Why do some people just have to put others down?

mistybison said:Maybe we should all just add a laurel wreath to our avatars, just to be safe, if only to protect ourselves from these forum vampires. 🤔

If the old legends are right, the only way to deal with vampires is a wooden stake through the heart or just taking their head off—probably easiest to do while they're sleeping. Garlic isn't even the real deal; it's more like a mild deterrent than actual protection...

neonmarlin39 said:If the old legends are right, the only way to deal with vampires is a wooden stake through the heart or just taking their head off—probably easiest to do while they're sleeping. Garlic isn't even the real deal; it's more like a mild deterrent than actual protection...

We don't have much of an alternative here on the forum... 🤷

mistybison said:Maybe we should all just add a laurel wreath to our avatars, just to be safe, if only to protect ourselves from these forum vampires. 🤔

Could you elaborate on what you mean by that?

neonmarlin39 said:If the old legends are right, the only way to deal with vampires is a wooden stake through the heart or just taking their head off—probably easiest to do while they're sleeping. Garlic isn't even the real deal; it's more like a mild deterrent than actual protection...

Art can be quite healing, much like a good sense of humor. That’s precisely why I brought up *What We Do in the Shadows*.

Sam Wright21 said:Art can be quite healing, much like a good sense of humor. That’s precisely why I brought up *What We Do in the Shadows*.

I would argue that one must engage deeply and actively with music, painting, sculpture, or perhaps writing to truly find that solace...

It serves as a remedy even for the most casual consumer...

Sam Wright21 said:It serves as a remedy even for the most casual consumer...

True enough, though I would venture to suggest that active engagement is significantly more intense; the experience itself feels exponentially more profound—though, of course, one can never truly grasp someone else's perspective, as these subjective realities likely vary wildly from person to person...

Sam Wright21 said:Could you elaborate on what you mean by that?

It was just a joke. 😁

For instance, if we used an avatar like this, they might actually run away 😁 :

A-ha. That little pack of zealots won't run from anything 😬

The forum acts as their sanctuary, a digital fortress where they feel untouchable. You don't even need to invite them into your home; you just have to step inside "theirs."

feralranger said:True enough, though I would venture to suggest that active engagement is significantly more intense; the experience itself feels exponentially more profound—though, of course, one can never truly grasp someone else's perspective, as these subjective realities likely vary wildly from person to person...

You're absolutely right, but let's be honest: not everyone possesses that kind of capacity.

Sam Wright21 said:You're absolutely right, but let's be honest: not everyone possesses that kind of capacity.

Most—and I use that term loosely—people possess a shred of talent for at least one of the things mentioned, but even if they lack any particular gift, the point isn't necessarily to achieve global stardom (which, let's be honest, would likely require an extraordinary level of talent anyway)...

However, very few people actually take the time to listen to music with true devotion, in an environment specifically prepared for such an experience where one can actually feel the full weight of the sound...

I find myself in complete agreement with you.

Sam Wright21 said:I experienced this exact phenomenon right here on the ZUD forums, where I was essentially ganged up on by a mob,😬

In my view, what we are witnessing is a classic case of emotional vampirism; they are simply looking to drain your vitality. There are essentially three distinct archetypes of emotional or energetic vampires, and the question is which kind you happen to encounter.

For instance, the type I encountered on the ZUD forums—who largely operate through pack mentality because they are nothing more than mediocrities—is impossible to avoid, as they rely on crude, low-brow humor to mock others.

A subcategory of this would be the "geniuses," figures like Carlos Castaneda or Pablo Picasso; they tend to strike individually, possessing enough intellectual weight to employ methods far more cruel and sophisticated than the average mediocre crowd.

Your post specifically addresses that first group.

Then, you have the vampires who attempt to kill you through sheer logorrhea—endless, tedious monologues—much like our colleague hiddenpuma75.

Finally, there is the third type, which I personally find the most exhausting: the eternal complainers, the perpetual mourners, the endless victims. Those are the ones I prefer to avoid at all costs.

There is a great movie called What We Do in the Shadows about vampires, and it was later adapted into a series. In that context, there is a modern twist involving an emotional vampire of a different sort. He spends time with a female vampire of the third type, but their relationship inevitably collapses because they are too evenly matched; neither can satisfy their parasitic need to drain energy from the other.

1. Miss, this is my first time running into you in this coffee shop. I don't know anything about you or how you operate, yet I see you've already jumped to a ready-made diagnosis of my personality. 😲

2. Please give me a little time to catch up on your past posts and what you're writing now, so I can provide a response that is actually dignified, fair, and meaningful 😁 before I decide to file you away into some simplistic little mental folder, say... 🐔 or 🙂

3. It seems to me that you (let me switch to "you" informally 😁 so I can drain your energy a bit more 😒 )
have read all three books by that woman from Los Angeles called

4. That woman carries anti-vampire gear everywhere she goes; she spots varying degrees of vampirism in almost every relationship she encounters 😲 🙂 just like our own Sam Wright21...

5. Come on, admit it. Looking at my personality and ours, have you read Serena Alba from LA and turned into such a vampire hunter? 😁

hiddenpuma75, rather than draining my spirit, you actually managed to give me a laugh 😬

If you start airing all those grievances over at the Psychocouch, maybe you'll finally find some way to save a buck 😬

Even if you persist with those endless ramblings about Dr. Mark, I won't be particularly moved. Nor will I sit here rehashing the works of Serena Alba—I'm hearing about her for the very first time

PS All my insights regarding those specific types of vampires come from nothing more than my own direct observations.

