Anonymous
asked:
Tom, what's your problem with the battle boards? I see you mentioning them every now and then and how nonsensical they are, but the people arguing fights between characters (which are a big part of comics) are pretty much some of the most hardcore comic readers outthere. They spend hours to research stuff characters have done and they spend an equal amount of time in writing theories on how fights might go. And here we have you, saying that they can f*** themselves. Why?

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Battle Boards. Talking about comics and arguing about the abilities of the various characters is one of the fun things that people enjoy about reading the books. I don’t have problem one with them.

What I have said, many times, is that I’m not going to get into any Battle Boards-style questions in this forum.

For one thing, they’re just not of great interest to me after all this time. (The real answer to any Battle Board conflict is “Whatever serves the story better.”)

But really, after all of this time, I know exactly how this goes. On Battle Boards forums, nobody is ever convinced of anything. It’s exceedingly rare for anybody to change their position.

So one person comes to me for a ruling on some scenario, and I give them my answer. If they dislike it, they then spend the next couple of days writing post after post disputing it. I’ve got a few of these in my stack of unanswered questions right now.

But if they do like it–if it agrees with their position–then they run back to the Battle Board and proudly convey it to the people they’re arguing with (typically with a bit of “suck it” attitude, because they’ve been proven right.) And then all of those people descend on this forum like locusts, also disputing it, but being even uglier and more insulting and more derogatory in how they use it.

Life is too short. That’s not why I have this forum.

So, by all means, engage in those conversations! Enjoy them and have all the fun in the world. Good on you!

Just not here.