I'm too new to be actually dissatisfied yet, but I get where you're coming from. I am an infrequent commenter. The LIKE button was my salvation but it's also sort of a crutch. Commenting makes you vulnerable.

For the most part, I think the structure of this site really fosters the sense of a place for every thing. I feel like I've found a home here, and stuff that would have been sniffed at on my old defunct 1UP blog gets the chance to find people who can dig it. I love that. And if people don't dig it, that's cool too. The important thing for me is that I don't feel the need to fit the venue, because the venue accounts for me.

But I'm honeymooning so we'll see.

Jeffrey, I love you, man.

I have felt the sting of commenting several times. It actually just happened the other day! But I have thick skin and it is so easy to misunderstand someone when all you are doing is reading their words.

Is Bitmob perfect, no. Cliques are bound to appear in any gathering of people. Some people need to be in a clique to feel cool. Others, like myself, hate cliques for they inherently break people up instead of bring them together.

Yes Bitmob could be better, but here is a word of advice. Our reality determines the world around us. So try seeing Bitmob as a wonderful orgy of love and maybe it will become that for you!

I'm... confused about the whole Mi thing.

No collaboration on Bitmob? I'll point you to numerous examples.

Evan Killham's Splitscreen series. Jeff Grubb's High Score Challenges. Michael Rousseau and Chris Hoadley's Writing Challenges. What I am trying to do with Backlog Brigade and what Andrew started and I encouraged him to continue with Kongregate Mob. Andrew and my Generation Video Game Series. Jeff Grubb, Andrew Hiscock, and now Mark Whitney's takes on the Mob Rule series. Lance's Twitterviews and Bitmobbers on Twitter. Brian's Bitmob Quizzes. Jay Henningsen's Puzzles. Michael Donahoe's guess the game characters. James DeRosa's Community Jukebox. etc. etc. etc.

All of these things are either direct collaborations between fellow Bitmobbers, or attempts to engage the community and encourage people to get to know each other.

As far as experimentation, well I've never seen any sort of video game writing even close to the creative and unique stuff I've seen here on Bitmob.

Sure, I'd love people to comment more, but there are a lot of new users showing up recently. I'm lucky that between a child and two jobs I can get some writing done and maybe read 1 or 2 articles from someone I already know around here. My advice to you: don't take not commenting so personally. And maybe try not to fly off the handle and post something like this every time you're in a bad mood? Just a thought.

Everyone's confused about the Mi thing. I think it helps to keep two things in mind.

1. Mi is not Jeffrey Sandlin

2. Mi is supposed to be sorta confusing.

It's no fun to just explain everything so if you are interested then by all means. Read stuff that is tagged as Mi and try to figure things out. More info is being provided every post. A more comprehensive explaination is in the works but is something I need some help to do, and help is not forthcoming yet.

The rest I'm sure will be explained in the long run.

Interesting read to say the least ... Now I am going to ponder.

(Mi) Alex.... This is pretty 'on the handle' actually. You should hear me complain when I'm really on a roll. I understand that you don't agree, thas fine. Just try not to take it personally. I want to say things so I'm going to say them. I hardly think this was as rude as you think it is or as it could have been.....so uh....nanny nanny boo boo?

I'm sorry, did I say that it was rude, or that I took it personally? No. I just cited actual examples of things that I felt proved your points against Bitmob inaccurate.

(Mi) oh I was refering to this "And maybe try not to fly off the handle and post something like this every time you're in a bad mood? Just a thought." which i thought was more a judgemental and loaded comment. I tend to not react well to those which is why I try to avoid using them myself lately. With only limited success though. 

Plenty of your proof is accurate. I wasn't really trying to say that collaberation was completely void as much as something that needs even more emphasis. That's pretty much all this is meant as. 'this is my irrational reactionary opinion, here are the things I hope will improve because it seems like these will improve things and make me feel better.

For me "Mi" and "Jeffrey Sandlin" read like the same person. The vibe of many of your articles and comments is overshadowed by bitterness and it detracts from your other insights. To be 'Frank'; "You seem unhappy with more than just Bitmob."

I agree that not seeing feedback or watching a new post slip off the Mobfeed into the ether can be disheartening, but Bitmob is a rare venue where I can actually see tangible results. Sure it could be more robust but ver. 1.1 is proof enough that it will improve in time. Not every article is going to get equal time and attention from readers or staff but the founders' mission statement never claimed this was a democratic system.

