Do Czarcasm and I not speak the same language?

The BBQ Pit
81

Hey, IAMBIC, welcome to the SDMB. Reading your first post in the other thread, I did see that you were just trying an experiment and didn’t mean to sound obnoxious. The responses seemed overly defensive at first, and I think you – perhaps understandably – were confused, frustrated and affronted when met with their comments.

If you don’t mind my saying so, that’s where the problem began. Rather than explain your rationale/motives more clearly, you yourself got a bit defensive and kinda … oh, lofty, I guess. Things developed from there. But you didn’t come across as a smug jerk in any way to me, though. (And AFAIC, the Czarcasm smackdown came totally out of left field.)

This pattern happens a lot with guests – especially those whose first posts can, in any way, be taken or misconstrued as superior or challenging. We’ve been on the receiving end of more than a few troublemakers and/or wannabe prima donnas, so I guess that’s created a mindset of “Man the barricades, intruder spotted!” A lot of trolls can be sniffed out this way. Many others with pure motives get caught in the crossfire. An inevitable result when people shoot first, ask questions later.

I notice that when a newcomer finds him/herself confronted with suspicion, things tend to take one of three paths: #1) s/he can email a mod, understand what’s going on and make every attempt to clear the matter up in a friendly way; #2) s/he can give up and lay low for awhile, lurking to better understand the tone of the joint; or, #3) in the worst case scenario, s/he opens an outraged pit thread, leading to an escalation of the hostilities on both sides that develops into a trainwreck and banning.

FWIW, right now you’re probably somewhere between options #2 and #3. Move even closer to the #1 side of the spectrum and I think you’ll have a much easier and more enjoyable time, dopewise. :wink:

(Yeesh, sorry if this comes across as annoyingly academic. Online community dynamics are fascinating to me. )

82

Rather than hijack and force Liberal to restate all his positions that led to his reputation, I did him a little favour and made a little compilation for anyone interested.

83

Good idea. I’ve started a separate thread.

I’d prefer to have discussion of a board member remain on the board.

84

CarnalK, I can’t think of anything that fits the definition of jerkish behavior more neatly than linking to your twisted little repository of other people’s past arguments and bad behavior. Keep that crap off the board.

85

Point taken, won’t happen again. Just didn’t want to cut and paste it.

86

Yikes, I can see a whole lotta negative potential in his proposed topic. Assuming the worst, it might end up with an elaborate attempt at rationalization in which IAMBIC tries to lay a “tu quoque” smackdown upon the board.

Then again, it might be worth a few laughs, so I hope he does it just because I’m curious about the outcome.

87

Well… maybe now I don’t have to start the thread … :wink:

BTW, thanks for your suggestions in post #63.

kaylasdad99, your observations ring true for me.

choie, some good comments about online community dynamics.

88

Hey, no charge, dude.

And another piece of free friendly advice: email a mod and ask that this thread be closed. The better to get this to slip into obscurity, and facilitate your newer, more collaborative approach to SDMB membership. :slight_smile:

89

That may be true, but just because it says “guest” doesn’t mean the person is a new guy. I’ve been reading the Message Board since it began. I didn’t register until recently, because the process wasn’t working when I tried it and I was too lazy to figure out the problem.

(If I’d known they were going to start charging I might have figured it out sooner.) :smack:

90

** IAMBIC **-

Well I don’t think the thread in question was that bad this little tidbit caught my eye:

To me thats just begging for a response that you can either a) approve of or hopefully b) Smack down and give the “right” answer. Aloofness is not an ethos that transfers well through the written medium. I don’t know why you didn’t just give the answer in the OP and ask how many people knew it. I guess I don’t really see a way that it was intended as anything other than an attempt to pull a “Gotcha ya!”. If you got a reason why you didn’t give the answer in the OP I am all ears. Misinterpetations happen and I am always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt.

If you take nothing else from this thread try to be as clear as possible in your posts and cut the bullshit so to speak. If you want to know how many people don’t know the answer to a question, post the answer and ask if people knew it. No need to dance around the answer like its a vital secret.

Perhaps this thread can return to the topic at hand and the hijackers would move onto a thread of their own.

91

That would be *too * ironic!

I started this thread because I disagree with the decision to close another thread and because I wasn’t given an opportunity to explain myself in that thread. Nobody in that thread seemed to be especially bothered by my approach; if it was a dumb thread, it should have been allowed to die on its own; if I was an irritating, arrogant, annoying, condescending schmuck-ass-dickhead, that, on its own, doesn’t mean that the thread should have been closed; and nobody in *this * thread has said that *that * thread should have been closed.

