I was provided examples of that net benefit when visiting a couple of tech forums today to see if anyone had gotten a usable answer to a question of interest to me.
Instead, I was reminded of why I usually avoid those forums. People who’d asked questions in good faith were almost entirely met with responses in the following categories: 1) information that was irrelevant to the inquiry, showing that the respondent hadn’t read the question or couldn’t understand it, 2) incomprehensible jargon-filled responses, 3) replies mocking the questioner for being stupid, and 4) huh-huh-huh posts going off on tangents intended to show how clever the respondents were.*
There is little tolerance for that sort of thing on the Dope, either from regular posters or moderators. If I need help on a tech/electronics matter and the manufacturer/service provider is less than useful, I’ll far sooner consult Dopers than waste my time on tech forums.
*answering a question about using a Jetpack to receive a 4G signal by posting a picture of a guy wearing a rocket pack is not helpful.
Suggestion : A simple feature on the board where a certain thread or a post could be easily copied and a link posted either on phone chat apps, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It should be easy to post to Social media a certain debunking, a pithy analysis, or a certain discussion and the Dope should get the credit for it.
Gripe : There are members here who have been here a long time. Naturally they have camaraderie which is all good. Similar camaraderie’s exist between cops, doctors, lawyers, etc. Sometimes in a discussion, especially when an old member is getting questioned on a nuanced topic, I’ve seen members jump in en-masse. To the poster it feels like getting railroaded. This is my personal opinion and I don’t want to post specific threads. I am sure the senior members can work out posting etiquette, if you’ll think this exists in the first place.
I’m not sure if it’s determined by the skin I’m using, but above the Quick Reply box there is a toolbar including links to facebook, Reddit, and Twitter that allow you to share like this. I hope you find it useful!
I haven’t done an exhaustive survey but my impression from having seen a lot of these closed zombies is that the real reason they’re closed is that the new poster usually has not provided any new or useful information or indeed any information at all, but has simply bumped an old thread than ran its course years ago with some random drivel. There are legitimate reasons for bumping old threads, such as relevant new developments or the completion of a lengthy investigation, and those stay open.
Why should there have to be “new information”? Why can’t someone simply chime in with their opinion, even if it has been stated before? Without a “like” button (something else I support), posting a “me too” or “+1” is the only way to weigh in.
Why does everything have to add anything new to the discussion? I write my share of detailed posts, but I also often like to go on the record with my vote of support for someone else’s position.
What value do they add to the discussion when it has just started?
A large percentage of the posting here is already more or less gratuitous: polls where people make a post just to say how they voted; threads started where someone solely wants to mention something, and has no interest in any of the replies . . . .
I’ve been a member for about 20 years, but I find myself reading the SDMB a lot less lately. I guess there are two main reasons:
They liberal bias of this board has mentioned. I myself am also a liberal, but I still don’t want to read a hundred threads about how Trump sucks.
In some areas the Dope is really old-fashioned. For example, in the Café Society board there is rarely a discussion of any music newer than 20 years old. I’ve been spending a lot of time on sites with extensive discussions of current pop music.
So here’s a question–how popular do you want the SDMB to be?
Even assuming the board software is fixed to not get timeouts, how popular can it get before it becomes unmanageable just by sheer numbers? I frequent Disboards for Disney stuff using similar software, and that’s just insane to keep up with. Frequent criticisms there are that people post a question and if it’s a new thread, nobody answers because it’s instantly buried on page 4 by all the other posts, or they post to an existing thread and the mods nuke it because they’re posting to page 537 of a mega-thread and that exact question was answered on page 232.
I get the disdain and problems with Reddit or Slashdot-style upvote systems, but those tend to come about because flat posting breaks down over a certain population level.
The false scale you are using for comparison of falsity was invented by the right and is still being flogged, by the right, even after the “smart and hip” camp followers on the right have given up on it and are trying to use it against the left, like you are here.
You need to explain why a smart and hip site necessarily needs the conservatives that we see here. They bring the quotient down. A political movement lives and dies on the quality of its ideas. If your ideas are dead or you can’t explain them you won’t look good on a site that is just words and messages.
Furthermore the gamesaying and spamming of righties is not a sign of intellectual or even mental health. The pretense that you are not “playing at being dt for laughs” is so tedious. How on earth would anyone need more of it?
If people are giving up here then it is because it has become impossible to have a political discussion with someone on the right and it gets demonstrated every day here. The right wing has been afflicted with dreams of total dominion, and the arrogance has become impossible, from the potus no less, let alone anonymous posters.
This thread was started by a simple drive-by post. Most of the posts here have little to do with the OP. While some of this has been productive, others are using this as a general thread to complain about everything. But since there is no focus to this thread, nothing is getting resolved.
As such, this thread has outlived its usefulness.
Those who have issues that they wish to discuss, please feel free to start a thread specific to that issue.