While this isn’t strictly a Great Debate it is about this message board, so I’m posting here.
I really enjoy reading this Message Board, as I suspect do you, otherwise why are you here. It can of course be frustrating as no-one ever seems to change their minds about anything, and the same old people battle it out over the same old issues, but it’s still very interesting.
What I like is the personalities of the people involved, trying to figure out why people think the way they do, and second-guess what they are likely to say next. The actual debate, meh, well not sure I care about the subject quite so much, and I know nothing will ever actually be resolved and one side will say ‘Sorry, we were wrong and you were right’.
What bring you back to Great Debates? Do you ever feel as if anyone has listened to what you said? Do you remember any instances of people changing their minds? Do you like the personality mix here, or would you like a few more of a certain type of people? Do you think the opinons expressed here generally match those of the non-internet posting people of the world (obviously those in your country rather than the whole world)? Is there anyone you would like to never hear from again on this board, but please no insults as this is not the pit.
Ditto! Flogging a dead horse over and over in the hopes that there will be an epiphany does not interest me… even if it did miraculously occur, I can skip to the last page to read about it.
On the other hand, I do appreciate that it keeps the radicals, fanatics, whack-jobs, trolls, etc. occupied so as to leave most of the other forums alone… so it does serve a purpose.
I’m sure there are minds being changed. Sure, for a subject I know something about and have given a lot of thought to, it’ll take a lot for me to change. But there are lots of subjects that I haven’t firmly settled my thoughts on, or just don’t know anything about, so reading various perspectives is good.
Keep in mind that there are always going to be readers who aren’t posting, so even if everyone visible in a thread is standing by their starting positions, it still doesn’t mean that nobody is being persuaded of anything and the whole thing is pointless.
I’m sorry to hear that. Yes, you do need a moderately thick skin to take part in political/religious debates, but for some of us the fun is worth it. And, even if I probably don’t change my mind on the big issues, I still learn a lot in GD.
I look at GD to see if there’s actually an interesting thread there, that is, something besides the standard ones about religion or politics. I’ve read enough of those to know whether new points are ever made, and in those two topics the answer is no and rarely, respectively.
The last thing I liked about Great Debates was when it was temporarily renamed ‘Pissy Little Feuds’ an April Fools day or two ago. That was some real ‘ignorance fighting’ truth there!
It has improved a bit with the Dio time out. But I rarely see any debating going on outside the entrenched idealogies of the posters.
This is why many of us stay out of GD completely. It seems like a forum where people need to be heard, but nobody’s much interested in listening. I’ve been a member here since 1999, and I don’t think I’ve ever posted in a thread there.
I enjoy the widely varied view points and discussions, even with what I consider the more out there posters. I also enjoy putting my own assumptions and perceptions to the test and seeing the weak points and complete failure areas in my own positions, even though it’s often painful. GD is my favorite forum, though I enjoy going into GQ to lurk sometimes and even the Pit and CS/Games Room. I rarely go into the other forums with the exception of this one that I wander into from time to time.
Unfortunately, by the time a thread reaches its second or third page, it’s all too often devolved into a pissy little feud between two or three posters, often over a subject that’s tangential to the thread topic and has been hashed over countless times before (e.g. the definition of “atheism”). So my rule of thumb is, if I don’t catch an interesting thread in the first page or two, it’s probably not worth reading all the way through, let alone responding to.
That said, I do like Great Debates. It exposes me to multiple points of view, some of them well thought-out and well-expressed. It makes me at least make a strong effort to think through my own beliefs and how best to express them clearly and logically. It’s sometimes sent me off to do some research, so that I’m better informed before I go spouting my mouth off about something.
And on those occasions when my own contributions are “listened to” and given honest consideration, I’m gratified, especially when I manage to make other people understand or consider things that hadn’t before, or when they do the same for me.
I like hearing other peoples’ thoughts and I especially like that the posters there at least try to support their statements and argue logically. I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind when I post, which is why I usually only post a few times in any thread. Even though sometimes people reply to me, I don’t assume anyone here is paying much attention to me. Mostly when I post, I’m trying to articulate my own thoughts on a subject.
It was neither political or religious. I learned long ago that those minds are closed. IMO, people that want to talk about either, just want to hear their own voice.
It’s a good holding cell for people who like to talk to brick walls.
You know that Stephen King story about hell being repeating the same things over and over without any changes being possible? I think he got the idea from reading GD threads for a few months. The same things get discussed over and over and over… “Men shouldn’t have to pay child support, so they should get to ‘financially abort’,” “Are religious people crazy,” “Bitch about Republicans,” “How can you support the DP and not abortion?,” “How can you support abortion and not the DP?” “Rich people should pay more Taxes!!!” etc etc.
Of course this aspect is frustrating and probably so for even those who repeatedly participate in those sorts of discussions. However, there’s still plenty of great threads in GD. Personally, I very much enjoy political and religious discussions, but if it’s just another “The Republicans/Democrats are evil” or “God doesn’t exist” thread, there’s unlikely to be anything new rehashed in there, and you’re likely just to see the same canned responses.
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What I like is the personalities of the people involved, trying to figure out why people think the way they do, and second-guess what they are likely to say next. The actual debate, meh, well not sure I care about the subject quite so much, and I know nothing will ever actually be resolved and one side will say ‘Sorry, we were wrong and you were right’.
I don’t see the point of GD as being to change the minds of people, but to actually have a way to discuss these ideas with other people. In my own life, I’m most likely to run into people that either agree with me on a topic or at least are familiar enough with my perspective that there’s not really much to be said. Here, however, I can be exposed to new perspectives that have, on more than a few ocassions given me some useful food for thought. Similarly, I can provide my own feedback and see what others think of it and see if they can provide perspective on aspects that I may have overlooked. And, perhaps most importantly, being in a situation where I am actually defending a particular position helps me understand why I actually hold it. A couple of times I started writing a response to defend or assert a particular position but, in the process, I realized that my position wasn’t as strong as I thought it was, and so I had to give it some thought.
Sure, sometimes I spend a lot of time making a post and no one responds; other times, I get several responses. But even getting no response doesn’t mean that it wasn’t read. Hell, I read through plenty of threads and don’t respond to them, muchless individual points that I think are meaningful. Otherwise, we’d just have a thread full of quotes and “+1”. It makes for a terrible experience when trying to read it. So, instead, I just have to trust that, most likely, it was read and, unless I specifically asked for something from someone, if I got no responses, it doesn’t mean anything either way.
And, sure, there are some people that I wouldn’t mind if they never came back to the board, but even some of the most grating board personalities have made posts I think are useful particularly because they disagree with me and force me to defend my point or because I agree with them and their inability to defend it either reveals a weakness or forces me to do so.
Either way, just like any of the other forums, plenty of the threads are boring, either because they’re rehashed topics or endless duels, or they’re things I just don’t care about, but if you put in a little bit of effort, there’s often a gem in there that’s worth at least reading if not actively participating in.
