What has message-boarding taught you about human nature?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’ve learned that there are a lot of people with a lot of free time on their hands.

22

It has taught me that the views that many people hold (including myself, in many instances) often do not reflect deep, careful thought. Instead they are either leftover impressions from others gained earlier in life, gut reactions, based on raw emotions, or amalgams of the three.

I have changed a great deal as a result of this Board’s emphasis on producing some sort of empirical proof that a certain position is true, or at least reasonable. I have discarded some beliefs. Others, I went from feeling them to really knowing they were true, as a result of trying to prove it for someone else.
I have also learned that it is pointless to argue with a jackass, whether you are in the right or not. For all the pissing and moaning we do about the Mods, it’s thanks to them these types have not taken over here. They’re banned before they can really get going.

23

…that there is no such thing as TMI

:smiley:

24

  1. No matter what the subject is, there is always, always a group of people somewhere that will go quintuple ape-feces over it. (This is just my opinion, of course, but Initial D readers seem particularly egregious in this regard. *)

  2. There is no such thing, apparently, as a cliche that’s so hideously old and worn-out and banal and dull and overused to death that no one will ever use it. I’ve seen “Would you like cheese with your wine?” on two separate occasions. That bad.

  3. Megalame jokes that’d elicit at best stony-faced silence in real life will absolutely slay someone once posted.

  4. The reason CBS runs all those public service spots urging its viewers to read more is that most Americans CAN’T READ FOR CRAP. I don’t know how many times I’ve had a post or review responded to by some dope who missed 90% of the points I was making.

  5. No rules = Nonstop flame war hellhole
    Labyrynthine rules, but they’re not consistently enforced = empty bluster
    “First Amendment!” = Waste of flesh
    “Golly, I don’t know HOW any of you are going to SURVIVE in the REAL WORLD!!” = Waste of flesh
    “I didn’t do anything wrong!” = Clueless moron

As time goes by, I find myself appreciating this website more and more. :smiley:

  • Don’t ask. Just don’t. These nutcases make the Free Mumia crowd look sensible.
25

Cite.

26

That’s all I’ve learned.

27

I’ve learned you can’t get 100% of the people to agree on anything.

28

That, despite all the problems I’ve been having lately, I’ve actually had a pretty good life.

This board was my first exposure to any sort of on-line community, and in the year I’ve been posting here I’ve actually learned more about human nature, both good and bad, than in most of my real-life experiences. I’ve seen relative strangers taking time from their own problems to help others, mostly with advice or a kind word but sometimes with more tangible offers of financial or other assistance.

I’ve seen people being thoughtless and cruel, sometimes through ignorance and sometimes deliberately. I’ve also seen people rush to the defense of others, even those with whom they may have had issues in the past.

There’s probably more, but I need to start looking like I’m working in case my manager comes around.

29

Boards dedicated to firearms discussion tend to be overwhelmingly populated by Republican Xtians.
Any disagreement with a Republican will, sooner or later, result in him calling you a communist.

30

People feel freer online than in person. They will be nastier, or more sympathetic, or angrier, or snobby, or nicer than they would IRL.

Real friendships can exist even if you never meet them face-to-face.

There’s a lot of unstable people posting to message boards.

31

What Goo said and…

“People are people so why should it be, you and I should get along so awfully?”

32

I’ve learned that no matter how weird you think you might be, there are lots of others out there with the same habits/interests/problems. I mean, you may go most of your life thinking you’re the only six foot tall Captain & Tenille fan who plays the bagpipes and masturbates with plastic wrap, but chances are there’s a webring of folks just like that, or a message board full of them.

I think nearly everything I’ve privately thought “gosh, I’m glad no one knows I do/think that, because it’s just so freaking weird” has been admitted to by multiple people, on this board and others. But this one especially.

33

Intelligence is positively correlated with just generally good people.