They will grow up some day but they will never realize or regret what they're doing now, thats not how humans work. Regret without experiencing negative consequence, morality, reflection of the past, and empathy are all things that were counterproductive to survival so instinctively they don't exist. They may one day think that this behavior is wrong when they see it happening, but will never realize that they exhibited the same behavior when they were younger or ever feel conviction of what they were doing was wrong. People change/grow up but they don't sit back and reflect or try to figure out why they changed or why they are the way they are, they just mindlessly move along without conscious like a ball rolling down a hill. In fact, in 20 years from now no one will even remember you if you left them now, they won't remember anyone here if they were to leave. If studstill stopped posting then in 20 years no one would remember him, and because people don't keep these things in active memory, they'll never look back and realize they were doing something wrong or regret doing it at all. If someone said, "hey remember gav or studstill from smashboards?" they would be like "haha yeah they were so stupid we used to make fun of them all the time" but they won't actively remember it, dwell upon their actions, or learn from their past because there has been no negative consequence. They won't even feel convicted of it when they passively remember because instead of thinking about it with their future mind, they will jump back to how they think now. Empathy doesn't exist, people never look back and instead unconsciously move forward in life like a helpless ball down a hill. No one will ever stand in anyones shoes, they simply wear similar looking shoes and stand where that person is standing, deluding themselves that they are empathetic. You have to just give up gav, you have to let go. You will never impact these people, change the way they think, or make them feel guilt or pain like you may feel. There is no universal justice, their is no moral compass, there is no karma. I learned this a long time ago when I was in middle school observing the way people treated others and how behavior changed without people realizing they changed at all. I've conducted many social experiments to prove that empathy doesn't exist, people don't pay attention to their past or their actions, and people will never regret anything that doesn't have a negative consequence. For example, there was this kid I went to middle school with, Samuel Jack Hammond. He always went by Jack but he was a short chubby kid so I gave him the nickname Sam the Ham (taking parts of his first and last name to degrade him to an object that resembled the negative appearance people had of him). It was an instant classic and everyone remembered him as it. He then moved to North Carolina and no one ever heard of him again. No one remembered him, no one ever looked back and thought about him, no one ever regretted anything they ever said or did to him because nothing bad ever happened to anyone because of it. Occasionally we would look through a yearbook and people would be like "Hey remember Sam the Ham" and everyone would laugh and make fun of him in memory without ever feeling conviction. Then one day, about 6 years after he moved, I'm walking with my brother and a couple friends around the 4th of July carnival in my town when I hear a big booming voice yell "Hey Shears brothers, ya'll recognize me?" I look over to see a rock solid giant. Must have been 6'5" 5% body fat and could bench 350. Instantly, I recognized the kid, despite him looking nothing like the person I recognized him as (it was one of those weird moments where you just new, like the stars aligned and you remembered), this goliath was the former Sam the Ham. I didn't even hesitate because I never once felt guilty about anything so I answered his question by saying "Sam the Ham" knowing all too well that in a single punch my face would be broken that I was a dead man in his hands. Surprisingly he didn't raise a finger and said "My names Jack, hahaha" as he chuckled. After that I realized what I had done was wrong, not because I experienced a negative consequence but because I realized that I could have and should have. No one else regrets it, and no one else looks back to thinking they wasted their 10s making fun of a kid, yet everyone has grown up and looks down upon that behavior. Gav, I don't mean this to be offensive and I've never picked on you, insulted you, or anything (with the exception of the 90% idiots/10% deadzone thread), but you are the Sam the Ham of this community metaphorically. No one will ever regret what they're doing, they won't even remember it. If cobr had kids with autism he won't regret how he treated you he won't even remember you said what you said, he will just be a parent to a kid with autism and live his life progressively instead of regressively. I used to think a little like you and hope that people would one day see things the way I or others saw them and that they would grow up and reflect on their past and live in shame. But then I realized they won't because even I don't, and you don't and thats why you have to just give up and let go. Don't let them bother you, don't acknowledge them, and if it means never coming back to smashboards then don't. You will not teach them a lesson, you are just frustrating yourself more and more. Life is not a clockwork orange (or it is depending on how you look at it).
