Is The Forum Getting More Antagonistic?

[MGibster]

in the last year I have been told at least half a dozen times (most likely more) "Hey that's just your opinion and it doesn't matter" at least once when I started with IMO... like yeah, that's all we all have.

And that really, really sucks. Really, everything is "just your opinion" no matter who is writing. And the whole reason forums like this exist is so we can exchange ideas with one another.

and that is before people state that someone else has to PROVE something with hard facts, and I have even had the Mods tell me that it is my duty to provide FACTs about things... that none of us (unless someone is secretly in possession of divination magic) has a way to prove or show.

I admit that I'm sometimes amused by requests for hard data. It's great when we can get the hard data, but often times it really isn't available.

 

[beancounter]

Doesn't matter how many times I see this thread, I always read the title as "agnostic". Which is an entirely different conversation...

So, you don't believe in Antagonism?...

 

[MGibster]

Yes, there is an element of that. Most of our moderation is based on reports, but some of the most effective and least intrusive moderation is the stuff we can catch before it gets to the point that someone has to lodge a complaint with us, and for that we'd have to see it.

You guys do a good job. There isn't a single mod here that I have difficult communicating with or feel as though I couldn't contact them if I had any issue. 10/10, would post here again.

 

[beancounter]

I read something in an article in Google news (I forget the source) that claimed that people in their 20's view the "thumbs up" emoji as negative or an insult.

Is there any truth to that?

 

[Thomas Shey]

I admit that I'm sometimes amused by requests for hard data. It's great when we can get the hard data, but often times it really isn't available.

Yeah, this is particularly prevalent when how well a game or edition is selling, where in the overwhelming number of cases, if anyone knows (and that's a big "if") they keep it close to their chest. So almost all discussions are speculative.

 

[beancounter]

In regards to facts. I've mis-remembered stuff from 1E modules that I haven't played in 40 years, and inevitably someone will come on and quote the information from the module to show I was wrong.

(This never happened here. It happened twice on the "other" forum.)

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

10/10, would post here again.

 

[Umbran]

Well qualifying language is often necessary in the era of easily offended people.

I often wonder what the catalyst was for this "easily offended" mindset.

I think there's an error in thinking that this is an "era of easily offended people".

Folks have always been offending, and taking offense - but social media make the offenses and the reaction more visible to us.

Also, lacking the feedback mechanisms human communication is designed to use that only work in person in realtime, folks are not self-moderating as much - we say things on the internet that we wouldn't say in person.

 

[Sacrosanct]

So, you don't believe in Antagonism?...

Anyone who's been following my posts over the past 20 years knows I am a firm believer in that ....innocent whistling....

Maybe I should consider myself a "Reformed Antagonist."

 

[Lanefan]

yeah (and yeah I am as guilty as anyone) part of it is that it is impersonal communication... in person you see me, you hear me (I communicate much better). the tone and body language is lost on here. Also just the decency and comradery a bit (go to a con and you wont argue in person as much as you do on a board)

You sure about that?

At a GenCon - might have been 2011 - I remember sticking my oar into a roaring beer-enhanced edition-war argument already ongoing between 4 or 5 other people*, most of whom I don't think knew each other going in. They were arguing about whether 3e or 4e was better, I muddied the waters by pushing for 1e instead and made it a 3-way fight.

The language and turns of phrase used that night would make Eric's Grandma's ears fall off, and I'm not sure ten consecutive words were uttered that wouldn't have offended someone. And yet, it was all in friendship and cameraderie, and we ended up laughing as often as we were yelling.

That last part just doesn't come across on a remote messageboard.

* - not including Peter Adkison, who stuck his nose in for a few minutes then backed away slowly.