A rant can sometimes inspire, however a more balanced approach (not to be confused with uncontroversial) will engender the goodwill that could garner more useful comments. 

I think Alex covered most of the bases of where Bitmob excels at community and collaboration. Get involved. You don't need to remain 'outside the game'. The opportunities are there or you could just as easily make your own. I know that is part of the reason you created this Mi persona, but it is not the only path.

One more comment about Mi. You are expecting a lot of readers when asking  them to abide the 'abuse' and hang in there for the reveal. If 'Mi' is more than a self-indulgent rant by a contributor spurned that should be shown sooner than later.

I was reminded of Tad Williams' "Otherland" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherland) when reading a few of your purer fiction pieces. If you were to serialize smaller fragments of Mi's adventures in gaming, I think you could successfully move out of the experimental phase with a tighter and more approachable body of work.

@Kevin I honestly don't see what people see as so unbalanced about this post. I worked within the framework I set out for myself to present a series of ideas without the goal of insulting the community and I think I succeeded. It may be something that rubs people the wrong way but the goal was to get people talking, their is much more inflammitory language I could have used and much less reasonable subjects I could have choosen to tackle. How you choose to react to it is your own agenda.

As for analising my writing style with this character, I appreciate the effort but I don't really appreciate the results. You don't really know where I am going with this and you don't really know the reasons why i've held back on details that I have held back on. So naturally you aren't going to see why I'm making some of the choices I am making.

I find that the audience I'm shooting for is not the type who attempts to dissect a writer's motives for writing something more then they attempt to actually understand the content that is being presented. Thank you for at least attempting to word your response as something other then back handed insults but I personally don't get the impression that I would be able to abide by your standards. So you probably aren't going to like anything I'm going to write with the Mi character going forward. Feel free to stop reading as it's probably going to end up being too much of a 'self indulgent rant' for you.

As if their is a part of being critical that isn't self indulgent. You have to be stupid enough to be convinced you are right to critisize anything at all. That's part of the point.

Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey, you don't love me, you just love my doggy-style :P

I think your problem dude is that your being too optimistic about this web site.  Since anyone can post a blog on here of course most of the entries from the community is going to be shit-tacular not worth your time whatsoever, and that can be said about any social web site with user content, just look at Youtube - horrendous unwatchable video after horrendous unwatchable video but I still find Youtube one of the best sites out there.  Bitmob is good too, just don't focus on the garbage.

The problem with Bitmob from me is not staleness but of creativity not being full appreciated.  I don't mind something I write being on the front page, but please don't change the my voice too much.  I've recently had a satirical blog entry vanish cuz someone didn't have a sense of humour.  I mean, that's some degenerate shit right there especially when all I've been is supportive of the site.  That's just going too far.

I will likely read future Mi posts. There is strong merit in some of your themes. I, for one read a significant portion of the Mobfeed, but I am guilty of not posting to the comments section very often, for various reasons.

 My comments here were meant to address your admission that "You're not supposed to 'get it'...yet" and the directive "Like it or lump it." I just don't think you can have it both ways. If you don't consider me your audience I'm not sure I really understand who it is you are writing for. That is really my issue but I guess that is part of your frustration. 

The thing is until recent times, the audience did not really talk back to the author. I think a lot of Bitmobbers have seen your response to comments and have decided that these types of articles are to be treated as art installations; I hear, "Feedback, if you please." but get an impression of "Look, but don't touch.", in spite of your call for criticism.

@Josh that's suprising to hear about that satire article dissappearing. You don't hear a lot of that around here.

@Kevin I'm sorry to be stand offish over some of this but you have to consider how you are coming across as well. I'm in a prime position to get into a lot of arguments over this so it's best not to be too judgemental of my motives and poise or I'll just brush you off in favor of someone who doesn't give me the impression they want to take me down a peg.

First and foremost, I am writing this because I want to write it. I want people to try and appreciate it but if someone is going to dissect it more then react to it I simply just move on to the people who are more interested in actually getting engaged emotionally by the work. So I tend to just do what I feel comfortable with as far as putting out story details and with my format because it helps me keep writing to not press myself too much on those issues.

