# Why are some of Feliks Zemdegs' fans rude?



## potatoman (Jul 10, 2016)

Okay so fair warning: this is gonna be kind of a long rant, and it may include some "unpopular opinions". If you're offended by either of these things, stop reading now because you will not like this post. That being said, I'd like to see some discussion on this because it's something I've wondered about for awhile now.

Let's talk Feliks. He's a cuber; probably the most famous one in the world. He's also extremely fast, debatably the best in the world. He literally has a playlist on his channel named "World Records" because he's gotten so many that it was worth his time making an entire playlist of it, to help people navigate it easier. However, (here comes the unpopular opinion):

He's overrated.

Now don't get me the wrong way; I don't mean any hate at all. And Feliks, if you actually end up reading this, please don't be offended; I recognize how good you are at cubing, and your awesome personality and everything. I think you're a great guy, and would be a pretty awesome friend if I ever managed to meet you in real life. I don't have a negative impression of you, that's not the point. What I have a negative impression of, however, are your fans. 

That being said, I'm obviously not targeting all of your fans, considering there's a lot of them and it would be pretty ignorant of me to make such a broad generalization. However, I will say there is a decent enough chunk of people that quite literally worship you, even to the point of putting others down for it, and I'm just not okay with that. 

Looking up "Feliks Zemdegs" on YouTube will result in a bunch of results, and you can really see how popular Feliks is in the cubing community: people re-upload his videos, make comparisons, have interviews, etc. That's cool and fine, there's nothing wrong with supporting someone you consider a role model, and I think that Feliks is a good choice for that (of course excluding stuff like plagiarizing his videos; that's not cool). However, time and time again, I have seen comments and offhanded posts that mention Feliks as a way to put others down, and it seems like some of the fastest cubers get this "hate". 

For example, look at Lucas Etter. He recently posted a 4 second solve, which is undoubtedly very impressive, even at a world class level. How did everyone react? Well there was the fair share of congratulations, jeaousy, and generic "HOW DO I GET FASTER" questions, but I also saw a worrying amount of comments...comparing him to Feliks. 

"feliks beat him easily"
"Meh, not 3.85"
"feliks is still better"

This is just an example of the types of comments I see on all the videos. Is this type of comparison to put others down really necessary? Is the negativity necessary? We get it; you like Feliks, we all like Feliks, and he's super fast. However, I don't think that justifies going on someone else's video and commenting "You suck, Feliks is better than you." It's just not how it works; it's common social etiquette. If someone gets a 3x3 world record single, you should be congratulating them, not spamming "You got lucky. Feliks is still better than you. He'll take world record back." Even after that, there are comments like "This is only a single, and Feliks has the WR Average, so he's still better than you. You just got lucky once." It's honestly an overwhelming amount of these side comments on cubing videos once I started paying attention to this, and I've grown kind of sick of it. We all think Feliks is a good cuber, but straight up going on someone else's video and saying that they suck and Feliks is better is just straight up disrespect, and I think our community deserves better than that.

I think a lot of this negativity comes from change. Feliks appeared suddenly; he was literally at the world class level by the time he went to his first competition. He started getting world records really fast, and basically surpassed every other speedcuber at the time. As such, people grow attached to him, they grow accustomed to seeing him being "better than everyone else". And now, when a lot of other cubers are getting faster and catching up to Feliks's speed, people don't like that because they want Feliks to remain at the top, so they start emphasizing on how much better he is than everyone else. This is what creates this massive chunk of disrespect and comparisons to put other cubers down.

So with all that being said, I'd like to clarify: I don't think Feliks is a bad person. He has absolutely nothing to do with all of this, ironically. It's his overly attached fanbase that is the problem. Do I have a solution for this? Not really, since so many people know and love him and there's no way I can even come close to talking to all of these people. However for people who do have the patience to read this long rant, maybe it'll challenge you to think of a better way to resolve this onslaught of disrespect that I've been seeing. 

Of course, you can all hate me after this for "hating on Feliks" because I mentioned something negative related to him (not that it even has to do with him, once again). But if that does happen, I guess it just proves my point even more. 

anyway, that was a long post and I'm pretty much done now. It'd be cool to see some discussion in here, especially if you disagree or agree with me, I'd like to know. But yeah, think I'm done now so toodles~ (sorry cyoubx)


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## Yetiowin (Jul 10, 2016)

I think most of those comments are sarcastic and not meant as insults to Lucas or other cubers.


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## potatoman (Jul 10, 2016)

Yetiowin said:


> I think most of those comments are sarcastic and not meant as insults to Lucas or other cubers.


Sarcastic or not, it's still disrespectful and there's way too much of it. I can tolerate one or two of these, but seeing them on almost every single video of a cuber that's decently fast isn't cool. 

Also some may be sarcastic, but I can tell when they're being absolutely serious; for example, the person repeatedly argues/states that Feliks is "better". I doubt that's sarcasm, they very well meant it.


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## hamfaceman (Jul 10, 2016)

Give us one reason why this is his fault.
Basically, what you are saying is "I'm sick of this person being the best in the world at something! Why do people who want to one day be world champion look up to the world champion? They should be looking up to somebody else!"
Tell me how any of that is rational.


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## 4Chan (Jul 10, 2016)

Speedsolving's not your blog man, just imagine everyone writing a rant.


