Arguing about stupid stuff

[HamsterPants]

I know that I'm not in any position to be lecture this, since I am guilty of some epic failure in terms of debates in the past, and I have acted very idiotic(but I am by no means a dunce, and I am capable of learning from my mistakes), so I wanted to start this thread, not only to address the fact that discussion of controversial matters always occur and never serve any real purpose, but also to apologize for my behavior in the past. I have been extremely childish throughout my presence in this community, and I am tired of trying to ignore the fact.

I think that everyone should be allowed to believe what they want without somebody pouncing on them with such hostility(as displayed by most of us over the years). It is also important to avoid being serious as much as possible, even if the information being read is not trolling, it's there and you can't change it by saying something about it. The entire concept of a topic on, say, religion for example, is doomed from the start if the users of the forum have the wrong mindset upon entering the thread and reading it's content.

I have seen intelligent, civil, and even very educational comparative threads about religion on other forums that have surprised me a great deal, and that's when I began to wonder how 2 internet communities could vary in nature so heavily.

If we could just focus on the priorities and having fun then we wouldn't have any problems. There is never any reason to show off your opinion or try to disprove someone, and it is especially vain if you are participating in an argument concerning matters which, as far as has been determined, there is no objectivity to be found.

Politics is another huge subject, and one that manages to squeeze it's way into just about any conversation related to reality, of course you all know this, but I am reminding you(as well as myself). I was in one forum community about 8 months ago that had an active communist boy about the same age as me, and he was very obnoxious, and loved to get in pointless arguments with the active capitalist of the forum. I had gone through the trouble of saying that their conversation was a burden and they both flamed me simultaneously. It is obvious that anyone can become so used to hostile conversation that it becomes natural towards anybody, and you begin to imagine a certain "tone of voice" coming from the words which you read. This applies to specific people first, and then later to everyone by default. If this is not the case for you, or you don't think it is, then that's fine, as long as it isn't the case, but if it is then everyone will notice if they, themselves, aren't getting caught up in your rants.


I care about you guys, even if I don't understand most of you, and even if most of you don't understand me, this is the only community I've actively been a part of since my introduction to the internet, and it really has helped a lot to shape my views of how a community can function through this type of electronic communication. You are living your life on this forum as you read this, your feelings are manifest through yourself, be you happy, upset, or mild.

I am sorry for my poor contributions to discussion, but as of late I have strayed from doing so for my own good as well as for the rest of us. And I hope that everyone guilty of poor discussion is willing to agree that this is the best thing to do.

inb4 TL;DR

[Scotty]

It's a thing of maturity and I am glad that you are able to recognize it and put a stop to it.  There are full-blown adults out there today who lack any self control when they are presented a medium in which they can spew their hatred towards others without fear of ever meeting the person face-to-face, where come to find out, they are a completely different person.  It's actually both frightening and sad at the same time.

I as well am not the exception to this argument, that is no mystery, but it seems to be something that does run rampant in this community, not just a few select people.  I too am part of other communities where they actually have restrictions on etiquette and what users can discuss on their forums (no politics, no religion, no flaming, etc...), and do a fantastic job of moderating it, which come to find out, is a very trivial responsibility for them, as instances of those happening are far and few between.  The issues we have here are unfortunately rooted very deep, where even some people who play ambassador to the community are just as bad as some of the other most notable.  The constant bickering and insisting upon arguing every point made on this forum just because you want to argue is flat out silly, there's no other word for it. 

I made a long drawn out post in the General Discussion forum a couple months back, many may have shrugged it off as TL;DR.  So I'll abbreviate and re-iterate here.  What is said on these forums are a representation of Stick Online's community, both good and bad.  If you are full of optimism and encouragement on the forums (we do have those people, and I thank them and applaud them, we don't exactly facilitate an environment easy to maintain such a personality), people are going to see it, both old and new, and that's the perception that this community leaves them with.  If you are always trying to drop a deuce in someone's morning oatmeal, people, both old and new are going to see that as well, and Meiun could very well lose some valuable customers who bring a different perspective to the community (different age groups, maturity levels, optimism, etc...).  By people coming to this community and seeing everyone, including GMs arguing over sensless BS just because we can, we aren't doing Stick Online any favors, and we sure as Hell aren't getting anywhere with it.

[DarkTrinity]

I'm pretty sure every single one of us has done this at some point or another (whether intentionally or unintentionally), just arguing for the soul purpose of arguing.
And I think the reason why religion discussions don't work on this forum is because a lot of the community are rather young and/or close-minded and instead of talking intelligibly about religion in general, people tend to talk about their own religions and their own beliefs, which then turns to debate and then turns to flame. And I'm going to use Yankyal as an example, not to start up an argument, but because his topic was the latest about religion. He asked people to state their religions, clearly state it was not to debate religions, and then went on to bash atheists. That topic would have lasted much longer if not for that last part, which was a flame war free for all. Honestly I think people just don't know enough about religion to discuss it thoroughly and have intelligent discussions(not saying all people don't). Maybe if someone was interested in a religion and asked about certain aspects of it, that could start a good discussion instead of talking about everyone's different religions.

