Interval Count Down Timers

Okay, thanks for letting me know, because that's NOT how I would want to come across as, and I'll do my best to change it.

I still like you, Blasterboy. I would be laughing if I rode with you and you pretended that you couldn't get your seat belt fastened, along with screaming in a loud obnoxious voice about it. Different people like different kinds of humor, I suppose.

I am getting older lately, and I understand how that kind of humor wouldn't work with some people. I think the "just to piss people off" thing is what you are getting berated about here, but I know that that was not exactly what you meant... was it?

Part of that kind of humor is attention-seeking, but when I have acted that way, it was only to make my friends laugh and not to make people I don't know laugh. Sometimes I'll do anything to get my friends to laugh. The stories I could tell... lol Everyone is different though.

ApolloAndy said:

To be frank, you do come off on this board a little bit as someone who wants attention. The ratio of quantity to quality of posts is way higher than most veteran posters and the fact that a large portion of them are about you and not the topic at hand doesn't help.

So you're throwing down life lessons now? lol

I'd say Andy is perhaps one of the most qualified people to impart such wisdom. I applaud him for the way in which he does it, too. He's able to deliver it in such a way that one doesn't feel like an idiot afterward.

bjames said:

ApolloAndy said:

To be frank, you do come off on this board a little bit as someone who wants attention. The ratio of quantity to quality of posts is way higher than most veteran posters and the fact that a large portion of them are about you and not the topic at hand doesn't help.

So you're throwing down life lessons now? lol

He asked. I answered.

blasterboy6500 said:

If that's how I'm coming across as on these forums, please tell me.

I've been here a LONG time - you could do way worse than listening to Andy....

I've personally never met a nicer guy to throw up on.

^^ Some day I would love to hear that story. I actually did chuckle a little reading just that much.

In regards to the timer, could they maybe have a longer timer interval or be able to stop the timer if there is an issue with a rider needing assistance with a restraint or another issue holding up the train? That way maybe people wouldn't become all irritable if they thought the times set weren't being met?

Honestly I don't see the timers creating that much of a problem. I see the timers at McDonald's and don't freak out when they are running behind. Perhaps this is because I haven't ever had to stand in an hour long line in boiling heat for a quarter-pounder, but I honestly don't think most people will care one bit about the clock.

I think it's strange that people *don't* speak up when the service is noticably slow. Ever been to LaRonde? I have never seen a park operated that poorly. And yet everybody in line just accepted it. In the line for Monster, the woodie, everyone was sitting down, backs against the wall, just talking or playing on their phones or whatever. Meanwhile the ride dispatched their single train every 8 minutes or so. Absolutely unbelievable, yet the regulars seemed to not mind and just accept it as normal.

Would timers help? Probably not, they're unionized. :)

Dear Travis,

It's ok to drop the "I love everyone and everything" act, and call someone out for being a douche every once in a while.

It's only human to not like certain things about people, and you can't pretend it's all okay all the time.

Sincerely,

Your friends at CoasterBuzz (and the real world)

I appreciate that, but that is just not me. I am a nice guy. Too nice? Probably. One can joke about their seat belt and not slow things down. I think BlasterBoy was misunderstood because he may have exaggerated a little bit to look cool. He just wants people to enjoy his presence here. Why not give him what he wants?

The younger people here remind me of what my life used to be like, and how I used to feel about amusement parks. The magic is not as intense as it used to be, so I really enjoy reading their perspective.

The only people I don't like are the ones who are being a jerk on purpose to get attention (cough-CoastaPlaya-cough.) I kindly call people out sometimes when they are bothering me. I did this even recently to someone I like (even though he pretends to not like me for whatever stupid reason.) This is not one of those times.

I just wish everyone would step outside themselves and look at things from another person's perspective.

I read an interesting story on CreepyPasta once about a dude who died and went to heaven. He was astonished to find out that he and God were the only two people there. He asked where everyone else was, and God told him that he WAS everyone else. Every time he dies, he is reincarnated as another person. He will have eventually lived the life of every single person who lived. When he is kind to someone, he is really being kind to himself. Same thing when he is not being kind.

