RinkWorks: Stupid Emails: You How to befunny site isn't funny to me.

299. You How to befunny site isn't funny to me.

To:  The Rink [mailto:sam@rinkworks.com]
Cc:  dave@rinkworks.com
Subject:  Re: Not funny
Date:  Mon, 12 Jan 2004 18:46:00 -0500

You How to befunny site isn't funny to me.

From:  The Rink [mailto:sam@rinkworks.com]
Cc:  dave@rinkworks.com
Subject:  Re: Not funny
Date:  Mon, 12 Jan 2004 20:31:00 -0500

Yeah, and?

To:  The Rink [mailto:sam@rinkworks.com]
Cc:  dave@rinkworks.com
Subject:  Re: Not funny
Date:  Mon, 12 Jan 2004 23:03:00 -0500

Well,
I expected much more of it, because i thought you maybe were gonna tell a
story about humor in a funny way. But that wasn't what i read.
Maybe i made a mistake and you mean with the story a serious story about
humor. Well, i think you succeeded in that goal. Probably i had the wrong
expections.

Harry *****,

Holland

From:  The Rink [mailto:sam@rinkworks.com]
Cc:  dave@rinkworks.com
Subject:  Re: Not funny
Date:  Tue, 13 Jan 2004 05:47

The point of How To Be Funny is that the instructions given in it are *not*
funny.  Yes, it is an attempt at humor, but as you should already understand,
humor is subjective and highly sensitive to language and cultural barriers.
You're from Holland.  You speak English well enough, but not so fluently that
humor isn't going to be lost in the translation.  And even aside from the
language barrier, your sense of humor is going to be quite different from
that of those in other countries.

The bottom line is, taking time out of your day to write an email just to say
something we wrote isn't funny to you is a complete waste of time, not to
mention a bit rude.  We don't know you from any of the other five billion people
on the planet.  Why would we care about your stamp of approval?  If you had
reasons or some constructive criticism to offer, that would be a different
matter.  Probably we still wouldn't care,  but at least then your letter would
not have been pointless and discourteous.

To:  "The Rink" <sam@rinkworks.com>
Subject:  RE: Not funny
Date:  Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:28:38 +0100

Dear sir,

Someone on the web (a site about movies, where people can react on the
movie) was referring to your site,according to what's humor and which wasn't.
So i went to that site, your site.

Your sentence from below 'because we wrote How To Be Funny
for our own amusement, not anybody else's' is strange and a bit crazy:
you have a site about humor on the web, so that other people can read it. So
you want it to read, i suppose! You 'give instructions' (see below).To
whom....?,.. to yourself? It's a public site!
I only said what my thoughts and feelings were about your site, by mailing
you, because there is a button on your site for contact. So I did that.
You don't like to be critized, i now understand. It causes you anger, that's
for sure.
I think a was not rude, i just gave my opinion, i didn't like your site, i
think it missed some chances to very good humor. But I don't have the time
to give you other ideas.I think your site is a bit waste of time to us all.
If you do not can stand criticism, when you make something for billions of
peolpe, don't go in public but hold your things to yourself.
Now you give me an rude answer with rude words. I didn't do that.
I feel tears and pain.

From:  The Rink [mailto:sam@rinkworks.com]
Subject:  Re: Not funny
Date:  Tue, 13 Jan 2004 22:00

> Your sentence from below 'because we wrote How To Be Funny
> for our own amusement, not anybody else's' is strange and a bit crazy:
> you have a site about humor on the web, so that other people can read it.  So
> you want it to read, i suppose! You 'give instructions' (see below).To
> whom....?,.. to yourself? It's a public site!

Uh.  Yeah, we wrote it with the idea that other people might benefit from what
we wrote, but is it so hard to imagine that an artist or writer create for
oneself primarily?

> I only said what my thoughts and feelings were about your site, by mailing
> you, because there is a button on your site for contact. So I did that.
> You don't like to be critized, i now understand. It causes you anger, that's
> for sure.

Yeah, pointless rudeness like yours sure does.  But had you said *why* you
didn't think it was funny instead of just delivering a one-liner that is
quite useless to us, I would not have been angry at all.  Is the difference
that elusive to you?

> But I don't have the time
> to give you other ideas.I think your site is a bit waste of time to us all.

But that's where you're just flat wrong.  Maybe it's a waste of time to *you*,
but I assure you that 90% of the feedback we've gotten for How To Be Funny
has been quite positive.  More comic "How To..." articles like that one are
one of the most common requests we get.

