Good evening, all. Just wanted to start things off by saying hi, and officially opening up the discussion board to....well, discussion! So let's get gabbing!

Oh, guess a TOPIC might help, eh? Well, seeing as how I'd like to keep this Goth-related....hrm...what is it that attracts YOU to the Goth scene? Even if you're not a part of it, but simply curious about it. What is it about it that appeals to you?

The way I see it, people are attracted to the darker sides of their souls. They want to experience the danger and despair but not really be in a life threatening situation. The only problem is that after awhile some people lose all perspective to the real world and just become WEIRD.

I don't pretend to be a goth, though I guess you could say I show some aspects of it. I am what I am, and Pop-Eye's got nothing on me. All I want out of life is someone to read my stories, get honest opinions about them, and make enough money to live. That's about it.
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Oh yeah, Sean, I'd be careful about that Lettuce Man guy. He jammed up by guestbook with a really mean message about never going away, and how he's always going to bother me and be scary, you know, a total lurker. Then he e-mailed me with an "oops, you're a minor, sorry" message. Seems he thought I was one of those people that gets off on having their pages attacked and overrun by a psycho so that they can experience the thrill of vanquishing the enemy. Personally, I could have about cried if I hadn't been so pissed. Contemplating sending him a nasty message, but then he'd probably NEVER leave me alone.

How could he tell I'm a "kid" as he put it? It's my page isn't it? I know it's totally lame and I need to fix it, but I just started it three days ago, what does anyone expect, sheesh. Well, I'm trying to figure out what I want on my REAL page and how I'm going to put it, but truthfully, I just suck at this whole computer programming thing. What I need is someone to just come in, set up my page, and leave me detailed instructions on how to keep it up and running well, you know? Hrm.

Hey, did you get your board after you saw my own incredibly sucky one? How do you notify large groups of people about your new message board? Well, adiu.

Well, for me it was simply a case of always having enjoyed darker music, literature, movies, etc. I didn't actually discover the whole Goth scene until about 5 years ago. Once I saw just how much there was to it, I felt like a kid in a candy store. I WASN'T the only one who liked that kind of music, those types of clothes, etc. I felt like a void in my life, that I wasn't even really aware of, had been filled.

I think you hit the nail pretty square on the head with your definition, that people want the scare without the danger, so to speak. For me though, really, it's simply appreciating the beauty in darkness. I simply find the darker side of life more interesting, perhaps because it is so much less explored than "normal" life.

As for your desire to have people read your stories, mine is much the same. More than anything I simply want to be able to entertain people. For people to read my stories and enjoy them. I hope to be able to make a living doing this sort of thing, but it's a tough biz to break into. Which is why I've branched out - You'll notice I don't just write stories, I also compose music and make video productions. I've got several major story projects on the go right now, but none of those will appear on the web page. I want to actually DO something with those stories, so intend to hold them back until I CAN do something with them. for now, I'll simply be content to get them finished.

As for your flamer friend, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over such nonsense if I were you. Most such individuals are simple lonely people seeking attention. ANY attention. They are what's known as "trolls." They enter a newsgroup, chat room or guest book and start hurling insults SOLELY to see what kind of a reaction they can get. the more people react, the more the troll is satisfied. If the insults result in a lengthy thread that spread over the whole of the discussion area, then all the better. They don't CARE about the fact that there are people on the other end who might actually be hurt by their antics, they simply crave attention to such an unbelievable degree that they will do whatever they can to get it. The best course of action with a troll is simply to ignore him/her. As difficult as it may be at times, the biggest insult you can give to a troll is to NOT let their actions affect you in any way. Or, at least, not in a way that they can see. Simply don't respond. Let them rant and rave at the wall, trying to illicit some form of response from you, but don't respond under any circumstances. Doing so gives them power over you, the power to get a reaction. Ignore them, and they WILL go away.

Alas, there seem to be an abundance of such people on the Net these days, which only further proves how many truly sad and lonely people there are out there, completely lacking in any social skills whatsoever. The only way they know how to interact is by being offensive. How truly shallow and empty their lives must be.

As for myself, I've been on the receiving end of my fair share of flames, and sucked in by enough trolls to know how best to deal with them by now. Their games simply BORE me, they're really all very much the same. I mean, how many times can you say "fuck you" to someone before it loses it's meaning?

Anyway, hope your troubles with that fellow are over with. It certainly wasn't fair, given that you really did nothing to deserve it.

BTW, I noticed on the Internet Underground board that you were upset by the fact that your page hasn't had too many visitors. Just wanted to say not to worry, the visitors will come. There's a lot of different ways you can get your page noticed. Such as joining banner exchange programs , registering with search engines, that kind of thing. Join some web rings while you're at it. Join discussion in newsgorups and include your URL in your signature. But whatever you do, do NOT send out mass e-mails or cross-post an ad for your site to a bazillion newsgroups. That's called "spamming," and is a surefire way to get your internet access yanked pronto.

Good luck! And thanks for stopping by, I can certainly use some visitors too. :)

- Sean McLean

Yeah, my page is pretty much dead, though I don't mind, really *sob*

Nah, I got my tech crew all prepped to go. Says they're going to set things right and fix it for me. All I can do is cross my fingers and hope to fill the place up with warm bodies. That or have someone to communicate with at my message board, which has pretty much gone nowhere *sob, sob*

Oh well. Let the dark be with you, wakka wakka wakka (Fozie off the Muppets, duh.)

Welcome back, Asmo! I was beginning to wonder what had become of you...

Glad to hear about the plans for your page, I look forward to seeing the results. Sometimes it helps to have folks onhand who know more about that eort of thing thatn you do. When I was learning HTML, a friend of mine was giving me tips all along the way. He had been desigining web pages for a couple of years already, so his advice was really helpful.

I know what you mean about the message boards... It can be depressing when you start getting the feeling that you're talking to yourself. But like I've said before, you just have to keep at it, keep letting people know your page exists, and eventually you WILL be noticed. You know the old saying, "If you build it, they will come." That's pretty much what I'm trying to do here. Providing a place where people can go to chat, find info, buy stuff, etc. So far the response has been positive, so I figure I must be doing something right.

Granted, I was hoping to EXPLODE on to the web and become the be all-end all of Goth sites right from day one, but I quickly learned it doesn't work that way. Like all good things, it takes time. And patience. LOTS of patience. I know this place will take off eventually, I just have to keep working on it, adding to it, improving upon it.

Just keep at it, and I promise your site will pay off in the end. It's all about persistence, really.

- Sean