Was it April Fools Day when the thread title was changed to “Pissy little fueds”? Because that was a very descriptive title.
Give WHAT a rest, dude? Do you actually have a point to make?
You do understand that no one seems to be seriously proposing getting rid of any forums, yes?
The poll was asking what forum respondents wouldn’t miss if it went away. It specifically disclaimed being a serious proposal to get rid of one.
Hell, I’d keep GD just for the sake of sequestering the petty arguments mostly in one place so I can mostly avoid them by not reading the forum. But if a poll asks which forum I don’t find useful and wouldn’t miss if it was gone, that’s GD. So basing your argument on what would happen (theoretically) if GD were actually eliminated completely misses the point of the poll.
Prohibiting debates or shutting down GD would be silly, but I think that it may be worthwhile to “demote” Great Debates. I think that right now it plays a disproportionately large role in what many think of when they think of “the SDMB” as a whole. Complaints about “the SDMB” seem to revolve around what goes on in GD (and to a lesser extent the Pit). I’d like to see such complaints shrugged off with a “Meh, that’s just GD. It hardly counts.”. The comparison to sewage overflow containment is apt.
Frankly, I think it’s more often closer to not liking gym because the rest of the class is fat kids. It’s hard to enjoy a game of basketball when 90% of the players either don’t know the rules or can’t be bothered to follow them, when nobody exhibits any teamwork, when more time is spent squabbling over poorly-understood rules than actually playing, and the worst players seem to think they’re the best players and insist on being team captain.
The poll asked what thread “you would get rid of,” and this thread is a rhetorical extension of that.
If we all agree that it would be stupid to prohibit debate threads, then we have no disagreements.
Absolutely not, and I’m… well, perhaps not surprised, but disappointed to see anyone answer in the positive.
As with C-SPAN and public television, I appreciate the existence of Great Debates even if I don’t spend a proportionate amount of my time there. I suspect that the posters who “wouldn’t miss it if it were gone” are those who are intimidated by the prospect of providing evidence to back up their assertions. It’s a lot easier to just shoot your mouth off with impunity. (Trust me, I know.)
Between this and the push for avatars, I’m getting a real “decline and fall” sensation around here lately.
What do you mean by “demote?” What exactly would you change about the rules?
Could you give some specific examples of what you’re talking about in GD?
To be fair, nobody is seriously pushing to get rid of Great Debates like they are to introduce avatars. This is just the result of a silly little thought experiment poll that someone started in another thread, and frankly I’m going to guess that at least a few of the “yes” votes are solely to screw with Dio.
I’d be gone. Not that anyone would care/notice, but I’d be gone.
Absolutely not. Debates, and the citations produced, and sources quoted are the heart of fighting ignorance. What should perhaps be better moderated is the pointless arguing over tiny, niggling details that have little to no bearing on the actual debate.
Agree. If I want to see threads about what Dopers look like naked or what lolcat they would be if they could be a lolcat or what dismay has befallen them because of some personal failing, I know that I could happily go to other fora here at the SDMB.
Typically I don’t, so I post largely in Great Debates or the Pit, which I see as Great Debates Too Hot for TV. I have my issues with Great Debates - largely in that there is little respect for empiricism - but to suggest that Great Debates is an example of the problem with the SDMB is getting things entirely wrong. I note as well that most of the people whining about Great Debates are people I’ve never heard of before. I came to the SDMB to get away from a board that endorsed people crying foul when asked for a cite. I fear they have followed me here if some posters in this thread are any indication.
Just that you don’t have to be in Great Debates to have a poster saying the same thing over and over again (The same old same old is getting pretty freaking tired at this point. Give it a rest). You also don’t have to be in GD to have a poster with seemingly normal faculties being completely obtuse and seeming to be deliberately missing any points but his own (your posts are my cite).
I still have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about. What “same thing” are you referring to? Do you have anything relevant to add to this thread or don’t you?
Debates? Yeah, those would be nice.
I like to read debates. I rarely partake, because I have never really had the time to devote to the regular back and forth that a debate should involve, not to mention the information gathering that should be done. I would be unable to follow through, so better not to start.
But had I the time, or the inclination, I still wouldnt go near Great debates. I consider GD to be a cesspool of dishonest, petty, semantic, shit-stirring assholes.
Honest debate would be a good thing. Present ideas. Critique ideas. Propose valid opposing views. Maybe even learn something.
On the SDMB? Lies. Entrenched viewpoints. Ignore valid points. Lies. Nitpick ideas into oblivion. Rules lawyering. Repeated veiled insults. Lies. The forum is completely dishonest, and its no surprise that a certain poster admits its all just about arguing for the sake of arguing. Thats something that stands out to the casual poster, and what keeps them away. Which is why you end up with the same old posters going around the same old threads pulling the same old crap again and again.
Keep the forum. Change the furniture.
GD could be folded into the Pit and I’d be happy for it, though I expect the people who only read the Pit would be a bit pissed off.
Diogenes, do yourself a favor, shut up and let the poll run its course. The data you claim to want is going to be distorted by your belligerence. I consider GD one of the most valuable forums on the SDMB(second only to GQ, maybe), but your attitude towards people in this thread is creating a negative impression of the forum.
Enjoy,
Steven
They started it.
Ok, you made me laugh with that one.
Enjoy,
Steven
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say with this, but I’ll note that most of those who have said they’re not fond of GD have join dates of around 2000-2002, same as you. I imagine you didn’t notice us because we’re not into the kind of shrill circular fighting that happens in GD, so you won’t see us there. That you haven’t noticed us in other SDMB forums probably has more to do with your own habits than with ours.
If you don’t like debates there’s nothing forcing you to click on the link to the debate forum and then clicking on the link to a debate thread.
And as for nobody’s mind being changed, keep in mind that the people shouting at each other in the debate forum aren’t the only ones getting something from it. I like to read debates even if I decide not to post in them. There have been times that I’ve gone into a debate thread without a particular opinion one way or the other only to arrive out the other side, having heard what I considered reasonable arguments, with a decided position.