I've been thinking about this for a long time. I've wanted to write about this and just haven't gotten around to it. I've thought that I would open up Microsoft Word 2010 and start a manifest for both sides to read but I seldom write that way. Most of the time is by the seat of my pants and the only editing is type errors.
So as usual I'll do this JoeyA's way.
Aiming Systems have been around for as long as people have played pool.
NONE of the aiming systems are perfect, not one single one. The player has to rely on his or her experience from hitting lots of shots even when using the most perfect mathematical aiming system in the world. That will never change. You're not going to win any pool matches by learning an aiming system. The art of playing pool well is very difficult but aiming systems do help people with a portion of the difficult process of playing pool well.
Learning to be effective with any particular aiming system is "fraught with peril" as Grady is want to say. There are so many twists and turns to playing pool, it makes most of our heads spin. Some of the aiming systems are easy to learn but can be difficult for some people to be effective with them. Other aiming systems are difficult to learn but are easy to be effective with them. With each of the aiming systems, people have various differences of opinions.
Some of the top players in the world use aiming systems and that will never change. Bangers use aiming systems and that will never change.
Some people are more effective using one particular aiming system over another and here is where I see the fork in the road.
The YEASAYERS often tout a particular aiming system as their "Holy Grail" because it is the aiming system that has helped them "see" the shot better and helped them to pocket more balls, or at the very least, helped them to overcome an obstacle that has impeded their progress in pool.
Often times, YEASAYERS will be so happy that they have made progress with their pool game, they want to share that joy with others of like mind and spirit. I'm not sure who was the first to use the word YEASAYER but I'm sure it wasn't meant to promote forum harmony. Sometimes an occasional yeasayer will say something about an aiming system that verges on hyperbole. The creators and proponents of some aiming systems sometimes say things that aren't entirely "scientifically" correct. The truth is that the YEASAYERS care little if their aiming system is "scientifically" correct. Most of the YEASAYERS are happy enough to find a particular aiming system that is helping their game.
NAYSAYERS: I was probably one of the first to use this word as it relates to the pool forums. This word wasn't used to promote harmony in the forums either. I've used it to describe a certain group of people who besides having a difference of opinion, (than the yeasayers) have been vehement in their quest to ridicule any aiming system that doesn't meet their expectation. It is sometimes considered "game" to get under another poster's skin and some people from the naysayers camp have taken forum gamesmanship to the extremes, ridiculing people who love this game, making snide remarks about the creators of these aiming systems, covering up their mean-spirited, hate filled comments with little emoticoms, including ;-)
.
Another tactic of the Naysayers, is to make disparaging remarks and not refer to any one particular person, hoping that the shotgun approach to this vigilantism will do the best job or stirring up s**t. Other times, the naysayers will act like a pack of dogs, nipping at one person, relentlessly, until their is so much disharmony that the yeasayer retaliates with their own pack of dogs.
I've never been a person to hate, in my personal life, professional life or my pool life. It just isn't in me. I'm not trying to be the sheriff of the forums, judge or jury but when I see hatred being expressed in these forums I can't be silent.
If the naysayers had made their perspectives known without interjecting their mean-spirited comments, I wouldn't be writing about aiming systems in this thread. There, I've gone and said it. Naysayers have been responsible for starting the ad hominem attacks on the users of aiming systems and their creators. That being said, yeasayers have been happy to retaliate with their own aresenal of emoticoms and ad hominen attacks.
And so it continues and goes on and on.
I actually understand some of the naysayers and their perspectives more so than I sometimes let on. I know where the yeasayers are coming from too.
I'm sure most of you would have to agree that I am in the yeasayer's camp, although I try to keep a balanced perspective about aiming systems. Aiming systems are just a small piece of the puzzle and for me, they are fun to learn, sometimes difficult to learn and sometimes easy to learn. I haven't found that learning aiming systems causes your game to deteriorate. Sure, when you first learn an aiming system, you have difficulty executing the shots consistently well but after the learning period, I've found that my overall game has IMPROVED, not deteriorated.