As for my comments on these articles. If I had my way I could just have people react to them as if the character wrote them and interact with the character. I think it would be more fun and engaging then getting into arguments with me over how much of an egotist I am. Still I have to accept that since I have to post these under my own name and my comments have to be under my own name I have a large limitation on my ability to go all 'alternate reality' on your collective butts.

As for getting Mi as a character. I'm providing details but I personally always create characters that are more interesting when figuring out details about them and their beliefs and intrests is kind of a scavanger hunt. The scavanger hunt would be much more eventful if people would actually start trying to look instead of expecting it to be served to them. It would also help if I could get the whole 'mi talking in the comments and on twitter' thing off the ground to have a more organic flow of information. This post is actually one of the largest details to date about where I am going with the character but people have mostly just been focused on 'insult bitmob? NO INSULT BITMOB!' reactionary stuff to realise that this is still actually a Mi post.

Jeffrey, I'm sorry that you're not happy, but that doesn't excuse calling everyone who doesn't agree with you on Bitmob "fake." Life is definitely frustrating when you're not understood by others, but bashing people who're only trying to help won't aid your cause. You may think people are being fake in their comments, but most of what I've seen includes debate, thoughtful comments, and words of encouragement. 

Perhaps you're not getting the comments you're looking for because every single article of yours is a rant of some sort. Yes, life is hard, but that doesn't' mean that every article needs to be negative.

In your Mi pieces that rarely have anything to do with games, you're constantly belittling other people or are acting as if you're the only person who's misunderstood and has had a rough life.

Believe it or not, there are a number of people on Bitmob who've lived difficult lives. There are people who were  bullied and harassed, abused, have had people important to them pass away, and have difficulty making ends meet. There's also more than one person who's struggling with depression, anxiety, and other debilitating physical and mental conditions.

Even when you're not writing fiction under the name of "Mi," your articles about games are purely negative. I've yet to see you discuss something in a game you've liked. My question is: Why do you play games if you don't enjoy them? 

Also, I regularly see you complain about people not reading and commenting on your posts (which is not true by the way), and I see you doing nothing about it. If you want people to read what you have to say, it's important to let your ego go and realize that you are not perfect just like everyone else.

People who write don't magically become popular -- they do it by continually improving their writing, taking helpful criticism, and by being a friend to others. You're not the only one who's worked hard -- the "popular" or fake people you decry haven't had an easy time with game writing either. Some people who post on Bitmob have put years into honing their craft and it's unfair of you to assume that they have an "easy" life.

Even many of the editors at Bitmob continually work their asses off. I don't even think they get paid, and they're devoting a significant amount of time to this site. I know some of the editors are struggling with school or other jobs at the same time, so it's also unfair of you to expect people to live on the computer and comment at all hours of the day.

@Shirk I honestly think you are reading into this post far too much. I personally am insulted and hurt. I went out of my way to avoid being purely petty with this. If you had so many problems with my attitude and my motivations perhaps you should have been harsher in our e-mail correspondance over this actual issue instead of waiting to attempt to humiliate me in public. I have done my best to communicate to you that I am trying my best to be reasonable and not bring these problems i have into the realm of personal attacks and you seemed to understand that and NOW you attempt to make me seem like the petty bad guy?

NOW? after all the previous conversations we've had and all the opportunities you have to voice your opinion to me on this subject. You had to turn it into a public argument?

I must say then I truely regret trying to explain my situation to you at all.

I think I get it now. I also think I wasted my time understanding it. I don't agree with your (yes, your, not your alter ego's) points, but people have argued that well enough that I don't need to step in. I'm sorry you're so angry over comments and hits. I really am.

Can you all even really see how you are acting at this point? I shouldn't even have to explain all the ways this is just wrong.

You are appropriateing sentiments and statements to what this post said that I didn't mean just because you drew flimsy conclusions, (I never once suggested that I don't have respect for successful people on this forum. Saying that celebrity worship is a negative thing is an analasis of people's reactions to celebrity not celebrity itself.)  you are going out of your way to take apart the fictional character conciet of the article just as an excuse to get at me directly.

'I'm sorry you had to feel bad' indeed.

I create an article as a totem of my negative feelings about the site to try and get you all to prove me wrong and you start attempting to prove me right.

