No, Deadheart, it’s a symptom of the fundamental diacotomy between the two parties. Call it idealism vs realism, if you will. The idealist position would be to keep explaining, again and again in a sombient monotone (or maybe in a piercing shriek, if that’s your style), about how you are right and why others ought to think just as you. Being an idealist, you would have hope that your efforts are someday going to be fruitful and you will in fact change minds.
The realist position is to make a few attempts to get your fellows to see reason, but then, when these fail, to step back and examine the person whose mind you are attempting to mold. Once you assess that the person is deeply, unmovably entrenched in their unfavorable opinions, you give up, rather than beat your head against a fucking wall.
I don’t know if the more evangelical of our left-leaning posters don’t mind the bruises, or they’re so consumed by shouting that they don’t even notice the wall is there, but most of the boards conservatives realize there’s no goddamn point to arguing with the idiots so they just…don’t. There’s nothing to be gained by attempting to reason with the unreasonable, but if you’d like to keep at that wall, maybe shout it down, do feel free.
You personally do not have the power to reshape the board how you would like it. But if 90% of you are pissed about Bush hijacks, however, I’d suspect you could make whomever indulges in them look like a complete ass if you worked at it. Even if you can’t force said posters to leave the boards, you can fight the perception that they somehow represent the board as a whole, and possibly keep them from dominating discussions.
Or maybe not. That’s my feeling, I could be 100% wrong. I think it’s worth a try.
You still haven’t told me specifically what you want me to do. Ban everyone who, in our judgement, is annoying?
But why did you bother to post this, then. Surely you didn’t expect that this would be any more convincing to us mindless, data avoidant, argument impaired brick wall zealots? So why try now? Or is your argument really a pile of pig feces?
What you say has been discussed exhaustively amongst the staff, xploder, so I’m not saying for a skinny minute that you don’t have a point. You do. But finding the exact breakoff point on that slippery slope from “passionate” to “one-trick pony” is well nigh impossible. Or at least impossible in any sense that would satisfy most of the readership here, as far as we’ve been able to pin down. Maybe there is a clearly definable, defensible line and we just haven’t found it.
Some specific issues will always attract certain posters: religion, gun control, circumscision, Mac vs. PC, feminism, Star Wars, you name it. Yes, anybody who’s been around for a while will pretty much know what certain posters think because they post about it a lot. But when does ‘a lot’ become ‘ad nauseum’? What measure should be used to gauge bored exasperation? The number of complaints? Could be, but some of 'em are based on little more than dislike for an opinion or poster. How often someone is Pitted? Again, could be useful as an idicator, but how balanced and reliable?
Do you really want mods to lay prohibitions on posters based on their interests and opinions? I know, the idea is tempting. (God, is it tempting. I bet there isn’t a mod who hasn’t had those moments of “X is blathering on about Y AGAIN, and I’d rather gouge my eyes out with the rusty lid from a tuna fish can than read it AGAIN.”)
Posters hold almost complete power over how discussions go. Shunning is a perfectly valid tool–and it’s a real killer when widely used. When just posting as me, there are some people with whom I simply won’t discuss anything. IMO, they’re either flat-out stupid or so rabidly unreasonable I won’t waste time on 'em. It always tickles me when some of our more (ahem!) reactive posters inject themselves loudly into otherwise relatively sane threads and the converstation flows right on past 'em like a river over a rock.
Obviously, mileages vary widely. I don’t say the current system is great. I just haven’ t seen a cure that doesn’t present as many, if not more, risks than the disease. Always willing to listen and mull over ideas, though.
That’s right, Hentor, play nice or the reasonable person won’t allow you to respond to her insulting little snipe.
Honestly, elfkin, what did you expect when you post something like this:
So. The board conservatives are reasonable, and the board democrats are idiots. Well, I can’t see why anyone would be offended by that or react negatively.