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## potatoman (Jul 10, 2016)

hamfaceman said:


> Give us one reason why this is his fault.



That's not at all what I'm saying. Can you reread my post? I specifically state, multiple times, that this has nothing to do with Feliks himself.

Quote here: "So with all that being said, I'd like to clarify: I don't think Feliks is a bad person. He has absolutely nothing to do with all of this, ironically."



hamfaceman said:


> Basically, what you are saying is "I'm sick of this person being the best in the world at something! Why do people who want to one day be world champion look up to the world champion? They should be looking up to somebody else!"
> Tell me how any of that is rational.



I think you misunderstand my point. When did I ever say "I'm sick of this person being the best"? When do I ever mention these people who look up to Feliks because he's fast should look up to someone else instead? Don't misquote my intentions. That's not what I mean. I thought I made it clear, but obviously you didn't understand it.

I'm completely okay with people looking up to Feliks. 

"Looking up "Feliks Zemdegs" on YouTube will result in a bunch of results, and you can really see how popular Feliks is in the cubing community: people re-upload his videos, make comparisons, have interviews, etc. That's cool and fine, there's nothing wrong with supporting someone you consider a role model, and I think that Feliks is a good choice for that (of course excluding stuff like plagiarizing his videos; that's not cool)"

I'm completely okay with Feliks being the best in the world; in fact, I admitted it IN THE POST.

What I have a problem with is the way people use him in comments to put other cubers down. "You suck because Feliks is better." "Feliks has a better time than you." "You're not as fast as Feliks, you got lucky" etc etc

Do you see the point now? I don't hate Feliks. I don't think he did anything wrong. I think some of his fans however, have the wrong idea.


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## potatoman (Jul 10, 2016)

4Chan said:


> Speedsolving's not your blog man, just imagine everyone writing a rant.


hah thanks buddy, that's nice to know you're helping contribute to this discussion.

But seriously though, I call it a rant but it's not even much of one; it's more of a serious problem that I've continuously seen in the community. I'm trying to help our community be better, what are you trying to contribute with that comment?


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## GenTheThief (Jul 10, 2016)

So, is this post an attempt to try to bring awareness to fazfans of their inappropriate behavior?
If it is, I think it should be mentioned in the original post.
If not, what was the point of this rant?


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## Jaysammey777 (Jul 10, 2016)

I like the fact that you base your opinion of Feliks Fans off of Youtube comments. As everyone knows Youtube comment section is the best and has amazingly no trolls that post random and unrelated topics, not at all, youtube comments are the best.


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## potatoman (Jul 10, 2016)

GenTheThief said:


> So, is this post an attempt to try to bring awareness to fazfans of their inappropriate behavior?
> If it is, I think it should be mentioned in the original post.
> If not, what was the point of this rant?



Yeah it was meant to bring awareness. I wasn't feeling very creative with titles lol



Jaysammey777 said:


> I like the fact that you base your opinion of Feliks Fans off of Youtube comments. As everyone knows Youtube comment section is the best and has amazingly no trolls that post random and unrelated topics, not at all, youtube comments are the best.



To be fair, I did say that I wasn't including everyone, and only selective people that I've seen. However if you think YouTube comments don't suffice, where else would you want me to get more evidence? The forums are generally filled with older, more mature cubers so you wouldn't find too many here (in addition to regulations and stuff). A lot of the cubing community is filled with younger children, and the most optimal way to find everyone is literally go on YouTube.

YouTube is by far the best source to get comments because that's where the majority of Feliks's fans reside. There are trolls, but there are also those who are deadly serious. It's easy to tell the difference.

Anyway, point is that I understand that you can't control internet trolls from hating on others. However, does that mean we shouldn't do anything to stop them? I refuse to just sit here and see literally hundreds of people commenting hate on others' videos. This isn't an average "one hater" on the internet; it's literally hundreds, maybe even thousands.


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## GenTheThief (Jul 10, 2016)

potatoman said:


> Yeah it was meant to bring awareness. I wasn't feeling very creative with titles lol



Because, as my english teacher would say, you have content, but you're not telling me why you're telling me this.
Just preface the main part of the post explaining that you feel that fazfans are inappropriately putting down others and should be aware of their attitude. Then go on to give evidence: your main post.
Otherwise, this is just a rant and not really worth reading.
Gosh I dont even like english that much.


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## Chicken Noodle (Jul 10, 2016)

potatoman said:


> but straight up going on someone else's video and saying that *they suck *and Feliks is better is just straight up disrespect


I've never seen that happen before.

Also, keep in mind that a lot of the cubing community is made up of kids. You can't expect them all to be mature on the internet ... in the Youtube comments section.

However, I think these comments are mostly harmless. I don't think that it's anything that top tier speedcubers haven't seen before. Honestly, if I were Lucas or Collin (or any other speedcuber with a decent chance of getting a 3x3 WR), these kinds of comparisons would probably motivate me more to prove them wrong.
Is it unnecessary? Yeah. Is it "hate" or blatant disrespect? Not really in my opinion, but I'm not Lucas Etter. It would be interesting to see what he thinks. I had a look at his 4.628 solve and his 5.844 ao5 and only 4 or 5 out of the 174 comments in total were what you described (I only skimmed through them, so there's some margin for error). That's hardly 


potatoman said:


> literally hundreds, maybe even thousands.


or


potatoman said:


> everyone


.


