Why does it always seem to end with insults?

The BBQ Pit
1

Having read a great number of posts to this board, I have noticed a trend. Posters often end up trading insults more than coherent arguments of a point.
For example, in cases where a particular poster’s ideas/comments have been disproven/discounted , they often revert to insults rather than conceding that their
point was erroneous. I mean, why does it seem to always end up with “bob you stupid idiot, you couldn’t find your way out of a paper bag.”

I know that issues debated here can be very emotional, but it doesn’t stand to reason to attack the arguer rather than the the argument.
Besides isn’t the point of a discussion to reach a greater perspective on the issue which couldn’t have been reached without both sides of the coin?

2

Now where’s that utopian forum? Just kidding - - you are correct, a rational debate would be better and is the intent of the Great Debate forum. The Pit forum is provided as a place where people can vent & to keep that stuff out of the debates. The moderators are doing their best to keep things under control (no easy job). But people are people and debates can get heated.

But perhaps some of the veterans here are growing tired of debating the same points over and over again to every new member (& may be developing a short fuse). A fuse can be particularly short when a new member starts tossing around insults.

Of course, we’re all here to fight ignorance, but we’re also here for fun and a snappy retort can keep things interesting. For that matter, consider the forum’s role model…Cecil, the king of snappy retorts. :slight_smile:

3

I think you’re just remembering the ones that end that way more vividly than others.

I’ll betcha there aren’t 10 threads out of the last 5,000 in GQ that ended that way, and the number isn’t much higher in GD, and is probably much lower in the other factual forums. It’s practically non-existent in MPSIMS.

In the Pit, well, if one is angry enough to start a Pit thread, that’s the way things are likely to go. Still, even then we see folks kiss and make up from time to time.

This is really a complaint/comment about the boards, and does not belong in GQ. I’ll shoot it to the Pit for you.

4

You’re a jerk, Dent. A complete kneebiter.

5

heh heh heh :slight_smile:

6

I’ve seen it happen. Typically it happens when one person seems unable to concede that the other person (or everyone else in the thread) is right. Especially if the chosen position is somewhat unusual, aka SeeThruArt and the Apollo Mini-anomalies. (Not linking the thread. 10 pages and now closed of him repeatedly refusing to admit that people have explained his anomalies, described what is wrong with his methodology, and repeatedly asked questions about his position and been totally ignored. And the same link to his webpage, no specific places just the main page.) First come the assertion that the person is bonkers, with numerous calls to seek psychological help. Then come the insults. Even when the best response is either directly assault the specific claims yet again, or file them as a troll and move on.

I wouldn’t say it’s inevitable in every argument, but it happens a good deal. Especially when each is somewhat misunderstanding what the other actually said, and it snowballs. Gotta love that.

7

On the other side of the coin, someone will disagree with the OP, actually have an intelligent argument, then end it by ending with “Your a fucking asshole” or “you don’t know shit, so shut the fuck up” or soemthing equally barbaric.

This is the oldest trap in the book.

At this point, the OPer almost is totally cornered. If you trade barbs with the responding idiot, others join in the fun and accuse you of not being able to take it when others disagree with your POV, and of flaming or even being a troll. If it continues one of the stooges will rat you out to the Mods and then at that point you even have the Moderators against you- because all they can see is 20 SDMB members being insulted by one person! :eek:

By now, you are generally fucked.

It’s a deadly cycle, I’ve seen more than one fairly sane poster quickly evolve into a troll on the BBQ Pit and get cast into the Hellfire of the Banned (not that several didn’t deserve it anyway!) The BBQ Pit is an argumentative minefield.

If you take the tact of debating issues instead of trading insults, usually you can deflect many of the cheap shots, though unfortunately only a few will post defending you, and then the same people gang up on them too. And even IMPLY that someone went overboard calling you names, then you are reminded it’s the BBQ Pit, go post in Great Debates, you asshole, after all you started the thread, can’t you take your own medicine?

So, your damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Trade insults, your a troll. Debate the issues and ask others to do the same, your a pus.

Basically, if you OP in the BBQ Pit, best to have very, very thick skin. Reading about Custer at Bighorn mught get you mentally prepared.

Better yet, just don’t OP at all!!!

8

Oh and by the way, dentarthurdent:

FUCK YOU! :smiley:

9

I dunno - my first significant posts and my first thread was in The Pit and generated a lot of flame-throwing, and I’ve gone on to achieve Evil Oldster Cabal status just fine.

Esprix

10

Dent, you ignorant slut…:smiley:

I’ve seen that happen on some hotly contested issues that neither side really one. I just chalk it up their tempers momentarily getting the better of them.

11

Sort of on the subject, here’s a tip. When you call someone an ignorant fuckhat who needs to grow the fuck up and then put a SMILEY at the end of it, you don’t “cancel out” the insult. I notice this a lot in usenet and on forums. People think that it’s okay to be rude and insulting if they put a smiley after it. I understand that sometimes you really ARE just joking, as people were in this thread. But I’ve seen peopel who seem to feel that as long as their invitation for the OP to go fuck himself is ended with a smiley, then it’s not their fault if people get upset by it.

There’s also the “It’s just a message board!” or “It’s the internet, what did you expect?” phenomenon. Apparently there was a convention held and the following decisions were agreed upon:

  1. On the internet, not only is it okay to be an asshole, it is expected. You can choose not to be an asshole if you desire, but asshole will be the norm and you have no right to expect otherwise.

  2. You are the only “real” person on the internet. The others are sophisticated AIs. They have no emotions. Therefore, you can say whatever you want to them without having to employ any kind of tact or compassion. And, since this is the Internet (see (1)) they have no right to expect such.

  3. Since (1) the internet is reserved for assholes and (2) none of the other people are real, then no one should take message boards seriously. Regardless of the nature of the message board, or any community that has developed around it, it should never be taken seriously. Again, this means you can feel free to put whatever you like on it, without any fear of repercussion. Feel secure in the knowledge that it’s only a message board, so only a fool would get upset about anything posted on it.

  4. Above all, remember, it’s your personal entertainment that is the most important. If you’re having a good time, that’s all that matters.

12

Y’know, Legomancer, for an AI, you’re pretty smart.

13

I am offended. Bobevilsquid is NOT an idiot!!! Who said ‘Bob you stupid idiot, you couldn’t find your way out of a paper bag’? I don’t care if they didn’t mean me, they insulted the entire race of Bobs!!! :mad: