am i qualified enough? take the quiz to find out!

well, i have finally decided to rant about online cliques/webrings and their requirements. for so long i have seen many that have gotten to me, but i guess i needed one last site to push me over the edge, and lucky you, that happened today. (the site will remain anonymous). aren't these "cliques" supposed to bring people of all ages, races, or whatnot together? are they not merely a way to express something you believe in, publically? i like webrings, personally, and i like belonging to something i believe in, and i like knowing that someone, somewhere, has something in common with me. however, it's always the requirements page that makes me rethink of joining a webring ever again. so many of them are so superficial, and i am so tired of not being able to join because of a single requirements. when i have webrings, i'm going to have one requirement: you must believe in what you are joining. simple as that. why the hell do people sit there and make a whole damn list of these stupid requirements that only they are going to care about?

» "you must have amazing design skills."
okay, WHO CARES? anyone should be able to join. that's like racism. you are exclusing someone because their site looks a certain way. i, for one, do not have amazing design skills, but i maintain a site. period.
» "you must sign the guesbook."
okay, if there is one requirement that will completely change my mind about joining a webring, this is it. how petty.
» "you must put the code on your page before i look at it."
calm down. the world is not going to end because a member does not put the code up in a matter of three seconds before pressing "submit." what is the huge deal? i realize it's a "club," but you don't go into the ring until you are accepted anyway. what's the point?
» "i must like your site."
this is just altogether wrong. i could maybe tolerate "your site should be somewhat appealing," but... no. like i said above, the whole point to a webring is (should be) to unite girls and guys around the world to express something they believe in, something that means something to them. webrings should not be about having "elite" sites, having no pop-ups, and being trendy.
» "no fansites."
oh, i'm sorry. i run a site about someone that inspires me. i'm surely not qualified to join a webring! silly me!
» "no sites with celebrities for layouts."
again, i'm so sorry that i admire someone and wish to express that. wait a minute, isn't that much like a webring? i want to put a graphic/text on my site that expresses a part of me... should i be able to do that? i will admit, someone celebrities can get to me. sometimes i think it's all a big joke. but what about celebrities out there who really do mean something to someone? it's layout, for the love of satan. a LAYOUT. someone's layout has nothing to do with the damn webring, so why does it matter?

i love webrings, believe me. but i refuse to join any that have more than three requirements. if the ring is about poets, i would understand that "being a poet" would be one of the requirements. but i am so tired of these trendy webrings that have about 50 requirements and bore the hell out of me before i even get the chance to join. can't they just be FUN, and can't they just be about non-superficial items? why do so many people feel the need to have "only qualified" people in their webrings? why even make a damn webring if you're going to be so picky about who can join? hell, i couldn't care less if the person had a webpage or not. as long as they have some form of contact for other members in case they want to discuss this common interest with each other, fine. i am just tired of all this.