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## potatoman (Jul 10, 2016)

Chicken Noodle said:


> Also, keep in mind that a lot of the cubing community is made up of kids. You can't expect them all to be mature on the internet ... in the Youtube comments section.



Yes, I completely understand that part. There's unfortunately not much we can do about that. The point though, is to raise awareness to this type of stuff happening since I barely see anyone bring it up. I'm kind of surprised it doesn't annoy others honestly.



Chicken Noodle said:


> However, I think these comments are mostly harmless. I don't think that it's anything that top tier speedcubers haven't seen before. Honestly, if I were Lucas or Collin (or any other speedcuber with a decent chance of getting a 3x3 WR), these kinds of comparisons would probably motivate me more to prove them wrong.
> Is it unnecessary? Yeah. Is it "hate" or blatant disrespect? Not really in my opinion, but I'm not Lucas Etter. It would be interesting to see what he thinks. I had a look at his 4.628 solve and his 5.844 ao5 and only 4 or 5 out of the 174 comments in total were what you described (I only skimmed through them, so there's some margin for error).



It's mostly harmless, but you never know that. I think the point is to minimize it. I mean, if you got a World Record and you were unbelievably proud of it, and the first thing someone says when you show it to them is "Feliks can do better than that,", that's not cool, and you won't be very content with that. Even small stuff like "_____ is probably crying right now because Feliks beat his record" is really disrespectful, even if it seems harmless.

But of course, it's not like we can do much about it. I was just hoping to challenge some of your thoughts and raise some awareness to people here, so we can at least have this idea of respect floating around arbitrarily.

btw, thanks for replying kindly and not starting a flame war; I do appreciate that.

(also yes, I did exaggerate on the amount of people "hating" but there's still a decent amount, especially if you look up some former/world record videos that aren't by Feliks i.e 3x3 single, 4x4, OH, etc.)


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## grandmonkey (Jul 10, 2016)

hey dude you bring up some good points. Feliks is really awesome and all but some of his fans are pretty bad. I guess that's a thing that happens when you get really popular though; you get a huge fanbase, and it's pretty toxic most of the time. Look at people like PewDiePie; he's not too bad of a person himself, but his fanbase is absolutely toxic. Even with other stuff, like the Call of Duty community, the Minecraft community, etc. 

It's just a thing that happens with popularity I guess.



hamfaceman said:


> Give us one reason why this is his fault.
> Basically, what you are saying is "I'm sick of this person being the best in the world at something! Why do people who want to one day be world champion look up to the world champion? They should be looking up to somebody else!"
> Tell me how any of that is rational.



Bruh. You basically more or less completely missed his point. Did you even read the post lmao


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## Ordway Persyn (Jul 10, 2016)

When people become famous they will gain a large fanbase, and when that happens you get fanboys who get overly attached to that certain person. I personally think that in the case of Faz, it's not really that bad. There are a few people like what you described, but It's minor compared to something like Pewdiepie. This exists everywhere, not just for Feliks and usually the best thing is to ignore these people.

E: ninja'd (sorta)


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## potatoman (Jul 10, 2016)

Oh yeah, and I feel like a lot of this is even more prominent since Feliks literally got a 6.45 world record average today (big congrats to him, that's an incredible average in a comp, even for him).


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## PenguinsDontFly (Jul 10, 2016)

Curry fans hate everybody else. Habs fans cannot be convinced of anything. The difference there is that Feliks is the best while curry and montreal clearly arent. //lolziez

If you are world class at anything, you will have a fan base. It is guaranteed that some fans will be rude or disrespectful towards someone who doesnt share the same opinion as them or even towards other world class athletes/competitors. The best thing we can do is to not engage in this type of blind idolizing/fangirling/fanboying and make sure that we dont offend people who support different cometitors or the competitors themselves.


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## JustinTimeCuber (Jul 10, 2016)

PenguinsDontFly said:


> Curry fans hate everybody else. Habs fans cannot be convinced of anything. The difference there is that Feliks is the best while curry and montreal clearly arent. //lolziez
> 
> If you are world class at anything, you will have a fan base. It is guaranteed that some fans will be rude or disrespectful towards someone who doesnt share the same opinion as them or even towards other world class athletes/competitors. The best thing we can do is to not engage in this type of blind idolizing/fangirling/fanboying and make sure that we dont offend people who support different cometitors or the competitors themselves.



I totally agree with this. In addition, I think that if I were ever to become fast (xD) then I wouldn't particularly want to have a loyalistic group of fans. I wouldn't want to have people act rude to other people who get a good time and may be slightly slower than me. It's stupid, really. I don't really like the idea of being worshipped, and, in the unlikely event that I ever were to become fast, I wouldn't want people posting on someone's fast time on YouTube, "Justin can do better" or something. I think many cubers, including Feliks, share this mindset.


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## SolveThatCube (Jul 10, 2016)

There's always gonna be haters or trolls or over-obsessed fans, whatever you wanna call them, that's just the way it is. It sucks and there's not much you can do about it.


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## potatoman (Jul 10, 2016)

SolveThatCube said:


> There's always gonna be haters or trolls or over-obsessed fans, whatever you wanna call them, that's just the way it is. It sucks and there's not much you can do about it.



