In this threaddeborahsomethingorother made a really disjointed OP about ‘progressive men and sexism’ or some such thing. No cites, no specific examples, no nothing. Not a great post.
And many of the TM fell on her for it.
Fellow Dopers, I posit that this is one of the few points where post count should be taken into account when replying.
Currently her PC stands at 3. It’s clear that she’s new here. It’s possible she hasn’t lurked much and doesn’t understand our ways. If I had made such an OP I think there would be more justification for the response. I’ve been here. I know the rules. I should know better than to make an OP like that. The Teeming Millions, en masse, would be justified in calling me on it.
But that doesn’t apply here. Yes, she has a responsibility to fit in. But at the same time we have a responsibility to welcome and instruct newbies as gently as we can. And in this case I don’t think we did. We may never, at this point, find out if she has something worthwhile to contribute over the long run if she has been driven away. And that’s a shame.
I don’t want to point fingers here. And more than just this specific instance let’s just think of the newbies from time to time. We were all there once.
Eh, I only see three people being outright rude to her, and I thought the other responses were about average for a poorly-thought-out GD OP.
When I see a newbie post a sloppy OP in GD, four possibilities run through my mind:
[ul][li]It’s possible this is a genuine newbie, starting off as best she knows how, which happens to be not very well.[/li][li]It’s possible this is just another drive-by poster, who will not return after a couple of days.[/li][li]It’s possible this is a returning banned poster, here to jerk our collective chain.[/li][li]It’s possible this is a sock for another poster, attempting a fresh start after a rough beginning under his/her original name.[/ul]Three of these possibilities tend to mitigate against me automatically cutting slack to newbies who start out by posting sloppy OPs in Great Debates. However, as my mother raised me to be a Nice Girl who is generally polite to everyone, I try to assume #1 and cut the person some slack. S/he may turn out to be a keeper, after all.[/li]
But not everyone in GD was raised by their mothers to be Nice Girls.
And, Jonathan, you do know that hand-wringing “won’t someone please think of the newbies?” Pit threads never work out well for their OPs? Okay, just checking.
Oh, I’m aware of it. I just think the point should be made.
But, really, I’m not wringing my hands. I’m actually thinking about what I’ll make for dinner tonight.
Seriously, what got me going was the thread yesterday about other boards and how the SDMB is a better place. And I visited the Ms Magazine board a few days ago and they can be absolutely brutal to newbies who don’t get their collective mind set. I’d hate to think we’re the same way.
I’d also like to point out that these pile-ons are often a result of the OP not posting to the thread for hours or days after making the original post. If you say something controversial, a lot of people are going to want to give their opinion. The entire message board shouldn’t have to somehow agree not to post to a given thread after a certain number of responses to an OP. This isn’t Point-Counterpoint. If you don’t stick around to defend your position, the conversation is obviously going to be one-sided until you come back.
One problem is that the longer you’re around, the more jaded you become, because you see fools post OPs just to get a reaction from people time and time again. So you build up this shield inside that keeps you from really believing an OP is genuine when the person’s just registered. And if the subject matter is controversial, it just adds to the shield, as you just believe the person’s trying to yank chains.