I'm just glad we don't have any super trolls here. I know there are hot heads and people who sometimes say things to purposely start arguments or make people mad. But this forum is actually mature compared to the Lunia forums, which I also browse frequently. Almost every topic there goes off topic by page 2 and never get locked. There are multiple trolls who just act ridiculous and argue with almost everything and make stupid topics and I would love to punch in the face. Like the troll who in one topic, said to at least 5 different people, "you know nothing" and "you are violating the ToS". Then there's trolls who will make 5 different accounts and is you piss them off, they will -rep you from each and every one of their accounts.
If that's not bad rep for a game, idk what is.... I'm just glad this forum isn't that bad. lol


TL;DR- religion is a touchy topic. Thank god we don't have super trolls here.

[Yankyal]

TL;DR- religion is a touchy topic. Thank godwe don't have super trolls here.

Indeed we SHOULD thank god. Even an atheist like you can appreciate His grace.

[Mystery]

TL;DR- religion is a touchy topic. Thank godwe don't have super trolls here.

Indeed we SHOULD thank god. Even an atheist like you can appreciate His grace.

Yes, more specifically this god:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

I'm sorry, but blatant militant religion/atheism is one of my major pet peeves. Especially when there was no need to do that in the first place.  :-X

Also, believe it or not, as argumentative as this community can be(it can be incredibly levelheaded, or incredibly boneheaded, two sides of the same coin) the topic we had about 'religion' when it wasn't presented as obvious flamebait worked out INCREDIBLY well. Take a nice long looksie: http://www.stick-online.com/boards/index.php?topic=175.0

[Yankyal]

TL;DR- religion is a touchy topic. Thank godwe don't have super trolls here.

Indeed we SHOULD thank god. Even an atheist like you can appreciate His grace.

Yes, more specifically this god:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

I'm sorry, but blatant militant religion/atheism is one of my major pet peeves. Especially when there was no need to do that in the first place.  :-X

Also, believe it or not, as argumentative as this community can be(it can be incredibly levelheaded, or incredibly boneheaded, two sides of the same coin) the topic we had about 'religion' when it wasn't presented as obvious flamebait worked out INCREDIBLY well. Take a nice long looksie: http://www.stick-online.com/boards/index.php?topic=175.0

Someone once tried to preach about the Spaghetti Monster at my school. No joke. I asked him where his evidence was for his god and he quickly shut up, he must of thought I was a debating genius or something. LOL.

I like the Spaghetti Monster artwork though!

[JoEL]

TL;DR- religion is a touchy topic. Thank godwe don't have super trolls here.

Indeed we SHOULD thank god. Even an atheist like you can appreciate His grace.

!@#$ off.

Completely agree with everyone. It'd be too much to ask for everyone to get along though :( .

[Yankyal]

Completely agree with everyone. It'd be too much to ask for everyone to get along though :( .

How can you agree with everyone? How is this even possible?

Do you mean tolerate their views?

[Jake]

TL;DR- religion is a touchy topic. Thank godwe don't have super trolls here.

Indeed we SHOULD thank god. Even an atheist like you can appreciate His grace.

Actually, an Atheist would not appreciate His grace because they do not believe He even exists.

You know what, I think we're all just getting massively trolled by this moron... Now I just feel stupid.

[Yankyal]

TL;DR- religion is a touchy topic. Thank godwe don't have super trolls here.

Indeed we SHOULD thank god. Even an atheist like you can appreciate His grace.

Actually, an Atheist would not appreciate His grace because they do not believe He even exists.

You know what, I think we're all just getting massively trolled by this moron... Now I just feel stupid.

Well gee thanks for having a mature discussion without insults.

[DarkTrinity]

TL;DR- religion is a touchy topic. Thank godwe don't have super trolls here.

Indeed we SHOULD thank god. Even an atheist like you can appreciate His grace.

Actually, an Atheist would not appreciate His grace because they do not believe He even exists.

You know what, I think we're all just getting massively trolled by this moron... Now I just feel stupid.

Well gee thanks for having a mature discussion without insults.

You go ahead and thank god all you want, but don't drag me into it. I was just using a common expression. I do not appreciate his grace because I do not believe in him or his grace. Good day sir.

Also, don't expect others to be mature when you are not.

[JoEL]

Completely agree with everyone. It'd be too much to ask for everyone to get along though :( .

How can you agree with everyone? How is this even possible?

Do you mean tolerate their views?

No im actually agreeing with that people should stop arguing for the sake of arguing, like you. Now !@#$ off from this topic

[Scotty]

Completely agree with everyone. It'd be too much to ask for everyone to get along though :( .

How can you agree with everyone? How is this even possible?

Do you mean tolerate their views?

No im actually agreeing with that people should stop arguing for the sake of arguing, like you. Now !@#$ off from this topic

You're not impressing anyone.  You can stop now.

[Jake]

Completely agree with everyone. It'd be too much to ask for everyone to get along though :( .

How can you agree with everyone? How is this even possible?

Do you mean tolerate their views?

No im actually agreeing with that people should stop arguing for the sake of arguing, like you. Now !@#$ off from this topic

You're not impressing anyone.  You can stop now.

What are you talking about? He's not trying to impress.

[Chaos]

BEHOLD, EVERYONE!!  THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF ARGUING ABOUT STUPID SHIT.  LET'S GIVE 'EM ALL A BIG HAND!  YOU'VE ALL BEEN GREAT!