What I have perceived is that some people perform better using particular aiming systems. I'm not sure why that is so but it may be that we all have unique visual perceptions and that some aiming systems, capture not only our visual perception, but some of them help us to maintain our focus better than others. Some of the aiming systems help us with our alignment, keeping our body parts in very precise positions, including our eyes. Some people like using aiming systems while others are proud of hitting a million balls to learn how to play pool and they just aim and shoot. Their are probably more "instinctive" style players than any others simply because that is the way most of us learned how to aim (trial and error).
Nowadays, there seems to be a new aiming system coming out every few years. For me, it's no big deal. If someone can create an aiming system that helps a particular group of players, whether they be bangers or top shelf players, I don't care if it is scientifically correct or not. I am happy that anyone can improve their pool game using whatever aiming system that they are using.
There are so many aiming systems out there and more to come in the future. It is an absolute injustice for any of us to cause or add to the turmoil that we have all been a part in creating concerning aiming systems and we all have a responsibility to end it once and for all.
Most of his have noticed how threads somehow degenerate to the point where the management decides to lock or remove a particular thread because it has turned into a pizzing contest and while some think it is "sport" to see if they can heighten the tension in these threads, in order to see this happen, I do not. I have been part and parcel to heightening tension in some of these threads by using my signature blue fonts and know that it contributes to the consternation of the naysayers but I continue because I want them to feel what some of the yeasayers feel when they are pounced upon. The most important reason I use the signature blue fonts and big type is the draw attention to my personal disgust. I've even had one poster put my on ignore becuase I've gotten under their skin. ;-) So, I know that my use of the bold blue fonts is something to be used in moderation. :grin:
NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TAKE IT UPON THEMSELVES TO BE THE JUDGE AND JURY OF WHAT OTHERS SHOULD BELIEVE OR NOT BELIEVE, NOR DO WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO RIDICULE THOSE WHO BELIEVE DIFFERENTLY THAN WE DO.
I for one, am tired of the senseless, petty, bickering, back-stabbing, sniping and trolling (FROM BOTH CAMPS) that goes on in most of these aiming threads. I hope that you will all join me in a new era of tolerance for those who don't believe as you do.
So as usual I'll do this JoeyA's way.
Aiming Systems have been around for as long as people have played pool.
NONE of the aiming systems are perfect, not one single one. The player has to rely on his or her experience from hitting lots of shots even when using the most perfect mathematical aiming system in the world. That will never change. You're not going to win any pool matches by learning an aiming system. The art of playing pool well is very difficult but aiming systems do help people with a portion of the difficult process of playing pool well.
Learning to be effective with any particular aiming system is "fraught with peril" as Grady is want to say. There are so many twists and turns to playing pool, it makes most of our heads spin. Some of the aiming systems are easy to learn but can be difficult for some people to be effective with them. Other aiming systems are difficult to learn but are easy to be effective with them. With each of the aiming systems, people have various differences of opinions.
Some of the top players in the world use aiming systems and that will never change. Bangers use aiming systems and that will never change.
Some people are more effective using one particular aiming system over another and here is where I see the fork in the road.
The YEASAYERS often tout a particular aiming system as their "Holy Grail" because it is the aiming system that has helped them "see" the shot better and helped them to pocket more balls, or at the very least, helped them to overcome an obstacle that has impeded their progress in pool.
Often times, YEASAYERS will be so happy that they have made progress with their pool game, they want to share that joy with others of like mind and spirit. I'm not sure who was the first to use the word YEASAYER but I'm sure it wasn't meant to promote forum harmony. Sometimes an occasional yeasayer will say something about an aiming system that verges on hyperbole. The creators and proponents of some aiming systems sometimes say things that aren't entirely "scientifically" correct. The truth is that the YEASAYERS care little if their aiming system is "scientifically" correct. Most of the YEASAYERS are happy enough to find a particular aiming system that is helping their game.
