IOW, “I can’t find any more ways to defend Santorum in public.”
Whatever, dude. Have fun with the Freepers.
I understand, and my reasons for suggesting it were purely selfish. I’ll be sorry to see you leave, and I hope you come back when life gets less crowded.
Thank you for post #80–it explains things much better and is gracious.
Best of luck to you-come back and see us again when you can.
That’s the best reason for staying. I use the “attack the post, not the poster” rule in all forums, because it’s easy to be nice and polite when you’re required to; it’s harder when it’s just you regulating you. This is an opportunity for personal growth for you here.
Do come back when life gets less time-consuming.
Good luck, Mr. Moto.
I can’t say that I agree with you on too many subjects, but this board does tend to skew heavily towards the left, and I’ve always enjoyed (and often learned from) opinions from the other side of the fence.
I hope you find your way back here someday.
-64.5
Enjoy,
Steven
Well, if that doesn’t make him stay, nothing will.
That’s pretty much how i see it, too. (Imagine that.) So people don’t agree with my politics or my views on certain other hot topics? Meh. All those things are mostly opinions and emotions anyways. Some Dopers I agree with wholeheartedly. Some make me want to vomit into their mouth and hold their jaws shut, forcing them to swallow my bile. Most, tho, are just these guys…
Stick around, tell us what god damn Star Trek you like, post links to pictures of your shitty pets, answer a fucking question or two about quantum mechanics…
Or go.
Either way, peace be with you.
This has been a really thought-provoking thread for me, though not for the obvious reasons. I recognize Mr. Moto’s name, but not specifically. I’m bad that way. That said:
This is what I think is most fascinating about this au revoir. Do any of you who post avidly to the political debates on here really think you’re going to change anyone’s mind? This is not to say that no one’s mind has ever been changed about politics; there’s that mythical “swing voter” who decides all the elections… but that guy, he doesn’t bother to post much on places like SDMB. Why? An indecisive person doesn’t get into pitched debates on the internet with strangers. Nor does an uninformed person, or an apathetic person. It takes way too much energy and you’d get your ass handed to you.
Which brings me to my next point-- is Mr. Moto being disingenuous by saying that he’s frustrated because he can’t change anyone’s mind via his SDMB debates? Did he really expect to? Is that even a realistic goal, and how long could one actually harbor it before realizing it’s absurd? Partisan arguing on the internet tends to end in flames, or in a draw in which no one’s position is altered in the end. In any case, rarely in these debates does anyone have a “Saul on the road to Damascus” moment where a thread on the SDMB caused him to vote Democrat after he was an avowed Republican, or vice versa. If I’m wrong, please correct me and I’ll shut up.
If you acknowledge that you’re likely not going to convert anyone you’ve been debating to your political views, then maybe you just like articulating your position, up to and including calling people names, questioning the content of their character, and cussing them out because they disagree with you. In that case, of course everyone seems so hardened in their positions, you feel burned out, and you have to leave. This seems true of the Pit in general and political and religious debates in particular. No wonder Mr. Moto is disgusted. He’s been beating his head against the wall, either out of some delusion of persuading people or exhaustion from brawling couched in some high-minded bullshit.
I’d say, try reading the other areas of the board, where people are exploring less polarizing interests and are a little more open-minded and laid back. You might like it. However, can Mr. Moto, at this point, go back on his declaration of departure? Or will people think he’s a total drama queen tool if he does? I often wonder, when I see these “Goodbye, cruel world” threads, if the OP wants to be forced to stay away by his own publicity (a name does leap to mind when I say this). He should come back if he wants, but it might not be too easy, pride-wise.
In any case, Mr. Moto, good luck in whatever you choose to do. I’m not slamming you in particular, because I really can’t remember much specific about you, just commenting on the message board phenomema articulated in this thread.
Most debates are played to the peanut gallery and the non-participants. Occasionally, I may recognize a solid point that shifts my views a bit on a particular issue or I may present a cogent text that shifts an opponent to a small degree, but I never expect large conversions and I am generally trying to present a position that will resonate with people who are reading but not participating.
On the other hand, to do that requires that I do not challenge the character or intelligence of my opponents and that I refrain from cussing them out. The fact that there are so many knee-jerk (or just jerk) posters who dominate many political threads does make a lot of such threads tiresome.
