'Report This Post' Button Deprecated

-or-

I Pit CK Dexter Haven.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=357837&page=5

I reported an increasing belligerency on lissener’s part - wanting to head off another useless trainwreck as we have so often encountered in the past. I was being very careful in the thread to not direct any insults towards lissener, because of past incidents. So when the fur began to fly, I felt confident in calling a little attention to the thread.

Little did I know that we, as a community, are no longer supposed to Report Posts. I draw this conclusion because I can fathom no other reason for Dex’s explosion :

Well, didn’t you read the posts in question?

Seriously, Dex, I like you and all, but you’re seeming a bit easily agitated lately. Maybe a vacation is in order? Or should we not report posts, for fear of agitating the moderator community?

He’s not the only easily agitated one, CG. If you were aware of the possiblity of a train wreck and did not want to participate, why did you. Your armor may seem shiny to you, but it is just as tarnished as lissener’s in that thread.

Congrats, you joined andrewdt85 in pitting CK Dexter Haven this week.

There is a chance that someone else reported both of you and that is what Dex reacted to. Just a thought.

Jim

Did I insult lissener? At any point? Call me an optimist, but I hold out hope of having a rational discussion with most folks until it starts going downhill…

IME, if Dex sees the “report this post-” generated e-mail, he’ll respond to you via e-mail. My money’s on some third party reporting and he saw that one first.

Robin

Off-topic for this specific thread, but fuck it:

Why you should not form impressions from trailers. (quicktime movie with sound)

I’m not going to go wading through the thread playing ‘who might have insulted whom when’. However, for one who got all pissy when referred to as rabid (as in a rabid fan), you should be more mindful of others with thin skins.

In your defense, lissener quite annoying plays the “you’re just not smart enough to get the film” card often. IMO, it is not worth arguing over, just go to the next post.

Seriously, aside from asking him to “stop scratching at a strawman”, I don’t think I said anything remotely snarky to him that was also personal.

I reject your characterization of my reaction to the “rabid” thing.

Thinking logically, it is not (often) in a movie’s best interest for its producers to cut a deceptive trailer, because the backlash negative word-of-mouth would severely curtail ticket sales. The trailer you present here was a joke, made by someone else, without commercial interests. That said, there’s still a danger, which is why reviews and plot summaries are a vital portion of the decision-making process.

On the other side it is probably better to not let lissener or any poster who uses similar argument points to get away with statements like the one you showed all the time.
You should be able to call them on it. Whoever it is. I have no problem with either poster, but I thought pitting Dex might be wrong in this case.

Jim

If indeed that is the case, then… I’ve done nothing in that thread to be reported for, with regard to lissener. I did suggest to Diogenes that he should check his glasses or some such. Perhaps Dex has erroneously conflated it with the lissener stuff.

IMO, by that statement invalidates their argument. They’re getting away with nothing. If phrased in an insulting manner, I’ll hit the report button. But argue over it…might as well argue with a brick for being hard. Brick’s always going to be hard, no matter how many times you tell it otherwise.

I’ve reported nasty posters who were being nasty to newcomers from outside the states and got no results. The next day I challenged the user and told him he should be ashamed of himself. (Again nobody in this thread).

Sometimes, we do need to call a jerk a jerk, just in a polite fashion.

Jim

Yes, I realise it was a joke (a very funny one, IMO). It does make the point, though. I can think of several movies which were vastly mis-marketed to play up on what the studio thought were the instant grab-you properties. I, like you, was pretty sure prior to seeing Supersize Me that it would be an anti-big business polemic, based on the mindbogglingly stupid “revelation” that if you eat only shit for a month, you’ll get ill. Unlike you, I did watch the movie, and can appreciate quite how wrong I was (hint: very).

Or, y’know, watching the bloody movie. All the things you mention are perfectly reasonable ways to decide if you want to watch a movie, but to turn round and pretend that you know better than people who’ve actually seen it is just stupid. Not to mention annoying; can you really not see how it might be galling to be contradicted by someone who admits not having seen the item under discussion? I agree that lissener was probably more personally insulting in the linked thread, but what you were doing is verging on “my post is my cite” behaviour in GD (as far as I can see, anyway).

For a rather more salutory lesson in why not to pontificate on films you’ve not seen, you could try this recent thread.

And yet, other folks in the thread characterized it just that way. Huh.

Who has the time to waste watching a piece of trash like Supersize Me? I have so many more important films to watch and other media to absorb.

I did not pretend to “know better” than people who’ve actually seen it. “knowing” implies some sort of objective criteria - when the discussion is about whether a movie is good, or bad, or you like it or don’t, that’s subjective. And my opinion is worth more to me than lissener’s, any day of the week.

Now perhaps you’re referring to my description of the premise, which can be regarded as more objective. Again, I was not claiming to know better than those that had seen it - as a matter of fact, I was using thhose that had seen the movie as the primary source. It just so happens that the majority of the people who’ve seen it and whose observations I’m come across find a different premise than does lissener. If you have an issue with the descriptions of the film I re-iterate, or “cite”, then take it up with the people who wrote them in the first place.

I was under the impression that CS was a dignified forum dedicated to disussing arts ‘n’ stuff. A couple of old ladies swinging at at each other with handbags isn’t dignified. Maybe they should grow up and get some thicker shoulders.

But apparently none more worthy of comment.

No one’s expecting you to watch the film. Just to shut the fuck up if you won’t take the time to watch it and develop your own informed opinion.

It’s a thread about movies one hates. It’s a movie I hate. Can’t watch movies at work, but I can post to the SDMB. You do the math.

And hating a movie you haven’t seen, based on impressions that are debateable at best, is simply moronic.

Well, goodness me! Differences of opinion! Who’da thunk it. You’d think that by merely advocating people see the movies they comment on, we’re saying that no such thing could possibly happen. You’d think that, but you’d be wrong.

Well, me for one. It’s not a piece of trash, and I assure you that I’m the very last person who would appreciate a movie of the sort that you seem to think Supersize Me represents.

Yes, you really did. You refused to countenance any possibility that you might be wrong, and quite mindbogglingly suggested that someone who disagreed with you about the premise of a film they had seen and you hadn’t should check their glasses. How can you say this isn’t claiming to know better than them?

Fine, but you’re not expressing your opinion; you’re expressing other people’s. If you watched the movie, you would then have an opinion. What you have now is something you heard someone say, and chose to repeat.