I think I'm leaving... for good

I just want to let you guys know that I'm planning on leaving this board permanently. You guys won't miss me. You might say "no, come back" but I know you really don't mean it. I was gone a lot ever since TLFR came out and none of you gave a ****. So you probably won't give a **** this time around either. I might as well give you all the reasons why I'm leaving right here right now.

1. As I said before nobody gives a ****. Just check out the JoviTalk awards. I got last place for Best Avatar. Seven friggin' votes! Now your gonna say something like "you're lucky you got nomitanted at all" but if I hadn't squeezed my two cents in at the last second in every nomination topic, I probably wouldn't have been nominated for squat.

2. I'm an outsider. Anyone who loves Bounce and dislikes These Days is automatically tought of as a blasphamer here. Nuff said.

3. This board is getting way too nasty. I leave for a bit and come back to posts saying that Bon Jovi have lost it and can't be redeemed because they're lazy bums and write horrible songs and should retire before Jon ruins them all. Hey, isn't "the band we love"? Maybe the forum should be renamed "Bon Jovi: the band we used to love". The people who no longer like this band shouldn't dwell upon the issue and make the faithful feel so uncomfortable that they want to leave. THEY should leave. Unfortunately things don't always work out that way. I faught all I could to defend this band. I don't think I can put up with much more. I thought I'd find people like me here. I was very, very wrong.

So, now that you know the reasons, I shall excuse myself so that I might pack up my belongings and haul my suitcase outta here. Unless one of you has a REALLY good reason for me to stay, I'm going to go. Now don't tell me anything about the Dry County 100 Greatest Bon Jovi Songs that I was going to post on New Year's Day, because that was a flop. And don't say you need me to write more Bongiovis episodes. Check the JoviTalk award nominations. Seems I'm not creative enough since Sambora Laura started up the threads and I was only one of the major writers if not THE most major writer. So you can give credit to her for all the work I put into that. Forgive me if I'm bitter. It just hurts to cut myself off from a community such as this. But really, it hurts to stay and read all of the nasty posts about Bon Jovi once you have found yourself truly in love with one of the band members.

I'm going to check in here from time to time until this thread dies. Maybe one of you might convince me to stay by that time. As I said before, I don't wnat to leave, but I can't stay either. I have become too emotionally involved with Bon Jovi.

Goodbye, so long, I'm moving on.

If you're tired of the negativity, you can stay and help balance it by being one of the positive members of the forums.

If you like Bounce, like it unapologetically. Don't let other people dictate to you what you're supposed to like based on their taste. It's music. It's entertainment. I'm of the opinion if you don't like it, why waste your time and effort discussing it.

If talking about Bon Jovi makes you happy, stay. If talking about Bon Jovi here makes you happy, stay.

You can always choose to ignore the people/posts that bother you. At the end of the day, it doesn't make a difference what is said because people aren't going to change their opinions or beliefs based on other people's beliefs, opinions, or even facts if they don't want to change them.

Be yourself and that's all anyone can expect. You don't have to agree with anyone to be part of a discussion group. If we all agreed, it would be pretty boring anyway.

I haven't read all the Bongiovis stuff, but if you were a major writer then you should have been nominated along with Laura. Maybe the moderators will take that into consideration.

Becky

Aw, Keba, that's a shame. Yes, this board is overwhelmingly negative much of the time, but what I like about it is that people can express their opinions freely for the most part. I agree with you in the respect that people who no longer feel that Bon Jovi are making good music that they enjoy should be the ones to leave this community...but some just love to stir the pot, you know? Forget about the jovitalk awards, they are usually reserved for the ones that are pretty "vocal" here. I haven't even checked them out this time. Kind of funny that someone who barely posts here anymore is nominated, I guess. I wish you would reconsider your decision to leave...I don't post here too much anymore but I still read some of the threads. I have always enjoyed your posts.

P.S. I like Bounce, too. No need to feel guilty for doing so.

I have a lot of comments about what you wrote, but i'll try to restrain myself and be a bit cool headed about everything.

Okay first of all:

Have you spoken with Ryan at all? he doesn't give a **** what others think (have you seen his sig?)




One of your reasons for leaving the board is because you didn't win an award, correct? Call me a b!tch or whatever, but i believe that's a bit childish and/or foolish. But, hey, that's just my thoughts. It's just a board award and means absolutely nothing in your life. Winning an award wasn't going to make you the most succesful person in the world? It's not even going to even get you an inch closer to success. Life is full of disappointments, deal with it. Disappointment and failure is exactly what makes us stronger.

The board wouldn't be what it is without controversy. Even though it does go a bit far sometimes, but it's all opinions, and you can't restrain someone from their opinions. there are several things you can do in threads you do not like/ feel uncomfortable in: 1) don't go into the thread at all (subjects are given for a reason ). (2) don't go into the bj forum at all, if it's all bad stuff about it, and you know it'll upset you, stay clear from it, and stay in the nbj, music, movie, etc forums

I'm sorry but i sincerly don't know how it's possible to be in true love with someone you haven't spent all that much personal time together. A crush maybe, but true love?



