The Cheerleaders

In my humble opinion, there are 5 kinds of people who posts on forums: the Lurkers (that's me!), the Chatters, the Trolls, the Groupies and the Cheerleaders.

The Lurkers read most threads but don't post all that often. The Chatters are babbling machines with multiple posts in almost in every thread. Most of their posts have little substance but when you trim the fat, they're actually a good barometer to measure the community's general state of mind. The Trolls will simply hate on everything and anything. They will dissect every word you've said and interpret what you haven't said in a way that will enable them to spill as much venom and bile as they possibly can. The only positive comment to come out of them will be to praise someone being even more vicious than they were. The Groupies (in the case of UO) are either sucking up to the Devs or sucking up to the "in crowd" in one of the other 4 groups and occasionally to someone in their own group. They're annoying little things that have no thoughts of their own. They'll just shout a Hallelujah! Amen! to anything their idol says even if it makes no sense.

Then you have the Cheerleaders...

These guys really get a bad rap and I think it's mostly because people tend to confuse them with the Groupies. To me, a Cheerleader is a more contained, healthy mix of Chatters and Groupies. The non-extremist opposite of the Trolls. The optimist that enjoys the fact that the bottle is still half full instead of obsessing about it eventually being empty. It's the person that doesn't sugarcoat things but who gives you that much needed pat on the back when you screwed up.

I mean seriously, when you screw up, you know it. You don't need anyone to tell you or rub your face in it. You KNOW! And when your blunder negatively impacts others, it sucks all the more. The Trolls will make sure to remind you every day until Kingdom come. Getting up when someone is kicking you while you're down can be quite the challenge.

But then the Cheerleader bitchslaps the Trolls and tells them to piss off. Grabs you by collar and pulls you back up on your feet. Looks you straight in the eyes and says "You messed up, you Noob! I know you had good intentions, but you didn't deliver. Curling up in a corner licking your wounds will do no good. So dust that dirt off your shirt, get back in formation and lets play ball! We still got a game to win. I believe in you so you better make me proud!"

And it is that voice that makes you want to try harder, do better and go the whole nine yards.