Will this board be around in 20 years?

No one on that thread is vile enough to even make it out of the primaries, much less get elected president.

 

The real problem is not the content of the threads (at least most times) but rather the whiners who complain to moderators.

 

Curious about the history of SJ political discourse. Was it generally okay, but got out of hand at times from 2008 onward as the country became more divided?

What's Jeff's take on this? I imagine that thread alone is pretty good for revenue. And I have no idea of the magnitude/scale of what Jeff earns off of this site. $1000 or $10,000 per year? More?

 

If anything, this board could get much more vicious a decade-plus ago, and not just about politics. The George W. Bush years were not a source of bonhomie around here.

A big difference though is that two posters might go to war in a thread, but they would keep it confined to that thread. Now people have sworn enemies that they stalk and/or subtweet across every fucking topic imaginable. And while people come and go on any message board and we have some good posters who are relatively new, we've lost a lot of really great people who presumably got tired of the same old drama being trotted out constantly by the same handful of posters.

 

In an odd little twist, the moderators usually reach out to whine to me.

 

Did you just out your "prominent posters?"

 

The odd twist is the lockdown came partly because a poster named QYFW was ... whining.

 

dixie,

Thanks for the reply and detailed comments.

I do a different thing here - I really don't try to get into arguments. I like hearing a variety of well thought out opinions.

My main act here has led to a bit more of a perverse reputation than I meant, but my main goal is to laugh a few times per day, and if I get a couple of others to laugh each day as well, that's a bonus.

I sure as hell didn't mean to cause anyone to want to leave over the years.

I've tried to dial it back more - and knew I would have to after 20 JAN.

 

I know thousands of waitresses who appreciate that take ...

 

I know Boom caused one guy to leave, but that guy is a little bitch.

 

Well said. When so many threads start to look like duplicates of so many others, it often seems not worth the time and effort anymore.