Introduction

This is going to be a short post about respect and etiquette. I know you new guys are all super alphas that don't play by no man's rules, but do yourself a favour and listen up - you might learn something about TRP's internal dynamic and how to give due respect to other men on or above your level.

Being a Dick on the Internet

I've been noticing a lot of internal strife here recently. It's been coming out in different ways - some guys start throwing out insults, others act like they're part of some TRP insurrection against the mods/endorsed. Others yet are kicking up a fuss about GLO's t-shirt links. Now, let's be clear - disagreement is OK. But there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it. Now, I know a lot of you guys are new to the idea of dominance and masculinity, and are trying to express it on the internet. The fact of the matter is, TRP is a place of brotherhood and respect. Rather than shutting another guy down for making a mistake or for having a bad attitude, give him pointers and correct him. If someone disagrees with you, use it as an opportunity to test your beliefs by debating them out in the open. Save your posturing for the ladies.

Rebellion against all forms of authority is a beta move. Men work best within rigid hierarchies with room for meritocratic progression and that's exactly what TRP is. If you post quality content on a regular basis, you will earn the respect of your peers. For those who are recognised as being above you in the hierarchy (i.e. mods, endorsed, flaired), you should treat them with the respect that you would treat a mentor. This doesn't mean bowing down and taking GLO's dirty Russian cock up your ass as so many are keen to suggest when people defend his t-shirt posts, but it is recognising the merit of the work upon which his status stands. By being a little rebel anarchist who doesn't respect earned authority, you are being a special snowflake. Learn to recognise earned versus unearned authority.

Giving Respect Where It's Due

On the topic of mods and endorsed members, they've earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to wandering off the beaten track. If GLO decides to start camwhoring on TRP, you can be damn sure the mod team would've heard about it first and that they will deal with any transgressions where appropriate. Guidance and discipline cannot be hoisted upwards, only handed downwards. So what if you don't like that he includes a t-shirt link and some marketing spiel at the end of his posts - leave your downvote, state your disagreement in plain terms and move on, don't have a cry on the internet about it. By all means express disagreement, but take a moment to consider how much free time these guys have spent writing articles, for free, solely to benefit you. Noone's paying Whisper, F9R or GLO to spend their free time writing up new content for you, but for every new post that goes up there's a vocal minority trying their best to call out the author on some minor note or getting upset because a title is hyperbolic. Everything on TRP is hyperbolic because it's easier to lay out principles when you're not pausing for disclaimers every two seconds and we entrust the reader with the ability to understand the message. If you can't read F9R's post, "Looks are everything", and realise that he meant "Looks are important" then you need to work on your critical thinking skills because that shit is obvious.

Accepting Criticism

We've all been there. You throw out your opinion onto the internet and someone has the audacity to disagree with you or point out that you're wrong. No-one likes that shit. However, what I've been seeing far too much recently is for this type of scenario to devolve into a full-on e-penis jousting tournament with each contender trying to make the other lose frame through the internet. It's fucking dumb, guys. Part of sitting at the big boy table is being able to take and give criticism without attaching your ego to your opinions or viewpoint. This seems to be falling by the wayside at the moment and no-one stands to gain from a flame war, so here's a simple step-by-step on how to deal with conflict on the internet:

  1. You make a comment on a public forum, i.e. TRP
  2. Someone disagrees with you
  3. If you disagree with their counterpoint, respond with your comments
  4. You both part ways having hopefully learned from the other's perspective

There's another way this can go too, if someone else decides to get all teary and emotional with you. Your handy flow diagram:

  1. You post a disagreement/correction/whatever
  2. OP's tampon breaks, fucks are raining down like a cloudbreak in the Hebrides, emotions are running raw for some silly, silly reason
  3. Point and laugh at OP, remind him that he's on the internet and shouldn't get so upset

This works with sites like TBP too. Yes, TBP often calls us rapists, misogynists, etc etc. But it's entirely a waste of your (valuable) time to jump over there and wildly accuse everyone on that sub of being a beta faggot. You know who you are. By all means, read what they have to see and try to pick out legitimate criticisms of TRP philosophy - the only way to better understand a philosophy is to challenge it, attack it as a devil's advocate, read the public criticism of its tenets and try to find the flaws in their arguments and, failing that, your own understanding/opinion. But by leaping to defend TRP against criticism, you are doing the same thing that white-knight betas do when they leap to defend the girls they orbit.

TLDR

I lied that this post was going to be short. I also lied to myself in thinking it was going to be streamlined and follow a common theme. Sue me. The summary of this post is let's put on our big boy pants and treat each other, and particularly the senior members, with a bit of respect. Real men respect earned authority, and so should you. TRP welcomes disagreement and debate when it's conducted rationally, but I've seen far too many outbursts recently and I feel the matter needed addressing.

Peace, love, and good trim to all bros,

rpv

[edit] To Clarify

The endorsed members still have to run rule-bending activity by the mods. They don't get free reign to do whatever they want, but because they've earned some additional privileges, when they want to do something unorthodox they have the option of asking the mods directly whether it's ok to proceed. If an average user did the same, they might well get given the go-ahead too, but it's less likely because they haven't earned a position of privilege and additional consideration yet.