Yup. And I will add that being able to cook well also has health impact as well; we tend to eat healthier when we make our own food. In both cases I personally experience them as improving quality of life in both the immediate and the longer term. And fun.
But yeah that is just me. People make individual choices. Some eat fast food every day. Their choice.
Didn’t say it did; though it certainly might reduce even that ability for some people for the rest of that day. But what I said was that it might well reduce their ability to do something else with that time and energy, and that the something else might well involve physical activity. Including that it might reduce or remove their ability to keep up the type of useful physical activity that you had claimed in that post that they can’t do, while claiming that they can do weightlifting purely for the sake of the exercise.
Depends on your social group, I suppose.
As, I suppose, does the percentage of people you know who go in for weightlifting.
I think this reflects a sad aspect of Dope culture; people are so loathe to upset or offend that they are censoring themselves.
This board can’t exist without discussion. If you are on the fence about posting something, please post it. The lack of content spells the death of the board.
(That’s not to say that people should be out to offend or upset others. But we all should be able to handle the prospect of reading something we find disagreeable, or unfamiliar, so there should be no fear about ruffling feathers)
This is a shocking take, from my perspective. I find that the world is far more oblivious about what I’m doing, and messaging is rarely directed towards me specifically. This enables me to easily ignore those things I don’t agree with, or find objectionable, without ever taking any offense to imagined slights.
But it doesn’t need to be a personal affront, and I’m shocked that people would interpret it that way.
“Why don’t you…” is just a conversation starter.
Readers don’t really think the OP was telling them what to do, right? You all realize he has no power to do that, right?
And “because mind your own damn business” is just a conversation ender. But less presumptuous than the question.
But since no one is actively pestering me with that question when it’s just the title of the thread, the better response is to mute the thread and make it go away.
There are some conversations I will not be nagged, shamed, or bullied into.
We’ve actually had a thread on this. Some of the responses really surprised me - someone who couldn’t cook a hamburger at home by themselves, iirc.
That’s why threads need more than just a title. Are you one of those people who doesn’t read the Origjnal Post?
Because here’s what you would have been responding to.
Is that really presumptuous? What exactly is being presumed? I read it in a decidedly friendly tone. It’s borne of curiosity.
I think the wording was just unfortunate and unintentional, but no, it’s a complete fail as a conversation starter because it’s inherently judgmental and confrontational. This is why the thread title provoked some snarky comments, including from me. In fact it invites no end of snark. Whereas a thread title like “Let’s Talk About the Benefits of Weightlifting” is perfectly neutral, and those that don’t engage in such activity would just ignore the thread.
FTR, in my younger years I actually had a sort of mini-gym in the basement with weights and a bench press and worked out regularly. I have nothing against this particular exercise and acknowledge its benefits. I have something against judgmental posters who seem to want to know why I’m not doing it now.
To me, “why don’t you…” is a passive-aggressive way of asking someone to do something. It puts the listener on the defensive to justify their alleged lack of action. It’s a conversation starter in the same way any well-poisoning is: a not very good one.
I can’t recall if I ever opened the thread in question, but the title does nothing to encourage me to.
I see it as I was asked a question. I might wanna answer.
Rudely? I’d try not to be.
I’d tell exactly why I don’t and be excoriated for either my thinking on weight lifting or exercise in general.
The trouble starts when you’re stopped from explaining your reasons.
I see no problem with just not going in the thread. Saves a bunch of needless crap going down.
Fair enough. I didn’t write it, and if it was done poorly, so be it.
But the Dope’s denizens should be able to brush that off and engage with the OP (if they so choose) without being offended. I just don’t read the first post - and, by extension, the conversation- as akin to a poisoned well.
Well, that is judgmental. You’ve already pre-determined how your comments would be received? That’s really not fair to your fellow Dopers.
Do you think that happened in that thread? This is just an imagined slight, totally unsupported by anything anybody actually posted.
If I’m wrong, tell me how you can read that OP and think that you are going to be stopped from explaining your reasons. Hell, the OP offered up several plausible reasons.
I smell a very polite sea lion.
It’s a little reminiscent of the “Do you even lift, Bro?” meme.
