I am having as much trouble believing this as Hentor is. That first post made no indication whatsoever that you were interested in understanding, and you never showed any concern for the mental well-being of anyone…it was simply a vehement criticism. If you want to come in the Pit and flame people, that’s cool, as I have said several times, that’s the point of this forum. But don’t try to claim that you were doing it for the good of society.
In all seriousness, if you really wish people could just be nice to each other, why on earth would you say the things you did in that post? None of that was in any way nice.
Did I do that? As far as I recall, of the two of us, you are the only one who has called anyone any vile names. So, fine, I’ll drop my complaints about the use of “um.” It was seriously intended to be a helpful suggestion. If you don’t want to take it, that’s certainly your perogative.
I guess instead, I will eviscerate you for the string of vile names you used, since you think this is a much worse offense, anyway.
That must be the problem - you’re over-dependent on your neocortex, while the rest of us basically function out of our R-cortices:
“The R-complex is named for the most advanced part of the brain higher mammals shared with reptiles. It is responsible for rage, xenophobia, basic survival fight-or-flight responses, territoriality, social hierarchy, and the desire to follow leaders blindly. Often, this portion of the brain can take over rational brain function and result in unpredictable, animalistic behavior in even the highest of creatures who still bear this evolutionary baggage, humans included.”
Board interactions and especially affairs of the Pit become much easier to understand once you comprehend SDMBian neurobiology.
A comment which would have been a whole lot more amusing (to me at least) if you hadn’t been able to erase that double post with the edit function. :mad:
I would say Andrewt85 or whatever his username was. You know the one that pitted **QtM ** for being a Doctor and demanded to know what others had on their TV at 4am one morning.
Not that **Quiddity Glomfuster ** is that bad. That was another level of bad.
Really–you didn’t! I did read the thread–I was in it remember In my opinion I don’t believe you responded to his very specific question. I am not going to hijack this thread though, but if a single poster didn’t understand my point–I could care less. But you have at least two now (and I believe there were several others in that thread who felt the same way), it would cause me to reflect on how I delivered my message.
Why do you care about any of these posters? So you can honestly say in future dealings with any of them you won’t remember how they acted here? That won’t factor in your dealings with them? So if dealing with Jodi say in GD you aren’t going to recall that she in essence called you a twit here? She gets a clean slate each and every time?
If so–you are better then me and 99.99999% of the posters on this site and people out in the real world. I personally think history is critical on a site like this and each person has a responsibility in how their history is laid out and how they are perceived.
I don’t post a lot–see I have very few posts–but I read here a lot. I know the posting style of every one of the posters here–including Liberal. I don’t dislike him with the vehemence that other posters do–but I don’t blame them for their attitudes. If he chose to NOT respond then the snipes would disappear. Granted, they don’t have to post them, but he doesn’t have to read them or respond either. I can’t tell you the number of times I have written a post–walked away from it, came back and decided not to post.
In fact I am not even sure why I responded to this post. I guess I am just trying to point out to you that your style is getting in the way of your point.
I do think if the anger, etc. was happening in GD or My Humble Opinion, then you have a valid point. In this forum, not so much. That is the purpose of this forum. Don’t read in here if you don’t want to hear this stuff. No one is forcing you to, just like no one is forcing anyone to read the stuff that is written ‘in that place that shall not be named’. I have popped over there and that is nasty stuff-juvenile but nasty!
Lastly I don’t think anyone is saying dammit let me be mad. This is a message board in a forum dedicated for this specific task. I only come here occasionally myself, but I enjoy reading in here. There can be energy and good in the anger too. Bricker is a poster who changed his position on Gay Marriage in the Pit–and there was lots of anger going on in that thread as I recall. (I think it was in the Pit)
As for me–I am done here. My daughter is getting ready for bed and I am off to read fun and pointless things in other forums. Try to keep in mind that it is a message board and nothing more.
Yeah, like I said, damned either way. Damned, no doubt, had I conceived a whole new thing apart from either of those, such as asking her, specifically, what, if anything, I could possibly do, including apologize. Which was what I did. And I was told to forget it. No interest. So, while you’re smoking your morality cigars, be careful. Sometimes they explode.
I’d just like to say that I think trying to get everyone to play nice in the Pit is a monumentally fucking stupid idea that would be bad for the Board as a whole - the Pit serves as a safety valve for all the tensions generated on the rest of the Board, without it, smaller-scale nastiness would be even more prevalent in every forum from GQ to MPSIMS. And GD would be a lot worse.
BBQ is the Board’s liver. To paraphrase Herbert:“The Bile must flow!”
Coming in here and saying “Why can’t we all get along” is effectively an attempt at sabotaging the good functioning of the whole SD. High Treason!
And the sign of a rank n008.
To think I thought QG might be interesting because of the username . Turns out she’s just another Clueless.
FWIW, I don’t think Quiddity has made a fool of herself, although admittedly I entirely skipped pages 4-6 of this thread.
Are there pile-ons on Lib? Sure. Does he have anything to do with such pile-ons? Of course. Is there a self-perpetuating aspect to all of this? Mais oui.
At any rate, Lib’s jaded stance seems to be working pretty well, I think, as apparently it isn’t crystal clear to newbies what the fuss is about.
Oh, and arguments about the pit stretch way back. There are plenty of posters who don’t derive an ought from an is permitted to.
Ok, I haven’t participated actively on this board for some months, but I’ll take a shot at a (somewhat dated) answer.
The core missions of the Straight Dope Message Board are to fight ignorance and make wisecracks. Humans being what they are, things can get personal which can lead to ruined threads. So It Was Decided that if one or more posters wanted to flame each other, they would do so in the Pit.
This permits GQ and GD to enjoy only the highest standards of intellectual conversation.
( :dubious: )
At any rate, everybody enjoys a good car crash every now and then. Or rather, some people do, and they find that most of their SDMB participation resides in the Pit, where the usual standards of decorum, personal decency and social hygiene are relaxed. Unencumbered by such burdens, they sometimes throw insults, but are more likely to act catty.
Other posters are constrained by a personal code, which they believe applies online as well as in real life.
Although staying in an angry state is generally bad for your health, so is pent up rage. There are times when it’s very good for your mental health to deal with your feelings up front.
Liberal, I once stopped using the word fundies because you objected to it. Now I have a return favor to ask. Would you consider not using words that refer to women to insult someone? It’s not a major issue for me, but sometimes it distracts from what you are saying.
If you’re really worried about feeling damned, here’s a suggestion, in two parts:
Issue the apology. Don’t hypothetically issue it contingent on her acceptance. Issue it without reservations.
Go and sin no more. At least, do not write any more nastygrams in the Pit, no matter how deserved they may be. Don’t refrain from doing so for a week, or a month, or a year: refrain permanently from doing so. If you really must write the nastygrams, write them in a Word document and save them to your hard drive.
I believe that both these suggestions are entirely in keeping with your sincerely-held religious and philosophical beliefs (indeed, to the extent that I understand your beliefs, both suggestions are strongly advised by your beliefs). And I believe that nobody will damn you for following either suggestion.
If you’re not actualy worried about being damned either way, of course, feel free to ignore this.
In my opinion I don’t believe you responded to his very specific question. I am not going to hijack this thread though, but if a single poster didn’t understand my point–I could care less. But you have at least two now (and I believe there were several others in that thread who felt the same way), it would cause me to reflect on how I delivered my message.
)