Author Topic: Where to find...  (Read 5848 times)

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Offline _sturt_

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Re: Where to find...
« Topic Start: May 11, 2017, 01:08:36 PM »
What's done is done, but just sayin... don't see how it's ever a bad idea to be forthcoming with expectations, and especially so when you have personalities of all types--the hypersensitive and the insensitive, the extroverts and the introverts, the kind who are open to new ways of thinking about things and the kind who are contrarian to thinking about things in any new way, the kind who think they already know it all and the kind who are constantly questioning whether they know it all--gathering together in an otherwise anonymous forum to have their say.

Clearly, if there is indeed something that people are exposed to when they first sign-up, there's agreement on that much (ie, forthcoming with expectations). So the speed limits exist, evidently... there just aren't any signs beyond the first one on the road that we all passed years ago. On its own, putting up speed limit signs certainly doesn't mean everyone will fall in-line, but for those who generally want to considerate of the community's preferences for how fast is too fast, signage only makes sense.

Some thoughts in that, fwiw... and btw, maybe "guidelines" is the better term than "rules"...

1. If you object to someone else's opinion, that's part of what makes a discussion board an interesting place to spend some time... so, great... that's a good thing... but then, check yourself and try to make a conscious effort to offer something new each time you post, and by that, we don't mean just some new clever way of insulting the other point of view, but actual new rationale/substance/evidence in support of your opposing point of view.


2. When someone counterpoints your counterpoint, again, that's great... so, please see it just that way. If they thought your response was that of a 5 year-old, they wouldn't bother to respond because they would have no actual regard that your counterpoint was worth even granting a response... rather, they thought your counterpoint was at least intelligent enough that it merited a response. Pause to appreciate that rather than considering it somehow offensive.


3. Almost all bring a certain moxie to a board where opinions are shared and compared, and so any board is vulnerable to being overrun by people who post as much as anything for the sheer ego-kick of personal attack and/or generally trying to undermine others as being inferior people. Attacking others' arguments (especially in a substantive way, and not merely shallow insult) is the nature of a board. That's okay, and in fact, to the degree that the arguments are high-quality arguments, it's what makes a board worth participating in. But that's different than attacking others' character or intelligence or competence.

So some humility and conscientiousness both when you're posting and when you're reading others' posts... not to mention some humor and even some self-deprecation on occasion... just make it that much more likely that the board is going to flourish.

That part is a challenge for me... and some would quickly reply, "Obviously." I know, I know.

But just don't be blind that that's a challenge for most of us... we all take ourselves seriously enough that we think someone might care about what we think, otherwise, we wouldn't be here posting what we think. Right?


4. Criticize the substance that the other person is presenting, not meaningless sidebars. When you divert to finding other sidebars to criticize that have nothing in reality to-do with the topic, it's a reflection that you have no other ammunition, so you're pulling butter knives out of the drawer and throwing them instead. Makes you look desperate, but also waters down the vigor of the discussion.


5. If you're not interested in a topic, that's okay. Doesn't mean that others have no right to be interested in it, and to pursue it. And consequently, they shouldn't be subjected to your ridicule for being interested and participating in it. Click on it the first time, and if you think it's a nothing topic and you have no interest to contribute, be respectful enough to walk away. Don't be that guy who pisses on others' discussions, and comes across as the 7th grade attention seeker.


My two cents.