I know that absolutely nothing good came out of my reply, and i was more than likely a big b!tch saying this all, but it's my opinions....and my thoughts and comments. I sincerly like you and don't want you to go, but if this bitterness is going to be a habit, then why stay? It's only causing you and others (who completely dislike bitterness (ie ME) ) strain and stress. I'm not sure if this was only a spur of the moment bitterness that caused you to type this; but either way, it's your choice.

Keba, there is no reason to go. If you want to do something good, stay here and fight for what you believe in. The greatest part of being here is the fact you can have different opinions, and we need good and bad to balance it all out.

Besides, I don't like These Days all that much either.

Keba, I don't know you very well but I've enjoyed your posts in the past including those on the Bongiovis thread. You are sooo right about how nasty this board has become. I've been coming here for years and only really started posting just lately in defense of the band and several people on this board. It's clearly not the community it once was. It's become more of a "Let's Bash The Band and Anyone Who Stands Up For Them" rather than how much we have enjoy that band's music and what the band has given us over the years. It's now become a place where you have to qualify what you love about the band instead of just being accepted for loving them without any strings attached. I agree it has become a very uncomfortable place. All I can say is STAY! Don't go! Don't let THEM win! They are clearly not worth it! I think if we ignore these people and carry on board conversations around their posts they will eventually get the message that this board is for fans of Bon Jovi who, for their own reasons, love them. BTW if you feel like an outsider look around! There are a lot more outsiders here than you think - I love Bounce, too! I love every album (even TLFR) the band has done and I'm not going to have anyone put me down for that so don't you let them get you down!

Well, Keba, it would be a shame if you left. I strongly believe in doing what you believe is right and not what other people think. So what if you like Bounce, I do. And only because you don't like These Days doesn't mean that you should change your opinion, your opinions make you who you are and it makes you an individual!
I've enjoyed having you around and we've had some good talks.
Hope you change your mind!!!

Tash

I really don't understand it all ... I agree with most of the answers you got here ... One of the reasons you would leave is because you were last in the Jovitalkawards ... and you say, don't say I was lucky to get nominated ... sorry Im gonna say it ... you were lucky to get nominated !!!! This board has 3000 members and there were 5 nominations for best avatar ... You should call yourself lucky!!!!!! I was nominated in one category too and was 3rd ... hell Im not mad for that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You should feel this way : Awards are fun! I don't think every board has them ...
Peter did a great job making this thing, the moderators do their best every day and the people here are nice !!! Perhaps you don't believe it all ... Of course there are people messing up and sometimes saying things they don't have to say ... There are people here I don't like that much either but hey ... Welcome to the world ... that's life !!!! And if there is NO PERSON you like, you are right to leave ... but I can't imagine that's the case ...
There are people convincing you to stay ... that should be reason enough ... don't forget you said bad things about us ... and still people say they are sorry to hear that you want to leave and are trying to make you stay ... If that's not a reason, I don't know what is ...

Up to you now ...

Hmmm must be something in the air that make people unhappy about message boards these days - this seems very similar to a discussion on the Dutch Bon Jovi board... What can I say - first of all, I hate to see anyone leaving from a board, because the athmosphere ain't right.

I think Becky made some valid points, and I strongly agree with anyone who said that you should just defend your believes! If you like Bounce, no problem, you don't have to change your opinion because of some people being nasty about that over here. Good thing about this board is that people can voice their negative opinions as well. It's pretty much the only large, international board where that's posible. So I guess it's quite logical that there's more negativity around here than on the other boards. But I don't think it takes over the board - there are enough people who defend the positive sides! And if you are one of the positive people, you should just stay here and fight the negativity! That's why it's a discussion board, because people have different opinions - and again, that's just what makes this board interesting.

And about the nomination for the awards - I think I ended last with my nomination as well, but hell I don't care! At least I got some votes, which I'm thankful for. In fact - my review that was nominated ended 5th of all reviews written this year. Same way - your avatar ended 5th of all the 100s of avatars over here! Consider that - it ain't such a bad score after all!

And what you said about people won't miss you, I don't think that's true. This is a large community, so I guess that people who aren't that vocal can disappear unnoticed in the beginning, but eventually people will really start to wonder what happened. Don't take it so bad that nobody started to wonder where you were when you started posting less & less after TLFR. I think that even when Jess decided to leave the board for a while, it took some time until the first topics on her disappearance were started! And Jess was one of the most vocal people over here! And hey - it ain't real life after all, the majority of people posting over here doesn't even know you personally.

well i think quite alot of ppl feel the same way as u, and feel excluded and thrown out of the ring by the more vocal and opiniated ppl on here. its not nice the things said here, but every place, everywhere has its fair share of annoyance...the band is very proud of the bounce album, and im glad you are too, and you are not alone in thinking its a great album, cos it is.

as far as voting, well i didnt get voted for nothing and in truth im not too bothered cos im not a focal member here and i havent doen naything creative or worthwhile, unlike you...at firts i thought wot u was syaing is petty but i know how it feels to work on something and ppl turn a blind eye to it. its a pity about the 100 best songs, it would have been nice to see as well as all the comments ppl made.

im gonna be leaving here for good myself in about a year anyway, but it would be nice if you stuck around, its always good to see ppl with positive outlooks...

lifes a ying yang