People should be glad I am not a mod with the power to temporarily change their avatar.
People should be glad I am not a mod with the power to temporarily change their avatar.
I don't think you'll do him the honor.Permission to temporarily change your avatar to that dude????
We all saw Rick’s favorite “special girl.” I still think he should have been given a time out for that one!
It is true, some people-not all-but some have a chip on their shoulder and then there are those that carry a rick of wood around on their shoulder just waiting for a word that offends them so they can lay into someone. Anyone can make an innocuous mistake or word something as I do on occasion that doesn't clearly depict what I'm trying to say. It looks good to me but to someone who is ultra-sensitive it may bother them.
I like the spirit of the thread, but I'm not holding my breath that the calls for civility are actually heeded. Maybe I'm biased because a lot of people want to try and dunk on me though.
Even here on this thread, there is, to me, an odd vibe. Not trying to pick on @Profreedomokie in the opener, but why direct anger to the Left. Wouldn't it be better to use the same energy to positively engage opponents with civility? I have a different viewpoint and get called radical left, libtard, all sort of things here because I don't go with the group view in a lot of places. If I really was the radical left (which I don't think I am) then where's the engagement of civility? Would all the yelling, playground insults, and snide comments do anything at all to change my opinion? No, not at all. It'd dig the trench deeper. @adamsredlines I think had the post where he engaged an anti-gun person by taking them to the range, and it was the positive energy and engagement that probably changed their minds. We as a forum, IMHO, lack that.
That means my experience is a bit in contrast to @undeg01 's assessment. I've been a member almost as long as anybody but I sure don't feel like it's a brotherhood. It feels like a pretty tight knit group as long as you agree with the hive. Sure, there's exceptions to that, but I feel that way as a generality. I had a conversation with @druryj the other day where I said that. I sure don't feel like "when you're in you're in". I feel like there are some people here that would spit in my face in real life if I met them. Lot of others I've had lots of good meetups with, conversations with. But there's a whole lot of vocal folks who would rather see me gone too. One person once said they wished I was at the bottom of their pond.
Even to @John6185 's point --- I don't think there's a lot of people laying around in the shadows just seething and waiting to pounce. I think there's a lot of times where people see something and think it's worth calling out because we can be better. For instance, if someone says something that "doesn't clearly depict what {they are} trying to say" then why wouldn't someone get bothered? Correct it, be clear and move on. A lot of folk want to put the responsibility of interpretation on the audience and say they are snowflakes and sensitive if they don't roll with it, but how is that credible if someone doesn't even post what they mean? There's a two way responsibility --- one party should be trying to take words in context, but the other party should be trying to be clear and not inflammatory.
The thing that I think realllly drives everything though is that there's no duty to retreat in the ego war. If someone takes a swing at me, what are my options?
A) Narc the reporting button and see if the mods agree
B) Don't react and let the person think they won (usually while their buddies hit the "like" button --- I wonder how it'd look if we had a "dislike" button)
C) Swing back because again, there's no duty to retreat.
I've seen cases where after a heated exchange parties finally work out that we aren't each other's enemies, but that ego that fuels things is more likely to boil over than simmer back to that result. This isn't exactly the first time the board has hit this cycle. I left for a few years because of this in the early, maybe mid 2010's, and just lurked and classified. It'll get better, or not or whatever. It's an internet site which has little to no ultimate consequence in the real world. If I didn't enjoy the site I wouldn't have ordered a bunch of branded lowers, but dang, in the end, it's a forum, not an identity.
Even here on this thread, there is, to me, an odd vibe. Not trying to pick on @Profreedomokie in the opener, but why direct anger to the Left. Wouldn't it be better to use the same energy to positively engage opponents with civility? I have a different viewpoint and get called radical left, libtard, all sort of things here because I don't go with the group view in a lot of places. If I really was the radical left (which I don't think I am) then where's the engagement of civility? Would all the yelling, playground insults, and snide comments do anything at all to change my opinion? No, not at all. It'd dig the trench deeper. @adamsredlines I think had the post where he engaged an anti-gun person by taking them to the range, and it was the positive energy and engagement that probably changed their minds. We as a forum, IMHO, lack that.
That means my experience is a bit in contrast to @undeg01 's assessment. I've been a member almost as long as anybody but I sure don't feel like it's a brotherhood. It feels like a pretty tight knit group as long as you agree with the hive. Sure, there's exceptions to that, but I feel that way as a generality. I had a conversation with @druryj the other day where I said that. I sure don't feel like "when you're in you're in". I feel like there are some people here that would spit in my face in real life if I met them. Lot of others I've had lots of good meetups with, conversations with. But there's a whole lot of vocal folks who would rather see me gone too. One person once said they wished I was at the bottom of their pond.
Even to @John6185 's point --- I don't think there's a lot of people laying around in the shadows just seething and waiting to pounce. I think there's a lot of times where people see something and think it's worth calling out because we can be better. For instance, if someone says something that "doesn't clearly depict what {they are} trying to say" then why wouldn't someone get bothered? Correct it, be clear and move on. A lot of folk want to put the responsibility of interpretation on the audience and say they are snowflakes and sensitive if they don't roll with it, but how is that credible if someone doesn't even post what they mean? There's a two way responsibility --- one party should be trying to take words in context, but the other party should be trying to be clear and not inflammatory.
The thing that I think realllly drives everything though is that there's no duty to retreat in the ego war. If someone takes a swing at me, what are my options?
A) Narc the reporting button and see if the mods agree
B) Don't react and let the person think they won (usually while their buddies hit the "like" button --- I wonder how it'd look if we had a "dislike" button)
C) Swing back because again, there's no duty to retreat.
I've seen cases where after a heated exchange parties finally work out that we aren't each other's enemies, but that ego that fuels things is more likely to boil over than simmer back to that result. This isn't exactly the first time the board has hit this cycle. I left for a few years because of this in the early, maybe mid 2010's, and just lurked and classified. It'll get better, or not or whatever. It's an internet site which has little to no ultimate consequence in the real world. If I didn't enjoy the site I wouldn't have ordered a bunch of branded lowers, but dang, in the end, it's a forum, not an identity.
I think a lot of people are in despair for our country and our way of life. I know I am. For a lot of reasons. Sometimes that comes out in being defensive or offensive, lashing out or vehemently disagreeing.
I think the tone here is indicative of a bunch of people who have been told for at MINIMUM the last 12 years what scumbag worthless POSs they are. And people are sick of it.
I think the tone here is indicative of a bunch of people who have been told for at MINIMUM the last 12 years what scumbag worthless POSs they are. And people are sick of it.
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