Oppo, Let's Have a Chat

"CounterTorqueSteer" (countertorquesteer)
10/24/2015 at 20:27 • Filed to: Feels

I’ll start this post by making it very clear that I am not singling out any one author, admin or commenter. This is just a simple reflection of my observations. When I joined Oppo as an author, it truly felt like a welcoming community. It felt like no matter what we believed about politics, religion, social issues, ect., we were all bonded through cars (even if we didn’t like the same cars).

Recently though, it has felt like the welcoming community feel has decayed. Maybe I’m crazy (probably), but more often I find myself scrolling through comments and posts that do not promote the community. They break it down. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Oppo. I visit it often.

All I mean to say is: Oppo, keep it cool. You all rock. A Quattro and E30 for your time. Goodnight.

DISCUSSION (59)

CB > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 20:35

I don’t know how long you’ve been here (probably a while), but Oppo goes through cycles: three months of groovy, a few days or a week of bullshit, then back to the groovy, with small bits of crap thrown in inbetween.

Personally, I don’t think it’s falling apart, just another bit of bullshit. And it’ll go on, some people’s feelings will be hurt, and then things will go back to normal. Maybe lessons will be learned, maybe not, but that’s how it goes.

Opposite Locksmith > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 20:37

I feel obviously singled out

LongbowMkII > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 20:38

An opponaut venting should never be responded to with “who cares”, if you don’t care don’t reply. That general response was pretty shitty, I hope you all keep that up next time someone has an off topic rant.

djmt1 > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 20:38

You had me thinking I missed a shitstorm then I scrolled down and saw that K Roll’s post is trending. I wonder why with gleeful ignorance. I had a quick gander and of course it now has a hundred comments. Never vent about touchy subjects on Oppo I guess.

TheHondaBro > CB
10/24/2015 at 20:41

The Fiesta Sedan incident will forever be in the history books.

CB > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 20:42

Never forget. Never forgive.

Also, just in case, we should activate the Oppositelock Drama Emergency Procedure (post automatic Sebring convertibles).

PushToStart > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 20:43

theres always going to be disagreements and differences of opinions in any group, it's just part of it. I don't think it's really a big deal, it's happened here before and it will happen again. A lot of it is preventable, sure, but this is the Internet and people will always have discussions about one thing or another, and naturally some will become heated. I don't think anything that happened here today is far out of line from what's happened in the past, and like always, this place and the people will move on. It's no big deal. We just have to keep working together to keep this place pleasant, that's all.

CounterTorqueSteer > LongbowMkII
10/24/2015 at 20:45

A couple things: I am not an admin. I didn’t comment on K-Roll’s post. I am not talking specifically about that post.

CounterTorqueSteer > PushToStart
10/24/2015 at 20:46

That's all I'm saying. I really am not specifically talking about today's post. I just want everyone to be cool.

TheHondaBro > CB
10/24/2015 at 20:46

I imagine fire extinguisher boxes with Sebring convertibles in them.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 20:47

I know I’m part of this and for that I would like to apologize for those I may have offended

That being said in all honesty this was one of the more minor blowouts we’ve had. If anything, this is more of a flat tire than an actual blowout. It mostly stayed contained in one post and mods never really had to step in and talk people down/kick them.

We will recover within a week. It’s inevitable when you have lots of people with different opinions on somewhat heated subjects.

#LiveLongandOppo

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 20:47

Do I even want to ask?

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 20:47

I totally forgot about that, that was embarrassing.

TheHondaBro > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
10/24/2015 at 20:47

No.

scoob > CB
10/24/2015 at 20:48

They made manual Sebring convertibles?

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 20:48

Perfect. Tell me all about it.

CounterTorqueSteer > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
10/24/2015 at 20:48

This is not a post specifically about today's post. It is a general observation. You are right, it is inevitable. I just want everyone to keep it cool.

CB > scoob
10/24/2015 at 20:49

Yes, but it’s very rare. Probably.

TheHondaBro > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
10/24/2015 at 20:51

Someone said something bad about Fiesta Sedans and it turned into a shitstorm in the comments. I’m not going to name names.

djmt1 > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
10/24/2015 at 20:51

Essentially don’t start shooting if you don’t want to be shot.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
10/24/2015 at 20:51

Someone had a meltdown over the Fiesta sedan being ugly.

whoarder is tellurium > djmt1
10/24/2015 at 20:52

100% agreed. Oppo is best when it is related to planes, trains, automobiles, music and similar.

