The Trouble With Whiners - by Robert Wheeler (October 10th, 2004)

Now, it takes a lot for something to get me so riled up that I find myself actually writing an editorial. Unfortunately, that's happened. I've finally snapped. I am so sick of all the whiners out there. I seem to be surrounded by whiners no matter where I go. Message boards, e-mails, chat rooms, other websites...It's truly getting ridiculous. Maybe after reading this editorial, some of these whiners will understand that whining gets you nothing. Normally, I wouldn't really care what I read about our site on other websites. We've always been one to take criticsm, and that's fine. It comes with the territory. Heck, we're one of the biggest critics out there. However, it's a little annoying when you see really.....just......horrible sites complaining about our site. It's even more annoying when they come from your fellow "Uncensored" sites. Now before I continue, I'm not directing this at all other uncensored sites, there are several good uncensored sites out there. This is moreso directed to a minority. The "you don't update enough" thing is really getting old. I get really ticked when I see this on other uncensored sites. "You should throw in the towel already", "Let someone else take over", blah....blah blah......blah blah. Holy crap man. I'm sorry that I don't have as much free time as I did when I was 16! I'm a full time college student, with a job, and I have a very hefty extra curricular activity that demands at least 20 - 35 hours a week from me. It's no wonder that Sailor Moon Uncensored has dropped down on the priority list since I was in high school. And let's not forget Tiff, who is a full-time student teacher who also works full-time, and Dan who also works close to full-time and is a full-time student. The three of us are all in that transitional point in our lives where we just don't have that much time. All things aside though, we STILL update. Like I said already, this wouldn't be that bad if this criticsm was coming from a really respectable site. Heck, Dies Guadii ripped us apart once, but this is from a very well put together site. We took the criticsm and moved on. I love Dies Guadii, and respect what the webmaster has to say. On the other hand, when I see a site critiquing us that has some really poor images posted around, a bad layout, and poor content, I get rather annoyed. You can see the effort that we've put into our website. Our images are top notch, Tiff is a goddess when it comes to image design, and I wouldn't have anybody else do our images. If push came to shove and Tiff had to leave the site, I doubt there would be any new images on the site (save scans), because nobody could make images as well as Tiff can, in my opinion. Dan spent MONTHS converting the entire SMU site into a PHP database. He also hosts the site from his own computer at home. And lets not forget the hours.......upon hours.....upon hours.....I spent comparing episodes, writing the comparisons, and posting the comparisons. Before the PHP database, each comparison took up to 3 hours to do, with the DiC episodes taking upwards of 5-6 hours. Compare this to these really...ugly sites, that have images that are thrown together in 5 minutes, comparisons with little content, and layout that's laughable (which is really sad since it's a rip-off layout anyways). I just don't see where THEY get off critiquing anyone else. Now, to be fair, I'm not going to lie and say that updates haven't been few and far between lately. They have been, especially in the comparisons department. To compensate this, we made a forum to make the site a more interactive place to be, and we have a great membership! I truly love our forums and I love the members we have. Tiff has pretty much taken a full-time position moderating the forums, and Dan as our administrator, pretty much single handidly, keeps the forums running and coded properly. We even have chibi-moderators, who are such a great help to us and who we love to death. Just because we haven't been focusing our work on comparisons, doesn't mean that the site is "dead". Our work lately has been focused in other places on the site, namely the forum. Also to compound the comparison dilemma, my VCR finally decided to kick the bucket. This set us back two or three extra months in addition to how far behind we were before. After discussing the problem with Dan and Tiff, we decided the best course of action would be to let Dan take over the note-taking for the episodes, since he had the facilities to do that. After that, the notes are sent to me, organized, posted in the PHP database, and comments are added. The true problem with the comparisons was not that we were lazy, far from it. It was a compound problem of busy schedules and malfunctioning equipment. Now that the problem has been fixed, comparisons will (and are) returning. Now, there's also the problem of the "You're mean" whiners. These usually appear on the forums. We're not mean. The chibi-mods are not mean. The regular members of the forum are not mean, we just follow RULES. The SMU forums ARE moderated. They're moderated for several reasons. One reason is to keep things organized. Another reason is to keep things civil. The forums are a place for civil and intelligent discussion, not for nonsensical banter. For the most part, 90% of the members understand this and we all get along fine, however, every now and then, someone will enter the forums and not follow any of the posted rules. As moderators, we reprimand the user and tell them what their error was and what the proper course of action is. Unfortunately, this usually turns into either a "I'M SO SORRY PLEASE DON'T HATE ME" or a "YOU GUYS SUCK YOU'RE MEAN" type of situation. One, we don't hate you for not reading the rules. Two, we don't suck, we just enforce the rules. A good rule of thumb when using the forums is to read the rules, follow the rules, and if a moderator has to correct an action that you've done, take the mod's advice and move on and don't make the mistake again. Just because you've "gotten in trouble" doesn't mean that you can't be a great addition to the forum community. As far as e-mail whiners go, I must admit I've been pretty lucky. I don't get that many. I can't speak for Dan or Tiff, but my number has been pretty low. I thank all of you that have e-mailed me for your patience with me. I rarely can respond to e-mails, but I do read them all, and I thank you for taking the time to write me. Thank you for dealing with my cranky replies and my busy busy schedule. Now one last point that I'd like to make. SMU is not dead. I pray that it never will be dead. With an active forum community, I don't see this place dying anytime soon. Things in OUR lives WILL change. That's going to happen and we're going to be taken in different directions. In the summer of 2005, I plan on leaving on a full-time mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I will be completely gone for two years. I will not be able to update the site at all, and I will have limited contact with the site (although I'll still keep in touch with Dan and Tiff and I'll have them update you all on my status). Hopefully the comparisons will be completely done by then. I _WILL_ return. Just because I'm gone doesn't mean this site is dead. Just because another member of the staff has to take a hiatus doesn't mean the site is dead. Things in our lives change, and all I ask is that everyone be a little more understanding of that. Long live SMU.

