Has this site suddenly become more nasty?

Post Reply New Topic

I've been part of wp for 7yrs off & on though still, in keeping with the content of the post yes there has been times I've come across persons here that have posted things which were not very sincere and tended to be caustic.However, part of that might have been my own interpretation though, this does not mean there are not unpleasant people within wp realms as in the rest of the world.. You simply have to make the best logical judgement of your awareness of what's read and the intent..

I do think a lot of what people think of as 'nastiness' really is bluntness and more direct challenges from people with different experience than most are used to.

For example, I'm one of the two or three most knowledgeable members on this board concerning firearms, I actually have a degree in gunsmithing and decades of informal study of everything to do with them, including laws, impact, and politics (aspie, after all), and I regularly find myself getting into it with people because they say things that I know are wrong, and am not shy about telling them that. Since this is an international forum, I encounter a lot of people who not only have no experience with guns, but have no knowledge of how they work, what they can and cannot do, how they're made, etc, yet still have strong opinions based on false information and are condescending and dismissive of me (oh, you must be one of those red neck Americans...), or in one memorable case, found my knowledge so suspicious that they said they'd inform the police if I was in their neighborhood (a Brit, in case you're wondering). I will fully admit, I'm less than nice to people like that, though I'm scrupulous to follow the letter of the rules regarding personal attacks and insults, I simply make it very clear that they're not qualified to hold the opinion that they're asserting, that they don't know what they're talking about, and that they should learn if they want to have an intelligent conversation on the topic. I should add that if someone seems genuinely interested or has said something that is incorrect but it appears to be an honest mistake, I'm happy to discuss the issue with them, as it is an interest that I enjoy talking and teaching about, it's the people who enter the conversation aggressively that I take to task. You can see good examples of both approaches in this thread, some of my finest work on the subject.

I use guns as an example because it's the subject I'm most closely identified with here (though honestly, I don't bring it up and am more passionate about freedom of speech these days), but I see it all the time on a huge variety of topics, where someone comes in and makes an inflammatory or insulting comment about some subject or another, people react to the comment as most people would when insulted, and then the insulter sulks off complaining of the "nasty" environment or complaining of being "silenced". I'll actually step in and ask people to tone it down if someone innocently steps on a landmine and is getting a disproportionate response (I'm looking at you, L&D feminists...), but when someone starts or enters a thread with unearned condescension right from the start, I say they had it coming. (I should also add that if the comment actually crosses the line and breaks the rules outright, I just report it, I don't bother with trying to "handle things myself" anymore)

Only if I've been posting more.

Long read, but very interesting (11 pages now). I recently was banned for life (including my IP address) for SPAM. I contacted Alex, since there are no other contacts listed. Thankfully, I remembered the actual spam message on the forum I was banned for. It was like hacker stuff. Incoherent soccer trivia that had lots of strange characters in it. I never received a response from anyone, though a couple of days later I was allowed to log in again as if nothing had ever happened. It made me really paranoid that some moderator or hacker was trying to kick me off the sight for something I said.

I have opinions, but I've never attacked anyone else for theirs. If this were purely a support site, as others have said, I would probably be on hear much less. Also, isn't a symptom a Asperger's (for lack of better words) pissing people off because of missed social cues. Why should people be reported because they have strong opinions? Only once, about six months ago did I view a thread in L and D where personal attacks were made on a lady for her post. They even attacked her for having a Spock avatar. It appears that the only true support forum on the site is the Haven. How can someone be offended by stuff posted on here if they have a facebook account as well? Facebook and Youtube are full of trolls. An acquaintance from high school who unfortunately popped up with a bunch of others who were never friends of mine were constantly saying mean things that would stick in my head and ruin my day. One even made fun of people with physical deformities. I logged off facebook for good, but I don't believe I can actually delete my account. It appears they own me for signing up.

From all of the complaints I've read in this thread about people being offended by people who are opinionated, I can't help but wonder how many people I've offended or will offend with this post.