TheOllieWatts's blog

Hello world of MF.

I had debated doing a blog for this or not, but the situation has left a bitter taste in my mouth so I wanted to share my feelings and thoughts.

So I received a message from a member yesterday asking to meet up. This individual had messaged before (during which he'd been quite rude and abrasive) and I had told him upon his apology that it was accepted but I wouldn't be meeting. Ignoring his further correspondence didn't stop this so upon being asked if I was 'ever going to man up' and meet him I sent a no interest and then blocked further communication as it remained unproductive.

Half an hour later I receive a message from advising me that he had gone into the chatroom and stated he had met with me yesterday and that I had pulled a knife out on him.

This is a situation I never expected to find myself in, and in general I found it quite shocking and stressful. Immediately I had to try to 'clear my name' for an incident that had never occurred. Though that isn't the main issue I'm wanting to talk about (as it has now been dealt with thanks to the work of the admin team of MF who I appreciate their quick response). Although I tried to laugh it off afterwards it still was a horrid situation to encounter.

What I wanted to stress to everyone is the importance of resilience in this world, and I guess compassion. It's horrible being rejected, I can appreciate that. I've been rejected many times and it stings every single time, and maybe I too need to thicken my skin. But it's one thing to be hurt and annoyed and another to try to destroy someone's reputation and create false accusations to terrify others. So I implore everyone to take a moment to process before reacting. The fight or flight response when you're under stress or in the throes of rage is not productive or helpeful for yourself or anyone, so take a moment to think of your actions, take a breather before you respond to make a more sensible decision.

Secondly compassion, something I perhaps lacked in this matter. I made a judgement and in honesty I don't think i handled it in the best manner. Perhaps there were more productive ways I could have communicated, but I had dealt with the behaviour previously and I had a negative perception going into the conversation. So to those messaging people, I hope you like me now make to have a little compassion and kindness for each other, we are all here for our interests and fun, not to hurt anyone. So I hope we all spread love and kinship to one another (what with V-Day coming up seems relevant to release my inner hippie).

The matter is dealt with and at this point in time the individual has been suspended, if he returns I may have to deal with that when it comes to it, but I hope that I've learnt something from this and in turn those who read this take time to contemplate the points I raised.

Let's have a good rest of the year people. In closing to cheer people up here is a picture of a 'hot dog'

N00b : )