I read the first bit of that thread and instantly went for the eject handles...

Kinja'd!!!

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 20:53

I mean. It’s probably not a bad car. The hatch does look a bit better though.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > djmt1
10/24/2015 at 20:53

I’d say that’s some pretty solid life advice.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/24/2015 at 20:54

Well... That’s a lame reason to have a meltdown.

bob and john > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/24/2015 at 20:54

I remember it *gazes off into the distance* it was a cold time....

Man I had a good laugh with that

Kinda wish I had taken screen shots of my comments

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
10/24/2015 at 20:57

It was. It got pretty heated as well.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 20:59

Please do because that was the stupidest thing I've ever done. I deserve my name to be called out.

djmt1 > whoarder is tellurium
10/24/2015 at 21:00

Oppo needs more trains.

Kinja'd!!!

Heck I need more trains. I should get on that next year.

PushToStart > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 21:03

LOL I forgot about that

shop-teacher > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 21:09

This is still one of the best and friendliest places on the ultranets. Pro tip: don’t read or comment on the shit-storm threads. It’s too easy to get wrapped up in that stuff, and forget how good this place really is all in all.

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > djmt1
10/24/2015 at 21:15

yes! Moar trains!!

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > CB
10/24/2015 at 21:16

Kinja'd!!!

bob and john > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
10/24/2015 at 21:19

ohhhh that was fun

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > bob and john
10/24/2015 at 21:23

What was. The whole situation?

TheHondaBro > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
10/24/2015 at 21:23

You do not. We were all stupid. No one is perfect. It’s best if we forgive and forget.

Under_Score > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 21:24

What happened to that guy?

Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 21:28

Kinja'd!!!

Both of these, I want them. I agree, Oppo is a great place, especially when everyone follows rules 1 and 2.

Seriously, Oppo is amazing when nobody is a dick. :)

Xyl0c41n3 > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 21:31

I still demand to see proof that you fit a Christmas tree in your honda. And I'll race my fiesta against your car any day. :D

bob and john > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
10/24/2015 at 21:34

yea, I notice you end up being in quiet a few of these....usually on the ‘what why is this an issue side’ side of things too.

touring the brook - now with ZHP! > djmt1
10/24/2015 at 21:35

Don’t we all need trains?

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > bob and john
10/24/2015 at 21:38

I try not to get involved in things like this but sometimes you just need to let it all out.

Had a shitty day and decided to state my opinion on the Internet. Wont happen again for a while.

bob and john > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
10/24/2015 at 21:43

CL if there for a reason. you need to chat it out, post there.

frankly, i think K-roll should have posted that in CL too, and then shared it to Oppo is needed.

 V8 Rustler > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 21:43

Never forget

Kinja'd!!!

El Rivinado > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 21:44

Oppo just gets like this, I try to stick to cars as much as possible, but even I can sometimes be allured to comment on certain posts and threads that are a bit controversial. I try my best to say my two bits and not shit stir as best as I can, but I know for some people that just ain’t possible. But, at the end of the day, this is a place we all go to talk about cars and shoot the breeze. I like this community for the most part, and I wouldn't change anything about it.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > bob and john
10/24/2015 at 21:45

Its gotten really hard for me to post anything lately

My dad follows my page and looks at everything I post thats an article (doesnt know how to see comments yet)

So ive had to keep a lot of things just in my head

Steve in Manhattan > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 21:50

So you’re saying this might not be the best time to post my crabcake recipe?

bob and john > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
10/24/2015 at 21:51

hows this for an idea....keep this account, then make a separate one tht you ACTUALLY use for shit.

just posts cars on this every so often. so it doesnt seem weird.

pauljones > CounterTorqueSteer
10/24/2015 at 21:52

I’ll give you a little bit of perspective from the standpoint of someone that’s been around Jalopnik for almost twelve years now. Take it or leave it, but here it is:

You’re right, things have certainly changed around here. Quite frankly, there are few people that have seen more change around here than I have. I first found Jalopnik in 2004, which coincidentally, isn’t long after the place first started. I was looking for any news that I could on Mustangs and Corvettes - both were coming out at the same time! To me at that age, there was nothing cooler or more amazing (other than the girl that got away... but that’s an old man’s story for another time and another place). And so, quite by accident, I found Jalopnik, and I’ve been here ever since. There were far fewer people back in the day, and we were were a far more tight-knit little community. I still remember the people that not only taught me how to make basic repairs on my own car, but also made me laugh out loud so much that I had laugh lines by the age 25.