Sam Wright21 said:I experienced this exact phenomenon right here on the ZUD forums, where I was essentially ganged up on by a mob,😬

In my view, what we are witnessing is a classic case of emotional vampirism; they are simply looking to drain your vitality. There are essentially three distinct archetypes of emotional or energetic vampires, and the question is which kind you happen to encounter.

For instance, the type I encountered on the ZUD forums—who largely operate through pack mentality because they are nothing more than mediocrities—is impossible to avoid, as they rely on crude, low-brow humor to mock others.

A subcategory of this would be the "geniuses," figures like Carlos Castaneda or Pablo Picasso; they tend to strike individually, possessing enough intellectual weight to employ methods far more cruel and sophisticated than the average mediocre crowd.

Your post specifically addresses that first group.

Then, you have the vampires who attempt to kill you through sheer logorrhea—endless, tedious monologues—much like our colleague hiddenpuma75.

Finally, there is the third type, which I personally find the most exhausting: the eternal complainers, the perpetual mourners, the endless victims. Those are the ones I prefer to avoid at all costs.

There is a great movie called What We Do in the Shadows about vampires, and it was later adapted into a series. In that context, there is a modern twist involving an emotional vampire of a different sort. He spends time with a female vampire of the third type, but their relationship inevitably collapses because they are too evenly matched; neither can satisfy their parasitic need to drain energy from the other.

If you're looking to complete your dossier on hiddenpuma75, here are a few "diagnoses" I've picked up over my 20 years of posting on this forum:

1) I'd start with the fact that Sigmund Freud basically branded me a fascist and an obscurantist.

2. Then there's the right-wing Aljoša, who decided I was spreading some kind of "Luciferian gnosis" poison. 😲

3. As for mistybison, she's been reporting lately that I'm getting on her nerves, claiming she's put me on ignore and publicly pleading with the forum to ignore me too.

Since I haven't used the ignore button once in 20 years of forum life, I refuse to indulge such a perversion. Everyone is welcome in the kingdom of hiddenpuma75. 😍

4. Now I can see Sam Wright21 commenting on all this, using her usual lens to claim that everyone is just being nice because I'm sucking up their energy. 🤣

5. Flying high, she often mocks me with her tangents and digressions, but I don't sweat it too much. She's quite promiscuous with her sarcasm and throws it at everyone, so there's nothing special about it. 🙂

6. My true forum nemesis and sworn enemy, Beljki, has churned out every possible diagnosis regarding my character and work, including his ultimate insult: calling me "ANTI-STEM." 😁
All I can say in response is that he decided to start studying math at age 40 and is incredibly proud of it. While he was wandering around India making a mess of things and disappointing his parents, 🙂 I was busy passing advanced math and physics exams. 🙂

7. To be continued...

I'm off to go practice my planks ! 😍

Blah blah blah

That’s about all I managed to get through before losing interest🤔

Sam Wright21 said:A-ha. That little pack of zealots won't run from anything 😬

The forum acts as their sanctuary, a digital fortress where they feel untouchable. You don't even need to invite them into your home; you just have to step inside "theirs."

As a rule, I don't participate in subforums dealing with "life" topics. I might write a post once every six months, but it's extremely rare. Usually, I only chime in if a headline catches my eye on the main page. The discussions in those sections are incredibly strange. Someone will come in presenting a dilemma or seeking advice, only to be attacked and torn apart by other users until the victim ends up being blamed for everything—as if they were the worst person on earth. Or, people construct bizarre scenarios about their lives that leave the individual feeling insecure, terrified, disillusioned, or foolish. Ultimately, the author certainly feels ten times worse after posting than they did before.

I believe this happens because there is a dominant forum philosophy that suggests an author needs to be "slapped with the truth." There used to be a certain level of witty benevolence in those interactions, but as the direct and good-natured users disappeared, all that remained was the "brutal slap." Not every thread is like this, but many are. The only life-related topics that aren't quite so harsh are found in the psychology section, which is the only subforum I occasionally visit (though less frequently than before). I don't even read the others. When I first returned to the forum two years ago, I would start reading one of those threads and find it so aggravating and unsettling that I eventually gave up the habit altogether.

Sam Wright21 said:hiddenpuma75, rather than draining my spirit, you actually managed to give me a laugh 😬

If you start airing all those grievances over at the Psychocouch, maybe you'll finally find some way to save a buck 😬

Even if you persist with those endless ramblings about Dr. Mark, I won't be particularly moved. Nor will I sit here rehashing the works of Serena Alba—I'm hearing about her for the very first time

PS All my insights regarding those specific types of vampires come from nothing more than my own direct observations.

Anyway, here is a quick little take on vampirism and this particular book

https://www.amazon.com/books/vampire-romance-classic

Sam Wright21 said:For starters, it means not being an emotional vampire...

It’s basically a textbook case of a symbiotic relationship

Ever read Fifty Shades of Grey?

I know exactly what’s going on here; I haven't actually sat down to watch or read any of it, despite how much buzz it seems to be generating.

It boils down to a symbiotic relationship, doesn't it? I still haven't quite figured out why I have such a weakness for those third-tier vampires—the ones who act like needy, clingy toddlers. I suppose I get something out of it, but what? Maybe just a fleeting sense of hope? 🤔

That said, if you find yourself being blindsided by a vampire, calling it a "symbiotic relationship" feels like a bit of a stretch. But then again, that's just how they play it in the movies. In real life, you can always fight your way out.