Yeah, but it's rare to see this amount of people who are this obsessed over someone that they'll go out of their way to hate on everyone who is not Feliks. Even with super popular channels like Pewdiepie and stuff; you don't always see comments floating around like "wow you suck, Pewdiepie is better than you!"

For some reason, Feliks just seems to attract all the attention. Can't blame him though; he hasn't done anything wrong. Maybe this says something about the overall maturity of our community? I'm not too sure.


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## PenguinsDontFly (Jul 10, 2016)

potatoman said:


> Yeah, but it's rare to see this amount of people who are this obsessed over someone that they'll go out of their way to hate on everyone who is not Feliks. Even with super popular channels like Pewdiepie and stuff; you don't always see comments floating around like "wow you suck, Pewdiepie is better than you!"
> 
> For some reason, Feliks just seems to attract all the attention. Can't blame him though; he hasn't done anything wrong. Maybe this says something about the overall maturity of our community? I'm not too sure.


Rare? Have you ever heard of the Golden State Warriors? Aka the Golden Stacked (band)Wagonners? Their fans are cocky, elitist, hate other teams, and will worship them no matter what. Cubing fans are relatively nice and loving when compared to fans of professional sports teams. 

On the topic of maturity, I think most cubers are probably younger. However, adults can sometimes take things way farther than kids do, so this may not be a bad thing.


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## AlexMaass (Jul 10, 2016)

PenguinsDontFly said:


> Curry fans hate everybody else. Habs fans cannot be convinced of anything. The difference there is that Feliks is the best while curry and montreal clearly arent. //lolziez
> 
> If you are world class at anything, you will have a fan base. It is guaranteed that some fans will be rude or disrespectful towards someone who doesnt share the same opinion as them or even towards other world class athletes/competitors. The best thing we can do is to not engage in this type of blind idolizing/fangirling/fanboying and make sure that we dont offend people who support different cometitors or the competitors themselves.


w0w i totally have a ton of fans because of my pyrastinx skils


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## JustinTimeCuber (Jul 10, 2016)

AlexMaass said:


> w0w i totally have a ton of fans because of my *pyrastinx* skils


I should use that word in relation to myself, but as a verb: I pyrastinx.


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## PenguinsDontFly (Jul 10, 2016)

AlexMaass said:


> w0w i totally have a ton of fans because of my pyrastinx skils


Pyra stinks, @waffle=ijm drinks.
The way I see it (especially after the convo on this thread), having "fans" can sometimes be a bad thing.


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## potatoman (Jul 10, 2016)

PenguinsDontFly said:


> Rare? Have you ever heard of the Golden State Warriors? Aka the Golden Stacked (band)Wagonners? Their fans are cocky, elitist, hate other teams, and will worship them no matter what. Cubing fans are relatively nice and loving when compared to fans of professional sports teams.
> 
> On the topic of maturity, I think most cubers are probably younger. However, adults can sometimes take things way farther than kids do, so this may not be a bad thing.



I don't think that's necessarily a fair comparison; the Golden State Warriors have way more supporters than the amount of cubers in the world (and sports teams in general). Also, I wouldn't say cubing is anywhere on the level of competitiveness and aggression in terms of sports. I agree that we're a relatively friendly community, but there's also a good portion of those who's been directing this hate toward other cubers.


What I seem to be getting from a bunch of you guys is that I'm hating on Feliks. I am not hating on Feliks, nor do I think people should dislike him. I've made it pretty clear in the beginning from my very first post, but I suppose I'll reiterate, just so you guys don't think I'm just another hater.

I have nothing against Feliks. I think he's definitely one of, if not, the best cuber in the world. My impressions of him are that he's super nice and friendly, and I'm sure that if I ever met him, I'd be pretty stoked and excited. I too see him as a form of role model; as a cuber that I can only dream of becoming. That's what I see him as. I have absolutely nothing against him, I do not hate him. I guess you can even call me a decently big fan of him. 

So please, if you're going to disagree with me, that's fine, but don't say that I'm "hating on him" or "don't want people to look up to him", because then, you'd the one that's curving my words.


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## uyneb2000 (Jul 10, 2016)

Just ignore them and not care, focus on the better part of the community. Nubs will eventually not be nubs, and if they don't, they go away.


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## SolveThatCube (Jul 10, 2016)

potatoman said:


> What I seem to be getting from a bunch of you guys is that I'm hating on Feliks. I am not hating on Feliks, nor do I think people should dislike him. I've made it pretty clear in the beginning from my very first post, but I suppose I'll reiterate, just so you guys don't think I'm just another hater.
> 
> I have nothing against Feliks. I think he's definitely one of, if not, the best cuber in the world. My impressions of him are that he's super nice and friendly, and I'm sure that if I ever met him, I'd be pretty stoked and excited. I too see him as a form of role model; as a cuber that I can only dream of becoming. That's what I see him as. I have absolutely nothing against him, I do not hate him. I guess you can even call me a decently big fan of him.
> 
> So please, if you're going to disagree with me, that's fine, but don't say that I'm "hating on him" or "don't want people to look up to him", because then, you'd the one that's curving my words.



Why do you like repeating yourself?
No one has said you're "hating on him".


