Yet, here you are.
Yeah, that’s why Arlen Specter* is still a Republican, and Olympia Snow is never named as a possible defector to the Republican party.
There are still fiscally conservative, socially liberal Republicans left, but most of them can’t get elected as Republicans anymore. They can move over to the Blue Dogs, who I frankly have high hopes for. A large Democratic majority in Congress could, funnily enough, work to minimize partisan politics as different regions elect their own version of what a Democrat should be.
*His fiscal conservatism (or lack thereof) aside, he’s definitely too socially liberal to be a Republican anymore, which is my point.
Maybe you could demonstrate how it is that you don’t suck? Because from where I’m sitting, you suck.
See Binarydrone, this is what I’m talking about. How am I supposed to respond “sincerely” to this? Get all shouty at him? Try to prove empirically that I don’t suck? What would be the point of that? It’s not like he’s going to suddenly change his mind and tell me I don’t suck after all.
Better I write him off as not worth my time, except as a foil for the occasional witty comment. I can deal with him with cynical disengagement, and yet still be passionate and involved over subjects that actually matter.
Oh sure, I 100% get that when you are talking about individual posters. The thing is that it really seems to me that there is a large number of posters here that have no other mode than some sort of “cool kid” ironic snark. I believe that every response should be a sincere one. I am not anywhere near to meeting this goal ( as I implied, I have a lot of the cynicism on me. Especially in person) but it is something to which I aspire.
<UnvarnishedSincerity>
Your belief that posts to this forum should be completely sincere is irrelevant. Your aspirations for your own conduct, commendable or not, are similarly irrelevant. Your desire that communication between strangers on the internet should consistently culminate in meaningful and honest dialogue is unrealistic. Your perceptions of what this place is “for” are your own.
Most people can’t be real in meatspace. Many can’t even be so with their closest loved ones. Feel free to lament it. (Your lamentation is also irrelevant)
</UnvarnishedSincerity>
Uh, I’m pretty sure those are vertical blinds.
What?
I have spent most of my life under the impression that Venetian blinds, by definition, are horizontal. Those are vertical.
But you’re correct that they are definitely not bars.
Meatspace…Irrelevant Lamentation…more band names!
This thread is a goldmine!
Every response should be a sincere one? How the hell much fun could this place be if that were the case? I can get that (all sincere responses) on Yahoo! Answers.
Sure, sincere posts have their value, and not having any at all would make this place worthless, but I come here for my own amusement at least as much as for edification. And I sincerely doubt that I am the only Doper for whom that is a true statement.
Thread Goldmine - another one! Wait…what? It isn’t? That was actually a really dumb band name? Oh…
But speaking sincerely now, I really like “Irrelevant Lamentation”. If I ever create a Personal Blog(FEAR IT), that might be its name.
Oh, that’s a real great idea. :rolleyes:
No, but seriously, you seem to have directly contradicted yourself in that post. Can you clarify? Are there (in your opinion) times when irreverence and sarcasm are acceptable, or should one always strive to avoid them? Because you seem to be arguing for both positions at once, here.
Personal Blog sounds like a pretty good bandname, too.
Better idea: explain to us why anyone should give a rat’s ass what you think about anything at all. See, without a plausible explanation that last sentence you typed there doesn’t seem to have any actual meaning.
Really, though, of all the people you might excoriate for suckiness, you decide to take on Miller? Sonny, you clearly haven’t a fucking clue what you are talking about.
So’s your face.
What is it with these “I hate this message board!” posts/OP’s/posters recently?
I really don’t get this… I’ve posted on several boards over the years and when I found that I no longer liked one, I left. Can someone explain why they think that most of the people, discussions and the board culture itself all suck, but they hang around anyways?
Because we are DESTROYING SOCIETY and we MUST BE RESISTED. Er, apparently.
I agree with a lot of the criticism the so called Smashy has aired in the pit, the with a lot of the opinions expressed in the OP. There is certainly a lot of pseudo-intellectualism going on here, with the sort of lupus mentality which often distinguishes these kind of groups, that is that the group tear the individual apart for being different. And different here, is that he or she doesn’t agree on the package of thoughts you’ve more or less consciously have agreed upon, as a group.
I personally don’t post in a lot of threads because my thoughts might be outside of the SDMB sandbox, and my experiences would be ridiculed by the pack; there are a couple of threads right now, I would like to share my thoughts in, but I won’t. Sometimes I do, but mostly I don’t bother. I’ve been through this before, I learnt to keep silent. There is really no point to air your out-of-the-sandbox-thoughts, in such a group, whether my thoughts are smart or dumb.
But that’s OK. That’s the jargong we have here, and I’m still here just about everyday, because mostly the dopers as a group are great. But fact is, Smashy and OP do have a point.
My humble opinion, now tear me apart. Call for the cite you won’t read! 
This complaint is also something I don’t get. It boils down to “there are certain currents of thought here, and if you disagree with the most common viewpoint, you’ll most commonly… have people disagree with you!!!”
Yes, if you argue something significantly outside the mainstream you’re much more likely to have a large number of Dopers argue with you in various tones of “nuh unh!!”
So?
We used to get a thread like this every month or so, back in the day. They pretty much disappeared after the board went pay to post. I’m surprised it took this long for them to start up again once they opened up free posting again.