Commenters like Polar, Bumblebee, Dearthair, Charles Barrett... I’d name more, but those names wouldn’t mean anything to you, no matter how much they meant to me.

And you know what? That’s okay.

I met many good people and still remain tangentially connected to those people, somewhere out in the ether of the interwebz. But like anything else, all good things...

I have seen people come and go, and I’ve forgotten more drama and shitstorms around here than you’ll ever experience in your time here.

But things...thing have changed; more so than you’ll ever really realize.

You see, it used to be that Jalopnik, and - eventually - Oppositelock, were very different animals than they are now. This used to be a place of consisting of handful of car nerds that loved nothing more than armchair racing and comparing spec sheets in between giving automotive repair advice and seeing who could make more people laugh. To those old commenters, Jalopnik and Oppositelock was a very compartmentalized place. No one came here to talk about life; they came here to talk about cars. We left life checked at the door, and came here to have fun and complement the rest of our lives with something a little different for a few hours out of the week.

Personal issues? Outside of the creative names we called our cars when frustrated with repairs, you never saw things like that. This was a place to laugh, get a little car advice, and move on. Eventually, many people did move on. They didn’t move on because they were upset or didn’t like anyone else; they just moved on because they had other demands in life.

And that’s the way that it should have been.

As newer people came along, they tried to re-invent this place. They tried to make it into something new and different. Sometimes that was a positive thing. Sometimes it wasn’t. In the past few years, however, people have tried to turn Oppositelock into something that it is not, has never been, and never truly can be. Many have tried to make this a place to seek therapy or external validation of their personal lives and views. This place cannot do that. It just can’t. It’s not equipped to. Each time that someone tries, the result is anger, frustration, and drama. Oppositelock, as much as we may interact with it, is not real. It is not a real place. As far as any of us know, it’s just one massive simulation, and everyone else here is just a random simulated bot.

Many people seem to have forgotten that, or simply never understood that in the first place. These days, it’s all too common for people to come here and try to use it as an escape from their lives, rather than as an occasional complement to their lives to mix things up a bit from time to time. There has been a dependency upon this place that many have developed, and it’s not healthy. People need to understand that while Oppositelock is a lovely internet forum, it’s still just that - an internet forum. Nothing more, nothing less. It has its place, but it is not a substitute for anything else.

But despite all of that, I still love this place. I’ve just come to love it a little differently, as tends to happen over time. My days as a starred commenter and contributor have long since passed me by, and I’ve been outshined by far brighter stars. There’s a reason I don’t comment or post much anymore. I still love and appreciate Oppositelock for what it is, though - and also for what it was and may be in the future. That’s why I agreed to be a mod here. That’s why I still watch over this place, even if I’m pretty quiet. The catch is, I understand what Oppositelock truly is. It’s an occasional fun distraction, not an escape. It’s a part of my life, but only that - a part, and a small one at that. It is not, by any means, my life as a whole (though you’d think it was, based on how obnoxiously long this comment is).

As long as Oppositelock is kept in the right perspective, it’s a beautiful place. The only time it gets ugly is when it gets take out of the perspective it belongs in. Keep it in perspective, appreciate it for what it is - and, more importantly - what it is not, and you’ll find that this place is as amazing as ever.

That being said, I bid thee good evening.

I have another life to attend to - one that consists of rocking chairs, prune juice, yelling at clouds, and expelling kids from my yard. And it’s all a beautiful thing, as long as it’s kept in perspective.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > bob and john
10/24/2015 at 22:01

Thats probably what ill do really soon.

Think its the only smart thing to do..

At least maybe ill feel a little better

TheHondaBro > Xyl0c41n3
10/24/2015 at 22:07

First of all, I don’t have pictures, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Second of all, I can so take you with my 3.0 V6. :p

Xyl0c41n3 > TheHondaBro
10/24/2015 at 22:09

Pfffft. I've got a 1.6L 4 cyl. with a recalled transmission. I can *totally* take your car. :D

TheHondaBro > Xyl0c41n3
10/24/2015 at 22:11

Oh yeah? Well my transmission has also been recalled!