personally, i don't see any pleasure in hurting anything thats helpless. i certainly don't see any sense in harming a defenceless tree. those raging energies can definitely be put to better use.
besides, if people really want to kill bob, he would be dead long ago. now some smart aleck (not the player) will say "well there are worse things than death". id say there are worse ways to call attention to oneself than carving your name on a living tree, try carving it on your own flesh.
if you think its just an innocent act or an act caused by a fit of rage or a demonstration of your hate to some other players or a governing order you dislike, deal with it on your own. don't let bob or any tree be the target of your frustrations.

trees have many uses. nature taught us to live in harmony with our surroundings, that includes utilizing(to a non-destructive point) plants and trees to our advantage. we use it for shelter, for food, for clothes; we use trees to make cradles for our babies, play with children on their branches, make a "swing" or a hammock beneath its shade; make firewood from fallen trees; make pencils and paper for writing; make bow and arrow for hunting, boats for fishing. the point is, lets place some reverence to how we treat the oaks and the yews, the birches and the maples, the firs and the ashes, the willows and mistletoes. we need not worship them. just a little bit of respect is all.

yes people will continue to hurt bob no matter what other people say. but i have no doubt that bob the tree will outlive most players, if not all, maybe even its creator. so i don't pity bob, i pity those that deal wanton destruction on him and many many many trees like him.

Fun tree fact:

The only way you can actually kill a tree without chopping it down is by stripping a ring of bark around it.

It disrupts the xylem and the phloem pathways which are water and oxygen "highways" that keep the tree alive.
So, basically, if you carve something into the tree, you're not really harming it, because it can still receive its nutrients from all other sides of itself.

Just my one cent. : D

Actually, I correct myself. You want to get rid of the cork of which is made up of the xylem and the phloem. If you get rid of the bark, you're just leaving it vulnerable to pests and disease.
[Yes, trees are susceptible to disease]

Also: When you see the rings on a tree that's cut? Those are dead cork rings, meaning, once again, the xylem and the phloem. The darker the rings are, the less water there is [meaning summer, or winter], and vice versa. The wider the rings are, also indicates the season of a tree.. but I cannot remember what.

Yay for tree facts! WHOOOOO.

Edited August 30, 201015 yr by Curiose