NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm sure some of you will probably see this as flamebait and report it to the moderators, however hear me out first, as I do feel I bring up a valid point.

Honestly, what is the entire point of the bulk of the general forums anymore, it seems like everyday is just a rotation of the same stale topics, like religion, abortion, gay rights, Iraq, and others. These "debates" consist of simply two opposing sides of stubborn, unbudging people who slug it out pointlessly, voicing the same opinion that everyone else is already well aware of, until someone casts insults or the like at the opposing side, enabling the mods to lock the thread, until a copycat or near-copycat thread dealing with the exact same thing appears soon afterward, igniting the battle anew. Now, to be completely fair, I don't believe all of General is like this, but the vast majority of it is a neverending trench war between athiest and religious, left and right, pro-life and pro-choice, and the like.

So, I ask of you:

General. Why bother?

http://www.studip.uni-goettingen.de/pictures/smile/nixweiss.gif

There's interesting stuff to talk about if you just look for it. Sure, there's some repetition, but there's been repetition for the last 4 years, and somehow we've managed.

I'm sure some of you will probably see this as flamebait and report it to the moderators, however hear me out first, as I do feel I bring up a valid point.

Honestly, what is the entire point of the bulk of the general forums anymore, it seems like everyday is just a rotation of the same stale topics, like religion, abortion, gay rights, Iraq, and others. These "debates" consist of simply two opposing sides of stubborn, unbudging people who slug it out pointlessly, voicing the same opinion that everyone else is already well aware of, until someone casts insults or the like at the opposing side, enabling the mods to lock the thread, until a copycat or near-copycat thread dealing with the exact same thing appears soon afterward, igniting the battle anew. Now, to be completely fair, I don't believe all of General is like this, but the vast majority of it is a neverending trench war between athiest and religious, left and right, pro-life and pro-choice, and the like.

So, I ask of you:

General. Why bother? because any thread that resembles fun and discussions that have no sides to them usually get reported as spam by those who feel the need to engage in such neverending debates.

Bored silly and nothing better to do?

And then there's the option of making a thread about a topic you might actually want to talk about, so you do have a chance of adding some flavor to the endless repetitions once in a while.

Because, every once in awhile you see something amusing.

Because I have little else better to do.

It's Atheist, god damnit.

Fuck.

Why not?

You'd be surprised how much you learn about both your enemy's position, and your own, during these "trench wars". Sure, it can become a repetitious exercise in pure stubbornness, but each iteration of the argument generally tends to bring up some new points, subarguments, or opponents, through which your knowledge of the issue is increased and your position and the arguments for and against it are honed - or changed.

And not all of the topics are rhetorical Blood Wars played out again and again. There's plenty of new debates or interesting new topics. They aren't as common and long-lived as the Big Issues - but if they were, they'd be the Big Issues, and thus not under consideration, wouldn't they?

So, I ask of you:

General. Why bother?

It's better than a sharp stick in the eye.

It's better than a sharp stick in the eye.

someone takes a mashmellow stick to your eye everytime you leave NSG?

*takes a sharp stick and hides, waiting for someone to leave NSG*

It's a chance to vent the frustration with figureheads we can't speak to by taking it out on their followers. :p

I'm sure some of you will probably see this as flamebait and report it to the moderators, however hear me out first, as I do feel I bring up a valid point.

Honestly, what is the entire point of the bulk of the general forums anymore, it seems like everyday is just a rotation of the same stale topics, like religion, abortion, gay rights, Iraq, and others. These "debates" consist of simply two opposing sides of stubborn, unbudging people who slug it out pointlessly, voicing the same opinion that everyone else is already well aware of, until someone casts insults or the like at the opposing side, enabling the mods to lock the thread, until a copycat or near-copycat thread dealing with the exact same thing appears soon afterward, igniting the battle anew. Now, to be completely fair, I don't believe all of General is like this, but the vast majority of it is a neverending trench war between athiest and religious, left and right, pro-life and pro-choice, and the like.

So, I ask of you:

General. Why bother?

You could just as easily say:
"Crack. Why bother?

But it wouldn't stop me from doing it.
____________________

I know what you mean though. I've seen that sort of thing all over the place, but especially religion threads.
I'm beginning to think that all religion threads have outlived their usefulness the moment the OP clicks the Reply button.

Despite all the reasons stated, we've all missed the true heart of the matter: Because it's fun. Why do we do anything we do that isn't truly productive in some manner? Because it's fun. That's how we are as human beings. General is fun, and so it shall remain.

Where else would we find a better collection of nutjobs?:p

How often do we have to answer this same stupid question?

It's a political debate forum. People come here because they like political debate. If that's not your cup of tea, then go and find another forum; don't bitch that this one does exactly what it says on the tin.

Sometimes there are very interesting topics & other times it's good for a laugh.

Not another "this forum is always repeating itself" thread.
There are nearly more of those than religious/gay/cookies whatever threads.

General. Why bother?

I come here to spread the seeds of insanity into the fertile minds of youth.

:)

Where else would we find a better collection of nutjobs?:p

I know some, but they're local. :)

There's interesting stuff to talk about if you just look for it. Sure, there's some repetition, but there's been repetition for the last 4 years, and somehow we've managed.

Very true. And yes it maybe the same kind of debate ultimately but it does change and new angles of debate will come into play. If its that boring to you then why stick it?

Lunatic Goofballs, nuff said.

