Symphony’s blog

If you do not know what IF stands for,it stands for InvisionFree. Click here to learn what InvisionFree is.

I'm kind of sick of the clique-like behavior in the latest or oldest IF forums these days. I know this is a petty complaint,but right now I feel like making one. My only deal here with this whole IF thing is that it seems like you have to have some kind of Internet Fame on invisionfree in order to get recognized as a person,let alone a forum owner. So if you have little to no social pull on InvisionFree,your forum will not be successful? I've been told the keys to having a successful forum on IF is to do the following:

1. Get a GREAT,custom skin.
2. Befriend popular members on IF.
3. Get them to be your staff.
4. And that equates to a successful forum

Isn't that rather stupid?That one has to be popular to get noticed? So basically what you're telling me that I have to force myself to befriend someone (aka being fake and using someone) to get a popular forum? It doesn't matter as long as  the staff are doing their jobs. What bugs me is one of the classic arguments thrown about on this issue: "The member is the staff because he or she does good work,not because he or she is popular.". I think it's a load of crock. Can you HONESTLY sit there and say that popularity doesn't play SOME part in an administrator's decision to hire this person?  That's why you see the same staff on almost every InvisionFree board. Don't get me started on the people actually wanting to volunteer to "work" at someone else's forum. If someone who is a staff member fills out an application in the same topic as you, you can kiss your chances of "employment" goodbye. The problem with this is that new members don't get a chance to BE hired because they don't have a very extended resume or none at all,so people go by the resume rather than also checking out the behavior of the member or question his or her motives. The new people aren't given a chance,so this is why you see the same staff on almost every IF forum. Which means they're ran the same way. Which makes it utterly fucking boring.

IF Trends are a mess. It is the trends that sucker people in forums sometimes. At least 5 new resource or advertising messageboards come out per day. (I have no proof,and I may be exaggerating,but come on you know at least one comes out per day.) Most are your typical resource board. Fancy graphics, no original services. So what is the bloody point of me going from forum to forum advertising where the same damn people are on the other advertising forum? What's the point of me going to a resource forum when I can get 99% of the shit you have from IFSZ?  

Sadly now these popularitians want to make General Discussion forums the "in thing" now,since they've gotten tired of making resource forums. Now it's going to be even harder for others to get their GD forum out because they have to compete with all this ostentatious,repeatitive crap they spout out. However there's a good,tremendous,wonderful thing about General Discussion forums on IF. It doesn't have to be anything uber great. General Discussion forums are about relating to other people and targeted towards a group of people. So if there's someone out there who likes wine tasting, they could make a General Discussion forum for wine tasters. So these little fadmuffins can't roboticize General Discussion forums like they do with resource and advertising forums because they don't have to run a specific way and don't have to meet any ridiculous IFTard standards.

Then there's the art forums with the Thesaurus-Raped names that not even an English teacher would use in a normal or intellectual conversation. So they have to get a REALLY good skin just so the members can remember it. They claim to be an art forum,but they freaking mostly cater to GRAPHIC artists and skinners. Leaving drawing,painting,traditional art,poetry,literature out to dry. Shit, just call it what it is: A GFX FORUM. Don't falsely advertise it as anything else BUT that. Don't get me wrong, graphic designing and skinning IS in fact art, but so are other things that you have PLENTY of room in your forum to add.

Now if you truely,truely want to make a forum based on these things,then I have no guff with that. My guff is with the ones acting as if this shit is some childish race and are arrogant about their forums even though half of the shit they have on their forum is on IFSZ or some age old advertising forum.  

"Why Flirting Can Help Your Relationship: By David Zinczenko

I know that flirting can be a huge source of contempt in relationships. Some guys see their partners flirting with other men and go ballistic. Some women see guys flirting with other women and think he's trying to score.

And while I know that flirting can be a dangerous game if you're playing with the wrong people, I also believe that flirting can be healthy - as long as you're taking the energy you're building and putting it back into your relationship.

So, what can innocent flirting with a co-worker, stranger, or random bartender do to help your relationship? More than you may think.

Flirting Gives You Confidence

A relationship progresses after some time, and both sides fall into the same rut of Friday pizza, Saturday out, and sleepy Sunday. Same old, same old. The message: We're stuck together, we're comfortable together, and we may be perfectly content together.

All well and good, but that does as much for your romantic confidence as having spinach in your teeth. What flirting allows you to do is feel like you're impressing another person and being attractive to another person - without the baggage, stigma, and pressures of the next step. Bringing that sexual and romantic confidence back to your relationship helps you - and strengthens the relationship across the board.

Flirting Keeps You Sharp
Being wanted is one of our most basic needs. Sometimes, when we're in relationships, we don't always get that positive vibe - that we're wanted, needed, and desired.

Every once in a while, flirting can reinforce that primitive need of feeling valued. And that little innocent dialogue with some stranger in a bookstore may be all the kick-start you need to lose a little weight or change up your hair or whatever it is that you want to do to make yourself feel better about yourself. Which has benefits for everyone involved.

Flirting Lets You Build Up Sexual Energy

Some shrinks say it's OK to fantasize about anyone you want and build up a head of steam - as long as you, well, go ahead then and release that pent up energy with your partner.

So in a way, you can use flirting as a kind of foreplay. Build a little frisky tension with the barista, get warmed up, then bring home the dividends. And when you're at home, leave a copy of this list around the house. Think of it as a kind of flirting with your partner - and a fun to-do list.

Flirting Reminds You How Good You Have It

The fun of flirting is that there are no strings attached. Just some good ole banter with jokes, laughs, and some well-timed sexual innuendo. Fun at first. But when you think of the long process that comes after, it makes you realize that what you've got at home is exactly what you want.

I can hear you now: too much flirting can lead to real temptation. Here's what we told Men's Health readers to do when faced with a home-wrecking temptress.

Source: Yahoo.com"  Link: Click Here

What is with some of today's youth that are obsessed with being original? It's fine you want to try to be your own person, but being a militant "non-conformist" is just silly. Take for instance, if a horrible fashion style came out (by fabric quality, design, the way its sown,etc.), people like them would grab it right off the counter immediately because it's "unique" and "different".When I was messageboarding around the interweb,I "ran" across a forum and a topic that asked what makes us unique? Some girl answered : "I'm unique because I wear fishnets and striped sleeves" and a whole other lot of nonsense I can't list due to lack of memory.

Another thing that bugs me is when someone boasts about being original, when in fact they are just the opposite of what they rage against: conformity.  These are the same types of people who wear t-shirts that tell everyone how they're clones and they're so "different", choosing the least popular thing because that would be NOT conforming to whatever. Just like what you like and stop being so cautious of what's so popular these days. Let originality flow naturally instead of forcing it. When you try too hard to be different, it really shows.