NAYSAYERS: I was probably one of the first to use this word as it relates to the pool forums. This word wasn't used to promote harmony in the forums either. I've used it to describe a certain group of people who besides having a difference of opinion, (than the yeasayers) have been vehement in their quest to ridicule any aiming system that doesn't meet their expectation. It is sometimes considered "game" to get under another poster's skin and some people from the naysayers camp have taken forum gamesmanship to the extremes, ridiculing people who love this game, making snide remarks about the creators of these aiming systems, covering up their mean-spirited, hate filled comments with little emoticoms, including ;-)
. Another tactic of the Naysayers, is to make disparaging remarks and not refer to any one particular person, hoping that the shotgun approach to this vigilantism will do the best job or stirring up s**t. Other times, the naysayers will act like a pack of dogs, nipping at one person, relentlessly, until their is so much disharmony that the yeasayer retaliates with their own pack of dogs.
I've never been a person to hate, in my personal life, professional life or my pool life. It just isn't in me. I'm not trying to be the sheriff of the forums, judge or jury but when I see hatred being expressed in these forums I can't be silent.
If the naysayers had made their perspectives known without interjecting their mean-spirited comments, I wouldn't be writing about aiming systems in this thread. There, I've gone and said it. Naysayers have been responsible for starting the ad hominem attacks on the users of aiming systems and their creators. That being said, yeasayers have been happy to retaliate with their own aresenal of emoticoms and ad hominen attacks.
And so it continues and goes on and on.
I actually understand some of the naysayers and their perspectives more so than I sometimes let on. I know where the yeasayers are coming from too.
I'm sure most of you would have to agree that I am in the yeasayer's camp, although I try to keep a balanced perspective about aiming systems. Aiming systems are just a small piece of the puzzle and for me, they are fun to learn, sometimes difficult to learn and sometimes easy to learn. I haven't found that learning aiming systems causes your game to deteriorate. Sure, when you first learn an aiming system, you have difficulty executing the shots consistently well but after the learning period, I've found that my overall game has IMPROVED, not deteriorated.
What I have perceived is that some people perform better using particular aiming systems. I'm not sure why that is so but it may be that we all have unique visual perceptions and that some aiming systems, capture not only our visual perception, but some of them help us to maintain our focus better than others. Some of the aiming systems help us with our alignment, keeping our body parts in very precise positions, including our eyes. Some people like using aiming systems while others are proud of hitting a million balls to learn how to play pool and they just aim and shoot. Their are probably more "instinctive" style players than any others simply because that is the way most of us learned how to aim (trial and error).
Nowadays, there seems to be a new aiming system coming out every few years. For me, it's no big deal. If someone can create an aiming system that helps a particular group of players, whether they be bangers or top shelf players, I don't care if it is scientifically correct or not. I am happy that anyone can improve their pool game using whatever aiming system that they are using.
There are so many aiming systems out there and more to come in the future. It is an absolute injustice for any of us to cause or add to the turmoil that we have all been a part in creating concerning aiming systems and we all have a responsibility to end it once and for all.
Most of his have noticed how threads somehow degenerate to the point where the management decides to lock or remove a particular thread because it has turned into a pizzing contest and while some think it is "sport" to see if they can heighten the tension in these threads, in order to see this happen, I do not. I have been part and parcel to heightening tension in some of these threads by using my signature blue fonts and know that it contributes to the consternation of the naysayers but I continue because I want them to feel what some of the yeasayers feel when they are pounced upon. The most important reason I use the signature blue fonts and big type is the draw attention to my personal disgust. I've even had one poster put my on ignore becuase I've gotten under their skin. ;-) So, I know that my use of the bold blue fonts is something to be used in moderation. :grin:
NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TAKE IT UPON THEMSELVES TO BE THE JUDGE AND JURY OF WHAT OTHERS SHOULD BELIEVE OR NOT BELIEVE, NOR DO WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO RIDICULE THOSE WHO BELIEVE DIFFERENTLY THAN WE DO.
I for one, am tired of the senseless, petty, bickering, back-stabbing, sniping and trolling (FROM BOTH CAMPS) that goes on in most of these aiming threads. I hope that you will all join me in a new era of tolerance for those who don't believe as you do.
