Samrux
Santa Claus
I have done a few things that might or not have bothered some people, or that simply are to be ashamed of. Some others might be misunderstood, when there was never a bad intention behind them. I'll cover them here, and why I did them.
But don't worry, I didn't do anything terrible. This thread's purpose is to show that I am aware of my own actions and words, and that I regret some of them. Maybe I'm a little too paranoic, but that's not for me to judge.
Edit: Yeah, this thread is kind of pointless. I just wanted to make sure everything was alright.
I have self-advertised my most recent project through various threads and status posts, including others' profiles, either purposefully or sometimes unaware. While most will agree that a little advertising is not only understandable, but alright to do, I believe I might have gone just a bit too far. I have mentioned this project often in times in which it wasn't necessary, sometimes in a direct attempt to get more people to notice it. It is something I am not very proud of.
And I understand too that by making this thread I am bringing even more attention to it as well - but I promise it is not my intention with this post at all.
This project is my most recent story, and I'd want to at least try and explain, if not partly justify, my reason to try and make it more popular.
I have been a member of this community for quite some time now. I have been an avatarmaker, an artist, and a storywriter. The last thing I did on the forums was hosting two community giveaways for Terraria, which earned me the title I am currently using. After that, I lost interest and left for a while, on January this year.
A month ago, I returned to the forums for the sole reason of starting this new project of mine: I wanted to make a story that correctly portrayed, from beginning to end, the chronicle of Samrux, the dungeon paladin. Samrux is my forum persona and original character, by the way.
I knew that my story wouldn't take lift very fast at all, because I had been inactive for long, and because the community in general doesn't hold as much liking, respect and attention to written works about Terraria than they do for graphical ones. That is understandable, because it's much easier to enjoy and opinate on a drawing than it is for a long wall of text. But I wanted to fight both of these things: By advertising my story, I wanted to make sure that it got the attention I desired, even when literature is not as popular, and even when I hadn't been on the forums for a while. I wanted to make this, my most important project so far, worthy to make and known to everyone, as well as make clear my return. For being selfish, and maybe annoying, I apologize.
But as so rises the second point that might have bothered some of you: Likes.
My story is divided into many, many posts, because I publish one small section of it per day, having each part link to the next for it to be read in sequence. At the time of this post, 26 sections of the story have been published. And they all have a very decent amount of likes.
Some think that I did this on purpose: that I did this because I knew I would get a lot of likes this way. But no, I did never, ever intend for this method of storywriting to become a likefarm. I realized very early that it essentially and technically was: If I publish something every day, and hold the promise that I do, people will keep coming back to read more. And by coming back, they will like those posts.
I didn't want to change my story's entire structure type to avoid this issue: it had way too many advantages, and I liked it a lot, regardless of the amount of likes I might receive from it or not. I never publicly encouraged, nor discouraged, people to like the posts of my story. I left it for them to decide. Everyone either enjoys or doesn't mind likes. But it was never under my intention or direct desire to get tons and tons of likes every day for just a couple paragraphs of text.
But that was not the only issue regarding likes. I'm certain that many of you will recognize this one: My "Thank you" megastatus.
When I made it, I wanted to post something on my profile to express my completely sincere appreciation for everyone's love. I have been receiving countless pieces of art, for free. The community received me, and never let me down. The moderators have done a fantastic work, and I respect their authority and never-ending effort. Loki has been the best community manager I could have met; both with me, personally, as well as with the community in general.
But this demonstration of gratitude ended up divided into 9 different comments, because every status comment can only have 420 characters. And then people started liking them all.
And I know some people, the least understanding, hated that I was receiving so many likes for it. But I tell you: It was completely sincere. I never wanted to get anyone's attention, or get commented about by how nice I was, or even less receive any likes for it. People liked those comments because they appreciated that I was being thankful. But I never intended for that post to try and make me seem like a better person, or for it to give me free likes, milking poor people's hearts, or anything. I have been called a like
, and it has hurt. For any trouble that I might have caused, I apologize.
And to conclude that idea: I only view likes as a quantifiable amount of others' liking and respect for anything I do.
Connected to the previous point; I have also been accused of praising others too much. I want as well to confess that any praising and "buttlicking" that I might have done has also been completely honest and humble from my part. I have experienced the feeling of not being appreciated enough before, and as so, I sometimes just need to show others (in this case, people of the forums) how much I respect and admire them and their work. Again, I haven't been trying to appear better or nicer or perfect, or to get anyone's likes, or anyone's favor. For any bad impressions that I might have produced, I apologize.
As a separate note, but related to many things in this thread; I have never wanted to brag or show off about anything. I don't view myself as better than anyone else, and don't like when people are jealous of me. I like to believe that I earned the liking of the community and my popularity by the things I have done, and that anyone can achieve the same status. I am not anyone's enemy either. I just try to do my best, and if I find something wrong, I will try to fix it. I am right now trying to fix something.
This thread is not secretly directed at anyone. It is public.
As so ends this post. But I'll ask for you to not like this comment, for I have not come here, as I haven't any other time, to appear a better person nor to get any more likes. Thank you for reading.
Comments are appreciated.
