FanPost

The Psychology Of Posting And Commenting

It's not hard to figure out that the most passionate fans in the NFL will find every way possible to discuss their team and find their fix. For Chiefs fans, that's following Arrowhead Pride on a daily basis. It's been described before as a bar-like atmosphere where people can poke in whenever they want and give their five cents, or in some cases, seven bucks on the trending topic of the day.

Joel, Chris and company decide what TV stations (stories) to have on in the bar so people have something to discuss. Different conversations pop-up around the bar (fanposts, fanshots) and some people are more talkative than others. Some just kind of lurk around the bar and never get really involved in the topics of discussions, but they know what's going on. This bar is a scene in which Chiefs fans can openly discuss anything and everything about the Chiefs, and sometimes even more than that which has been evidenced here recently.

I personally find myself as someone who writes a little more optimistically than you would find if you were to sit and discuss a game with me on any given Sunday. It's as if writing something, or typing it in most cases, helps deter my negative thoughts about whatever I have witnessed or was thinking about at that time. I tend to take a pragmatic view of things and that tends to help me be a little more optimistic when writing. I try and find a solution to the situation and not dwell on things that have happened, even if they had just happened.

But that got me thinking. Am I the only one who finds this medium as a way to not only discuss my opinions on the team, but also to write my way into feeling better about how I already feel?

I'm not saying that, as an example, if I have an opinion on a particular defensive lineman and I get into a discussion with resident guru Kalo about said player, that I can't be convinced that my maybe my own opinion was off. I've been convinced differently about several things by several different posters on here. What I'm saying is that when I am commenting on a particular player or situation, that I feel better after the conversation than I would have if the conversation had never taken place. Thus the psychology of posting or commenting on AP.

It also seems as if a lot, not all, but a lot of regular AP'ers are not currently living in the Kansas City area. It would make sense that they would be here a lot to discuss the Chiefs because they probably live in areas that the Chiefs aren't discussed often, and probably in places that people around them don't really want to discuss the Chiefs anyways. That's true in my case living in San Diego. AP gives us a chance to discuss the Chiefs at any time because we can't just flip on the local radio or television station and hear all about the Chiefs.

Anyone who has ever taken part in a gameday thread has seen the ugly side of people taking out there anger while watching a game. It's not a stretch to say that some keyboards have been broken while in a gameday thread on AP. But taking out some of the people that seem to only comment in gameday threads, and normally without adding anything positive, there are also some people who just type out things in frustration to what they are seeing. They are writing these things to share their frustration with people experiencing the same thing.

While my own comment on AP may just be, "that sucks". My dog might not look at me for a week or I might be in need of a new controller, beer at the bar, or something along those lines. So in person I might be a completely different person that I am on AP in regards to watching or commenting on the game, but writing a post or comment soon after might be a way to calm down and find a positive after what was obviously a bad situation.

Maybe it's just that I like writing but I'm sure there are others that can relate.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.