Thanks for locking down this thread. There’s a reason I started it in IMHO rather than GD. I don’t go into GD. I don’t like GD. And I’m not the only one. There are I would be willing to bet a number of people who would like to discuss the debate in the more casual atmosphere of IMHO than the more hardcore GD atmosphere. So now the choices are either go into a forum they don’t like or not discuss the debate at all.
Thanks for nothin’.
But what is the MPSIMS people started to ask MPSIMS questions in GQ, then what would happen?
:eek: 
Well, in MY humble opinion,…oh, oops, wrong forum…
The first two years I was here, I lived in Great Debates. There was a thriving exchange of ideas and information there that illuminated issues that seemed important to the people engaged in posting. It was exhilarating and great fun.
Now, I may participate in one or two threads there that happen to be on topics of interest to me – at least until they get hijacked by someone with a bete noire to flog, no sense of humor, and a total lack of respect for the persons and intellectual capacities of anyone else in the thread.
If I’m interested in respectful exchange of ideas on controversial topics, I go to the place where I can find that sort of thread: The BBQ Pit.
And that last paragraph is, sadly, not a joke. In the one place where flaming is permissible, more people show respect for each other’s views, and are interested in dispassionate discussion of them, than anywhere else on the board.
There’s more than a little irony in that phenomenon, but it does seem to be true.
I wouldn’t reply in the Great Debates forum for anything.
No way, no how. I’m one of them not-so-smart dopers.
Those great debate people are intense and they scare me.
I do have opinions and wonder what others think about the debates tonight though.
Man, this freaks my shit out: I thought I was the only one who’d abandoned GQ for the Pit, even for serious discussions.
If this has been a common reaction, perhaps the GD moderators might be approached to consider tightening the screws a bit in GD? I mean, at this point, only namecalling is prohibited. Perhaps highjacks and bad form might be explicitly frowned upon too?
Not to censor opinions, only attitude and behavior. Just a random thought.
Sorry, that “GQ” shoulda been “GD.”
Theres this issue of some unpaid rent…
Actually, I was hoping someone would start another Kerry-Bush Debate Thread. I didn’t feel like slogging through ten pages of “live coverage” in GD. I still don’t.
Hear! Hear!
Start one, cowboy!
Terrebraum et nebulae… the earth would be cast into darkness, fire would freeze and a tree would fall silently amidst watchers…
Speaking of voices, have you ever noticed there is a resemblance between John Kerry’s voice and Jay’s of Silent Bob fame?
Hmmm, that’s interesting. During tonight’s debate, I kept watching Bush and thinking he looked a lot like Ned Beatty. I don’t know if it was the thin lips, the beady eyes, or what. (My apologies to Ned for the comparison).
Does not compute. The logical extension is that we should allow flaming in other forums as it seems to have a tempering effect.
I’ve noticed it too, people are a different kind of asshole in GD than the Pit and I’m not always sure I prefer the former.
Hey! I resemble that remark! But sometime the fatuous self-importance endemic there gets to me.
[/QUOTE]
If I’m interested in respectful exchange of ideas on controversial topics, I go to the place where I can find that sort of thread: The BBQ Pit.
[/QUOTE]
I thought it was my imagination but there are times when it’s true.
Sorry, Otto, but I feel the topic belonged in Great Debates, and since there was already a thread on this topic in Great Debates, I closed yours. If I feel a thread isn’t in the proper forum, I either move it or close it, depending on the circumstances.
I think the problem is that an OP can start off as one thing, and end up as another. The fact the Otto wanted people to express their humble opinion is a valid start of a thread.
If, however, the thread then turned into something else, then it would have been fair to move it.
During this “slightly” heated election, it seems the mods have not got their act together on what is a debate, what is a pit, what is a humble opinion and what is mindless and pointless.
Maybe it is time for the mods to agree upon WHEN a thread is moved.
There was certainly no need to move his thread before a single person had answered.
Amen to that. Check my posting history. I’d wager that 80% of my 400+ posts are in the Pit. I’ve composed a rant precisely once. The rest of the time, I have been engaged in thought-provoking debate. The denizens of the Pit do indeed seem to show more respect for each other, on the whole, than those in GD.
GD, to me, is a hotbed of flag-waving and venom. Or, alternatively, people throwing conflicting cites at each other that “prove” entirely irrelevant information while effectively avoiding the driving point of the issue. Neither situation appeals to me.
In other words, I agree with Polycarp. Not very original, is it?
Sorry…I meant to say, there was no reason to LOCK his thread before someone had at least answered.
And as many have already posted, certain people like to respond differently in some catagories than others…and declaring something as a Great Debate without a debate? Well…I call foul.
I agree with Poly as well, and feel that the Pit seems more conducive to some things - the light partisan jab, the occasional amusing flame that might not fly in GD - that keep a debate from being dry and unimaginative. Sure, sometimes arguments get down to things that shouldn’t ever happen in a debate, but I find that when people can relax a bit they’re also more likely to consider a worldview somewhat separated from their own.
One would think that some of the responses in this thread might indicate that your conclusion was in error.
Or some of the responses in this thread.
How can IMHO possibly not be the proper forum for a thread on the second presidential debate when there’s a thread on the first presidential debate there?