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## ottozing (Jul 10, 2016)

Yeah uyneb hit the nail on the head. Also, if you think Feliks fans are disrespectful you should try looking at comments from the fans of people in other more well known communities (competitive ssbm comes to mind since that's something I follow)

There are things I would change about the community, but as a whole we're a pretty damn nice and respectful bunch of people


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## shadowslice e (Jul 10, 2016)

Let's put it this way; most cubers (at least the ones I've come into contact with) are quite snarky and sarcastic so you really shouldn't take half of what is said as serious.

Also, if you think feliks is immune, have a look at his recent world record thread on the forums.


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## Dene (Jul 10, 2016)

4Chan said:


> Speedsolving's not your blog man, just imagine everyone writing a rant.



Hey man don't ruin the fun!



potatoman said:


> I'm kind of surprised it doesn't annoy others honestly.



Lol probably because most people don't rely on YouTube comments for their daily reading digest. I mean seriously, what do you expect haha?

Anyway, based on what you're saying I'm guessing you're young, and have yet to venture out of your box into the big bad world. I suggest you get used to this sort of behaviour because that's what humans do. A psychologist might be inclined to refer to "tribalism".


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## Ingo (Jul 10, 2016)

potatoman said:


> If you're offended by either of these things, stop reading now because you will not like this post.



That is a good advice for yourself as well, when reading youtube comments next time, just sayin...


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## Sajwo (Jul 10, 2016)

potatoman said:


> He's overrated.



I disagree. He's the best speedcuber in the world man.


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## Nimish Kashyap (Jul 10, 2016)

By seeing all the comments of all of you,,, this is an philosophical topic xD. But seriously Feliks and lucas, even all of you guys are good cuber though. The problem is the "FANS"(the one who makes all OVERRATED).


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## Jbacboy (Jul 10, 2016)

Unsolved anyone?


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## Hyprul 9-ty2 (Jul 10, 2016)

are you seriously complaining about the quality of comments on youtube of all places

don't try and bring your tumblrina rubbish in here


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## Loiloiloi (Jul 10, 2016)

You're right, I can't possibly imagine why anyone in the world would compare the 2 top speedcubers to each other, that's ridiculous.


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## potatoman (Jul 10, 2016)

Ingo said:


> That is a good advice for yourself as well, when reading youtube comments next time, just sayin...


hey man, what's the point in saying that? I mean are you really contributing anything useful? It's not even like I'm whining or complaining, I'm literally pointing it out so I can raise some bit of awareness.



Sajwo said:


> I disagree. He's the best speedcuber in the world man.


Yes I am aware. Can you read my post more carefully next time?



Hyprul 9-ty2 said:


> are you seriously complaining about the quality of comments on youtube of all places
> 
> don't try and bring your tumblrina rubbish in here


Why do people assume I'm complaining about youtube comments? I'm not doing anything of the sort. Stop assuming I am. I'm trying to raise awareness to the negativity that I found, and YouTube comments were simply a easy source for that. Don't act like I'm the enemy, because I'm really not trying to do anything bad.



Loiloiloi said:


> You're right, I can't possibly imagine why anyone in the world would compare the 2 top speedcubers to each other, that's ridiculous.


It's not comparison when there are a bunch of people hating on others.l


Dene said:


> Hey man don't ruin the fun!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I am aware of the "real world", and I am aware of internet maturity, human behavior, blah blah blah.
The problem is that I always viewed the cubing community as a nice and friendly community almost in an angelic way, but after coming to realize this bias that people have towards the best in the world, I'm not sure if I think the same anymore.



SolveThatCube said:


> Why do you like repeating yourself?
> No one has said you're "hating on him".


People at first were "hating" on me because I said some stuff that's negative that's semi-related to Feliks. So I wanted to clarify. Is there something wrong with that?


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## Loiloiloi (Jul 10, 2016)

None of what you described is hate. If you can't handle competitive speedcubing, this probably isn't a very good place for you


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## adimare (Jul 10, 2016)

In all seriousness though: you suck, Feliks is better than you.


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## Forcefulness (Jul 10, 2016)

I dont see the point in complaining about a joke


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## NeilH (Jul 10, 2016)

speedcubing is a competitive hobby. fanbases and comparisons and all of that come with anything competitive. I don't think you can necessarily be mad at feliks' fans because most are nice, and many of his fans come from different backgrounds, are different ages, and think differently, so this kind of stuff just happens


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## TheSilverBeluga (Jul 10, 2016)

shadowslice e said:


> Also, if you think feliks is immune, have a look at his recent world record thread on the forums.



This is a fine example of the difference between people being rude and making a joke. Seeing how Feliks himself has said that his global average is sub-7, it's all in good fun. As far as I can tell. If you look at some of his other recent world record threads (for example, the 5x5 single,) you'll see normal reactions.



potatoman said:


> (also yes, I did exaggerate on the amount of people "hating" but there's still a decent amount, especially if you look up some former/world record videos that aren't by Feliks i.e *3x3 single*, 4x4, OH, etc.)



I feel obliged to point out that the vast majority of the comments on the current 3x3 single world record video are people hating on the kid screaming "what are those."


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## Dene (Jul 10, 2016)

potatoman said:


> The problem is that I always viewed the cubing community as a nice and friendly community almost in an angelic way, but after coming to realize this bias that people have towards the best in the world, I'm not sure if I think the same anymore



Cry me a river man. Your way of looking at things is weird and naive.


