Entries Tagged 'Editorials' ↓

Arguing over the internet is one of the lamest things someone can do, but check out forums all over the net and you can see it going on regularly. I think the lifeblood of any internet forums is the arguing, accusations and flaming. It’s ridiculous.

It’s also the domain of losers. People without the gumption to do it in person think that they can just get on the internet and do it and then everything is just ok. They feel like they can be little keyboard warriors and convince everyone that they are in the right. In the end, they just end up convincing people that they are a loser.

Oh sure, they might get the support of a few other losers but that doesn’t change the fact that they are losers.

It was a sad day when the TEFLWatch Forums, that for 2 years served as a service to teachers in need, closed. Many teachers were left without a place to discuss their negative experiences or get good advice about teaching abroad. It was with a lot of trepidation that they were closed down and the fact they closed down is testament to how evil a few trolls can be.

I know about it because I was an admin on TEFLWatch.

Thankfully, that has changed. A new team has come forward to run a new teachers site called TEFL School Reviews. You can visit their site to rate schools and you can visit their TEFL School Reviews forum to leave feedback on schools and issues facing teachers.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I have a natural paranoia of the crowd mentality. In fact, whenever the crowd is for something, I feel like I should back away from it. In fact, I start to get frightened of things if the crowd becomes very much for something. I don’t really know why it is the case. It’s not because I don’t agree with something as much as the thought that whenever a crowd flocks to an issue it is because they are being led that way by the media or the politicians.

I am sorry, I do not think the media is looking out for our best interests all the time. I do not think politicians are looking out for our best interest all the time. I look at the actions of the crowd flocking to an issue, I look at the media or politician messages and then I begin to distance myself and look at the other side. I guess that means I end up going against the grain in politics and everything else.

It has been an interesting week. It seems like part of my life is excelling quite well, but part of my past, the work I did on another site, has been going through the wringer. I am tired of working tirelessly on a project that helps many other people and then it is put through the shredder by a couple of people with an axe to grind. That would be ok, but when others just sit by like a pack of ravenous dogs egging on the attack because they have nothing better to do with their life, that’s where I draw the line.

I have been making many important choices in my life over the course of the last few months and yesterday I made a small choice in a project that I have been doing for the last two years. I found that my involvement in this project was detracting from work I was doing in other areas and the help that I was able to give other people.

It always bad when you have to make choices on who you will help and who you will not help, but the choice has been made simple. I want to help people around the world with teaching issues. I have been quite successful at it, but recently a gentleman with what appears to me some mental condition has decided to attack me in every dreadful way possible. Pack of ravenous dogs have stood by watching and encouraging it. This really epitomizes the nature of foreign teachers in Thailand.

I have decided to no longer let these things get in the way of projects that need to be done. I am encouraged by words of wisdom that I have read that encourage me to pull away from this and I know I am doing the right thing. My main site that caters to a more international group will continue and the time all of this has been consuming will be devoted to bettering this.

When will I push this through? I assume it will be sometime in the next week or so.

AH, I just worked on a super long term paper. Talk about a chore. It was 20 pages long, double spaced on some stupid topic. You know how they are. Your professor thinks of a topic and you have to write the paper on it. It was a major pain in the you know what and I was so glad to get it done and be finished writing it.
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I hope you had a chance to read my 3 part series on string theory. I thought it was something very interesting that needed to get out. We are putting so much effort into these kind of science theory that we need to really take the time to evaluate them against the truth. We shouldn’t these theories that turn into almost religious like beliefs without judging it in the light of day.
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