Possibly because even a forum that’s been around a while and where several people get to know each other beyond normal internet anonymity is still almost the worst place to expect anything else.
It may feel like a pile-on but this thread has been remarkably civil compared to most Pit threads. You can tell most people don’t feel any real animosity, no matter how the comments are taken.
Perhaps because I’m not that familiar with Beck (like I genuinely did not know about her health issues until this thread blew up), but that’s my point - a general interest internet forum is a terrible place for whatever this is. Expecting everybody to be sufficiently familiar with every user and their entire posting history rather than a loose smattering is setting an unrealistic bar.
And even then, expecting people to react in certain ways is still unrealistic. It’s still unhealthy white knighting. If Beck needs help or a supportive personal group, then the encouragement should be to find an appropriate venue for it. Because this forum ain’t it and simply can’t be by its very nature.
Acknowledging the boards definition of hijack, and that the highjack is started by the original poster and not the posters that respond, would be a fine start.
She isn’t declaring that it is objective, absolute truth. She made it clear it is her opinion. I’m not understanding the resulting vitriol. Is this guy a friend of the OP or something? He seems personally offended by opinions that aren’t even about him.
No, because her opinion wasn’t of the OP like your opinion is of me, it was an opinion about a different person altogether who isn’t a relative or even a friend of the OP. At least no such relationship was indicated. So, again, I have to wonder at the emotion produced by a statement such as, “I don’t think the guy can cook.”
Thread started as a joke by you saying you probably wouldn’t respond, and continues as a joke by a few participants. Definitely not “inspired by Czarcasm” unless you actually make it about yourself in general and actually participate.
This is what I’ve been thinking and why I posted what I did. It’s not that I don’t understand pittings; it just doesn’t seem pit worthy. I read her post(s) and I did think it a bit odd, but some of you are saying you’re so offended and that seems out of character / hard to believe.
You said.we haven’t had an ask a generic person thread, and that inspired me to start an ask a generic person thread, that is an objective fact. Your angry response to that surprises me, but it probably shouldn’t.
I tally four different types of complaints about Beck’s posting, and I think some of her defenders (as well as Beck herself) are missing or ignoring some and focusing on others.
Her folksy style and bad bad threads. Everyone complaining about these and telling her to get a blog can fuck right off. You don’t like her style? That’s a you problem. You don’t want to read her threads? Her defenders are absolutely right on this. It is trivially easy to scroll past them. I don’t like those threads so I don’t read them. Problem solved.
Jumping in on FQ threads with personal anecdotes and musings. This was super annoying when she started doing it earlier this year, but as far as I’ve noticed, she stopped when people complained. Awesome! Sincerely, good job, Beck. You listened and learned.
Her judgmental and sometimes sexist posts. These rightfully get pushback, same as anyone else would get. She is free to express her opinions, and no one is suggesting otherwise. Everyone else is free to tell her she’s being judgy and sexist. None of these would probably lead to a Pit thread by themselves.
Her reaction when anyone tells her she’s being judgy and sexist. She doesn’t apologize, reexamine her views, or even just argue her point. Instead, she attacks people, tries to shut down the conversation, complains that she can’t have opinions (false), accuses people of hate speech (bizarre), and generally plays the victim. This is the stuff that is infuriating and leads to Pit threads.
So if you want to defend her, great. But don’t just address behaviors #1 and #3. Explain why #4 is OK and why she should be immune from pushback for it.
I don’t think she generally attacks SDMB posters, though I’m open to examples proving me wrong.
I guess one cite I gave in this thread, way back in post #93 on October 12 (remember that long-ago time, hundreds of posts ago?) did show her calling someone a “jerk,” but that’s a pretty mild attack in these parts (and her epithet was in the Pit, so not out of line). She can be rude, for sure, but that’s not the same as attacking.
Telling people to “shut up” is a direct attack, but that was just a few times. It’s more her tendency to accuse others of being out to get her, accusing them of wanting to silence her, saying they are being mean for fun or just for the sake of being cruel. She isn’t listening to the actual complaints, and is instead making it personal.
It’s “attack” as the mods often use it here when moderating “personal attacks”: her responses are about the person, not the argument.