Quite a shame how people respond

[rexbeccarox]

Drool. I would let that man do whatever he wanted to/with me.



OP, I'd rather have a colorful forum than a boring one.

[thesummerqueen]

And this might be my final mini rant on the topic:

I realize we live in a time when people get upset over being defriended on Facebook, but who are these people who can't take a stern attack OVER THE INTERNET?! Really, you're going to get upset over someone ribbing you? Because what we do isn't anywhere near bullying. It's also not overwhelming. If you're having problems keeping up in answers, we're usually 100% cool with you taking your time over several hours to do so, because we understand that we all have outside lives. If you can't handle THIS kind of heat, I suggest you get off this forum and stay off others. And possibly talk to a counselor about confrontational issues.

[Minimalist]

When you've heard the same "question" 60 times and can predict almost word for word what their reply will be you'll get tired of their shit, too.

I doubt most of them are asking "questions" for the sake of learning anything.

[Neo-Scholastic]

The religious bring the same old, tired arguments thinking they have their trump card, and when you refute it, they deny it's even been refuted and claim victory.

I think that goes both ways. Some so-called proofs and their refutations work better than others so I find it annoying that some AF members rehash the weaker arguments. And the stupid little flame wars make it difficult for serious people to follow and join the conversation. Some of my more recent exchanges have been less than encouraging, but some have been enlightening and enjoyable. I have learned quite a bit on AF.

[Faith No More]

I agree about the flame wars. Some people can't seem to check their ego at the front door.

I should have been more careful when I said "the religious" and said "most of the religious," because it seems that most of the theists we get around here are the shit and runners making posts about how they "don't come from no monkey." Clearly, Chad, you do not bring the same tired arguments.

[Violet]

Exactly what is wrong with ridicule?And to say all attacks are senseless is stupid.

Claimant, "Pink unicorns are real"

Atheist, "That is bullshit, no they are not real"

Claimant, "YOU HATE ME"

Are pink unicorns real? Does that claim deserve blind value? Or does it sound ridiculous? When someone tells you the moon is not made of cheese, you don't condemn them, you thank them.

Unless the pink unicorns are gods, an atheist can believe in them as much as they will without contradicting their being an atheist. At all.

When someone tells me the moon is not made of cheese, I start questioning their intelligence. Specifically their humor and creativity... giant losses in their standing in my eyes.

What is senseless is making naked assertion claims and pretending those claims should be valued without being questioned.

Ahhh, I see: every assertion is a senseless strawman

[A_Nony_Mouse]

Hi guys.

I've been noticing something bad in almost every thread I go into.

The thread starts usually with something a religious person asks about or posts. And what follows is a long thread of ridicule and senseless attacks.

I am noticing more an more threads that never seem to attack the question and the issue at hand. Threads filled with cheap jokes and insults. Posts that are nothing more than a link or a pair of sentences that don't contribute to the debate.

Meanwhile the religious people use those posts to later on claim that they had a "discussion" on an atheist oriented forum and they won the arguments!
"See", they would say; "I posted some of my religious proof and BOOM! Atheists didn't know what to respond".

Come on guys!

You want to comment on a news piece, do so, but with respect to the readers. Maybe write about how morality should not be derived from holy books and how that piece of news contradicted human rights, the teaching of the people who did something...

Atheists are supposed to be the elite of the educated masses. We are supposed to spread knowledge, not ridicule.

Actually I find the responses remarkably limited to the nature of the post not the ad hominem which you appear to suggest. I can't say much as a newbie but I have seen a lot of this stuff from believers and it would take superhuman restraint to treat the latest repetition of arguments refuted centuries ago ONE MORE TIME.

If they are not prepared to be here do not post. It you post without reading do not expect to be treated as other than a person who has read the material. The believer crap we get here is often so old that their fellow believers considered them heresies. It is not clear why you expect better from this forum.

[Dragonetti]

Dueling IDEAS!

[A_Nony_Mouse]

Food for thought:
...
"The truth of our faith becomes a matter of ridicule among the infidels if any Catholic, not gifted with the necessary scientific learning, presents as dogma what scientific scrutiny shows to be false." - St. Thomas Aquinas

That is, dead meat.

---

I'd also like to say:

Know your audience. If you walk into a room and state an opinion, you better be able to back that shit up IMMEDIATELY, or face the embarrassment when those who are in the room tear you a new one for it. I don't walk into my boss's office with an opinion or decision without having a damn good reason for saying it. He knows a fuck load more about accounting than I do. I wouldn't walk into a botanists office and tell them how to do their job. They have a degree - I'm just a schmuck who likes to dither around with plants.

Unless and until you know the mental capacity and education of your audience, coming in and making assertions is stupid and dangerous. Sort of like the sword guy in the "nut" thread telling me to "read Holy Blood, Holy Grail" when I asked him for some sort of back up on his statement. I've already read that book. He didn't ask respectfully if I had. He just assumed I hadn't because I didn't believe him outright. Can you understand how condescending this is? This happens all the fucking time on this forum. I'm still mad at how jstrodel treated missluckie in this fashion.

We have some incredibly knowledgeable people on this forum who are more than likely never showing anyone more than the edges of what they know. And we have some incredibly ignorant-ass people who come visit this forum who think they have all the answers, and who get immediately frustrated because they didn't think through the fact that they came onto a forum of atheists who are more likely to be skeptics and rationalists and have no time for their bullshit.

Two beautifully brilliant posts in a row in the same thread. It is times like this I wish for 30+ years younger and serious flirting.

That aside both of them have been so close to what I would have posted, in fact sort of paraphrases as times, even I am impressed.

You are much more patient than I.

[Minimalist]

Claimant, "YOU HATE ME"

Correct. I hate you. But that does not make pink unicorns real.