'In order to do that we have to band together, we have to set aside concepts like who is better then who and who is right and just really care about each other and our culture.'

This is a quote from the article you all just read and supposedly forgot about as soon as you developed your own conclusions. does this look like just meaningless butthurt bitching?

It isn't! It's a message of fucking hope. As in we can rise above trying to prove that we are better then each other and do something productive. Instead people are dog piling to attempt to prove that they are better then me. Well you are better then me! So? That doesn't really prove much.

As a moderator I am going to request that everyone to please play nice. As I see if words continue that will cause what is not wanted. I thank everyone who can help in this if you comment any more on this post please.

I'm sorry to everyone if I said anything completely wrong headed here but...I really couldn't begin to imagine anything I wrote this post about as being purposefully antagonistic. This is just....worse then anything i've ever had to endure on this site. To have a moderater have to get involved at all.

I feel sick. That's all I can say.

"In order to do that we have to band together, we have to set aside concepts like who is better then who and who is right and just really care about each other and our culture."

What you've written doesn't indicate that you believe this at all. You seem to want Bitmob to meet your needs and no one else's. Telling Bitmob to "go fuck itself" isn't caring about the site -- it's pure hatred. If you want things to change, I suggest treating other people on this site with the respect you so desire.

@Shirk you are far too convinced you are right and I don't believe you have any understanding of what I was going for here. I am not going to be the punching bag for whatever it is you feel like I represent. I try to be as respectful as any other person here despite being neurotic. If you can't trust that my motivations are what I say they are then that's your problem not mine. I refuse to discuss this with you any further and I would appreciate you leaving me alone for a long while. I have no interest in what you have to say.

A couple of points here:

1) Jeffrey (or, er, Mi), it's obvious you're incredibly passionate about Bitmob. I love that. Plenty of us are. That you show that passion in a way that often rubs people the wrong way doesn't detract from that passion. But I do hope you understand why you get the reaction (or lack of reaction) you sometimes do. I think it's fine for you to express yourself the way you do, but if you're going to express your love through insults, you've got to expect people to get insulted. So I do hope you understand where other people are coming from, just as I hope they understand where you're at.

2) Joshua, I'm not sure if you're referring to a post being deleted wholesale or the 17 Pink Elephants article of yours I edited. I will say that we don't take post deletion lightly, and if that's been doing, there was a very good reason for it. We're not trying to be moral police here.

With regard to the edit: Every edit I make to an article is in the service of improving it. Often that means focusing the writer's vision. I never make an edit maliciously. I hope you understand why we editors have made the edits we do, and if you don't, feel free to ask us on Twitter or in the comments. We're here to help.

@Brett Yeah I really didn't want things to get as ugly as they got here. Dissent is not always meant as an insult and I was really really trying to temper this post so that it was something people could digest on it's own merits rather then feeling like I was attacking specific people. Dispite apparently not going far enough to defang this post It's never my wish to hurt someone else. I just don't think that my particular critical way of doing things is invalid just because some people can take it too personally.

I'm perfectly aware of all the various ways I can be abrasive and I'm doing my best to balance what I am comfortable saying against what other people are comfortable with hearing.

@Jeffrey, I am sorry dude but that last response could have been copied and pasted from the end of many other comment sections I have seen you comment in. It doesn't make me 'uncomfortable' to read but it does make me less sympathetic as I have seen this played out too often.

You may consider this too personal, I consider it observational.

@Kevin. Eh. that's fine. You can think whatever you want to think. I'm going to get nowhere with things the way they are now I'm sure.

I'm sure i'm abrasive and then overly apoligetic and blah blah blah blah blah.

The fact of the matter is I'm trying to tackle Bitmob and my own writing in a way that is honest to my personality and feelings. I am not comfortable with ignoring aspects of who I am and that's how I feel people expect me to compose myself when they go as completely judgemental as this became in reading my motivations as a human being. I appreciate your attempts to compose yourself rationally but I don't really have much more to offer you at this point but that I don't agree with your assessment of me and of my writing. That's fine. I'll reserve taking things personally for the people who actually made it personal. 

See? Bitmob is a wonderful orgy of love, care bears and cuddly goodness! :)

Group hug, everyone?

@lance Oww. I think that you just broke my brain there.

@Jeffrey - Ignorance is bliss! :)