# Has the SDMB lost critical mass? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 7, 2007, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502 "2007-11-07T02:50:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/81 "2007-11-07T18:26:00Z")
Is it because I don’t post about my balls as much as I used to? If so, I’m sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/82 "2007-11-07T18:27:27Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Zero Tolerance policies rarely seem logical. They generally exist to cover the backsides of TPTB. [/QUOTE] Gee, thanks. :rolleyes: If we enforce the rules that everyone has agreed with upon signing up, we’re fucked. If we let someone slide, even inadvertently, we’re fucked. When come back, bring lube. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/83 "2007-11-07T18:28:45Z")
[QUOTE=Winston Smith] Is it because I don’t post about my balls as much as I used to? If so, I’m sorry. [/QUOTE] Oh man, if this isn’t a cry for a new zero tolerance policy than I don’t know what is 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/84 "2007-11-07T18:29:23Z")
For fuck’s sake. People were bitching over how the SDMB had “gone downhill” since 2-freaking-thousand. And it was just as tedious then. To hear people talk back then, AOL Dopers were Gods who Walked This Earth, GQ was filled with Nobel laureates, and the “Great Debates” of the past were frequented by Daniel Webster, Kant, and Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/85 "2007-11-07T18:41:31Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] Not “part of this is subjective,” it’s completely subjective. [/quote] The numbers are objective. It would be nice if the Reader or whoever told us the hits and the traffic, but they don’t. > [@](#): > > Personally, the two things I find most done-to-death about the Board are (1) the continuall bitching and moaning about any moderating decision, no matter how small; I don’t see that as a big deal as far as the user experience goes. That crap goes into the Pit and the mods just deal with it. Now, it might tire out the mods and hurt how well they can do their jobs, but it won’t affect how much people like the board. What I’m talking about is a LACK of content, not an excess of bad content. > [@](#): > > and (2) threads like this that sigh disingenuously over how much better things used to be on the Boards, and how terrible they are now. I don’t think of it as a Golden age goes to shit matter, because I never felt I was in a golden age here. But now there are just fewer posts and less interesting content. Many seem to agree. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/86 "2007-11-07T18:42:38Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] But really, what kind of debate can you have about the existence of god if all one can offer is faith. What would that look like? [/QUOTE] Do you believe faith can be rational? Whether faith can be rational or (in your opinion) cannot be, is the amount of abuse directed at the faithful here justified? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/87 "2007-11-07T18:46:15Z")
[QUOTE=FordPrefect] Some of us belligerent atheists do expect that a God that is concerned enough with the physical world to have either created it in 7 days and wiped it out with a flood or used the naturalistic approach but specially created humans and sent his Son to die for our sins lest we burn in hell to have some physical manifestations that are measurable in order to be believable. It is against that type of god I tend to rail. [/QUOTE] Well, me too. But not irrationally. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/88 "2007-11-07T18:56:37Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Do you believe faith can be rational? [/quote] Interesting question. In general, yes, in the sense of faith as “expectation.” In that sense, I have faith certain things will happen, but that faith is grounded in evidence. I have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow, based on history and the scientific explanations of how these things work. I have faith that my wife and children will be at home tonight, again based on history. I think these things are “rational”, but I guess we need to have some common definitions of “faith” and “rational.” > [@](#): > > Whether faith can be rational or (in your opinion) cannot be, is the amount of abuse directed at the faithful here justified? I don’t know what the amount of abuse is that is directed at them, nor in what contexts, so I cannot answer that. There are some instances I can recall that abuse has been warranted. People can certainly be aggressively ignorant on the matter, and I think “abuse” is warranted there, but again, it isn’t clear to me what you mean by abuse. For example, Do you think that the judge in the Dover PA case was “abusive” in using the phrase “breathtaking inanity”? I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/89 "2007-11-07T18:57:21Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Do you believe faith can be rational? Whether faith can be rational or (in your