Despite all the reasons stated, we've all missed the true heart of the matter: Because it's fun. Why do we do anything we do that isn't truly productive in some manner? Because it's fun. That's how we are as human beings. General is fun, and so it shall remain.

Amen.

Despite all the reasons stated, we've all missed the true heart of the matter: Because it's fun. Why do we do anything we do that isn't truly productive in some manner? Because it's fun. That's how we are as human beings. General is fun, and so it shall remain.
Yeah, what he said.
Velkya, you RP, right? You can hardly call II or NS less repetitive than General. Every day you have your same generic wars, same generic genocide, generic storefronts, generic introductory/embassy exchange threads, etcetera.

General. Why bother?

Uh..

*cough*

Have you never seen any of the fluff threads?

I'm sure some of you will probably see this as flamebait and report it to the moderators, however hear me out first, as I do feel I bring up a valid point.

Honestly, what is the entire point of the bulk of the general forums anymore, it seems like everyday is just a rotation of the same stale topics, like religion, abortion, gay rights, Iraq, and others. These "debates" consist of simply two opposing sides of stubborn, unbudging people who slug it out pointlessly, voicing the same opinion that everyone else is already well aware of, until someone casts insults or the like at the opposing side, enabling the mods to lock the thread, until a copycat or near-copycat thread dealing with the exact same thing appears soon afterward, igniting the battle anew. Now, to be completely fair, I don't believe all of General is like this, but the vast majority of it is a neverending trench war between athiest and religious, left and right, pro-life and pro-choice, and the like.

So, I ask of you:

General. Why bother?


Is there meaning to most things we do at life? If you think, you can induce a lot of things to "Why bother?".

I'm sure some of you will probably see this as flamebait and report it to the moderators, however hear me out first, as I do feel I bring up a valid point.

Honestly, what is the entire point of the bulk of the general forums anymore, it seems like everyday is just a rotation of the same stale topics, like religion, abortion, gay rights, Iraq, and others. These "debates" consist of simply two opposing sides of stubborn, unbudging people who slug it out pointlessly, voicing the same opinion that everyone else is already well aware of, until someone casts insults or the like at the opposing side, enabling the mods to lock the thread, until a copycat or near-copycat thread dealing with the exact same thing appears soon afterward, igniting the battle anew. Now, to be completely fair, I don't believe all of General is like this, but the vast majority of it is a neverending trench war between athiest and religious, left and right, pro-life and pro-choice, and the like.

So, I ask of you:

General. Why bother?



Hehe you might as well ask why bother talking. You enjoy talking on the phone to your mates, or in the pub endlessly running over the same old anecdotes that you have all heard, yet you all still laugh.

People come here for many reasons, to catchup with net freinds, to argue , to vent, to wind others up, to be wound up, to chew the fat, and to debate.

Why then bother with other people at all huh!?;)

You'd be surprised how much you learn about both your enemy's position, and your own, during these "trench wars". Sure, it can become a repetitious exercise in pure stubbornness, but each iteration of the argument generally tends to bring up some new points, subarguments, or opponents, through which your knowledge of the issue is increased and your position and the arguments for and against it are honed - or changed.

And not all of the topics are rhetorical Blood Wars played out again and again. There's plenty of new debates or interesting new topics. They aren't as common and long-lived as the Big Issues - but if they were, they'd be the Big Issues, and thus not under consideration, wouldn't they?


I totally agree with this guy. Whenever I find a debate thread and post in it for a while, I start to see the other side of the argument, and take it into consideration. Sometimes some new information will crop up and I learn from it. I always leave knowing I've learned something new about the issue and debating in general.

I especially love it when I argue with some guys in one thread, then sometime later, find that I agree with them in another thread. It's so great when you find you have something in common with who you thought where your idealogical opponents.

I'm sure some of you will probably see this as flamebait and report it to the moderators, however hear me out first, as I do feel I bring up a valid point.

Honestly, what is the entire point of the bulk of the general forums anymore, it seems like everyday is just a rotation of the same stale topics, like religion, abortion, gay rights, Iraq, and others. These "debates" consist of simply two opposing sides of stubborn, unbudging people who slug it out pointlessly, voicing the same opinion that everyone else is already well aware of, until someone casts insults or the like at the opposing side, enabling the mods to lock the thread, until a copycat or near-copycat thread dealing with the exact same thing appears soon afterward, igniting the battle anew. Now, to be completely fair, I don't believe all of General is like this, but the vast majority of it is a neverending trench war between athiest and religious, left and right, pro-life and pro-choice, and the like.

So, I ask of you:

General. Why bother?

You pretty much explained why right there . . .

Amen.

There's interesting stuff to talk about if you just look for it. Sure, there's some repetition, but there's been repetition for the last 4 years, and somehow we've managed.

Yeah someone is always pulling something new out and geting a new perspective on the old arguements

I still find it challanging in some ways as well ...

There's interesting stuff to talk about if you just look for it. Sure, there's some repetition, but there's been repetition for the last 4 years, and somehow we've managed.
Plus, if you listen very, very, very carefully, occasionally people who are traditionally on the opposite sides of things find some small thing to agree about.

And that's worth waiting for.

It's better than a sharp stick in the eye.

That's debatable. ;)

Well lets see, I enjoy it. That and its addictive. And oh yeah I've formed pseudo relationships with alot of the people here and I feel I know them better than I know some people IRL. Plus I've been here awhile with over 3,000 posts with alot of good memories so its hard to leave.

I feel a little bit of love in this topic. :D