I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this doesn't add up to
jack
squat.
I'm very sorry to be so blunt, but someone has to say it. I'm usually all for big complicated debates, but this is... This has no value. This isn't even a mental exercise. This reminds me of two English gentlemen politely slapping each other with their gloves. What is being debated here is how complainers, critics, dissenters, or general malcontent should be treated, and whether or not dissent actually does any harm. The reality is that true, hardcore trolls are very rare around here. We get some snipers, (people who lurk at the edges and take potshots whenever convenient) or the occasional grenade, (someone who blows up once in all directions) but we don't really see that many trolls; and there will never be a forum, this one or otherwise, that will be free of people who complain or disagree.
And the problem I'm having with all this is that every contrary voice, be they justified or totally in left field, is being treated like some kind of big deal. I'm not saying that every dissenting voice is mistreated, I'm saying the reactions to their words are not only blown out of proportion, but are totally unecessary to begin with. From people flat out telling them they're wrong, to people spending excessive amount of time and energy and space on the forum trying to explain something to someone who doesn't want to hear it...every word is a waste of keystrokes.
A debate is one thing, and discussions are another... but unless you're talking about the meaning of life or the end of the world, you have to ask yourself: is all that energy spent on one thing really even worth it? What is the end value of this? In three months, this thread is going to be buried, and half of what everybody said is going to fall right out of our heads. Our ten paragraph, quote-splicing, ten-pound arguments (including this one) are going to be reduced to a vague memory, only to be remembered by someone in a year when another similar discussion comes up, and then it all gets recycled again.
Want to know the easy way to deal with people who when they complain about Uru? Let me just cut past everything else and answer that. Here it is: say what you have to say, and move on.
I'm guilty of being sucked into arguments with people who are unhappy about something here. The important thing that I realized was that, for whatever reason they are complaining, however much damage (real or imagined) I may think it is causing, however wrong they may be, I learned that when someone is complaining constantly, they are not going to change their mind until something changes. And me sitting there trying to get them to see that is not going to work. They either get what they want, or they will become disatisfied to the point where they either change their mindset or leave.
Whilyam, I understand why it irks you when people say things like "why are you here?" But the problem is, when anybody complain about something, they inevitably open themselves to that question. It's only a fair thing to ask. It's not an insult, it's not a slap, it is a simple question. If you don't like it, what keeps you here? And if the answer is that they like Uru and they want to see it change and be successful, then joy for them. Whatever it is they don't like isn't likely to change, so if you like it here, then I guess they're willing to put up with it. And if not, then they will leave. It is that simple.
Complaining gets way more attention than it deserves on this forum. We spend far too much time phsycoanalyzing each other around here. Let's just learn to care a little less. And if that's not realistic for some people, then I would say at least realize that not everyone cares about whatever you're complaining about as much as you do.
_________________ I miss my old signature.
|