me spell it out for you. You give bad criticism because you have a very strict and actually incorrect standard of wallpapers. There is a difference between short and blunt criticism and just not giving a shit. You're extremely unapologetic as well. You don't care that people don't like what you say because "that's just how you've always been". People get mad at your criticism because it doesn't actually help the creator of the wallpaper. Sure, it's not rude or anything, but it tries to get a mindset into the creator that we don't want them to have, which is that everything has to be a certain way, your way. And also that their work can only be improved if they do it the way you would do it. It's so frustrating to people because they know there's a problem, they just don't know how to call you out on it, and that's why you get so defensive when it's mentioned.

Then, of course, there's the rep circle. No matter how much the little rep circle over here can downvote yours, your circle with MikTRF and all those guys will always be enough to boost you back up. In that regard, we're all at fault, so it's best if we all just calm down and recognize that the digital down-arrow is pointless to the person we're fighting against, on BOTH SIDES. Let me repeat myself, BOTH WE AND YOU ARE AT FAULT. The rep circle argument is really stupid and I hope everyone reading recognizes that, because Redwoods could easily turn around and say the same thing about Foreign Affairs. Listen, rep circles aren't an inherently bad thing. Most of the time we don't even notice they exist, as with Redwoods right now. But they can also be weaponized, and that's when it becomes rep abuse. Soon enough, the upvote circle becomes a defensive downvote circle, hurting others while boosting itself. That sounds dramatic and yeah, it's stupid. But that's how it works. And it works.

___________________________________________________

Alright, now @Swift. Just like I said before Redwoods's, don't take this as a personal offense. I'm just stating my opinion on the current situation, everything can be fixed. Swift, I agree with you on a lot of the stuff you've said, but there are problems aside from your opinions on the matter. There is a point where it's healthier to just ignore them. And I know you've heard that a thousand times, so I'm going to elaborate. Clearly, the methods you've been using to argue against him are not getting to him at all. He's a lost cause, so I would just leave it. Don't give him the attention. If you downvote him, he accuses you of rep abuse. If you reply to him, he thinks it's blind hate. If you bring it to DMs or even Discord, it all ends with a plain misunderstanding of the other side's opinion, so there's honestly nothing else to do. And I know Redwoods is probably like "Yes, just leave it alone, Swift! It happened a long time ago so just leave it alone!" But Redwoods, you're guilty of the same thing. The same exact thing, actually. Redwoods, you are no better than Swift and Swift, you are no better than Redwoods in that regard. That part's on both of you.

And then there's the part where Redwoods and MikTRF downvote anything you and Karyu say, regardless of whether or not it's meant to hurt them. Yes, that is a valid thing to be concerned about. However, you need to remember that they think you do the exact same thing, which you might. There's no way to argue against it because they can argue the same points towards you and have just as little meaning. So, at that point, I would just report them and try not to stoop to their level. Revenge rep is never a good thing for anyone, because then you can't actually get someone punished for rep abuse because you're guilty of the same thing by definition. So stay level-headed, keep your head up, and let mods know about it without doing it yourself. It's a really easy pit to dig into, so don't let yourself fall into it. Because if there is actually something bad going on, the mods won't do anything about it if everyone involved is guilty of something.

___________________________________________________

Long story short, everyone is at fault for something, so it's best to be able to recognize your own problems, so you can avoid them in the future and let the mods handle anyone who isn't able to do so. Both of you. Don't think that just because I'm calling the other person out that you're not at fault for the same thing, that's a really easy mindset to get into. Redwoods, you are at fault. Swift, you are at fault. Mik and Karyu are at fault too.

That's my opinion, stop messaging me.