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## XTowncuber (Jul 10, 2016)

Yeah nubs can be rude in their comparisons. Unfortunately they aren't the type to read this stuff anyway. They'll either grow up or go away. 

But Feliks is not overrated. Whether it's rude to say it or not, he would destroy (and has destroyed) Lucas, me and anyone else. Those are the facts.


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## PenguinsDontFly (Jul 10, 2016)

XTowncuber said:


> Yeah nubs can be rude in their comparisons. Unfortunately they aren't the type to read this stuff anyway. They'll either grow up or go away.
> 
> But Feliks is not overrated. Whether it's rude to say it or not, he would destroy (and has destroyed) Lucas, me and anyone else. Those are the facts.


Haha growing up is the same as going away in cubing. Most of us will end up getting busy and quitting someday. 

This. Feliks is still probably at least a half second faster than everybody else.


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## mafergut (Jul 10, 2016)

PenguinsDontFly said:


> Haha growing up is the same as going away in cubing. Most of us will end up getting busy and quitting someday.
> 
> This. Feliks is still probably at least a half second faster than everybody else.


Completely agree about that last part. Or that's what the 3x3 average world rankings say, anyway. And now he's almost a tenth of a second farther away of anybody else, after 3 long years without beating it.


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## stoic (Jul 10, 2016)

So, on the day that Feliks set a new WR - arguably the most prestigious cubing WR to hold, beating his own record for the eight consecutive time - the OP sees fit to start a long, rambling thread calling him "overrated" and complaining that people sometimes use him as a benchmark or say silly things in YouTube comments. 

Er, ok then.


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## Matt11111 (Jul 10, 2016)

I do think that with world-class skills, you have a fanbase. And probably the biggest one in your field. I guess that being the best at what you do is both a blessing and a curse, since with fans, there are rabid fans. Rabid like the kind of people who will deify him no matter what he or anyone else in his field does and criticize others for not being as good as them. It's just kind of unavoidable. Am I saying they're right? Heck no. What if Feliks quits cubing altogether? Then what do you do, kids who have been watching Feliks and no one else? Stop cubing too?


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## Ingo (Jul 10, 2016)

potatoman said:


> hey man, what's the point in saying that? I mean are you really contributing anything useful? It's not even like I'm whining or complaining, I'm literally pointing it out so I can raise some bit of awareness.



My contribution? Well, i tried to raise some bit of awareness, but it seems i failed.
Please don't take all these youtube comments too seriously. Thats all i was trying to say.


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## turtwig (Jul 10, 2016)

They're all anonymous, they can say anything with no consequences. Be glad it isn't worse. Everyone's just joking around. Personally, if I got a record and people told me that no matter what I'm still worse than Feliks, I wouldn't be offended. They're all joking around so it's more like support than anything. If they actually hated you the comments would be much worse than "Feliks is better than you".

Also, Feliks is not overrated. He's maintained his world-class status for longer than anyone else, is the only two-time world champion, and has more world records than most countries.


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## potatoman (Jul 11, 2016)

stoic said:


> So, on the day that Feliks set a new WR - arguably the most prestigious cubing WR to hold, beating his own record for the eight consecutive time - the OP sees fit to start a long, rambling thread calling him "overrated" and complaining that people sometimes use him as a benchmark or say silly things in YouTube comments.
> 
> Er, ok then.



Holy crap how many times do I have to repeat myself? Firstly, I posted the thread before I saw his World Record video, which I was unaware of at the time, so don't connect that me as a way to counter my words. Secondly, me calling him overrated was simply to emphasize how much some of his fanbase adores him, and not in a positive way because they're going on other people's channels and hating on them USING Feliks. Do I personally think he deserves the love he gets? Yes, but not in the way that people are using it against others. Using him as a benchmark? No, that implies that they're giving off a friendly "competitive" vibe, which is absolutely not what these people are doing. They're insulting the cubers, calling them crap because they aren't "as good as Feliks" even when they've done something incredibly impressive. Is it really that bad of me to think for other people and not just Feliks himself? Feliks is a cool guy, I admitted that. I think he's the best in the world. Does that mean no one else's accomplishments and feelings matter? I don't think so.

I use Youtube comments as an example because that's where the majority of his fanbase is. It's the best available source, so why shouldn't I use it?



turtwig said:


> They're all anonymous, they can say anything with no consequences. Be glad it isn't worse. Everyone's just joking around. Personally, if I got a record and people told me that no matter what I'm still worse than Feliks, I wouldn't be offended. They're all joking around so it's more like support than anything. If they actually hated you the comments would be much worse than "Feliks is better than you".
> 
> Also, Feliks is not overrated. He's maintained his world-class status for longer than anyone else, is the only two-time world champion, and has more world records than most countries.



Not sure if I agree with the "joking around" part. People on the internet are immature. They troll and hate, and we can't do much about it. I'm not even trying to find a solution, because I can't come up with one. I'm literally saying, hey everyone, be aware of this stuff is happening, and you should all try and diffuse it because its the right thing to do. Even if they're joking, you have no idea how words can affect other people. You can't just assume "they're joking, so their words don't hurt". It's not how it works.

