La Bene Vita

Another extra post: Keith!

I have the sweetest man, ever...

When it comes to Writing.Com, I'm always afraid I'll be judged by my RL friends and family. We all hear enough of the sarcastic comments about networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to know that there are still people who judge us for using them. When I discovered Writing.Com, I thought it was just a place to post writing and get feedback, but I quickly discovered the networking side. Writing.Com is not much different from MySpace and Facebook, and though it may be a tad more intellectual and useful, I fear judgment.

Meanwhile, Keith is not an Internet networker. He's bright, computer-savvy, and has an engineering degree, but the Internet is just not his style. His style is sunny-day-on-the-golf-course in the summer and beer-and-football-with-the-guys in the winter (which I confess warily, recognizing the potential for reverse judgment as I share this with my non-beer-and-football Internet-networking friends.)

Somehow, though, Keith has been different for me. As I explain in "It's So Easy"  [18+], it's easy to talk to him. He knows about the Challenge I'm running through October, "October Novel Prep Challenge"  [13+], because I mention it daily. He hears how I need to update my spreadsheet, send out my daily close-out email, or chase down my judges. I share many complimentary posts in the forum, like the one that says how ready the participant is for NaNoWriMo, or how great the participant thought a particular challenge was. Keith knows that the Challenge is important to me, and that I do it because it makes me feel good, knowing that I'm helping people. He likes that about me. He even got onto me for disqualifying people after three days of absence, because if they come back on that fourth day and post all four, are they not meeting the intent of the Challenge? He is the reason that I implemented Runner-Up Prize for those participants, which is going to be just as good as the regular prize.

I still have that lingering fear of judgment, and when he asked me what the prizes were, I hesitated. How do you explain Merit Badges to RL friends, or the inevitable parallel Gift Points topic? I was afraid to discuss GPs, because it involves money.

Naturally, GPs came up, and he asked what they're used for. I explained that one of the biggest things is upgrades, and I showed him the Shop, so he could see GPs versus dollars. I explained that you can just outright purchase an upgrade, and that I had just upgraded to Premium last month (paying $70 more than a regular Upgrade would have cost for the year.) I got the dreaded question: "Why?"

Gah! What do you say? I paid $70 extra for a costumicon? No, that's not why, nor is it really the extra space in my port. Frankly, although I'm pushing the Upgrade limit of 250, I could easily clean out my port. I rarely receive feedback anymore, and I no longer get as much out of WDC as I give, except maybe what I learn in the giving. So, why the Premium, then? There is an answer, and it's very simple, but y'all are never gonna believe it. You may not understand it. I was certain that Keith wouldn't. The answer is:

I needed the Website feature for "October Novel Prep Challenge"  [13+].  I paid $70 so I could maintain my Prep Log.

And do you know what Keith said? After the pointed line of questioning, that one, simple, true explanation generated: "Oh! That makes complete sense. You needed it for your contest." And it retrospect, I was more suspicious of his questioning than he probably deserved. I think he was just trying to understand, not judge. Even when I confessed that I paid money to run this Challenge for other people, he didn't judge me or suggest better ways we could spend $70. Instead, he fully supported me. Also, when I tried to explain about this networking site that I love, he asked lots of questions not out of malicious intent, but because he's interested in my interests and wants to understand why I enjoy spending so much time here.

Shh, don't tell: I'm gonna get him a golf GPS and a new set of clubs for Christmas.