When he finally finishes living every lifetime that ever was, he will finally complete his learning process and can move on to whatever the next step is for him.

Now I don't necessarily hold those beliefs to be true, but I do like the lessons of empathy and acceptance that it teaches.

I didn't bother with this one, but since it's come back around I just need to ask, Travis... So when I called BlasterBoy out for saying he intentionally slows the load process just to piss people off (whether he was exaggerating or not when he said exactly that) and you posted this:

LostKause said:

"GET OFF MY LAWN!"

Being obnoxious is a form of humor that I enjoy witnessing sometimes, but I see your point, Carrie. I think a lot of older people or more serious people just don't get it, and that's okay. People don't do things like that to piss other people off. They are parodying stupid people.

Your suggesting that I'm just too old or too serious to get the joke was your way of accepting me?

Then you rounded out the discussion with this:

LostKause said: I still like you, Blasterboy. I would be laughing if I rode with you and you pretended that you couldn't get your seat belt fastened, along with screaming in a loud obnoxious voice about it. Different people like different kinds of humor, I suppose.

I am getting older lately, and I understand how that kind of humor wouldn't work with some people. I think the "just to piss people off" thing is what you are getting berated about here, but I know that that was not exactly what you meant... was it?

Part of that kind of humor is attention-seeking, but when I have acted that way, it was only to make my friends laugh and not to make people I don't know laugh. Sometimes I'll do anything to get my friends to laugh. The stories I could tell... lol Everyone is different though

Not only were you suggesting that everyone else didn't like Blasterboy, which isn't true at all, but you did a version of that same kind of back-handed acceptance stuff that gets old. "We're really cool and funny, Blasterboy, because we like this humor. But other older fogies don't get it. That's ok, though, because everyone is different."

Being obnoxious and thinking it's funny is fine. Being obnoxious and thinking it's funny while deliberately interfering with what I'm doing is not.

^Indeed. Your right to amuse yourself ends at my right not to be waylaid by obnoxious behavior.

Yeah, sliothernoggin, I would be a little miffed if someone was intentionally slowing down the line too. You know about me and lines. I erased the part about me thinking BlasterBoy worded his post wrong when I was whittling down my post.

Let's just ask him, and maybe you all will see what I am getting at...

BlasterBoy, did you REALLY slow down the operations when you were joking that one time about not being able to get your seat belt on? Or, like I suspect, did you have it in the back of your mind that you had a certain amount of time to joke about it before you had to get serious and get buckled in?

I guess I just assumed that he was exaggerating. It's clear that it is a fond memory that he has about riding coasters with his buddies that he wanted to share with us.

Carrie said:

Your suggesting that I'm just too old or too serious to get the joke was your way of accepting me?

Nope. My suggesting in that post was in BlasterBoy's admission of joking around, some people here are taking it too serious. I don't think he really wanted to piss people off.

Not only were you suggesting that everyone else didn't like Blasterboy, which isn't true at all,

...Glad to hear it. I think that we all need to encourage and accept new people here so we can gain new perspectives into our hobby.

...but you did a version of that same kind of back-handed acceptance stuff that gets old. "We're really cool and funny, Blasterboy, because we like this humor. But other older fogies don't get it. That's ok, though, because everyone is different."

What offends you there? Insinuating that some people have a more mature sense of humor than others? I wasn't saying that being an older fogie is the problem here, I am saying that taking things too seriously is the problem. I used the analogy of "GET OFF MY LAWN!" to show the analogy between old fogies and taking things too seriously.

I was usually the kid in school to take up for the bullied kids. I probably overreacted here, and Blaster can probably take care of himself. Sorry that I offended you, Carrie.

