[D] The new Zerg standard for all match-ups? - Page 47

A history of jdseemoreglass

A lurker for many years, he finally sees reason to create an account once SC2 came out.
He reads the threads and sees countless posts theorycrafting and making outlandish claims without solid evidence or data to back it up. For days and days the forum is filled with post after post of people arguing points that could be solved by something as simple as a test or replay. But no one seems to follow through. Eventually each thread devolves into an egotistical flame war of people attacking eachother and accomplishing nothing for anyone.

So he decides to make a thread. This thread will have a solid approach, being as scientific as possible. Each criticism and complaint will not be simply debated with meaningless theory and argument: actual data and evidence that no reasonable person could reject would be provided to finally put an end to the debate and firmly establish a foundation for further discussion.

The purpose of the thread was to conclude with empirical evidence which zerg build was the most economical. He tried his best to strictly define the criteria and also preempt the inevitable criticisms that the most economical build was "irrelevant" to anything in the actual game.

The thread opened. At first there was a degree of optimism. People liked the idea of finally having some data instead of just taking someone's word for something. They seemed willing to help, to offer suggestions, to reach conclusions, and to limit the damage of passing trolls.

Unfortunately, as time went on, the thread became more and more about theorycraft and less about actual data. Some of the arguments and criticisms were reasonable. Some were clearly not. Jdseemoreglass and a few others did their best to answer each criticism. Unfortunately, it soon became clear that nothing could answer these claims except actual evidence.

So the OP set to work again. They said testing each build twice was not enough, so he tested multiple times. They said testing one time wasn't enough, so he tested in 30 second intervals. They said 6 minutes wasn't a long enough frame, so he extended the testing time. They said they wanted graphs to visualize the differences, so he put the data in an excel sheet and created graphs and posted them to the thread with replays as evidence.

Did this help things? Not at all...

The builds weren't viable in a real game. The builds didn't include gas. The builds didn't include scouting. Gas and scouting will hurt one build more than another... Was there evidence to backup these claims? No, but there didn't need to be. Any claim that could come into the mind was posted.

So jdseemoreglass had learned his lesson. He knew he could not combat baseless claims forever, and they would go on forever if he tried. He decided the next thread he created, he would make a change. He would demand that any claim or criticism had to have actual evidence to back it up. Theorycraft alone was not allowed.

And you should have seen the anger that arose. The OP is a jackass. The OP is a moron. The OP is a giant douche. The OP is a single-minded fanatic who refuses to listen to criticism! The OP is an ego-driven close-minded fool who ruins the thread with his unwillingness to be proven wrong with theory and claims.

Did anyone actually provide data to back up their claims? Yes. One person. jacobman created a thread to come up with data that was superior to the OP's, and he posted it. Once jdseemoreglass saw that this person had legitimate data and evidence and that his argument was reasonable, he stated so, and went back and changed the information in his OP to reflect the new results.

Did this change anyone's opinion? No. They already had fomented their irrational anger. Post after post continued to attack him. More people began joining the thread in order to post their own theorycraft. The build loses to zealots. The build loses to stalkers. The build loses to 2rax. The build is ruined if you try to get vespene gas. None of the pros have used the build. The build is worthless because it isn't the most economical possible.

So the OP went and opened notepad, and calmly wrote down his thoughts in order to prevent himself from snapping on the forum and getting himself temp-banned for insulting multiple people, pros included. And he decided to post it to the thread just for kicks. He knew the attacks would come, and they would pick apart each sentence and tear into the post like dogs on a carcass.

But he knew he could sit and read the posts, and have a laugh for a change...