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Here's the promised post.  RAR'ed testimony.
I lived all my life with a mother who always told me I wasn't good enough.  I never fit in with the cool kids.  As a result, I've constantly been trying to prove myself, with little success.  I was never good enough, or smart enough.  I was good, and I was smart.  But I was never the best.
This doesn't work out with life, and I'll explain more in my full testimony.
Recently, I was bottoming out.  Depressed and worse, God revealed Himself to me.
You guys have no idea how much a part of this you've all been.  I had the idea for a Wiki, created RDwiki, posted the post, and went to take a shower.  (FYI, I pray in the shower.)  The following conversation resulted.
Me: God, please have this wiki work out, and do well
God: Why?
Me: ...
Well, it'd be a great resource for new players, a great index.
God: And?
Me: ...And..  And because people would like me because of it.

God had me right there, with two words.  He spent the rest of the night showing me that He was the one, and the ONLY one, where I got who I am from.  No other person could affect who I am.

Sure, this sounds all basic and duh, but when God rocks you, He means it.
Since then, doors have been opening faster than I can go through them.  Did you know I've never had anyone call what I did "win" (or wyn), or give me a + 1 before?  All this glory and gratification I've been seeking, I've found in my savior.  But He didn't stop there.
Now I hope you can see why this special prize means something to me.  It means acceptance.  It means I'm somewhere where I know I'm supposed to be.

And you know what?  RDwiki's only getting better.

I was good, and I was smart.  But I was never the best.

I remember thinking this too back in the day.  I have since learned that although I am not the best at any one thing, I don't know anyone who is better than I am at everything.  For instance, there are several Redemption players who are better than I am at Redemption (Gabe, Justin, Maly, MKC, etc.).  But I can beat all of them in Tetris with one hand tied behind my back

Me: ...And..  And because people would like me because of it.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there will be times when the Wiki thing will lead to more frustration than elation.  It is a great idea, and I've enjoyed seeing people jump on board to help out.  You deserve the compliments that you've gotten as a result of it (and your other well thought out posts).  But there will come points where people will disagree as to what direction to go with it, and whichever side you choose will cause the other side to criticize the idea and you.  This is just part of how forums work, so please don't take it personally when it happens.

God had me right there, with two words.  He spent the rest of the night showing me that He was the one, and the ONLY one, where I got who I am from.  No other person could affect who I am.

This is the real answer.  More important than whether you are good at anything...more important than whether anyone on the forum likes you or respects you...is the fact that you are a child of God.  He created you and loves you and thinks that you are valuable enough to be worth more than his own life.  You are worth the death of God!  That is absolutely mind-boggling, and makes everything else really pale in comparison.

Thanks for sharing your testimony, I look forward to getting to know you better as you spend more time here.  I also will get back to your PM you sent me, but give me a little while.

Quote from: Prof Underwood on May 19, 2010, 10:52:35 PM

This is the real answer.  More important than whether you are good at anything...more important than whether anyone on the forum likes you or respects you...is the fact that you are a child of God.  He created you and loves you and thinks that you are valuable enough to be worth more than his own life.  You are worth the death of God!  That is absolutely mind-boggling, and makes everything else really pale in comparison.

About 70% of the times I pray, I make sure to go over this.  It is so insanely crucial to everything.

As to the wiki, things will go up and down, and around.  But no matter what happens, it doesn't mean one thing about me.
And I mean that.

If you are attending North East Regionals, I WANT to meet you.  Approach me as soon as you know it was I who posted this note.

God bless you, young Redemption Jedi knight!

Well roy should be there as well. If not I may be sad

  that's good!

It was like Karma or something. I think we called it blessing though.

First of all, FB does not have a thumb-down.  That's only half a reason, though, because the thumb-down part can be taken out of the system.  But even with a thumb-up only system, a lot of the same problems happened in the first day.

Second of all, this is a little more like Digg where people can accumulate happy points by having their posts thumbed.  You may ask why people would care about happy points enough to abuse a system like this, I would respond by pointing out the people who post just to increase their postcount, another mostly-meaningless number.

Third, places like Facebook and Digg have dozens of people who can program and re-program their systems, monitor performance and abuse, and take action accordingly.  I have only me.

I'm not saying it can't or won't happen, just that I'm not convinced at this point it is worth the hassle.  It wasn't worth it the last time.

He doesn't know what color his kids like, so he's got to get one of each.