How about “reality”? Does that mean everyone suddenly knows “oh hey, Buddhism is the correct choice and the rest are wrong!” Or does it mean that Buddhism is simply correct but no one else knows, and people go on with their old religious conflicts as per usual?
“Religion”: Do we get to specify a particular sect/flavor, like “Catholicism” instead of “Christianity”? Because frankly I can’t see how all of Christianity can be made “reality” considering the whacked-out variants that people have come up with.
Actually, what I was trying to point out is that your OP in the other thread is unanswerable by me in the terms you specify, unless you are willing to call atheism an established religion, which I am not.
Now, SOME people faced with an unanswerable question, will choose not to answer. Those people I call… DRONES! Others of us, who I call SMARTASSES, will try to enlighten you, the questioner, with the possibly unforseen complications of structuring your question as you did.
I don’t think your problem has anything to do with this being the SDMB, I think it’s just human nature. I design questionnaires for a living, and you have to be VERY SPECIFIC as well as figure out ways to prevent people from going outside the parameters of the question.
For instance, if I asked the question “If you could only go to ONE fast food restaurant for the rest of your life, which ONE would you choose?” Seems straightforward, but if I left it as a write-in answer, I guarantee I would get answers like:
McDonald’s and Taco Bell (I like both)
Olive Garden
McDonald’s for breakfast and Burger King for lunch
Taco Bell, but then I would go to McDonald’s to get a Coke, because I don’t like Pepsi
etc. etc.
It helps if you have a pre-listed set of answers, but even then, if the person is filling it out themselves, you will get multiple checks, written-in answers and explanations, and on and on. That’s why you need either an interviewer who can force them into one answer, or a computer program that will only allow one answer.
Count me in the “geez, you should be glad anyone replied halfway sensibly at all” camp. Dude, this is the Straight Dope, intergalactic home base of snarky smartasses. Plus, you posted it in IMHO, “Great Debates Lite”, along with “My son wants a motorcycle”, “I really want to like my new trackball but I can’t stand it”, and “Going to Las Vegas: Hotel advice”. You seriously expected some kind of serious philosophical discussion?
Next time put it in GD, eh.
And may I say how simply adorable it is to come into the Pit and grouse when one’s thread doesn’t go quite as one hoped? Others have come before you in this, Czarcasm, but may I say that no one has done it on quite such a…classy…thread topic.
I see the point you’re trying to make, Liberal. If this was an actual OP, I’d choose not to answer, since I don’t know much about either one and so don’t have an opinion. But I think if I were to answer, I should simply pick one or the other (whatever my criteria is)and leave it at that, unless you added"and why" to the question. And even including one’s reasoning doesn’t neccessarily go against the spirit of the question, as long as you don’t throw in your own set of variables. Sorry if that didn’t make sense; too much noise in my office today.
The question was in IMHO, not GQ. If a question is posted in GQ, then courtesy dictates that the question be answered before the jokes begin. If an honest opinion is raised in GD, then courtesy dictates that people attempt to debate in good faith. In MPSIMS and IMHO, looser standards prevail. In the linked example, I see some jokes but no threadshitting. I do, however, see an OP that gave a vague premise and then got testy because folks didn’t read his mind.
I’d like a pony. Is *that * too much to ask?
Seriously, what the fuck has happened to this place? Rounding off the sharp corners (like dropping the ban stick) so we don’t hurt ourselves? Joining a place that boasts a diverse population and then getting upset because people don’t see things or act in the same way? Well, here’s to homogeneity, I guess…
which is why turning the board’s poll feature on would yield interesting results. results you cannot get from the current poll method. incidentally, this is also why surveys are usually skewed; because people don’t get to answer the way they want to, and the results you get are shoehorned as you see fit.
I really don’t mind the occasional smartass answer. What I do mind are answers to questions not asked, and people insisting that they have the right answer, but I just asked the wrong question.
What is so hard about the question, anyway? All you have to do is pick a single(one, not many, not all, not parts of some and parts of others) recognized(not something you’ve made up on the spot, not a fictional religion gotten from a fantasy novel you like etc.) religion(not a philosophy, not atheism, not “whatever religion would let me do such-and-such”). It is a fucking poll to see which of the established religions you would pick to be real if you had the opportunity to pick one. It is not a debate between religions, or a debate over whether it would be best to destroy everything rather than have any gods in charge.
It’s a fucking poll with clearly stated parameters-if your answer does not stay within the parameters of the question as stated(absent the occasional smartassery which I have already stated I don’t mind), then the answer doesn’t count.
…With his mustache. Sadly this practice led to the outside portions of his big ol handlebar mustache falling out due to the toxic properties of paint thinner in the 1930’s. That’s why Hitler had that silly Charley Chaplin-esque little thing.
I pretty much thought it rocked. Atheism is considered an established religion (especially by theists), as is Secular Humanism. Czar, if you wanted us to choose from the Big Five, you should’ve just come out and said so.
Count me in the “geez, you should be glad anyone replied halfway sensibly at all” camp. Dude, this is the Straight Dope, intergalactic home base of snarky smartasses. Plus, you posted it in IMHO, “Great Debates Lite”, along with “My son wants a motorcycle”, “I really want to like my new trackball but I can’t stand it”, and “Going to Las Vegas: Hotel advice”. You seriously expected some kind of serious philosophical discussion?
Others have come before you in this, Czarcasm, but may I say that no one has done it on quite such a…classy…thread topic. 