Why do decent threads turn into p*ssing matches?

JR....I completely agree, there aren't conversations taking place here. Also, I'm amazed at the number of "experts" here, "experts" on every subject in the world.

 

Take this from someone who at some point in my four years here has perpetuated the best and worst of what this place is all about, if every post of yours elicits a negative reaction from the rest of the herd, you need to have the self-awareness to realize you're being one-note and need to balance what you bring or leave.

Those who realize that tend to do well here. Those that don't, or don't care whether they're one-note trouble-makers, are your trolls who lead to many of the non-political pissing matches.

Political pissing matches, by the way, don't bother me at all. At least it's important shit to argue about, even if there are posters you know are coming from a certain viewpoint. Sure it gets tired, sure certain posters don't fight fair, but to ban political threads just because they get testy kind of runs counter to what we're all about as journalists.

Here's another problem. There's too many would-be SJ vigilantes who feel compelled to make themselves feel big when they pick on the SJ whipping boy of the moment, or, the whipping boy of their choosing. I can name about 10 posters who embody SJ's mob mentality -- some quite respected -- and it can be as odious as the trolls that spawned them.

The SJ reaction to Boots several months back, shithead though he might have been at times, is example A.

 

For what it's worth, you weren't the moderator I was referring to. It's not that any are bad, it's just a few are very quick on the trigger when it comes to locking threads.

 

The board is a quality place, and I like the water cooler analogy someone made about SportsJournalists.com. I like and respect the people I've met because of the creation of SportsJournalists.com, and I like the fact that there is constant dialogue about the profession.

But there are times, thanks to a few personalities on here who may take this nook of cyberspace a little too seriously, that I have to step away from the keyboard for a bit and focus on the real world. Maybe I'll go shopping or hit the pool or go to the gym, another place in my daily life.

I like the people at the gym, but there's this one old bat who always makes a comment to me along the lines of, "Oh so you're still here?" or "Are you still writing away?" I ignore her, because she's inconsequential.

And that's what you can do. You can fight back, piss back, name-call, start the mother of all threadjacks and call in one of the moderators to separate all parties ... or you can ignore them and walk away, because ultimately, those online personalities are probably inconsequential in your life away from the board.

 

We understand you're putting the board (en masse) on, just a little.

But you're dealing with folks whose business it is to know stuff.

The fun part is seeing the stuff people know which has NOTHING to do with their paycheck.

I don't go fishing for info here, much, but I threw out a plea for the identity of the best commercially-available toilet bowl cleaner (available at supermarkets) and got EXACTLY the right answer from two people within MINUTES.

Astonishing.

 

Absolutely. I would trust a consensus opinion from this place on just about any product, and that's pretty cool.

 

I blame everybody except me.

 

I blame Bush.

 

Has anyone ever seen a pissing match? I mean what exactly goes down. Are two guys in a bathroom and the sudden, they decide, "Hey, let's have a pissing match." And they start backing up to see how far they can piss? I may actually wonder about someone who HAS seen a pissing match.

 

Because a lot of sports writers, like most writers, have superiority complexes. No one likes to be wrong or told they're wrong -- and it's a message board, it really doesn't matter.

 

Now that's the kind of attitude we could use a little more of around here!