Staying Positive in the WordPress Community
kitty kitty CATegory Commentary
No Comments
Scroll down and leave a comment.
Bert Kreischer
I was listening to Bertcast the other dayyyyyyyy…
Bertcast is a podcast created by the stand up comedian, Bert Kreischer. Bert was telling a story about a time when he was doing a meet and greet after one of his comedy shows and someone gave him the typical “I’m a big fan” comment. Bert thanked him, but the person felt the urge to elaborate. He told Bert how he discovered him when he was on Joe Rogan’s podcast with a few of his peers. He was at a lowpoint in his life and needed something to latch onto. “From that point on”, he said “I was a fan of you, Bert”. Every time that Bert had a success or reached a new milestone in his career, it was like he was experiencing a personal win.
A Warning about Comedy
FWIW, if you’re going to look into the career of Bert, just be forewarned that he’s “a lot”. Bert is all kinds of inappropriate, but he has a kind heart and is an excellent comedian. Many times comedy touches on subjects that are sensitive, so if you’re sensitive, you might want to pass.
Being a Fan
Since I’m not a big sports person, it didn’t occur to me right away how similar this person’s Bert Kreischer fandom is is to being a fan of a sports team. Having a team to root for and celebrate the successes can bring a lot of joy. Creating a fan relationship can be a significant factor for better mental health. People who identify as a fan can experience higher self-esteem, aren’t as lonley, and have a happier life than those who aren’t fans.
Can You Be a Fan of WordPress?
The short answer is yes, but that makes for a short and boring story. Here’s the mental journey I went on to come up with this blog post.
I was listening to a WordPress related podcast the other day and I noticed just how often some of the hosts made derogatory remarks about WordPress and certain people in the WordPress community. While I feel it’s ok to be a critic when your criticism is fair and without malice, ongoing and petty critisizm just make creates bad feeling all around.
In the past I’ve just ignored remarks like this, but this time I was a little miffed. Valid critisizm is great for making something better and stronger, but when you’re putting something down to try to make yourself look bigger or more important, you look like a fool.
Just like destructive critisizm can be a bad thing, blindly being a fan of something and ignoring issues can be a bad thing too. Our community needs to create constructive critisism that supports those creating the software. Actionable comments and open debate are what’s going to help us move forward.
In 2022, I’m going to prune the sources that I consume media from. When I come across usesless negativity, I’m going to remove it from my life. I think that as a group we should be promoting those that are creating and creating an atmosphere of positive discussion and debate.
My name is Darryl, and I’m a fan of WordPress.