I agree about being offended. And also, lack of offense is not sufficient for me to choose to open a thread. It’s quite possible the original post is fine and engaging, but I never got to that point. And that’s okay–I don’t expect every poster to read every thread, nevermind posting in every thread.
Along with some posters being too easily offended, I also think some are too argumentative, and there’s a large overlap between those groups. All we are saying, is give peace a chance… 
I’m just sayin’
That is the reason I wouldn’t post in the thread.
No interest
No cites
Nothing but bad experiences no one wants to hear.
I stated it in the thread and I’ll repeat it here: IMHO in particular is full of OPs asking questions that are none of anyone’s business, that are “presumptuous” to ask, and that no one is under any obligation to respond to. But when people are curious IMHO is a place ask, and if people answer there are, sometimes, some interesting conversations sharing divergent perspectives.
You don’t want to participate in a particular conversation? You presume that “no one wants to hear”? You are OFFENDED that someone would raise the question? No one is making you open the thread. No one @gnoitall will shame, nag, or bully you into sharing anything you don’t want to.
The OP expressed clearly in the thread:
You don’t want to share, don’t.
Obviously though @wolfpup it was a resounding success as a conversation starter. The thread is nearly five and a half years old. Over 1100 posts. Has a few more active participants to be sure (guilty). But a decent variety along the way. Yes it evolved past only that question. Conversations in IMHO tend to do that. DrP is really quite a fund of knowledge about weightlifting. And very supportive of anyone exercising however they want to, even as his preferred activity is made very clear. I’ve not created a thread with legs that strong.
Posting five and half years in? That you haven’t read past the title apparently but that you find the very question “insulting” and object to being “challenged” … yeah that’s a “what were you thinking?” post.
At first blush anyway. Less so after the motivation to share what they do do becomes more clear.
Thank you. Now, having read further posts, I feel the need to elaborate.
There’s nothing wrong with that thread, and I’m neither bothered nor offended by the title. But, and this is a major one, it can easily be taken as intrusive or annoying, which wouldn’t be so bad (as that sense is contradicted in the OP) if it weren’t so fucking easy to avoid those reactions altogether.
If you are initiating a conversation, try to put yourself in your potential readers’ frame of mind so as to draw them in and not push them away. There might be more non-lifters in the thread (I take it there are some) if some of them hadn’t been put off by the title. Maybe you can’t tell a book by its cover, but you’re never going to pick up the book or open it if the title pisses you off.
Which is well and good. Still not reason to open the book to the last page and scrawl in crayon that the book is insulting! 
(I’ve created some bad confusing titles myself, or so I’ve been told.)
Seriously if the title made someone uninterested in reading the OP, fine. One would hope that people actually responding would have at least read the OP before thinking their “I’m too busy lifting a fork.” or “cause they heavy” witticisms were clever contributions. 
Or bemoaning that there was “sneering at physical labor done for the sake of accomplishing something” going on.
Of course some of these people don’t exercise at all: reading an OP is too heavy a lift for them!
Yes, I agree, and my comments should not be construed to mean that I was supporting any of the threadshitting that went on in that thread. I simply wish to argue that the thread title was not the bland and blameless verbiage that some posters have characterized it as.
And while i actually do so some strength exercises just to maintain my strength, i recognize that it’s an enormous luxury to be able to do this. It always kills a full morning, and often, because i feel so shitty and tired after doing it, kills the full day. Lots of people need to work full time, it have other obligations that prevent them from dilly dallying with weights.
Fwiw, the only times in my life i have ever felt good about exerting my strength have been times when i accomplished something useful. When my husband and i built a sandbox, and carried a ton and a half of sand uphill from the driveway to the backyard (in 60lb sacks) that actually felt good. It was satisfying to watch the sandbox come together. I usually feel good about shoveling snow, too. (My driveway is below grade, so that involves a lot of lifting.) Lifting weights in the basement? I only do that so that i can do useful stuff.
I agree. I’ve not ever ventured into that thread, and I don’t really lift weights, but the title has always struck me as being just a little off, and a little confrontational. But, no, I don’t go in there just to threadshit, either.