Obviously, there are some people on the SDMB with very distinct personalities that I recognize. Liberal and tomndebb, for example. For the most part, though, I could easily disagree with someone in one thread, and agree with them in another a week later, and not notice I was talking to the same person. I’m really discussing with the board most of the time rather than individuals.
Do you do this, or do you remember who took what positions in what threads when?
Generally no, in fact, generally, I don’t keep track of who might disagree with me. I am sort of aware of a few posters I consider like-minded and find myself generally aligned with on many topics, but not because of who they are.
There are a couple of exceptions (but I’m not going to name them) - members who I perceive as having unfairly harangued me and in one case personally abused me via email(without cause, I might add). I can’t forget who they are, but I am determined not to let it alter the way I interact with them or the board in general.
Depends on the forum. There are certain posters who I find to be absolutely insufferable in one forum (GD) that I actively look forward to interacting with in another (CS). So the answer is…it depends.
There are a few people I think of as “the defensive divorced chick,” “the uber-liberal guy who thinks Iraqis who kill US soldiers are heroes,” “the girl who got busted for lying about <blank>,” etc. I won’t embarrass the posters, or get myself Pitted, by saying who is which.
As far as me getting in arguments with other posters, the closest I’ve come is a few snipes with Monty over LDS topics, but they’ve generally been misunderstandings over tone and meaning. Real, screaming arguments with anonymous strangers over an anonymous medium? Please. :rolleyes:
I generally don’t remember much about who I’ve gotten into arguments with, but I do occasionally have a mental note set aside on certain usernames that, depending on forum and topic, I will likely internally :rolleyes: at their comments. I’m more likely to remember that they’re into something that I think is interesting, though.
There are a couple of people - way less than 10 - that I have firm opinions about and simply avoid interacting with. Either I find their biases distasteful and/or their posting style unfair/dishonest, or they just strike me as - um - particularly wacky. With some it might be an issue- or forum-specific thing.
But that’s a pretty darned small number of the many folk who post here.
Right now I’m trying to figure out how the number of posters that I consciously avoid compares with the number of posters I consciously seek out…
Like silenus says, it depends on the forum. And as I generally stay out of GD (and often the Pit, too) I don’t engage these people but do roll my eyes a bit…then they come to CS and thhey are different people.
There are a couple of people whom I try to avoid, and a whole bunch of people I am fond of, but I won’t be naming any names of the former, and the latter pretty much knows who they are anyway.
I haven’t posted enough to have gotten into any real arguments, and am generally shy about getting involved in truly controversial topics, anyway. (I do read many of those threads with interest, however.)
In my lurking, I have formed fairly strong opinions about a number of posters, both positive and negative. And I have a very good memory. If I were to get into any argument with them, I hope I would be mature enough to stick to the topic at hand, but I can’t guarantee it.
And occasionally, people do surprise me. Just today I read an insightful post by someone whose opinions generally make me go “WTF?!!”
There are some Dopers who stand out to me in a positive way, and one or two who I’ve had particularly frustrating interactions with and who stand out in a negative way. But I tend to just ignore the latter (post-by-post; I don’t believe in using ignore lists) when necessary, and would never randomly snark or rolleyes someone in one thread because of something that happened in another thread. I might also welcome or even reply to a post by someone who I “don’t like” depending on the forum and/or topic, and I’d certainly never dismiss a good point just because it came from someone I have a negative impression of. I do have mental notes, though, to remind myself to tread cautiously when dealing with certain Dopers: for example, I might be happy to debate/discuss a subject with anyone else, but if one of those Dopers is involved I’m much more likely to either not engage in the first place, or to simply drop the subject if they engage me.
Sometimes it can be a little more complicated than I think dealing with strangers on the internet should be, but then sometimes I think that this place isn’t so black-and-white as “strangers on the internet.”
I don’t really argue that much on here. I deal with enough idiots in real life that when I encounter them on here, I generally choose to walk away.
I guess there have been…lesse…(“The former member with the L&O character name who had the opposite opinion from mine on every subject she ever posted about”, “The genius who loves to rail to the wind about how I set up the whole sheep thing myself but it doesn’t really matter since he spends all his time over at the DinkPit and is hardly here anymore”, and "That guy with The Correct Opinions – when I informed him that he was stating opinions as fact, he argued that as far as he was concerned they were indeed facts – man, that shit sticks in my craw…but I rarely see him anymore either)…three people sorely in need of a good thwacking with a clueXfour whom I remember.
There are others out there, of course, but those three are the only ones who I actually rememeber.
I have a very bad memory, so I don’t remember particular arguments at all. I worry a tiny bit that there are people here walking around the Boards carring grudges against me for things I’ve said, when I don’t remember either what I said or who I said it to.
But I have been here long enough to form opinions about particular posters, based on what they say and how they say it. I am wary of the TMI’ers, since I find it hard to believe I could have a genuine conversation with someone who freely discourses on, for example, the contents of their very own ass. I am wary of the ideologues, since I don’t think they really want to talk to you so much as at you. And I don’t respect the intellectually dishonest, the flat-out dishonest, or the attention-whores.
So I remember particular posters more than specific arguments.
I remember a decent amount about quite a few posters. Thankfully most is positive. As far as arguing with, a few names stand out either for extreme views or their apparent joys in confrontation for confrontation sake or in a few cases for them twisting many threads to be about them.
There are a few posters who I almost always greet with a :rolleyes: to myself. One is becoming overdue for her first pitting.
The dope has a cast of characters that I tend to expect certain reactions from. I have no problems with most of them. I avoid confrontations at this point with several. I just selectively glance over their posts if the thread interests me.
On the other side there are several dozen posters that if they are the Op or last poster, I am more likely to check out the thread. Some as I enjoy their writings, some for the excellent knowledge they usually impart and at least one to see what stupid thing his Op is about this time.
I don’t tend to get involved in a lot of controversy on the board. There are only a couple of posters I’ve interacted with who really catch my eye now when I see that they’ve posted. One is someone who holds very different views than I do regarding issues with marriage and other emotional relationships, but I find to her to be a generally pleasant poster overall. The other seems to spout quite a bit of nonsense, but I hold no personal animosity towards her.
In general, there are several folks around here that I avoid getting into arguments with specifically because I lurk in enough threads to know that it isn’t worth my time.
I don’t usually remember who said what at all. However, there are a few threads (generally I have to participate in them and actually go back and forth with them to remember) that paint my whole picture of a particular poster. I’ll try to keep an open mind about them after that, but sometimes it’s difficult, particularly if they attacked me in some way.
