NationStates Jolt Archive

When there's a thread which is getting decidedly unpleasant what do you do?
I tend to simply ignore the thread altogether and, if possible, the poster making it unpleasant.
Recently I've had to do this more and more on a certain forum (the same forum with the evil moderator, for those of you who remember that thread). It's not just a case of the threads getting unpleasant (although they are, especially now that one particular poster appears to have a vendetta against me... (I'm finally annoying enough to have a forum stalker! w00t! Well, not really w00t. It's very harrowing, actually.)) but the entire forum as well; posters are insulting one another more and more, particularly in debates over man-made climate change. And let me tell you, people insulted each other enough in the first place without any need for the occurrences to increase.
Ignoring the thread in question has its advantages, but there are also disadvantages; for example, what if a relevant and courteous question is asked of you? You wouldn't even know. And it is difficult to keep to the boycott; more than once have I yielded to temptation and looked at the thread before getting myself involved again.

How do you avoid such unpleasantness, then, basically?
(Oh, and any tips for me? :D)

You stole my word!

I'm not important enough to have any questions asked of me, so no problems there. :p

?

You stole my word!

I'm not important enough to have any questions asked of me, so no problems there. :p

Why not? :p

I usually just ignore things when they get too stressful if someone wants to ask something they can ask it another time I care not for internet people

?
I'm not going to join this debate, it looks unpleasant.
Yeah, I only recall that post because WYTYG sig'd it. Still, I did it first. Just you remember that. :p

Why not? :p
Well... um... would you look at that, two posts and the forum unpleasantness is already creeping in.

Hey, haven't seen you around for a while.

Well... um... would you look at that, two posts and the forum unpleasantness is already creeping in.

Hey, haven't seen you around for a while.

That's because I haven't been around for a while. ;)

Don't make any threads about religion. As simple as that.

simple
i am a nihilist. everything is unpleasant. in order to do anything i must deal with something. i must deal with things or i will die. therefor, everything i do is unpleasant, but i must do things anyways.
suggestion of the day. get used to it. and sigh a lot.

Wear deodorant. No one likes a smelly poster!

Don't make any threads about religion. As simple as that.
... or abortion, gun control, climate change, Israel, anything relating to George Bush, socialism, capitalism, economics in general, homosexuality...

Oookay, my advice is to unplug your keyboard.

Wear deodorant. No one likes a smelly poster!

:(

... or abortion, gun control, climate change, Israel, anything relating to George Bush, socialism, capitalism, economics in general, homosexuality...

Oookay, my advice is to unplug your keyboard.

I use a laptop. Kinda difficult to unplug the keyboard. :D

@Thewayoftheclosedfist:
I do sigh a lot... *sighs*

... or abortion, gun control, climate change, Israel, anything relating to George Bush, socialism, capitalism, economics in general, homosexuality...

Oookay, my advice is to unplug your keyboard.

Sex restricted to only the most macabre forms. It's the perfect topic. Almost no one would disagree with a negative claim on that.

... or abortion, gun control, climate change, Israel, anything relating to George Bush, socialism, capitalism, economics in general, homosexuality...


or any form of government, anything related to important people, anything related to people like Briney spears, or about how people are all paranoid, or anything pointing out the flaw in anyone else, or anything regarding men and women as two separate entities, or feuding between two different groups.
there, did we get them all?

I use a laptop. Kinda difficult to unplug the keyboard. :D

@Thewayoftheclosedfist:
I do sigh a lot... *sighs*

I have a handy rubber mallet that would do the job just nicely. *nods*

or any form of government, anything related to important people, anything related to people like Briney spears, or about how people are all paranoid, or anything pointing out the flaw in anyone else, or anything regarding men and women as two separate entities, or feuding between two different groups.
there, did we get them all?

Anything regarding nuclear power or renewable power, anything regarding the Iraq war, anything regarding the War on Terrorism...

or any form of government, anything related to important people, anything related to people like Briney spears, or about how people are all paranoid, or anything pointing out the flaw in anyone else, or anything regarding men and women as two separate entities, or feuding between two different groups.
there, did we get them all?