Yeah, he's overrated in the sense that people are so in love with him that they'll openly insult other people. Do I think he deserves the love he gets? Completely. He's a great person. He's fast. He's super open and friendly. He should deserve all the praise and love he gets, but when people use that against others, that's when you need to realize that it's too much.

also lmao this kind of blew up


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## shadowslice e (Jul 11, 2016)

potatoman said:


> ...


Honestly, I think you just can't tell the difference between people teasing and actually insulting.

I'm willing to bet that half of the "hate" comes from people who either actually know the cuber or consider the cuber to actually be fantastic by comparing them to the single best cuber in the world.

And if you think this is just cubing and with younger immature people, I would like to point out that one of the "insults" that professional professors in mathematics and physics say "well, he's no Gauss/Newton/Einstein" and if you know anything about those people, you will understand how little of an insult that is.

And as I happens, it occurs in all of the other fields of competitiveness as well such as Swimming (Phelps), Running (Bolt) or even chess (Fischer).


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## Matt11111 (Jul 11, 2016)

Let's just be glad cubing isn't that big (not as big as, say, gaming). If Feliks was as big as PewDiePie... Hooooh boy.


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## potatoman (Jul 11, 2016)

shadowslice e said:


> Honestly, I think you just can't tell the difference between people teasing and actually insulting.
> 
> I'm willing to bet that half of the "hate" comes from people who either actually know the cuber or consider the cuber to actually be fantastic by comparing them to the single best cuber in the world.
> 
> ...



Don't you understand my point? I don't care if it's teasing or insulting; you can't assume it doesn't affect the cuber at all. It's like saying for someone "he's not getting bullied" or "he's not depressed, he's just joking around." You can't say that, because you don't have the ability to tell what they're actually feeling. It's a pretty ignorant thing to "assume" the "hate" is all "jokes and laughs" and no one cares about it. Might as well join in. Haven't you ever had the bullying lecture in school before? They tell you to take action, even if it seems harmless. 

The saying you brought up can be applied to many things actually, which would be considered to be insulting or rude. Someone solves a huge mathematical dilemma or provides a new theory, and you tell them "Not impressive, he's no Einstein." It's rude. Common etiquette would suggest you congratulate them, but imagine if people chose to say that instead to everything you've done.

You are correct, it does appear in all other fields of competitiveness. However, cubing isn't as big as any of the sports you listed (perhaps except chess, I don't know too much about that) and really, I'm just trying to raise awareness to this thing happening because people seem to think our community is angelic and pure or something; it really isn't the case.


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## Xtremecubing (Jul 11, 2016)

PenguinsDontFly said:


> Haha growing up is the same as going away in cubing. Most of us will end up getting busy and quitting someday.
> 
> This. Feliks is still probably at least a half second faster than everybody else.


Officially in 2016, the average of all the averages that Feliks has done is 7.56 and these are the top 5 people from what I can tell, in this category. 
Feliks Zemdegs: 7.56
Bill Wang: 7.85
Seung Hyuk Nahm : 7.97
Phillip Weyer : 8.10
Lucas Etter : 8.15
This might not be perfectly representative, because all of these people have done a different amount of official averages in 2016, so it can probably be interpreted in different ways.


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## Ollie (Jul 11, 2016)

My two cents.

I remember seeing some comments like the ones you've described on Rowe Hessler's channel and it (quite rightly) pissed him off to the point he took some videos off or just didn't bother for a while. I still see it and there is a culture of making comments like that, but it's not specifically Feliks's fans that do it, or Feliks's times that people compare. BLDers get ribbed for it, and so do other fast cubers (and not as fast cubers) in a lot of events.

I think the majority of cubers are young and just copy what others say. When they hear it it's usually a joke between two good friends who cube. Some take it too far, some don't.

I guess the other side of it is is that it makes some people try harder. Give credit where it's due, but complementing someone when they can do much better isn't useful for anyone. I've had similar comments and they only made me try harder. 

The majority are fine and can judge the situation appropriately. Those who can't recognise a good accomplishment from someone other than a top cuber aren't worth arguing on a forum over.


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## IAmEpic2004 (Jul 11, 2016)

lolpotato
its called sarcasm bruh


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## potatoman (Jul 11, 2016)

IAmEpic2004 said:


> lolpotato
> its called sarcasm bruh


lolepic
who says sarcasm can't hurt?


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## Yetiowin (Jul 12, 2016)

potatoman said:


> lolepic
> who says sarcasm can't hurt?


It can't. A sarcastic joke can't offend the person if they recognize the sarcasm.


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## potatoman (Jul 12, 2016)

Yetiowin said:


> It can't. A sarcastic joke can't offend the person if they recognize the sarcasm.


you really have no right to say whether a "joke" hurts someone or not, unless you are that person.

It's like calling someone who's saying they're depressed not depressed; you don't do that because you have absolutely no control over what they feel, nor do you actually know. 

Point is, sarcastic or not, it's pretty rude thing to say to anybody.


