The title says it all! Opinions expressed here are those of the authors. Personal tastes may vary, and we are cool with that.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Metal from Finland & The Floggers of Dead Horses

It is with great hesitation that I write this post because in a lot of ways I think the less that is said about Hater Haven AKA Metal from Finland the better. But, on the other hand, I have some strong feelings about my now former favourite internet hangout, and since this is my blog, I think I'm just going to go for it and let the chips fall where they may.

Look, I am very opinionated and I have an opinion on pretty much everything. And if you ask me, I'll tell you. I think having opinions about things you're passionate about is great, and I think it's great that there is a place where these opinions can be debated and discussed.

But that place is no longer Metal from Finland, both the main site and the forum. Because both those sites have turned into a place where people go to flog massive numbers of dead horses and then sling the dead horses' shit around with the passion and glee of a swarm of sugar-loaded school children at a cafeteria food fight.

I have flung some shit there myself in the past when my buttons were sufficiently pushed, but I quickly realized how futile it was to engage with a group of people hell bent on merciless nit-picking, insults, disrespect, irrational and reactionary behaviour, sheer stupidity, tiresome repetition of old and illogical arguments, general blockheadedness, immaturity, and relentless bashing & belittling.

It's become fucking depressing! The forum used to be a nice, fun place to hang out and I have made some cool connections on that site that I have really enjoyed and valued, but lately, the negativity and the continual beating of the proverbial dead dog is just too much.

Like I said, have an opinion. State it. State it strongly. But becoming a fucking harpy is not cool, especially when participants who want to have a bit of fun there are starting to become alienated because they don't want to constantly bash Anette Olzon & Nightwish. Make your point, make it well, but for fuck's sake, eventually the constant negativity is wearing and marginalizing. Once your point has been made, ad nauseam, can you not give it a fucking rest and find something else to talk about?

Because let me just say this: the constant harping, bashing, and general shit slinging does not reflect poorly upon Anette or Nightwish; it reflects poorly upon the people slinging the shit.

And, it reflects badly upon Tero and Metal from Finland. Initially, the main site was great for me to get some news and read some interesting opinions. But now, it's a circus and a hang out for Nighwish/Anette haters. Even the Tarja threads inevitably turn into ranting soap boxes for NW/Anette haters! And the fact that the forum is completely unmoderated has turned that site into a hater free-for-all where anything goes, including people expressing wishes to be violent towards Anette.

It's a fucking shame. I liked that place and I liked meeting people there. Now, it just makes me want to cry.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I told off the Hoes in MFF to drop the NW shit and telling em to talk about Different bands. God damn it. Perkele.

Allyson said...

Oh, they won't listen. They feel there are "entitled" to act this way. Which is fine. Entitlement rules the day in our society. Still is no excuse for overkill and lack of decency.

Sorcha said...

Well, you have that in your own hands. You dont have to participate in those conversations. Start a new topic about a different band or subject and voila. But don't try to turn the waste bin and silver waters. You just won't succeed, 'cauze they are made for it.
For some it may be annoying, but others like it. If you don't want to be a part of it, just ignore it and make sure you'll have a nice time in other topics. You're cake thing had some succes, for example :) (thanks for those btw). If you don't like the subjects, just make new ones.
And just be honest, especially in the news reactions, it aren't only the bashers who are by times just plain ridiculous. And it's going better with the Tarja subjects. Since most just ignore the NW comments.

Well, that's my look on the whole 'situation'. Don't see this as an attack to you guys ..

Allyson said...

Hi Sorcha,

Thanks for your comment, and no, I didn't see it at all as an attack!

The frustrating thing about the forum now is that no one seems to be interested in the other threads that are not NW/Anette related. James started two music-related threads that didn't get off the ground, and I think even you started that game that has been idle for some time. All the focus right now is on the bashing and that's what it seems to me people are connecting over and focused on more than anything else. The CanuckFan thread gets some traffic if I post stuff there, but my sense is even with that, no one really is interested.

And I'm not whining that my thread is dead at all; if people like pictures of the food and such, that is great, but I don't get the feeling overall that people are really interested in anything else on that entire site besides the bashing. It's disheartening.

And you're right about SW & The Waste Bin; I am just not going there anymore.

The Tarja news has been better, it's true.

Sorcha said...

Well, the game failed cauze of my crappy explination, so I'm the one to blame for that :p
Unfortunatelly, I completely missed James' topics I believe.. and I;m still trying to confince the rest of the house that those cakes you put down are worth trying to make, so it is valued atleast by one person ^^.

Maybe it's posible to change some tides on the forum. Like you said, there isn't so much moderating. So everybody's free to open topics and try to make something out of it. I believe that there are more people who would like to talk about something else every know and then. Even the Anette-bashers. I'm also doing that every know and then, just because it's funny [don't shoot me], but still it's nice then to talk or nag about some different subject on the same forum.

Almagest said...

Didn't know that the bashing has moved into the forum as well. I've lost interest in the forum because the Silver Waters thread was just moving too damn fast to follow, and whenever you missed a week, you had pages over pages of mostly uninteresting chatting, only lightened up with funny stuff mostly posted by mermaid, to catch up with. But that was, I repeat, before all that happened. On MFF, I mostly only react to illogical or otherwise flawed arguments coming from NW fans. But lately I've tired of it, too. I used to be one of very few critical voices, now the voices opposing NW are in the majority, so my job is essentially done. Going along with flow isn't that interesting to be honest. I'm just glad to see that my opinion (at least regarding Anette and Tarja's dismissal) has become pretty much mainstream.

Almagest said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Allyson said...

Well, Winterstorm, you have missed out on the clusterfuck that is The Waste Bin thread on the forum. A thread completely devoted to trashing & bashing Anette, sharing conspiracy theories about the possibility that she is faking her pregnancy, and all kinds of absolute bullshit. The last straw with me was when someone said they wanted to physically attack Anette for no apparent reason other than they detest her so much. That is crossing a line in my books. Not surprisingly, Mermaid is the ringleader in this thread. But also, Silver Waters has turned into a bashing thread as well, and IMO is no longer worth even bothering with. There are other threads with anti-Anette spill-over as well from time to time - you just cannot escape it anywhere there! It's so fucking tiresome!

Almagest said...

To be entirely honest, mermaid's observations did make me go hmmmmm. Not sure if it would make a lot of sense to fake a pregnancy, but I wouldn't put it past her ... I've come to expect virtually anything from her. xD

Allyson said...

Mermaid is a nutbar.

Look, I agree Anette isn't a great fit in NW and I acknowledge she's made a lot of mistakes, but I don't think she's an evil witch faking a pregnancy for attention.