That does not make it perfect, by any means.  I admit that there is surely
room for improvement, and that's where constructive criticism from those who
don't like it as much as others do would be helpful to us.

But for you to assume that your own solitary opinion speaks for "all" is
pompous arrogance at its finest, perfectly in keeping with the attitude you
seem to have that an "I do not like it" from a stranger is helpful to us.

> I feel tears and pain.

Learn from them.

To:  "The Rink" <sam@rinkworks.com>
Subject:  RE: Not funny
Date:  Wed, 14 Jan 2004 01:37:38 +0100

> Uh.  Yeah, we wrote it with the idea that other people might benefit from what
> we wrote, but is it so hard to imagine that an artist or writer create for
> oneself primarily?

So you now agree, that you want attention to it from other people
and don't do it just for yourself? You speak in tongs, you know
that?

> Yeah, pointless rudeness like yours sure does.  But had you said *why* you
> didn't think it was funny instead of just delivering a one-liner that is
> quite useless to us, I would not have been angry at all.  Is the difference
> that elusive to you?

When i stand in front of a painting (speaking in terms of
articism)and i say in the presence of the artist who painted
it :'i don't like it': is that pointless, useless, rudeness?? Do i have to make
constructive remarks? You are kidding, i suppose?

> But that's where you're just flat wrong.  Maybe it's a waste of time to *you*,
> but I assure you that 90% of the feedback we've gotten for How To Be Funny
> has been quite positive.  More comic "How To..." articles like that one are
> one of the most common requests we get.

This was a remark from me in reaction to your vocabulairy, that
my first remark was in your eyes a complete waste of time. That's rude
talking and arrogance!
I just slam the ball back (or how do you say that).

> That does not make it perfect, by any means.  I admit that there is surely
> room for improvement, and that's where constructive criticism from those who
> don't like it as much as others do would be helpful to us.

I just was helpful to you to give you the feedback that i don't
like it, so that you know, that i don't like it. But i understand now that
you don't like such reactions.

> But for you to assume that your own solitary opinion speaks for "all" is
> pompous arrogance at its finest, perfectly in keeping with the attitude you
> seem to have that an "I do not like it" from a stranger is helpful to us.

Idem: This was a remark from me in reaction to your
vocabulairy, that my first remark was in your eyes a complete waste of time.
That's rude and arrogance!
I just slam the ball back (or how do you say that).

I am honest to let see feelings about your reaction.
According to your reactions you are in anger. Angry people always are angry
because they are missing something. I think you are sad about that i don't
find your site funny.
And you ned that very much. Arrogance is let see another feeling than what's
in the basic of yourself.
In your final words 'learn from them' i see a sad person,but you cannot let
see that.

I think you can learn of the fact that you make a site as a bit of art (or
whatever is the name)for billions of people.Internet is in my opinion a very
unpersonal way of communication. You have chosen a very vulnerable way of
showing something -which is so i see now - very precious to you.
But no one may say you just that it is not funny.
Than I only can say like George Bush said: 'If you can't stand the heat, get
out of the kitchen'.

From:  The Rink <sam@rinkworks.com>
Subject:  Re: Not funny
Date:  Wed, 14 Jan 2004 13:39:55 -0800

> You still don't show to me your true feelings...
> Your defending sadness and needs to be noticed, that you want to see as
> witty with your site "how to be funny'.And still can't stand, tyhat someone
> finds it not funny.....

Go away.

To:  "The Rink" <sam@rinkworks.com>
Subject:  RE: Not funny
Date:  Wed, 14 Jan 2004 23:33:04 +0100

Ga ook weg

Admittedly, this is not one of my most shining moments. I came down too hard, mostly on my second email, and I suspect a lot of the problem here is the result of cultural differences. To me, his painting example is downright mind-boggling. Sure, be honest with your opinion if you're going to be constructive about it, but if all you're going to say is "I don't like it" when you weren't even asked, just shut up instead. This is the phenomenon that, in all the years RinkWorks has been around, I've never gotten over: how so many people out there figure that the existence of a web page indicates that they are owed a debt of satisfaction. If I put up a web page and someone doesn't like it, they have the prerogative to complain. It's a consumer mentality. We pay for nearly everything we receive -- even community services are paid for by our taxes -- and we certainly have a right to complain if we pay for something we are not satisfied with. But when people are given something for free, they just don't know how to handle it any other way. At any rate, gotta love an email exchange that ends in "Ga ook weg."