opinion) cannot be, is the amount of abuse directed at the faithful here justified? [/QUOTE] _Can_ faith be rational? Possibly? _Is_ it rational as used in an argument by theists on these boards? Not usually. Anyway, the amount of “abuse” directed at the faithful here is justified for the most part, IMO, when it’s mainly an attack on the other’s reasoning in a debate. When your main point is “I just know” or other non-falsifiable claims, you should expect to be called on it on a board dedicated to fighting ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/90 "2007-11-07T18:57:36Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] And, speaking as a poster now, I blame heavy-handed moderation for the decline of the boards. Dicks. [/QUOTE] You know, I think you’re onto something. Back in the day, when I started lurking, a fair proportion of threads concerned bodily functions or various raunchy topics. To me, at least, these were the main type of filler I read between more serious and intellectual threads. I mean, you can read about the ethics of abortion, etc… but sometimes, you just need a good **Lieu** poop story to lighten things up. Sometime a few years back, it seems to me that there was a crackdown of sorts on that kind of thing- in some ways, it took a lot of the fun out of the board, and made it more serious, and by extension, more acrimonious. I think this is mostly because people would get to like one another in the less serious threads, and then in the more intense debate type ones, would be more likely to respect each other. Without the silly/raunchy/nasty threads, it makes for a much more adversarial climate. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/91 "2007-11-07T19:03:53Z")
[QUOTE=bump] **Lieu** poop story to lighten things up. [/QUOTE] You know, I keep reading about **Lieu** and his poop stories. I’ve been a member here since June 2003, and I have never seen him mention anything even vaguely fartish. Not that I actively want to read poop stories, it’s just that the guy has this reputation and I’ve never seen any evidence of what it’s based on. Is this something he made a conscious decision to stop doing 4 1/2 years ago? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/92 "2007-11-07T19:07:24Z")
No, I’m sure **lieu** still poops. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/93 "2007-11-07T19:09:02Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] No, I’m sure **lieu** still poops. [/QUOTE] _Everybody_ poops. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/94 "2007-11-07T19:09:24Z")
Nice catch. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/95 "2007-11-07T19:17:39Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson] … and the “Great Debates” of the past were frequented by Daniel Webster, Kant, and Jesus. [/QUOTE] Wankers, the lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/96 "2007-11-07T19:21:57Z")
[QUOTE=Tenebras] Wankers, the lot of them. [/QUOTE] Remember the meltdown He had when we proved Jesus didn’t exist? Ghod, those were the days! ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/97 "2007-11-07T19:24:00Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] When come back, bring lube. [/QUOTE] Well, you _are_ in charge of hospitality. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/98 "2007-11-07T19:31:11Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] Well, you _are_ in charge of hospitality. [/QUOTE] Only at Orycon. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/99 "2007-11-07T19:37:21Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] I don’t know if I’m the only one who thinks it or just the only one who’ll give them the pleasure of actually typing it, but I honestly think the other board has a good bit to do with it. I know for a fact that two very funny and popular Dopers stopped posting because they didn’t want to deal with the bullshit from over there, and while I haven’t stopped I no longer post any long rants or personal stories because I’m tired of the PMs and emails from people who either misguidedly think they’re doing me a favor by directing me there or are two-faced shit stirrers. It’s just not fun anymore. [/QUOTE] I’ve honestly never understood the hand-wringing over “the other board.” Jesus, I think most people here couldn’t even tell you the URL or what even goes on at “the other board.” I know I can’t. Just like Bush constantly talks about how everything is different after 9/11 and Slashdot fanboys whine about how video games are being ruined because the console makers don’t let us play pirated games, the SDMB has a few weirdos who are convinced what happens at some other board matters to everyone that posts here. It just boggles my mind… ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502/100 "2007-11-07T19:50:00Z")
[QUOTE=Omegaman] I thought satan was your pal. They kind of go hand in hand. [/QUOTE] Satanists don’t believe in God or Satan, so not really. You’re thinking of devil worshippers which aren’t the same thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-sdmb-lost-critical-mass/425502.md?page=6)