What does this humble site have to offer in Life?

[AnonymousSource]

Ok, this is partially for the sake of conversation and my own amusement, but also for a friend of mine.
You see her mother recently got angry about here for visiting the Otaku Boards too often (she really doesn't...for sake of keeping down confusion, she comes on about once a day for about an hour). She said she is wasting her time, is becoming a nerd, and no one will like her (which in itself confuses me, but that's not what this thread is all about).
Bottom line is, I want to know what ways you guys can come up with on what life skills otaku is giving you. This could be fun coming up with, and it may help me keep another member on the site, I have a few ideas myself?
(also explain with examples if possible)

1) Grammar skills are a must in order to make logical and interesting posts. This helps students especially, and anyone could use grammar skills in life.
2) Creativity is important as well. I try to use mine in the battle and adventure arenas, but poetry and art helps build it as well, I'm sure. Now creativity can be used in about any job/school, because you always need people to come up with new ideas in the world.
3) Developing People Skills - You learn/try to constructively criticize people (poetry, banners, other art, etc) in order to make them better at whatever they're doing. You can't go around bashing people or you either end up banned or with a locked thread.
4) You also make friends through threads (such as this) or private messaging (which, as stated above, is one problem her mother has with this site, that she won't make any friends).

That's all I have, what can you come up with? This should take some thought, so don't sporadically say, "It helped me make friends" and then just leave.

So help out a fellow OBer, post away!

[amibasuki]

[FONT=arial]heh, you pretty much already said anything I was thinking about saying, so yay. and you have some good points. but if she (or anyone else, for that matter) really is spending too much time on the computer (even if it is the OB ), then her mom has a valid point. if you're on for about 10 hours a day, that's well beyond overdoing it. of course, it depends on your opinion of what a reasonable amount of time to spend on the computer would be. mine is 2-3 hours a day at most, though some others might think a shorter or longer time fits better.

and while it's all great to make friends online, it's not really helping to strengthen friendships with people who you actually hang out with in real life if you spend all day sitting at a computer, even if you talk to some of them online anyway. emails and chats don't allow you to be as personal as if you were in person or even speaking over the phone. yeah, you may learn how to be polite, but shouldn't you already know something about that anyway? :cross: a good dose of common sense should tell you what comments are and are not appropriate for criticism's sake.

so yeah, the point I'm trying to make is imo, there's nothing wrong with using the Boards, as long as it doesn't take up half of your day. everything in moderation.

[i]EDIT:[/i] well, since I now know she doesn't spend much time on the internet from the edit you've made, then she's pretty much in the safe zone I guess, lol. you've gotta see things from her mom's perspective, though. If she's old enough (nice way to put it, I know :p), and she's going off of what things were like when she was a kid, she never grew up with computers, so the thought of her kid spending another hour with her face in front of a screen (when there's already TV) must not help things much. but hopefully she'll eventually get used to it.[/FONT]

[wrist cutter]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by AnonymousSource [/i]
[B]1) Grammar skills are a must in order to make logical and interesting posts. This helps students especially, and anyone could use grammar skills in life. [/B][/QUOTE]

But how many people actually take the time to think about what they're typing? Even though OB has a higher-level of post quality than most large forums, I still see lots of very basic grammar and spelling mistakes. Countless members still don't seem to know the difference between your/you're or there/their/they're.

I honestly don't think OB is really good for a whole lot other than entertainment. However, the fact you're reading for entertainment puts it a step above things like TV or music I suppose.

[amibasuki]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by wrist cutter [/i]
[B]But how many people actually take the time to think about what they're typing? Even though OB has a higher-level of post quality than most large forums, I still see lots of very basic grammar and spelling mistakes. Countless members still don't seem to know the difference between your/you're or there/their/they're...
[/B][/QUOTE]
[FONT=arial]or then/than, can't forget about that one, heh.

yeah, that's pretty much about it. if I wasn't some perfectionist, I wouldn't give a second thought about how many typo's I had in one post, or if something wasn't spelled or written out correctly. unless your friend gets on message boards for the sole purpose of improving her writing skills, which I doubt is the case, lol.
[/FONT]

[Baron Samedi]

Basically, you mentioned them all.

Your reading skills improve, your argumentative skills improve, you get to meet a great bunch of people, get to express your opinions anonymously, can talk over your problems.

Your typing skills will improve, your mind may become sharper, you may actually [i]learn[/i] something interesting.

All good reasons to do OB. An hour a day is nothing. No problem. There are many more reasons as well to join Ob but those are all I can currently think of.

[Zanshin]

Heaven forbid you share friendly conversation with like minded individuals from a variety of backgrounds.

[Patronus]

It also opens your mind to many different points of views, and lets you intake those opinions that make everyone in here unique.

[Dragon Warrior]

One of the biggest things for me is confidence. Whenever I post one of my pieces of work whether it be an animation, artwork, story, whatever (mostly my comedy things), people support it and compliment it. And it's that encouragement that keeps me going and making more and more of that kind of stuff. Booyah, man. Booyah!

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]Also, considering all the 'things' you can do/see/[learn] online that mother should be content with a message board, lol.

^_-[/color]

[Katana]

I think the OtakuBoards teach you respect for other people. Also, I've met TONS of people on here, and (sadly) I have more best friends here than I do in real life.
I use the OB to vent out at the end of my school day. I also like to see what other people think. To me, it's a creativity center.
(That person's mom would almost kill me...I'm on OB for maybe 3-5 hours a day :sweat: )
You also learn the lessons of life here, such as there are jerks in the world, even Otaku jerks. You learn if people like your thinking or not, based on RPGs you've created. You know if people appreciate your graphical talent by your drawings/banners. You know if people think you'd make a great author by stories and things you put up in the Literature area.
The OtakuBoards are anything but a waste of time. It's a great place to learn new things and meet new friends.

[James]

[color=#707875]OtakuBoards is really just an entertainment site. But what wrist cutter said is right on the money; here, you need to be able to read/write in order to participate on every level.

And we encourage good use of English; the most popular members are usually the ones who write the most high quality posts.

So I think that's a tremendous positive.

Not to mention that we keep the site relatively friendly for all kinds of people -- and people are encouraged to share and discuss their creative works here.

So I think that for kids especially, OtakuBoards is offering a lot more than parents might expect. If there are any parents with concerns about our site, I'd be happy to send them an email about the boards, to ease those concerns.[/color]