Also, when my first post was closed, I emailed Czarcasm for a clarification. (I wanted to PM him, but I found out that PM’s are not enabled on this board.) He did not respond, not even to tell me that he was too busy for a complete answer. I’d prefer to keep any subsequent comments in a public forum.

I’ve learned something from this BBQ Pit thread, something about myself and something about people in general. It’s not clear to me that the learning has been reciprocal.

Whether I have a “newer, more collaborative approach to SDMB membership” remains to be seen.

I don’t mind if this thread goes on.

Although I’m quite sure that it will die soon.

92

Dunno if you did this or not, but always put SDMB in the title when you email a mod. Spam filters and such can catch your mail, and that gives something to catch the eye of the mod.

93

I don’t think you learned anything. I tried to stand up for you, even though I didn’t really know you, on principle basically. But then you go and post this. Do you not see that this is precisely what we were talking about in the first place? You come to a group of people and imply that you are the only one out of all of us that is capable of making improvement, indeed that you are the only one who did.

If you can’t see that your smug asshole attitude shows up clearly in this statement, then you are truly one of the stupidest people ever to grace these boards.

Go fuck yourself.

94

I’ve learned plenty about you already in the brief period you’ve been actively posting. Mainly that you’re pretentious; but also that you are likely the kind of person who doesn’t have conversations IRL. You may lecture, you may hold forth, you may harangue, or you may sermonize; but one thing I’ll wager you seldom do is really listen to anyone else. Even when you’re quiet, I’d say it’s because you are thinking about the next thing you’re going to say, not because you are listening to what somebody else has to say.
I predict, unless you’re cheap too, that you’ll hang around. That ego won’t let you walk away w/o impressing us that you are “the smartest guy in the room.”

95

NoClueBoy, you’re very funny!

Your post *is * an indication that you haven’t learn one thing: Just because someone is an asshole, doesn’t mean you should act like one.

Many of the posts in this thread (and ironically, not yours) were from people acting like assholes telling me that I’m an asshole. It’s as if there are two standards on this board: Be cooperative and respectful, except if someone is an asshole.

But the issue in this thread was whether the thread should have been closed. Instead of addressing the issue and demonstrating the proper approach, some posters (I emphasize some) were just jerks.

Despite your “fuck yourself” comment, I still appreciate your support in your other posts. (Although, I’m sure, you now regret having defended such an asshole …)

96

Okay, you’re an irritating, arrogant, annoying, condescending schmuck-ass-dickhead and the thread should have been closed, but not actually because you’re an irritating, arrogant, annoying, condescending schmuck-ass-dickhead (we have plenty of those around here and they get along just fine). Rather, it was the self-important dangling of knowledge. There was no point where you simply said what you knew to be the cause of the seasons, nor was there any indication such a revelation was forthcoming. I’ve seen similar threads in which the OP tries to make the posters guess what an answer is (and oftentimes the question is to some degree cryptic, so the most obvious answers are “wrong” on some hairsplitting basis), while holding back the “real” answer in a clear bid for attention and to keep the game going. It inevitably creates bad feelings and hostility as posters lose patience and say: “So what’s the answer, already?” and the OP, empowered, replies: “You’re not ready for the real answer. Does anyone else want to try?”

Clear as mud?

And NoClueBoy is funny. He’s one of my personal favourites. You’ve shown no evidence of having a basis to patronize him. Unless you have some other argument to make, I figure you’re done and all that’s left is the spasmodic jerking of this zombified corpse of a thread while it fights to deny its fate ("but I am the smartest! I am! I am! I … am!… I… am…)

97

What is in my pockets?

98

Actually, it’s arrogant to suggest you know “plenty” about me.

In fact, I don’t talk much in real life, and I’ve been told many times that I’m a good listener. People open up to me because (are your ready for this?) I’m accepting of what they think are flaws. If anything, I get wrapped up while others are talking because I’m fascinated by what they’re saying.

But, there some people that I choose not to associate with. Big surprise?

Another example of irony.

Some Dopers didn’t like the closed thread because it threatened their fragile egos. Who are *you * to imply that you know more than we do?

It doesn’t matter what I say — whatever you know, you know. Some of you are really smart, some of you are less smart. None of that depends on what I say. You don’t become smarter by calling me an asshole.

Anyway, I like some of the things that this board offers, but I don’t intend to become a member. (Cheer or yawn, whatever.)

99

String, or nothing.

100

Actually, it does, if the thread was in MPSIMS instead of the Pit.

I express no opinion on whether or not you were being “an irritating, arrogant, annoying, condescending schmuck-ass-dickhead”. Should you choose to be one in some future thread, a word of advice - there are already lots of Dopers with a natural gift for being IAACSADs, and plenty of practice.

Free advice, and worth every penny.

Regards,
Shodan