I don’t understand.
Location: Derry
I didn’t even understand that I didn’t understand people! It had to be pointed out to me!
Am I using too many exclamation points these days? It seems like I use them a lot!
I don’t.
I don’t understand people who don’t understand other people’s lack of understanding.
Actually the real expression is: “Float your mind, relax downstream and turn off.”
People here try really hard to seem relevant. Obviously this particular section of the board is about Mundane Pointless Things, I get that. But I noticed a lot of threads have this downward slide with each poster trying to out-do each other. Except taken on its own, the stuff they are saying is kind of pathetic.
Threads like the Keruig thread have this predictable sequence:
-I don’t understand why people are so into [thing]
-I don’t understand why fussing over different versions of [thing] matters. I can’t tell the difference!
-Why even bother with [thing]? Even though I’ve never tried [thing] but still don’t see the point in anybody else being interested.
Its like hipster logic, but incredibly stupid. And the worst part is that in other threads people are fully aware of the situation- in the thread about people not getting what the big deal was about that gay discrimination law in Arizona, posters will meticulously deconstruct and explain the situation. In discussions about ‘woo’, history, urban legends, physics, etc people are also adept at showing self-awareness and worship critical thinking.
But that same critical thinking seems to shrivel up and melt out their ears when it comes to other topics. They’re not self aware about these things. There’s bragfests about how outdated their phones, cars, and TV knowlege is.
Imagine the pile-on some dopers would/do get if they went into Great Debates using their own logic to insist on woo, trying to debunk scientific theories with religious stuff, etc. They get ridiculed as crackpots and morons. But when the people who are so smug about how logical they are start bragging about mundane things they can’t seem to wrap their heads around, they get hilariously befuddled and defensive when the few self-aware people such as myself call them out on it.
Incubus,
I think you may have missed the point of message boards – in particular the Straight Dope’s Message Boards, and especially the MPSIMS (Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share) board. In fact, the name of this particular board should have given you a clue and the fact that you seem to have missed it is…well… to quote your words above, “just pathetic” or at least “a genuine curiosity.”
You see, the activity here isn’t just posting messages but engaging in conversations over time. Yes, the medium and the interaction is slow, but a lot of the people who regularly visit this site and these boards are involved in activities that take a higher priority over responding to posts here (like photographing their cats or going out to get drunk or traveling via mass transit for some reason or another) and the ability to contribute opinions, views, reactions, and arguments – often with some form of an educated foundation and sometimes with a bit of humor (though sometimes hard to detect in text format) – is an enjoyable pastime that many of us consider to be an integral part of our daily routines.
So it’s not that the thread-starting topics ‘utterly escape’ the post originators, but couching a matter of (passing) interest in such terms is a well-respected and oft-used manner of inviting discussion (humble opinions) on whatever-the-subject-is. Sometimes the resulting discussions are calm and factual, sometimes they’re heated and emotional, and sometimes a moderator finds it necessary to step in and remind us of the basic rules of civility.
And see? You’ve initiated a post that demonstrates my point. A lot of people (me included, obviously) have responded to your original post, discussing and arguing and conversing about your complaint(s). I’ll assume that was your original intention (as opposed to just writing up a set of insults for us all to receive) but, then again, I tend to think people are inclined to be nice to each other, rather than assume everyone is rude without provocation.
If this was just a message board, your original post would be there and the subsequent responses (and responses to responses) would either not exist or they would be separate un-linked messages scattered in dozens of their own original posts. We’ve gotten rather accustomed to SDMB as an acronym, but perhaps they should be renamed Straight Dope Conversation Sections. At least it’s easier to type SDCS with one hand.
–G!
If you’ve never been tapped on the shoulder by a Moderator, then you’re not providing sufficient emotional investment in the conversations.:o
Yep. I’ve been around about as long as both of you, and that is my impression as well. It’s what I expect any time I open one of his OPs.
Whew, I feel better now about my warning from the mods about a week after I joined. Seriously, not a joke. And I come here for another reason: hilarity. You lot are the funniest, best source of one liners and ongoing giggles. An example, a naïf poster asked, if an older woman dating a younger man is called a cougar, what do you call the younger man?
The reply was instant:
Ashton Kutcher.
I nearly peed myself. Sorry, Incubus, if that is just too mundane, pointless and meaningless for you.
It seems to me that you haven’t considered that some people actually don’t understand these things, but would like to. That’s why they’re starting the threads you’re talking about. You sound like you think people only communicate to build themselves up.
The tone of their posts is not “I’m unfamiliar with this, could you tell me more about it?”, its “BEEP BEEP BOOP WHAT ARE FEELINGS DOES NOT COMPUTE”.
Threads tend to have a downward spiral where people will brag about progressively more pathetic things. Maybe to you it appears they are honestly naive, but this is the internet. I’m not complaining about nonsense posts, I’m pointing out that there are a lot of posts that think people are laughing with them, but really they are laughing at them.
Its getting to the point that I’m just waiting for some '99er to come in to IMHO with the thread, “I never learned how to void myself in a toilet, why do people care so much about voiding in a toilet?” :rolleyes:
The OP should quit griping about other Dopers, and focus on making more hit records.
Just out of curiousity, I’ve looked up your recent threads. This one, the “BBW”, and the one linked Miller linked to. In each one, you used “autism” or “aspie” as an insult.
But there’s more!
Here’s you in the sushi thread doing it.
And here.
And though this appears to be innocent curiosity, given your posting history I am skeptical.
Are you autistic? I ask because perserveration is a common symptom of those on the autism spectrum.
I’ve never seen that tone in any post. You can’t base your opinions off of exaggerations of what people have said.
Apply your own thinking to your own post.
If it isn’t yet a stated rule of the internet it ought to be: any post ‘razzing’ on other people’s posts as being unimportant, not worthy of care, sad, pathetic etc is by its very nature even more unimportant/uncareworthy/sad/pathetic etc than the posts it is attacking.
Dude, why are you so fascinated with what other people do? Have you talked to someone about this?
He’s probably not going to answer any of us. I asked a similar question of him in another thread he started and he’s studiously ignored everyone. So, I fear another bit of disappearing is in the works.
Look, we all know those people who are proud of the fact that they don’t own a TV or whatever. But, while some people joke about everyone being like that here, it’s not really all that common. You may interpret people’s comments that way, but that rarely is the intent.
Are there things that I think most Dopers are ignorant of? Sure. But I’ve not seen any indication they are proud of said ignorance. Mostly, they disagree that said ignorance exists. And, heck, it’s even possible that I’m wrong and they are right.
But Dopers being proud of their ignorance is something I usually see others accusing them of, not something I see actually happening. It definitely happens a lot more in real life than it does here.