no matter how new or senior one is when perceiving such message (highlighted in red above) should be objective, not subjective.
The message referred to is,
"Look at me guys, I've just bought this very expensive camera and lens and I was one of the first ten in the country to get the camera!"
I ask again, because I have received no satisfactory answer otherwise, what purpose does the post serve?
I'm not saying it's
wrong, I'm just pointing out,
objectively as far as I'm concerned because there is no other way of interpreting it (certainly than has been suggested by anyone else).
The phrase "show off" on its own is not negative, it's how you interpret the thing.
The alternatives so far are different ways of stating the same thing.
Post 67:
"dream come true" - telling people about it is still...
Post 70:
"the means whereby potential buyers can reviews and photos (if posted) from their future purchase." - except when the comments were made there was no review information or photos to help at all aside from the first two which were pictures of the camera and lens sitting on a box.
Post 74:
"we should be happy for each other when one gets a new equipment" - this concerns how people
perceive the act of displaying your shiny new stuff, but it doesn't change the fact that it's still...
The difficulty comes in this negative connotation attached to the phrase "show off". Everybody assumes that I'm insinuating this and that; I'm not. "Show off" can be used descriptively. My only intention in that post was to suggest that it
was showing off - and that
can have a neutral meaning. There is no negative intent against "showing off" in my post at all, aside from any negative connotations that were misplaced. I've just re-read it again to make sure.
I didn't say showing off was bad, I didn't say it shouldn't be done. I said, if you want to do it, then comments about your status should be fair game as well. And I had a rant about the gear-mindedness of the local photo community.
Even if the post is meant to show off, why not? We humans love to show off, don't we?
My reaction is not about showing off per se and I'm sorry if it's been construed that way.
I am using the phrase "show off" in a descriptive manner, if you wish you pass judgement on people who "show off" then that's down to you. If someone wishes to share a different interpretation for this thread other than showing off (in a neutral manner) then you are more than welcome to do so. I fail to see any.
I just did a quick search on Google for the definition of "show off" and there is no hint that the phrase is negative or derogatory on its own. And if I said someone was
"showing off her new nails" I don't think anyone would take offence. It can be a perfectly neutral, descriptive phrase.
My reaction was to the following comment:
I don't understand the need to bad bite one's richness or poorness (if there is such a word) in this forum.
As you point out people are entitled to show off, but any responses in relation to that should be entirely fair game for the same reason that showing off is fair game. And the use of the phrase "showing off" has these negative connotations that clearly have been evoked in this instance. But if you look at it alternatively as just this thread, if someone says, I've just got this and that new and expensive equipment, then surely a response of, "wah you must be doing very well financially" is reasonable, and even
invited.
What's even more irritating than someone showing off his new toys are the thinly veiled sour grapes throwing under the guise of the "holier-than-thou" lectures.
I assume you mean me. As I said clearly in my post, if you have the money, go ahead, it doesn't matter if you're the best photographer in the world or you couldn't take a picture to save your life. I have the least of interest in a 1DIV or a 200/2, aside from selling them in the open market. As I said, aside from rants about being able to respond to threads like this, and about the gear-mindedness of this forum (for which several people have already agreed with) I was not in any way knocking this "showing off" thing. See above about using it in a descriptive manner.
For example I said, "But if you intend to show off your new and expensive kit then I think a few comments in relation to that are not out of place."
Read it carefully, that is not a comment about showing off at all. It doesn't say it shouldn't be done, it doesn't say it was despicable to do so.
I don't have any propose to show off or talk about how rich coz i'm still pay by installment with 0 interest.
Who see this as a 'show off' is too sensitive since I believe who post this thread not to mention that he/she is rich or can buy this expensive toy.
And then he/she mention buy using installment with 0 interest..
Two points.
[1] You can show off anything; a skill, a talent, newly painted nails, a new hairstyle. It doesn't have to be expensive, and there shouldn't automatically be a presumption of negativity when you see the phrase "show off".
[2] Buying a £2 million yacht on 0% interest doesn't show you're not rich. (It doesn't necessarily show you are either.) At the end of the day, you're still paying £2 million for it whether you pay it now or pay for it over time. Plenty of people here on the forum do not have the disposable income to justify S$7k over 2 years or over a 2min card transaction, as it still has to be paid off.
I ask again, what was the purpose of the original purpose other than to... and how do I do this without using *that* phrase... tell people about your new camera and lens combination? Any judgement you make one way or the other after that is your own, I'm not suggesting anything beyond the fact that it has no utility beyond that.
