Typical Forum Responses.

[Cavan]

Now as I dyslexic I get quite scared that i'l misunderstand a large chunk of what I read, and indeed it does pretty often take me 3-6 attempts to finish a single paragraph so this subject is something that stands out quite a lot for me.

Many people make threads, many people respond, this is the code by which we struggle.

My question to the forum of the evening is:

Why do people who make threads throw a hissy fit when people respond on topic to their thread and then run around shouting that everybody who didn't respond exactly as they wanted them to must be incapable of reading?

The phrase "did you even read the original post" is thrown about with wild abandon, the past few times i've seen it happen it's seemed really random of the person to ask :/

Has anybody else experienced this phenomenon with alarming regularity? Does anybody else see this happen more often than people actively responding without knowing what they're responding to? Was there ever basic understanding and forum etiquette that didn't have the banhammer to enforce it? Does anybody care? Am I drunk? Would anybody like the meat mountain that's left over from the BBQ?

Edit: I expect supreme poetic justice to be enacted on me by anybody potential respondees, I have been warned.

 

[Palademon]

Because opinion is the most dangerous weapon known to man.

 

[ScoopMeister]

I don't see it as a huge problem, but then I'm oblivious to most things anyway.
I see your point, though. But some people actually do come up with stupid or pointless comments that don't really serve a purpose, simply because they didn't read the OP properly.
The only issue, it's sometimes hard to tell.

 

[RaNDM G]

What kind of BBQ is it?

 

[Cavan]

I don't see it as a huge problem,

If people can make threads about whether or not My Little Pony invented string theory first, I can have a really inconsequential about the latest tiny annoying thing for me ^_^!

I mean uhh..OMG STAY ON TOPIC, there I did it.

What kind of BBQ is it?

One where I was nominally chef, so...a charcoal party until Elliot took over, just basically bring your own but bring enough for quite a few people and then just mix and match drinks and food , unfortunately this has resulted in a massive mountain of cooked meat of varying quality size and flavour, and nobody drank the fosters so pfft to whoever brought that, oh and a garden gnome.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I would make some ironic statement calling out your post for some reason but frankly, everyone's going to so I want to buck the trend before it even starts.

Yes, I have noticed this compulsion. It's because a lot of people are entitled dickheads, even if they wouldn't consider themsleves to be so, and when you remove the human element and reduce an answer to simply text even an answer which is mostly in agreement with them can be read as opposed.

It's part of why I don't agree with people using pink text for sarcasm, or going [/sarcasm], because if you really have to point out that you're being sarcastic then it defeats the object of the sarcasm.

A lot of it also is down to Opinion Myopia, the belief that since you like or don't like something, everyone will of course follow your opinion, followed because human beings are inherently selfish.

'The Daily Mail is a joke of a paper, why do you use extracts from it when the whole of Britain knows what a bad source of news it is.' - Yes, the whole of Britain except for the 2 million people who bought it last year.

'FOX News is such an awful outlet, everyone sees it as a joke.' - Yes, everyone. Except for the fact that FOX News is consistently ahead of its closest rivals such as CNN when it comes to monthly viewing statistics.

Since the majority of people on this site I would estimate to be Western, liberal or centrist, atheist or agnostic, the opinion myopia is very firmly slanted towards the liberal, the left wing, the secular views of the world, and when someone doesn't correspond to these views, since politics is pretty much the easiest way to get riled up, they respond very badly.

And as for when it's videogames, well I'd assume that most of the site are nerds, geeks, otaku, whatever you want to call them, and there is nothing nerds, geeks etc like more than angrily defending their franchise of choice. Just watch Linkara's 'review' of the Watchmen movie and see how an actually quite level headed internet critic can be reduced to incoherent rambling just because the movie didn't follow his own personal view of the comics and you'll understand what I mean.

 

[SmartIdiot]

You know I really, really, really wanted to post 'cool story bro' and be done with it but your post actually carries some weight. MelasZepheos pretty much covered everything I wanted to say, however I'll just elaborate a little further: On text based communication the human element is removed i.e body language, tone of voice. Therefore what would usually be a civilised debate descends into "YOU IGNORANT FUCK, YOU'RE WRONG AND SO IS YOUR MUM!" or words to that effect. Alongside this the fact that there aren't any real repercussions to posting on a forum allows people more freedom to voice their (un-educated/misinformed/spoiled/self-righteous) opinions.

It's quite easy for anyone to fall into that trap when they're in the wrong mood. Guaranteed most of the people having hissy fits would probably be reasonable if you were to speak to them face to face. Sometimes the frustrations of everyday life manifest themselves in the strangest places.

 

[Zantos]

I dislike the whole "This is my opinion and it is the right one!" threads that start up quite often anyway. The poster just wants people to agree with him or her, that's why they make the thread. Then they get upset when people don't because they're self absorbed little shits. I just try an avoid those threads entirely.