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## Hyprul 9-ty2 (Jul 12, 2016)

i like how this thing is still going

it has strengthened my resolve to insult every cuber on youtube by comparing them to felikx


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## Reinier Schippers (Jul 12, 2016)

To be honest, I wouldn't take the internet so serious potatoman. That is the best advice I can give you. Feliks can't help it he is hyped and probably doesn't like it aswell when there are 12 kids standing 0.4 meters away during official solves. Humans are humans. They see somebody excell at something they are practising and therefore adore that person. I highly doubt worldclass people care about fazfans posting on their videos that feliks is faster. As Jay mentioned, we as a community, are much more friendly and accepting than most communities I have come across. 

If you are really bogged down this much by a few individuals in our community I would seriously suggest you to don't take other that serious. A reaction on the internet is harder to understand and know the full meaning than real life.


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## DTCuber (Jul 12, 2016)

potatoman said:


> Holy crap how many times do I have to repeat myself? Firstly, I posted the thread before I saw his World Record video, which I was unaware of at the time, so don't connect that me as a way to counter my words. Secondly, me calling him overrated was simply to emphasize how much some of his fanbase adores him, and not in a positive way because they're going on other people's channels and hating on them USING Feliks. Do I personally think he deserves the love he gets? Yes, but not in the way that people are using it against others. Using him as a benchmark? No, that implies that they're giving off a friendly "competitive" vibe, which is absolutely not what these people are doing. They're insulting the cubers, calling them crap because they aren't "as good as Feliks" even when they've done something incredibly impressive. Is it really that bad of me to think for other people and not just Feliks himself? Feliks is a cool guy, I admitted that. I think he's the best in the world. Does that mean no one else's accomplishments and feelings matter? I don't think so.
> 
> I use Youtube comments as an example because that's where the majority of his fanbase is. It's the best available source, so why shouldn't I use it?
> 
> ...



Feliks is a cubing god and everyone else sucks.

Are you positive that the best available source is YouTube comments? 

You are arguing a moot point with laughable evidence.


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## potatoman (Jul 12, 2016)

DTCuber said:


> Feliks is a cubing god and everyone else sucks.
> 
> Are you positive that the best available source is YouTube comments?
> 
> You are arguing a moot point with laughable evidence.



Kinda proving my point there with the first sentence, aren't you?

Yes, because it's one of the only available sources where all fans of Feliks reside. The forums/reddit would only contribute to a small portion, typically the more mature ones. 

I'm not arguing anything, you're the one that's curving my words. The closest thing I am arguing is that "these comments and people exist." So unless you can prove me wrong on that point, I have no idea what you're talking about. Laughable evidence? Lmao dude, the comments are not evidence, they're straight up proof that these people exist. What am I trying to do? Raise awareness. I'm not trying to start an argument here, but you seem to be.



Reinier Schippers said:


> To be honest, I wouldn't take the internet so serious potatoman. That is the best advice I can give you. Feliks can't help it he is hyped and probably doesn't like it aswell when there are 12 kids standing 0.4 meters away during official solves. Humans are humans. They see somebody excell at something they are practising and therefore adore that person. I highly doubt worldclass people care about fazfans posting on their videos that feliks is faster. As Jay mentioned, we as a community, are much more friendly and accepting than most communities I have come across.
> 
> If you are really bogged down this much by a few individuals in our community I would seriously suggest you to don't take other that serious. A reaction on the internet is harder to understand and know the full meaning than real life.



Yeah I'm aware of internet maturity and stuff like that, and I honestly don't take it as seriously as I seem to make it out to be from the words I've typed up previously. But in all honesty, does it bother me? Yeah it kind of does. Feliks already gets a lot of love, yet people are hating on others using that. I thought this community was super friendly and accepting, especially when I first joined it, but seeing this kind of made me reconsider that.

That being said, the community is nowhere near as toxic as others, so I can't blame the community for this. I just wanted to throw this idea out there, since no one ever seems to mention it.


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## adimare (Jul 12, 2016)

potatoman said:


> However, (here comes the unpopular opinion):
> He's overrated.



It's funny that this is the biggest insult in the thread so far.


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## WACWCA (Jul 12, 2016)

potatoman said:


> you really have no right to say whether a "joke" hurts someone or not, unless you are that person.
> 
> It's like calling someone who's saying they're depressed not depressed; you don't do that because you have absolutely no control over what they feel, nor do you actually know.
> 
> Point is, sarcastic or not, it's pretty rude thing to say to anybody.


Making fun of depressed people is not quite the same as joking that something was a bad solve.


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## Yetiowin (Jul 12, 2016)

Anyone who is offended by an obviously sarcastic joke, on the internet no less, is too sensitive.


potatoman said:


> you really have no right to say whether a "joke" hurts someone or not, unless you are that person.
> 
> It's like calling someone who's saying they're depressed not depressed; you don't do that because you have absolutely no control over what they feel, nor do you actually know.
> 
> Point is, sarcastic or not, it's pretty rude thing to say to anybody.


Technically, you were the one who said that they _were_ offensive.


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## stoic (Jul 12, 2016)

adimare said:


> It's funny that this is the biggest insult in the thread so far.


Yep. 
Troll thread.


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## SolveThatCube (Jul 12, 2016)

_When you wake up and see this is still going... (facepalm) - back to sleep._


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## Loiloiloi (Jul 12, 2016)

I think some mod needs to close this one... It's not a productive thread at this point


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## stoic (Jul 12, 2016)

Loiloiloi said:


> I think some mod needs to close this one... It's not a productive thread at this point


Well said.


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