Re: Is this List a reflection of state of the H20 VW community?

[the mad bastard <stoopid@idirect.com>]

initially i was going to keep this private, but since i put so much
work into it, i thought that i might as well roc-list it.  now's yer
chance to delete it....

> As a life long VW fanatic with my roots originally in the Aircooled
> world, I have recently taken a step back and gazed upon the current
> state of the VW community.

	the vw community that you have witnessed is in good order from what i
have seen.  there's a coupe of pricks around the list, around my area,
and around some of the shows, but they're representative of the
population in general, not necessarily the vw population.

> I have been on this list over 2 years now and went from reading 100%
> of the messages to NOW less than 1% or 1 for every 100 messages.  That
> said is this list a reflection of the current VW community?

	no.  it is a reflection of the world.  well, our more "civilized"
world, anyway.  i agree that i read a very small percentage of the
messages as well.  the ones sent by a couple of people that i have had
personal (negative) dealings with are deleted as soon as i see they're
names.  the other mass-deletions are done due to title, such as "window
tint something or other", "auto-x rules and regs", etc.  the topics
vary, but they all basically fit the bill of not meeting my interest
requirements. (btw, i'm not knocking auto-x, i just don't have the
inclination to read up on it)
 
> First off, the funny thing I see is the "Rice Boy" mentality that
> everyone was quick to rip on now permeates many Scirocco folks and the
> rest of the hobby.  The attitudes are right there with it.

	who is everyone?  what the fuck is "riceboy"?  i hate seeing this crap
when spoken of in a serious manner.  i drive a mk1 jetta that is lowered
about 2.5" from stock, and is still about 2" to high for me.  i'd love
to throw some 17" rims on there as well.  i've got a scorpion dual DTM
style muffler that i had brought in from the UK cuz i loved the look of
it so much.  but y'know something, i'm dying to get rid of it and
replace it with a dual 3" (or larger) round tips that sit at the very
edge of my modified mk2 jetta big bumpers.  i used to have a mono-wiper
on my 16V rocco before i parted it out.

	so what's the deal?  i seem to fit the "riceboy" description.  i always
have.  i've never seen the logic of cutting up some kid cuz he drives a
honda or other japanese import, and there's a bunch of people that share
my feelings.  i think that what might be happening is there are a lot of
listmembers that like the calm, stock-like approach of vw tuning.  these
are the people that come forth and say, "man, some loser in his
ricemobile passed me today.  it looked so stoopid with it's huge wing,
and massive pipe, yaddayaddayadda".   the rest of us who choose to adopt
some of these upgrades stay quiet or just ignore the comments
altogether.  sometimes  some of us make our upgrades known.  could it be
that these are the "everyone" that you speak of?
 
> Next, at one point in time most VW folks would bend over backwards to
> help another VW guy, 

	they still do.  maybe not most.  i know that i try, and i always have. 
it's not like events have changed my basic attitudes towards people or
anything.  the same can probably be said about the rest of us as well.

>and flame wars just did not exist.  

	this i do not agree with.  just before i joined the list (2 years ago i
think) there was some guy named chris (?) who was having a flame war
with mannix or meze or somebody.   i don't remember for sure.  but what
i can say for sure is that there is a natural tendency for humans to get
into conflict.  take a look in any newspaper from here to the beginning
of print, and you'll will almost assuredly find some reference to
war/fighting/general discontent/whatever.  that's just people for ya.

> Now it seems
> (especially in the younger watercooled world) there is alot of
> 'attitude' and hooray for me and screw you.  What prompts my above
> statements are from some of the many VW shows I have been to over the
> last year and a half.  Most VW shows as we all know are usually open
> to both Air & Watercooled.  The trend I have noticed lately is the
> Watercooled people tend to clump together (complete with their baggy
> Tommy Hilfiger attire etc), and cop attitudes, think they are the
> bomb.  Many crank their earth shaking sound systems and have burnout
> wars upon leaving.  Many older VW clubs who were primarly Aircooled
> but welcomed the Watercooled cars are now NO LONGER letting the
> waterpumpers into shows, and going back to the Vintage stuff.  Sad for
> me since I love both.  I too have tried to engauge converstaions on
> some trick things I have seen only to be given a nose up attitude.

	yeah, i see it.  but for the most part, when i go to the shows (like
the great canadian bugshow, and waterfest), i get such a buzz from all
of the people who are down there just soaking in all of the dubness.  i
meet so many people from these shows and from all of the cruises and
hangouts that have been setup and i have been fortunate enuff to partake
in.  i have travelled more and met more awesome people since i purchased
my 16V rocco in july of 1996 (or was it june?) then from any other hobby
or pasttime of mine.  

	the scene is there, and it is strong.  you may have had some bad luck
or are focusing a little too much on the negatives.  you really have to
open up your eyes a bit more, and just go with it.  it could also be an
age gap.  i don't know how old you are, but i'm 24, and i can still
figure out and enjoy current trends, while you may have found your niche
a couple years ago.  that niche is not fading, it's just become
(temporarily) not as popular as it was before. i think that
open-mindedness is the key here.
 
> DON'T GET ME WRONG there are MANY cool people here and out there in
> the H20 world.
> 
> Did any of that make sense? ;-)

	yup.
 
> As much as I would love to go to Waterfest (especially to whoop ass in
> Auto-X in my Stock class Scirocco-- vs. those who spent a small mint
> on suspension kits that are probably mismatched, or they havent worked
> on driving skill), I dunno if I would go.  I sure as hell wouldn't be
> to blown away by a $40,000.00 Jetta or whatever with an owner with an
> attitude (and obviously no financial sense).
> 
> Rambling mode off.  It would be nice though if things got back to
> technical "how-to" discussions again on this list.  And damn, I swear
> some people reply just to "see" themselves "type", if you don't have
> substance to add, lurk and learn.

	hmmm.  i agree that i hate to see people say pointless things, and
express their opinions about topics that do not include roccos, or dubs
for that matter.  at the same time, however, you do need to have a
little bit of variety, otherwise, things become stagnant.  and then they
rot.  that would suck.  

	haven't you noticed that there are technical postings still?  i see
them quite often.  i see questions asked, and answers given.  that which
i find useless gets files neatly in my trash file.  the other stuff gets
sorted.
 
jason
the mad bastard
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