Man, I feel like I’m witnessing the end of civilization here. I know this board goes through periodic episodes when it seems like everyone is shouting at everyone else, but it hasn’t seemed so bad for quite some time, what with the current invasion of Stormfronters, others shrieking “Nazi!” as if we might somehow fail to notice their presence, pissed off conservatives calling all of Europe “pussies”, pissed off liberals yelling at the conservatives, pissed off Reeder supporters, pissed off Reeder detractors, etc.
Sorry, no linkies. The threads are everywhere, many in this very forum.
So with the an image in mind of the poor mods rushing about with buckets and mops, trying to wipe up the latest splatter of vomitus (ewww) from one aggreived party or another, I present you with this thread. If you feel you must screech hysterically about one thing or another, feel free to get your freak on here, and save us all some bandwidth.
I’ll start.
Goddamn SUV-driving, Reeder-loving Nazi Liberal Conservatives, why don’t you all go back to Spain and climb back into bed with Osama. You all suck. Hard.
I’m with you El. In all my years of lurking, I don’t recall the vitriol reaching this level. The fact that the same subjects keep getting beaten to death is also a relatively recent phenomenon. Maybe we need a new forum, one that is very specific for these kinds of shouting matches. Let the pit become a place for more unique flaming and maybe some of the old style wit would come back.
Yeah, and I’ll just say I’m probably as guilty as anyone else. Sure, it’s bags of fun to spew out little zingers concerning people whose opinions you don’t like, or who cone off as obtuse, but lately our objections seem to be turning out more and more like grandstanding, and less and less like a sincere effort to distribute or correct information. So, I’m sorry for shouting at Reeder recently in another thread, amongst othere things.
Hey. don’t look at me. I only start threads about ducks and sunglasses and thongs and so forth.
Yeah, so I posted to one or two of the, “I love the Nazis! I hate the Nazis!” threads, but god dammit if I didn’t stand up for their right to be be gangbanged by the entire board, who would?
Anyway, I’m off to interject something trite and pithy into someone else’s thread.
I haven’t been around as long as you, but I too think things are awfully heated lately. Worse still, the same few posters seem to keep popping up to continue wrangling with the same few opponents, in the process hijacking threads that sarted out with a lively discussion into yet another rehash of arguments that have worn hip-deep circular ruts as it is.
I don’t know, Max_Castle. I think the vitriol is primarily due to the greatly increased member count for the boards. Back when there were just a few thousand members (and only a few hundred, at most, regular posters), most everybody knew everybody… they at least recognized screen names.
Now, there’s even MORE anonymity, as nobody knows anyone they’re interacting with.
That’s just the way the community grows. I imagine, eventually, people will get more accustomed to it and start behaving with automatic respect towards people they don’t know, rather than taking the anonymity as leave to explode on one another.
Hey, fuck you! Fuck you, fuck you, and FUCK YOU, you fucking fucker of fuck!
Umm… I mean… listen, all’s you need is a spark, man, in a debate. 'At’s why trolls are hated. Some new guy, well-meaning (or even not), but a little too aggressive just the same, can be the catalyst that turns good discourse into mud.
And Rjung, in his awkward way, illustrates a good point… it’s not like people were any less passionate about politics four years ago, but I’d venture that there was a hell of a lot less vitriol actually making its way to the boards (at least regarding politics).
Basically, any time you don’t get a side that keeps getting what they want, you’re gonna have a massive divide. The more liberal folks of the country had eight years of (semi-)bliss with Clinton, while the Repubs screamed foul on the sidelines. Then the balance of power shifts, so the other side Squeaky-Wheels up.
I’m sure, eventually, we’ll get a guy that comes along as a REAL uniter-not-divider, but it’ll need the social structure itself to calm down. We’re still on the tail-ends of the movements that began in the '60s… some of the fights that began then are still going.