In order to avoid burnout, one has to simply pick the battles and realize that a lot of one’s foes (and too many of one’s supporters) are going to bring cudgels to any duel one arranges with foils.
Tom, that was really well said. I think it is a great way to look at it and great suggestion to political posters. The silliness with Hentor the Barbarian & LonesomePolecat in this thread does a disservice to both of them and adds nothing to the thread itself.
Jim
It seems to me that Mr Moto’s SDMB history can be summarized by the titles of actual Mr Moto movies:
• Mysterious Mr. Moto - He joins the SD message board. Who is this guy anyway?
• Mr. Moto Takes a Chance - He decides to make some early postings.
• Mr. Moto’s Gamble - Makes some more postings, all the while realizing his opinions are not striking a harmonious chord with the vast majority of the SDMB members.
• Think Fast, Mr. Moto - Attacks on his postings come fast and furious. Overwhelmed, he has to be a real speed demon to reply to that angry, predominantly left-leaning SDMB crowd.
• Mr. Moto in Danger Island - Aghast at the responses to his political perspectives, Mr Moto begins to comprehend he is awash in a vast sea - nay ocean of SDMB opposition.
• Mr. Moto’s Last Warning - This very thread. He decides to leave the SDMB but rather than just quit, he at least has the courtesy to announce his intentions. Allowing Dopers to wish him well - or let him know they still don’t like him - or say things like “I never knew he was here to begin with”.
Wow - it would seem odd to let the Mr Moto “series” end in such an ambiguous way. So, maybe the next installment of this saga is:
• Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation - He gets away from these SDMB hassles. Realizes there is more to life than the SDMB (to some, that’s still an unresolved issue). He spends time with his family, gets involved in politics, pursues a life of religious fulfillment, takes up the rigorous sport of curling, etc.
Still, Mr Moto’s mind is troubled by thoughts such as (does .999… really = 1? There’s got to be another word that ends in ‘gry’. When is Mars going to appear as big as the Full Moon again?) Realizing there is only one way to slake such an intellectual thirst, he plunks down his $15 and we have
• The Return of Mr. Moto - Now with a fresh perspective on life in general, Mr Moto’s first posting is “Now that Carrot Top is in the White House, I truly realize that the “Dubya” administration was totally inept and ineffectual”.
Seriously Mr Moto, my attempt at humor was just to lighten the mood a bit and it was in no way meant to be derogatory.
Just one more thing have you considered all the drawbacks of not renewing your subscription? You do realize that you will lose your “Charter Membership” status don’t you? See, I’ve got you thinking haven’t I? 
PARTY!
Good riddance to baaaad rubbish. One of the prolific, braindead partisan blowhards is leaving. Too bad he can’t take John Plaice, Brain Mutton, and Retard Shodan with him. GD might become readable. Fuck off and don’t come back, you.
Do you want to tell us how you really feel?
Moron.
eh.
I lasted six months when I let my scrip run out last year, and juding by post count alone, I’m not even half as addicted to this place as he is.
Have a nice, restful spring, Moto. See you in July.
As an Old Whig, I feel completely fucking alone here, not to mention about 250 years out of date. I too have thought of not renewing my sub. The number of people who disagree with me - or, even worse, ignore me - has grown enormously since I first posted way back in June 2004, when it was a different board, a friendlier board. As a 04-er and a Member-er, I feel an almost Foucauldian disjunction with both those who came before me and those who came after. I have found myself asking for the umpteenth time recently, and not just asking myself but also my wife - who told me to “bog off and get a life for God’s sake” (and she not even a Christian) - “is it me that’s changed or the board?” And I have concluded that we’ve both changed, drifted apart, if you like. Me (or “I”, as the pedants would have it - and don’t get me on to pedants, though I just have), I’ve sensed a maturing, a ripening, a deepening (if you’re not a cheese person). Others, I’ve noted more carping, more anger, more nitpicking, even though pickings are slimmer, as members desert in droves, and nits fewer and farer between. I’m currently caught between the Charybdis of suspending myself and the Scylla of actually reading a Staff Report before I depart.
You need to be more fustian.
…
…
… goat felcher.
Do the rest of us on the leftier side a favor and don’t try to help, 'kay?
Aside from his championing of Senator Sanctimonious, Mr. Moto isn’t that bad, really. Definitely more palatable than some on the right, like Shodan or The Evil one…