I'm not going to post a Discountoid on the front page this week because, frankly, it's all too depressing. Best Buy has one game on sale (007: Quantum of Solace, $10 off), Fry's is a desolate wasteland as usual (though they do have an 80Gb PS3 bundle with a free Dual Shock 3 and copy of I Am Legend on teh Blu-rays for $399) and GameStop's ad is just full of crap. Rather than spend three hours combing Amazon for what would essentially be the only real content in the post, I'm just skipping it this week. I did want to clue you, the loyal cblog readers, into a thing Target has this week, though. And I still wanted my weekly excuse to post boobies.

Prince of Persia, Rock Band 2 (disc-only version) and Scene It!: Box Office Smash (bundle w/ controllers) are buy one, get one 50% off. But those aren't the only games which qualify for the promotion. According to the ad, other unnamed titles are in on the deal as well. I'm not sure if it's a regional thing or a case-by-case basis, but there are more bargains to be had. Whether they're worth it or not is anyone's guess, but you may want to check it out if you're swinging by a store this week.

Hopefully, next week will be better. Happy hunting, gang.

I see a whole lot of people bitching and whining about how the new users are taking all the piss out of Dtoid. This is how it has been since I came on to the site in the first place. And you know what? I suspect it's been going on a lot longer than that.

People have a complex about seniority where a site like this is concerned. It's like finding out about a great bar that nobody knows exists but becomes popular a few months after you become a regular. Do you like all of the people who are now coming in to a place that you feel a personal attachment to? Of course not. The difference is that, on the internet, you don't have to walk up to that fratboy/hipster/gangsta/whatever and say to their face that they don't belong here and that they're ruining the experience for you. It's fucking wrong and, to be honest, I'm a little ashamed of the attitudes that some people are expressing. It shouldn't be about the length of their tenure, but the quality of their contributions

By the same token, the new users can be a bit annoying sometimes. I understand and even agree with that. If they don't understand the way the memes work, they'll figure it out and/or they'll leave. The ones who stick around will probably be the sort of people who will fit in well with the site.

Memes are usually stupid, but they're fun for people and can be a great way to foster a spirit of unity within the site. We all have in-jokes amongst our friends and that's what Dtoid users are. We're friends. I can relate to the frustration which results from a post on which hours were spent being shoved of the first page in a matter of half an hour because of a running gag. But when's the last time someone got bitched out for reposting a high quality cblog at a time when things have died down?

That's what we should be encouraging people to do. And it's something you guys can help with, too. If it's a meme-heavy day, why not drop a comment on some poor schmoe who got caught in the crossfire suggesting that they might want to repost it because it was good work and you don't want it to be overlooked? We can either complain or we can work together as a community to find solutions to these things. Up to you guys, really.

In the future, there will be a community-moderated system for the cblogs and functionality to ignore the blogs of people whom you don't want to read the posts of. That stuff is coming down the pipe as quickly as we can get them in, so you'll have further options in the future. But, for the time being, I'm sure we can all come up with ideas on how we can help users, both old and new, be respectful of one another and still have a good time on Dtoid.

I've had a pretty shit day, which is why you didn't see a Discountoid today (maybe early tomorrow, but I'm a little drunk by this point). Reading all of these "10 Things" lists really brightened my day. So, I thought the best thing I could do is post one of my own. Some of these things have probably been mentioned by me at some point or another. You'll live.

1. I'm a real estate agent. One the one hand, it's a really shitty time to have my job. On the other, it affords me more time to write for Destructoid.

2. I have always wanted to write fiction. Fortunately, I had an excellent creative writing professor in college who pointed out that my skill at fiction is less than mediocre (this is true) and who pushed me to follow more journalistic pursuits. Still, there's a part of me who desperately wants to write novels and I've had ideas for them on the back burner since high school.

3. Prior to Destructoid, my "professional" writing career consisted of my role as Editor-in-Chief of a local arts and music magazine in Phoenix, where I live. It was a job that did not pay but taught me some valuable lessons in terms of managing a team and determining where one's artistic desires have to be mitigated by the talent of those around you. When you can't pay people, you have to take what you can get. Some of the issues are still available online.

4. The Wii is the first console from Nintendo which I have owned during the peak of its lifecycle. I did not own an NES until 1996 and I bought my SNES in 2001. Most of my experiences playing these systems in my youth are due to friends.

5. I'm an Eagle Scout. It was a lot of hard work and basically means that I have something neat to toss onto a resumé. To be fair, I think that the Boy Scouts of America is a fantastic program which teaches valuable lessons to boys far beyond how to build a fire and tie knots. I do take issue with their policy on homosexual troop leaders, however, which has prevented me from taking a role as an adult leader.

6. I am a staunch Republican. I'm also ashamed of my party and feel they have dramatically shifted away from the ideals on which they were formed. I believe that government should have no direct or intervening role in the lives of its citizens, apart from peacekeeping at home.

7. I voted Obama, something I have never admitted to anyone except my fiancé.

8. I was chubby until college, where I lost about thirty pounds on a diet of chocolate milk and illicit substances. One of my greatest fears is to be overweight, despite doing nothing to prevent it. Even when rail thin, I was self-conscious about my gut and it terrorizes me now that I've gained back some of the poundage.

9. I love pop music. While I don't listen to mainstream radio often, I'm a sucker for a catchy hook and absolutely cannot resist dance music, despite not having any rhythm of my own.

10. I am still in complete and utter shock that I have a job with Destructoid. I never actually believed that I would have a job writing anywhere about anything, frankly. The thought that so many people are reading the things that I write is humbling, to say the least, and the realization that I am even a tiny part of the industry that I have worshiped since the first time I played a videogame is incomprehensible.

So, umm, yeah. There's ten things. It was really difficult to come up with that many, as I honestly don't think of myself as being all that interesting of a person. Thanks for reading it and thanks for all of the support you have given me over the last year that I've been posting on the site.

EDIT: Just thought of something else.

11. One of my front teeth is almost entirely false. I fell off a large boulder, face-first, into a rock face on a camping trip when I was twelve and chipped half of the tooth off (because it was a little crooked; I might have lost both that way had it not been).

As I mentioned earlier today in the Destructoid Discusses post, we're starting a new thing with the series. We want to get you guys involved and we'll be snagging a community member each week to share their insight on whatever topic it is we decide to run with.

If you'd like to be a part of the conversation, all you have to do is shoot me a PM or an e-mail (conrad at destructoid dot com) to express your interest. Also, if you have any ideas for topics, send those along as well. We could always use another thing or two to yammer on about, especially if we know it's something you guys are interested in.

***Yes, right, the forums are down. My bad. Nothing to see here. Move along and send me an e-mail***

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