Dumbest thread on EP? "New Defender Rage/Hate Thread" ?

What has become the least useful and waste of time thread to read or participate in on EP?

  • New Defender Rage/Hate Thread

  • Any other thread


Results are only viewable after voting.

GHI

Adventurer
OMG. Im so out of the loop. Had no idea there were that many pages. I stopped clicking back at like page 2 or 3.
 

AbleGuy

Officious Intermeddler
Thank you guys for raising this issue.

To be fair to the Mods though, why should we not better self govern these threads and thus not have to rely on the Mods to be the bad guys? Are they being paid for being the peace keepers here? You are expecting an unfairly huge time commitment and a supreme effort from them to constantly baby sit the behavior of unreasonably pissed off commentators.

It very sad to see so much anger and vitriol being put into so many of these recent comments and threads, but the Mods aren’t our parents or wardens, and if we members can’t or won’t do a better job policing these threads ourselves and controlling our collective tongues, maybe the Portal will eventually wind up having to shut down more and more of these problematic discussions. That likely would just become a tiresome whack-a-mole game though.

But the big increase in pettiness, name calling and otherwise churlish behavior seems to show in some members here a weirdly perverse pride for being such gleeful disrupters of these usually useful and helpful discussions. And it’s worth pointing out that quick triggered, hot headed respondents to snarky challenges are ultimately as culpable as the inflammatory, inciting initial commenters. We too often knowingly seem to be self destructing the Expo Portal, going along a similarly venal path that unfortunately is so evident in other aspects of US society today.

I will admit though, that some of these purposely disruptive threads and comments seemingly are initiated or posted with the otherwise laudable intent of starting justifiably stimulating, controversial or even humorous discussions. The better ones that do that can serve a valuable and entertaining purpose.

But, just wait for it....this post will probably also get the sadly expected, now usual amount of negative, angry responses from “offended” offenders, and ironically that really reaction will just serve to prove my points. N'est-ce pas?
 
Last edited:

GHI

Adventurer
Thank you guys for raising this issue. To be fair to the Mods though, why should we not better self govern these threads and thus not have to rely on the Mods to be the bad guys? Are they being paid for being the peace keepers here? You are expecting a huge time commitment and a supreme effort from them to baby sit the unreasonably pissed off commentators.

It very sad to see so much anger and vitriol being put into so many of these recent comments, but the Mods aren’t our parents, and if we ourselves can’t or won’t do a better job policing these threads ourselves and controlling our collective tongues, maybe the Portal will have to wind up just shutting down.

But the big increase in pettiness, name calling and otherwise churlish behavior seems to show in some members here a weirdly perverse pride for being such happy disrupters of these usually useful and helpful discussions. We knowingly are self destructing the Expo Portal along the similar path that so much of US society is taking today.

I will admit though, that some of these purposely disruptive threads and comments seemingly are initiated or posted with the laudable intent of starting stimulating, controversial or even humorous discussions. The better ones that do that do serve a valuable and entertaining purpose.

But just wait for it....I’m sure this post will get the sadly expected amount of negative, pissy responses from “offended” offenders that quickly really will just prove my points.
I didn't follow that thread in question and therefore don't know the players involved. Let me throw out an off the cuff number of people who just don't know when to call it quits in a thread. Less than 10? That's really not bad considering how many people are on this forum.
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
I suggest a "Danger Zone" subforum (with an appropriate warning about content being rage inducing). Threads that devolve into pissing matches with people yelling at each other can be moved there (this can be surprisingly effective at keeping discussion more moderate). That way they can work out their political, cultural, personal issues without disturbing the more productive and collaborative areas of the forum. On other forums having such a section effectively lets these users burn their time posting inane and useless stuff over and over therein, thus leaving little time for other "less engaging" threads. At the core many just want to argue/troll, and the subject is less important than the strength of the response.
 

Scoutn79

Adventurer
Infighting is one thing I just don't understand.
It seems so many people can't have a civil discussion without personal attacks and name-calling. Did we all stop maturing at the second grade level and not learn to discuss issues without getting bent out of shape?
It isn't just this forum but many others as well. I spend a lot of time on 4 wheeling, hunting and firearms related sites. With all of the people out there trying to take away our rights and limit the where and what we can do we should be standing together not dividing ourselves into smaller groups.
There are definite differences of opinion and clashing personalities but we should be mature and civil about it all.
Just my $0.02 opinion....and I already know about opinions;)

Darrell
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
Some people just like stirring the pot and generating negative emotions in others. It brings them pleasure. Some can't control themselves when a troll walks into the room. And some simply think that differing opinions and behavior should be punished.
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
185,530
Messages
2,875,568
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top