Other Editorials

Why Fan Translations Are Still Necessary - by Dan Bednarski (May 16th, 2011) Sailor Moon Re-launch in North America: What I'd Like to See - by Dan Bednarski (January 22nd, 2011) Can we start to put an end to the stupidity? - by Dan Bednarski (September 19th, 2010) Goodbyes Are Always the Hardest - by Robert Wheeler (May 4th, 2005) Goodbye SOS. Good Riddance or Fond Farewell? - by Robert Wheeler (December 16th, 2004) The Trouble With Whiners - by Robert Wheeler (October 10th, 2004) Uncut Sailor Moon: Worth the Wait? - Part 2 - by Dan Bednarski (January 6th, 2004) Uncut Sailor Moon: Worth the Wait? - Part 1 - by Dan Bednarski (September 23rd, 2003) Disliking Vs. Hating - by Robert Wheeler (April 3rd, 2002) The Twelve Dubs of Christmas - by Tiffany Wood (December 23rd, 2001) Optimum Productions? Flagrant False Advertising... - by Robert Wheeler (September 3rd, 2001) The Anime Translation and American Society Problem - by Dan Bednarski (August 6th, 2001) Pioneer's First SMS Release: Heart Collection I - by Dan Bednarski (March 5th, 2001) Annoyance: A Letter to the People - by Tiffany Wood (February 9th, 2001) Cartoon Network - The Hypocrite - by Robert Wheeler (January 14th, 2001) Moonian Rhapsody - by Tiffany Wood (December 25th, 2000) Does Your Site Suck? (Repost) - by Tiffany Wood (October 28th, 2000) The North American Sailor Moon World - by Dan Bednarski (September 26th, 2000) The Trouble With Dubbies - by Robert Wheeler (September 13th, 2000) Sailor Moon Fansubs - by Dan Bednarski (August 13th, 2000) Does Your Site Suck? - by Tiffany Wood (August 6th, 2000)