No, you forgot anything that might be remotely important to anyone else. And also anything that would bore someone.

Sex restricted to only the most macabre forms. It's the perfect topic. Almost no one would disagree with a negative claim on that.
Doesn't any thread about sex inevitably degenerate into an argument about morality vs. freedom?

Doesn't any thread about sex inevitably degenerate into an argument about morality vs. freedom?
That's what I was saying, though. Won't someone think of the animals?
Anthing that it might be possible to have an opinion on, anything allegded to exist.

Ah, yes, that's the one I was missing.

Anthing that it might be possible to have an opinion on, anything allegded to exist.

Nothing can be proven to exist...
Therefore, your choice of the word 'alleged' was quite suitable.

How about "be nice, post levelheaded and calming material, and attempt to steer the conversation back on topic". That's what we look for in future mods, and frankly what we seek in the best posters.

... Which is why we always have trouble finding new mods in General ...

No, you forgot anything that might be remotely important to anyone else. And also anything that would bore someone.

Anthing that it might be possible to have an opinion on, anything allegded to exist.

How about "be nice, post levelheaded and calming material, and attempt to steer the conversation back on topic". That's what we look for in future mods, and frankly what we seek in the best posters.

... Which is why we always have trouble finding new mods in General ...

And what if none of those things work? What then?
Also, that text wasn't nice...

There's a fine line between a heated debate and an argument. Debates can be fun. Arguments are pointless and stupid.

The easiest thing to do if you are in an argument is stop replying. Which is easier said than done. I'm always trying to find that common ground with the poster, and bring it back into the scope of debate.

Sex restricted to only the most macabre forms. It's the perfect topic. Almost no one would disagree with a negative claim on that.

Hmmm just how macabre are we prepared to get? O_o

A favorite quote of mine from Bob Heinlein's Friday
What are the marks of a sick culture?

It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a language. Anything, as long as it isn't the whole population.

A very bad sign. Particularism. It was once considered a Spanish vice but any country can fall sick with it. Dominance of males over females seems to be one of the symptoms.

Before a revolution can take place, the population must loose faith in both the police and the courts.

High taxation is important and so is inflation of the currency and the ratio of the productive to those on the public payroll. But that's old hat; everybody knows that a country is on the skids when its income and outgo get out of balance and stay that way - even though there are always endless attempts to wish it way by legislation. But I started looking for little signs and what some call silly-season symptoms.

I want to mention one of the obvious symptoms: Violence. Muggings. Sniping. Arson. Bombing. Terrorism of any sort. Riots of course - but I suspect that little incidents of violence, pecking way at people day after day, damage a culture even more than riots that flare up and then die down. Oh, conscription and slavery and arbitrary compulsion of all sorts and imprisonment without bail and without speedy trial - but those things are obvious; all the histories list them.

I think you have missed the most alarming symptom of all. This one I shall tell you. But go back and search for it. Examine it. Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms as you have named... But a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than a riot.

This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. Look for it. Study it. It is too late to save this culture - this worldwide culture, not just the freak show here in California. Therefore we must now prepare the monasteries for the coming Dark Age. Electronic records are too fragile; we must again have books, of stable inks and resistant paper.

...attempt to steer the conversation back on topic...

Obviously the only reason I'm not a mod. I'm far too...non-discouraging of spam. :p

How do you avoid such unpleasantness, then, basically?
I don't. Meeting unpleasantness head on and exposing it for what it is to all those involved is how you deal with it.

Also, not being too emotionally attached to my own beliefs helps.

I take a step back, leave NSG for a couple of hours or until I can think about what was said and about the thread without getting worked up. then I come back and re read the post.

and I always keep in mind that everyone has a different opinion on the subject and they do have the same right to voice their opinions as I do.

EDIT: oh, and I keep the arguments in that thread. it allows for better interation with posters as one thread hops.

