Can we please ban "recreational outrage" posts?

The BBQ Pit
81

I, for one, enjoy these moral outrage pittings. Children raped and murdered, puppies thrown out of car windows, teachers imprisoned for having spyware on their computer – ain’t nothin’ like it to put a bright shiny face on the morning.

Of course, people who get outraged by these stories are reacting exactly the way the media wants you to react – they boil the blood and cloud the mind, making you more likely to vote for those Republican-backed initiatives aimed at limiting our civil rights, paying $3.50 per gallon of gas, etc. Oh, and buying those crappy products they’re advertising. That’s what it’s all about. Heck, our economy depends on it.

Now if we can only do something about those stupid banner ads on VH1 Classic…WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM BY TOMMY SHAW & JACK BLADES!! YOU FECKLESS MONSTERS!!! MY RAGE BURNS WITH THE FIRE OF 1,000 SUNS!!!

82

By “these” do you mean RO threads, or do you mean ones wishing to ban certain topics? Because if you mean RO threads, I completely agree with you.

83

You misspelled ni-; oh, wait, never mind.

Myself, I think any thread where the word “vagina” is typed, or threads that cause Dopers to think about vaginas, or threads that might cause them to say the word “vagina” out loud in connection with posting should be banned.

Or at least they should be required to be titled “Cunt Talk”.

84

Good post, bobkitty. Re the specific quoted point, I said much the same thing the last time this came up and we all argued about whether it’s okay to let rage shut off our rational minds long enough to rub out a few dozen words of foam-flecked fury. We didn’t answer the question then, either.

85

Great post, bobkitty. Though it must be said in fairness:

RG threads wouldn’t belong in the pit.

86

That sounds sexual, you perv.

I’m sending DatelineNBC to your house.

[Reality Check]

Of course, not really.

[/RC]

87

bobkitty I didn’t say you shouldn’t get a reasonable warning. You may include yourself in any catagory you wish, it’s your label. You may rage over whatever you want. I don’t want you or others trying to suppress my outrage on the subjects I choose. Outrage is good for a person, when it has a safety outlet. You need to stay out of the thread if you can’t handle the subject, because today it happens to be too hard on you. You’re welcome to outrage on this as much as you like. People were bitching that nobody would come forward in support of having these threads, so I stepped up to the batters plate. I see I scored a home run on the first try to say piss off, they have a useful purpose for me. Now remember others may like to blow up in a moraly judgementle outrage on their choosen topic not just yours. Batta! Batta! Batta! Smack! Home run!

88

I have a question for those who want to ban “RO” threads: do you read every thread on the Dope? Or do you pick and choose, maybe a MPSIMS here, a GD there? Why can’t you simply skip over the “RO” threads? Selection - it’s not just for produce anymore. Try it.

89

all I asked for was explicit titles so I can avoid them. often they’re simply “words fail me”, a link to an article and :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :frowning: :mad: :mad: :mad:

90

I’m not sure which corner this’ll land me in, but I definitely would NOT wish to ban these types of threads and although I’m not sure whether or not I’ve ever started one, I do think they can serve a purpose. Like education, as has already been mentioned. But for me, when it’s a topic that specifically catches my interest for whatever reason, it’s either to blow off steam with other individuals who are summarily pissed off too or to illuminate something that I thought no one would ever be capable of.

Now I understand that not necessary for everyone and there’s plenty here in the pit that I skip for that very reason. However, I’d have never believed it was possible for a person to physically take a pet out of another’s car and throw it into traffic if I hadn’t been alerted to an article that reported it, referenced in a thread much like those being discussed here. Why is knowing something like that important to me? Well, I tend to be more than a bit on the naive/rose-colored glasses side of life and therefore, believe too much of the best of everyone. Grasping that this thinking doesn’t necessarily make it so helps me to wise up from time to time and not be so fucking gullible that I get hurt (or even others by extension). [ ::: ahem ::: ] In my humble opinion, of course.

Now, all that said, I agree that titles should be accurate and detailed enough to allow any parties considering be involved the information needed to make their appropriate decision. I also feel that nothing more than a link with, perhaps, a line or two and some disgruntled smiley doesn’t really cut it. No more than it does in GD. So, there you have it in full… one more person whose okay with RO threads beyond “Just don’t read it if you don’t like!” and actually sees that they might even serve a purpose occasionally.

91

This is excellent advice regarding all OP’s, on whatever topic and in whatever forum. I don’t think RO threads should be singled out, relative to other threads, when they lack said clarity. Nor should they be given a pass on it.

