The I Feel Down Topic.

[QTXAdsy]

Right, this is going to sound either petty or moan worthy but I couldn't seem to find a place to write this down as I'm not sad per say but rather just utterly fed up.

What's making me feel this way? Honestly, just the coaster community as a whole either on here and elsewhere online is making me want to crash out as they are either moaning about how parks in this country are run or brag about their adventures overseas for vlogs from TPWW and others is just rubbing me up the wrong way making me despise them as I'll never get to experience all those great and so called magical places that I'll never experience that joy giving my current situation. Either I'm getting old or really my patience is running out fully of dealing with people and I will say the thought of leaving the community just to make my own opinion on how I'd feel if these places are as good or bad as they say they are but alas you'd be brave to say something different and or a nuance viewpoint which I feel I have but that sort of thing is never valued IMO.

However I won't leave as I'm already too deep in with the crowd to leave and I'm very lonely as a crave someone to meet up IRL just to chat about this hobby more than just online but there is nothing here unless I'm lucky by chance. All in all, I swear people are becoming more opinionated, too difficult high standards and just unlikable in this hobby that makes me wonder what really is the point?

Yeah, guess I just hate people yet crave someone just to sit down with and talk to in a calm and rational way which sadly I'm certain isn't going to happen soon.

 

[Craig]

So I don’t really want to turn this into a full on discussion in this topic, but a bit of my own opinion on this…

The enthusiast community has always been a critical bunch, but recently it’s clear the industry in the UK has been struggling for quite a while now. With ever cheaper flights and more importantly the tools to be able to access information on how to achieve trips abroad, more and more people are being exposed to how parks in other countries operate. That only increases the criticism that parks in the UK receive, and has only served to increase people’s strength of opinions over time too. It’s not something that can really be avoided, and often comes from a place of exasperation from seeing the success of parks elsewhere, and the lack of actual innovation going on in the UK these days. Let’s be brutal too, the average age of forum users is skewing a fair bit older these days too!

I do have to push back on you referring to vloggers “bragging” though - it’s a popular medium that unlike forums is perhaps skewing a little younger in terms of target market for you. Before Youtube, you had forums like this one, Coasterforce or TPR where people would post extensive trip reports complete with photos. Even before that you had magazines like First Drop or RCCGB’s Airtime Newsletter. A lot of vloggers are full time, ran as a business and so serve a market. If that market didn’t exist, they wouldn’t publish the content they do.

I’ve been extremely lucky in my time as an enthusiast to visit some amazing places, but there’s still a huge chunk of parks that I’ve never managed to get to. That said, I still always enjoy reading about them, or watching a video from people who have been lucky enough to visit - I’ve never particularly seen it as bragging. To me personally, it’s a great source of information and it’s nice to see what other people are up to. This sort of content has always existed, be that in print, pictures or in the videos as they do now. It’s the same sort of stuff it’s always been - it’s just the medium has changed. Thinking of it as someone bragging is instantly going bring a negative view of it before you’ve even hit that play button. It’s an informative source - just as the many websites that published extensive reviews of parks back in the day were.

 

[QTXAdsy]

So I don’t really want to turn this into a full on discussion in this topic, but a bit of my own opinion on this…

With all due respect, nothing what you said makes me feel better...if anything much worse.

I can't look forward for anything like that, I'm from a part of the country when in this country and overseas in the community is a joke which makes me feel bad about myself and when those down south lament how bad things are domestically, I have to laugh as they don't know bad unless they saw it, I have no one IRL to talk to have a decent conversation about the state of the industry which honestly is more preferable than online which we can all agree makes a mountain from a mole hill and finally I'm getting to an age in which when I look at all those who have gone overseas and enjoy themselves, it makes me feel like I fail in this community as I've nothing to offer other than growing resentment I keep burried that I'll never feel happiness like all those who go all over.

You know, what am I talking about? Nothing will change, I'll try not to make them miserable by me just existing and try not to look at this place Stateside, Europe or Dubai. I've really been getting worse feeling this after all these years as I get older and no one can help me as all I can do is go my own nuance path and just be content with what I've got...perhaps that's all I need really.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

I'm going to put my usual cynicism regarding the industry to one side for a moment, because I think what you're feeling is incredibly valid, and it's a sentiment that's rarely expressed so openly.

"Comparison is the thief of joy." It's a cliché because it is true.

When you're scrolling through a feed of people screaming on VelociCoaster or walking through Super Nintendo World, you aren't seeing their reality. You aren't seeing the maxed-out credit cards, the exhausted travel days, the loneliness of solo trips, or the desperate need for validation that drives the posting of that content. You're seeing a curated highlight reel.

You:re viewing their "best life" through a lens that highlights what you feel you are missing in yours. That doesn't make you bitter; it makes you human.

I want to challenge this notion that you're a "failure" as an enthusiast because you haven't crossed an ocean. Since when did this hobby become a competition about air miles?

Being an enthusiast isn't about how many credits you have, or whether you have been to Cedar Point. It's about whether you enjoy the mechanics, the atmosphere, the history, or just the sensation of a ride. You can be just as valid an enthusiast appreciating the nuance of a Pinfari on a rainy pier as someone who has lapped Iron Gwazi a hundred times. In fact, I would argue that finding joy in the "rubbish" local parks requires a more refined palate than simply enjoying a multi-million dollar hypercoaster that is designed to be perfect.

You mention having a "nuance viewpoint". That IS valuable. This community often descends into binary shouting matches, "Merlin Bad, Paultons Good", and voices that see the shades of grey are essential. We need them.

Regarding the loneliness; I can't wave a wand and conjure a local group of friends for you, much as I wish I could, but please remember that whilst online interaction is a poor substitute for a pint in a pub, it's still a connection. You have written this post, and people (and geese) are reading it. We are listening.

Do not let the "Olympics of Enthusiasm" make you feel like you're losing a race you never entered. If you need to step away from the vlogs and the trip reports for your own sanity, do it. Unsubscribe. Unfollow. Curate your own feed to protect your peace.

That being said, please don't feel like you have to leave the community entirely. There's a perch here for everyone, even those of us who just want to grumble about the rain in Staffordshire.

🪿