Sex restricted to only the most macabre forms. It's the perfect topic. Almost no one would disagree with a negative claim on that.

I would, just for the hell of it. In fact, I've probably done so.

Stay calm and remember to breathe.




But not as if you were pregnant or anything :p

Generally, I don't avoid it. That's why my time on this forum is probably limited to however long the patience the mods have with me runs out, or my patience for certain individuals runs out, or both.

I amazed how angry people can get over intertube posts.

It keeps me coming back.

If I want reasoned debate and analysis, I read the economist.

Confront the unpleasantness head on!

When there's a thread which is getting decidedly unpleasant what do you do?
I tend to simply ignore the thread altogether and, if possible, the poster making it unpleasant.
Recently I've had to do this more and more on a certain forum (the same forum with the evil moderator, for those of you who remember that thread). It's not just a case of the threads getting unpleasant (although they are, especially now that one particular poster appears to have a vendetta against me... (I'm finally annoying enough to have a forum stalker! w00t! Well, not really w00t. It's very harrowing, actually.)) but the entire forum as well; posters are insulting one another more and more, particularly in debates over man-made climate change. And let me tell you, people insulted each other enough in the first place without any need for the occurrences to increase.
Ignoring the thread in question has its advantages, but there are also disadvantages; for example, what if a relevant and courteous question is asked of you? You wouldn't even know. And it is difficult to keep to the boycott; more than once have I yielded to temptation and looked at the thread before getting myself involved again.

How do you avoid such unpleasantness, then, basically?
(Oh, and any tips for me? :D)

I use humor as a deflection. :)

I use a laptop. Kinda difficult to unplug the keyboard. :D

@Thewayoftheclosedfist:
I do sigh a lot... *sighs*

Not that bad usually 2 tabs to push and a small ribbon cable to unplug

other posters never piss me off as much as the combination of my slow connection and jolts server problems.

if the thread is already ugly, i dont post in it.

if it starts to get ugly, it depends on how much im enjoying the topic. sometimes i just bail; sometimes i try to continue responding to the non-ugly posts. there are some very few people who i almost never respond to no matter if they are ugly yet or not. its only going to end up ugly with them.

some very few times i continue posting in a calm and rational manner to someone who is attacking me. its kinda passive-aggressive since it only pisses the other guy off that much more. on one occasion long ago, i had to stop posting in a thread because i felt that my calm rational posts were serving as flame bait to the guy who kept calling me stupid for thinking that way.

If there's still an actual debate going on, and there's more than just pointless flaming going on, I'll debate. Often some really interesting debates, some of the best on NS:G, have spawned from a troll's thread; albeit usually without said troll.

Just keep calm.

The last thing we want is for debate to be stifled on prickly issues.

Generally, I just try to be nice to everyone

Except Gravlen cos he won't stop stalking me! *flees*

But if that doesn't work and the thread is getting way out of hand then it calls for a humour injection or a STFU pic like the one below:

http://home.maine.rr.com/waassaap/Forum%20Pictures/img.gif

Yes..... I know I'll never be a mod! :p

Hello FD!!!! Welcome back!

Avoid? Confrontation? ;)

How about "be nice, post levelheaded and calming material, and attempt to steer the conversation back on topic". That's what we look for in future mods, and frankly what we seek in the best posters.

... Which is why we always have trouble finding new mods in General ...

Well, you know, I think we can all agree that if there was to be a new mod, i'd be an automatic winner, because of my ability...to do things..

Please let me be a mod! PLEASE! :p

Well, you know, I think we can all agree that if there was to be a new mod, i'd be an automatic winner, because of my ability...to do things..

Please let me be a mod! PLEASE! :p

Bad piggy! You should know asking to be a mod is one of the worst ways to become one (besides, you know, rule breaking and stuff).

Well, you know, I think we can all agree that if there was to be a new mod, i'd be an automatic winner, because of my ability...to do things..

Please let me be a mod! PLEASE! :p

Don't do it! It's a trap!

*flees*