92

Please, no more rules about what we can and can’t talk about. It’ll just lead to more “Why was my thread closed?” threads.

93

Those should be banned too. :stuck_out_tongue:

You do bring up a good point. In general, it’s not the subject matter that should be banned. What should be banned is non-descriptive thread titles and posts with just a link and no content.

94

Some of these points may have been made before, but I’ll reiterate them. Trying to ban these things is just a stupid idea. No blanket policy is going to effectively remove the chaff by outlawing the treads based on the outrage du jour. And Bobkitty, your criteria for reducing them are idiotic.

Proximity? Personal affection? Ability to do anything? Then we couldn’t discuss Chinese Human rights abuses, Islamic law barbarism, atrocities in Africa. etc. As to threads with “educational value”, is anybody going to be the least bit enlightened by one more thread about Jack Chick?

Secondly, this whole discussion is a tempest in a teapot. It’s not a problem that even needs a solution. Let’s look at the current 20 threads on the first page of the BBQ pit and pick the ones that might end up going - but probably shouldn’t

Say Vagina, get Suspended: subject doesn’t affect the OP’er. It’s got to go.

"Conservapedia": the Right’s Answer to Wikipedia: Doesn’t affect OP’er and can’t do anything about it anyway.

Hell, I’ just skip ahead - Only a couple of threads in the entire pit are posted by someone who is affected by the subject. Just about every thread covers a topic that doesn’t affect the OP’er. One choice one

Raped Woman Sentenced to 90 lashes: Definitely recreational Outrage. Sufficiently violent subject. OP lives nowhere near, is not directly affected, can’t do anything about it anyway. You get the idea.

I do know the type of thread some of you are arguing against. It’s the Florida Child Murder - Words Almost Fail Me. We currently have one on the first page of the BBQ pit. One. One thread is not an avalanche, an unstoppable plague, or a deluge. It’s… one… fucking… thread.

I’m sure there were more a few days ago, but come on people, the board goes in cycles. Maybe it was recreational outrage last week. This week it’ll be bad drivers, then Jack Chick, then various retail horror stories, then back to Jack Chick with a side of Ann Coulter, then Microsoft vs Apple etc…

The Board is self correcting. To talk of banning such an amorphously defined subject is just plain idiotic.
On preview:

Now that is something I could get behind, but I think that the OP of this particular thread was truly concerned with content.

95

I don’t think they should be banned. I think they should A) be moved to MPSIMS, and B) the OPs should be made to feel embarrassed for posting what amounts to glurge.

If you have nothing substantive to say about some such subject–if your post amounts to nothing more than masturbatory voyeurism–then you should be embarrassed to post it.

96

A fate worse than banning! Yes, that is exactly what should be done.

97

Harmonious, if you really get that worked up over Horrible Item of the Day, you have some serious anger issues. If you’re that addicted to the feelings of rage, you need to seek help. AND NOT US. Get a journal and start writing poetry. Here, I’ll help:

Dark red blood,
Dead in the mud!

That’s all I got. I need to add some TRAGIC DARK RED, but I’m all out of that color. I aint no poet, but hopefully my musings have helped spark your juices. You could even use your screen name as your pen name. “Harmonious Discord” is like, such a fucking tragic name. Go and write. Your talents are being wasted here.

Or you could go back to trolling GQ.

98

I am deeply cynical by nature, and it comes out in how I view this type of thread. I know that when something awful but bland happens I catalogue it along with all the other daily horrors we are exposed to in a media saturated world. When something awful happens under interesting circumstances I want to find someone to share it with. The key here is that my outrage, such as it is, is no greater in one case over the other.

So we have two headlines, “Man shoots wife and child in domestic dispute” and “Man throws wife and child into tiger enclosure at the National Zoo”. I am no more outraged at one than the other. What gets me is the lack of honesty from people who post these threads. They are posting them to share interesting or horrifying news stories. To make is OK with themselves emotionally they don’t admit their real motivations and post a string of invective.

I would do away with them altogether, but I am also capable of just not reading them.

99

bobkitty, that was beautiful. Can I have your babies? You expressed my thoughts in a way I’ve never managed to express them - coherently.

So, almost nobody wants RO banned, but I’ve seen several suggestions to move them to MPSIMS. That’s a perfect solution as far as I’m concerned. They just don’t belong in the Pit.

What say the Teeming?

100

I’m never going to live that one down, am I? Hell, at least it made for interesting Pit material. Trainwreck threads are a lot more fun to read than OMG DEAD BABIES SAD FACE :frowning: :frowning: :frowning: