I wanted to start a thread in Cafe Society about how it seems to me that the really enduring classic films always seem to be set either mostly or entirely in a bygone era or in a made-up world. Like Star Wars: made-up world. Titanic: mostly the past. Gone With the Wind: entirely in past. Wizard of Oz: made-up world. But right off the bat, I was going to have to say that I was only looking for films that did better than average to start off with, in theaters, and as such, I would not include It’s a Wonderful Life (even though it’s mostly flashback), because from what I understand, it did poorly in theaters and only gained ground when it got shown on TV every year.
But who am I to say what’s a blockbuster or a classic? Even if I load my post with disclaimers, that doesn’t excuse being wrong. At least, I should provide statistics for IAWL before I dare even mention it. And if I say I want to exclude so-called cult hits, the whole thread will probably get bogged down with people scoffing at my definition of “cult.”
Similarly, I wanted to start a thread asking for songs about Los Angeles and to some extent about California. But this is because I’m putting together a playlist, and as such, I’m not interested in songs about other places in CA, like San Francisco/the Bay Area, and even all songs that mention Cali might not qualify. I can’t say that, though, because to do so would be to dictate to an artist what they can or cannot do for my own selfish listening purposes. So I guess I’ll have to stay silent rather than expose myself as a demanding ignoramus.
(In all seriousness, I wouldn’t want to stop anyone from naming a song they happen to think of, if the alternative is them not posting at all. But I don’t want a list full of Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead songs either, so I would state that condition if I were to start the thread.)
And before anyone says it, I don’t think it’s just me. Other people are getting this too. I just don’t appreciate it no matter who it’s aimed at.
Welcome to the Dope, and for that matter, the internet at large. It’s especially prevalent here, though, where everyone is a pedant who specializes in getting through an OP’s loopholes.
Just that, even though this board has always been full of nitpickers, that used to be part of what made it fun. Lately, though, there’s been a nasty tone that I don’t like, and it’s not all directed at me. If it was just me, I’d change my approach or at least think about doing so, but it seems that a lot more people are perpetually spoiling for a fight. I’ve been seeing people asked for a cite when they were only expressing an opinion; I’ve seen people asked who they think they are to express a particular opinion. Seems like everything is a personal matter these days, so even though there was a time when my two speculative threads would have been fun, now I’d just rather not spend forty percent of the thread defending myself.
Well I think the first post you linked to, you were wrong. Even though you put the disclaimer that ‘you may be wrong’, it was perfectly fine for someone to point out that you were wrong.
Yeah, but “masterwork of misconception and mythmaking” is a bit much. I didn’t set out to deceive people. I wanted to understand more about the subject myself. It’s possible to tell me I’m wrong without basically accusing me of spreading ignorance.
I agree - this board has its share of people who seem to feel it’s their sole purpose in life to turn every fucking thread in which they participate into a Great Debates thread.
There is a recent thread someone started about ranking a list of 10 drummers. The OP clearly stated that the list COULD NOT BE CHANGED because of restrictions out of his control. Just those 10. In no time the “What, no mention of so and so” posts started flying. That’s always annoying.
No, not really. (And not a hijack; it’s cited in the OP.) Disappointed, perhaps, but not astounded. There must be people who like it or it wouldn’t still be in the “funny” pages.
I agree with you. I have seen this over-the-top nitpicking and fault-finding for a while now on this board AND a few others. It makes it uncomfortable to discuss anything beyond the superficial, but even then you have to watch what you say. It seems people are unhappy and they will strike out anywhere to get a little power back. Maybe it’s just a sign of the times.
Rand Rover recently had a thread closed that was derailed in a couple of ways, one of which was people whining about the hypothetical being unrealistic. Sigh We know that in real life, two people are never going to be exactly alike except for in one way, but this is hypothetical. Can people not theorize? It was really annoying. I know** Young Randy** gets shat on around here (deservedly so), which means everyone’s going to act like it’s okay to nitpick and derail his threads, but that’s only the most recent example I can think of, and it happens to people less worthy of SDMB scorn. It happens all the time, we all know it’s stupid, yet it keeps happening.
Poll. Which is more annoying:
Derailing a thread entirely to beat the living shit out of an irrelevant nitpick
-or-
Posting to a thread to say nothing except, “Not to nitpick, but [insert asinine nitpick here].”