After having read this thread, I have a couple things to say. Agree, disagree, be ambivalent, whatever, here is my opinion . . .
1. This "gang up" shit that everyone keeps talking about may happen with small groups of two or three members, but there is no "internet gang" that "we" are here. It may seems this way when a number of members disagree with a new guy, but I see no "us" vs. "them." We are all individuals, including new members. I'm not going to refrain from saying what I think simply because a few people here might agree with me. I'm sorry. I know a lot of you disagree with me, but I didn't see a problem at all. From what I have seen, only two or three members have left after being disagreed with and the only one I can really remember is volcano girl, but let's face it, she wasn't here to do anything but get people to do her research for her. I'm not doing that shit to make people happy, get shat on when they don't like it, just to have them leave anyway.
2. It is lovely to have a pleasant forum and I do think that people should rein in ad hom comments until they are friendly enough with someone that it becomes mutual and inoffensive. Call a new guy a twat if there are no insults in his posts, you're harshing my mellow. Call a guy a twat after seven pages of baiting, "get out of my thread," "No one wants to listen to me because my ideas are over their heads" and "The Bible is proof!" I say it is justified. People can only take so much. Should we silence loyal contributors to cater to noobs who are often only here to mentally masturbate, bait us and troll us?
3. I'm not going to guilt anyone into answering a thread differently than they would have. If you break the rules, that sucks and I have to do something, but I'm not the moral police. Some atheists don't like theists and vice versa. Should their position be less valid than the position of the "let's get along" group? I don't think so, even though I lean on the getting along side in most cases. That said, if no one is breaking the rules, I don't see what the problem is. If you see people "ganging up" on a new guy, get in the thread, encourage the new guy to talk to you, argue/debate with the gang, get involved and do something about it. This will show said new guy that we all argue/debate with each other and he is not being singled out for who he is, but that some people disagree and that is okay. Personally, and I am sorry if this pisses anyone off, I don't think guilting each other and saying how we think everyone else should be behaving will help shit. It just makes us look like a bunch of assholes who can't get along and have to resort to "stop being the way you are!" threads to get points across. Again, no offense, but where is everyone in these threads where the new people are getting "ganged up on?" I don't see any posts by people who don't like this "gang" mentality trying to steer the conversation in a better direction or even just engage the noob in a new way to get him to open up.
Sorry if I pissed anyone off, but I think calling the forum a negative place makes it seem more negative than it really is. Look at everyone in here scrambling to see what they did wrong and backtracking. Be the change you want, everyone. If you can't, please don't expect others to do it for you.
1. This "gang up" shit that everyone keeps talking about may happen with small groups of two or three members, but there is no "internet gang" that "we" are here. It may seems this way when a number of members disagree with a new guy, but I see no "us" vs. "them." We are all individuals, including new members. I'm not going to refrain from saying what I think simply because a few people here might agree with me. I'm sorry. I know a lot of you disagree with me, but I didn't see a problem at all. From what I have seen, only two or three members have left after being disagreed with and the only one I can really remember is volcano girl, but let's face it, she wasn't here to do anything but get people to do her research for her. I'm not doing that shit to make people happy, get shat on when they don't like it, just to have them leave anyway.
2. It is lovely to have a pleasant forum and I do think that people should rein in ad hom comments until they are friendly enough with someone that it becomes mutual and inoffensive. Call a new guy a twat if there are no insults in his posts, you're harshing my mellow. Call a guy a twat after seven pages of baiting, "get out of my thread," "No one wants to listen to me because my ideas are over their heads" and "The Bible is proof!" I say it is justified. People can only take so much. Should we silence loyal contributors to cater to noobs who are often only here to mentally masturbate, bait us and troll us?
3. I'm not going to guilt anyone into answering a thread differently than they would have. If you break the rules, that sucks and I have to do something, but I'm not the moral police. Some atheists don't like theists and vice versa. Should their position be less valid than the position of the "let's get along" group? I don't think so, even though I lean on the getting along side in most cases. That said, if no one is breaking the rules, I don't see what the problem is. If you see people "ganging up" on a new guy, get in the thread, encourage the new guy to talk to you, argue/debate with the gang, get involved and do something about it. This will show said new guy that we all argue/debate with each other and he is not being singled out for who he is, but that some people disagree and that is okay. Personally, and I am sorry if this pisses anyone off, I don't think guilting each other and saying how we think everyone else should be behaving will help shit. It just makes us look like a bunch of assholes who can't get along and have to resort to "stop being the way you are!" threads to get points across. Again, no offense, but where is everyone in these threads where the new people are getting "ganged up on?" I don't see any posts by people who don't like this "gang" mentality trying to steer the conversation in a better direction or even just engage the noob in a new way to get him to open up.
Sorry if I pissed anyone off, but I think calling the forum a negative place makes it seem more negative than it really is. Look at everyone in here scrambling to see what they did wrong and backtracking. Be the change you want, everyone. If you can't, please don't expect others to do it for you.