What goofy argument did I get myself into this time. lol

The notion that we're out to crush enthusiasm is ludicrous, or at least I hope it is. That isn't my intent at all. Frankly, I'm more of an enthusiast now than I ever was, but my ability to express my enthusiasm doesn't involve me acting like I have no clue how to buckle a seatbelt. Some things just aren't that funny, and I'd be willing to bet that blasterboy had a million other memories that day that were fonder than one where he pretended he had no clue how a restraint worked.

The issue we have is this need for attention, and honestly, this just isn't the site for that. There are coaster sites where that sort of thing is okay, but Coasterbuzz has fashioned itself into a site where adults and mature adolescents can discuss their passion in a mature manner.

Travis, I'm just like you in that it is very difficult for me to dislike someone. I don't dislike blasterboy either, for example, and honestly, I would love for him to be a part of a growing Coasterbuzz community. However, there are accepted standards for conversation here that make this site so much better than so many others, and letting failures of maturity slide isn't going to help matters. Sites die when anything goes because the mature people, who are often the core members that keep the site alive and who are likely to stick around longer, leave when the hens run the henhouse. I say that from experience, both in terms of coming here thinking that the site needed to conform to who I was at the time (and learning to develop conversational maturity), and also being a member of a site that died because we had to tolerate what was glorified stupidity.

Honestly, though, blasterboy said he'd learn from it, which is the goal, and I'd like to think it was the rather polite and respectful correction of folks like Andy and Carrie that got us there. They aren't being old fogies. They're just able to make the distinction between what's actually funny and what's a grab for attention.

It's OK to be nice and to correct bad behavior. It's even better to nicely correct said behavior (because you don't shame anyone, and everyone benefits).

This message sponsored by the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, and Liberal Jesus...

Personally, I think timers could have a positive impact on throughput. Not only could they help the crew get into a rhythm, but people seem to naturally speed up whenever time is added to the equation. If guests were to blame for slow intervals, then it'd be the crew's job to hurry them.

I understand there are usually overtly negative outcomes associated with time. Don't finish a test in time, and you may fail...don't score the most points in time, and you lose. So, in the case of interval timers, maybe surveillance cameras could be installed for periodic monitoring (speaking of which, I always wondered if there were already station cameras in place for safety / legal reasons).

If management noticed situations described here...crews regularly chatting / ignoring guests, and taking 5-10 minutes to dispatch a train, then they should be replaced (and be well aware that the interval timers were significant with performance being monitored). Maybe this could help turn around the problematic parks mentioned in this thread.

Gonch has a point that the timers could expose failure to guests, but realistically, I only foresee irrational enthusiasts complaining to each other. That's also the negative side. If crews were no longer taking 5-10 minutes to dispatch a train at parks or even beating interval timers, then you have happy guests.

LostKause said: I was usually the kid in school to take up for the bullied kids. I probably overreacted here, and Blaster can probably take care of himself. Sorry that I offended you, Carrie.

I didn't bully anyone and never would. And you didn't offend me. I just see what you're doing with word choice and I'm calling it out.

Sirloindude said: Honestly, though, blasterboy said he'd learn from it, which is the goal, and I'd like to think it was the rather polite and respectful correction of folks like Andy and Carrie that got us there. They aren't being old fogies. They're just able to make the distinction between what's actually funny and what's a grab for attention.

This. Blasterboy said something out of line. I called it out. He asked for examples. Andy gave them to him. He understood the situation and said he would respond accordingly in the future.

That's exactly how these things should play out. Calling it mean, unaccepting, bullying or the act of old, overly serious people is the problem. It's none of those things.

I think that blasterboy being open to the feedback about how what he's posting is being received is awesome.

Travis, the answer to your question is definitely the latter. I really wasn't pissing others off, I was tying to get a laugh with my friends. I didn't waste others' time or anything, even the operator took it as a silly thing. Once again, my apologies for pretty much jacking up this thread with a silly comment. And once again, I'm, open to criticism. I want to improve myself, and I'd much rather be called out, harshly or nicely, and stop doing whatever I do that annoys others instead of not being called out and keep ticking everyone off. I love this site, and if I'm part of the issue at hand, then I'll gladly do my best to fix it. Thanks.