[Closed] Why so bitter, these days?

It's cyclical, it comes and goes 🙂

it does, the way it has always...

Thats rather funny seeing how unpleasant you were on the logo megathread.

Personally I don't think its been bad on here recently. Its varies, it can be ignored and its a very small number of folk who are unpleasant and killfile script works nicely

There have been a lot of bitter exchanges on the forum lately

"[i]lately[/i]"?

It's cyclical....

I read that as "It's Cynic-al..."

i blame binners.

It's always been this way on here.

Jeez I get the blame for everything

[i]cynic-al - Member

Jeez I get the blame for everything[/i]

And rightly so.

Thats rather funny seeing how unpleasant you were on the logo megathread.

Personally I don't think its been bad on here recently. Its varies, it can be ignored and its a very small number of folk who are unpleasant and killfile script works nicely

This from you, when you happily admit to trolling at the end of the logo thread?

Maybe we're all bored...

Or maybe we need a contributor to post nothing but happy threads... like, 'favourite flowers, please'. No way we can get in a scrap over that. BTW, anyone who replies 'primrose' is a ****

Maybe we're all bored...

Or maybe we need a contributor to post nothing but happy threads... like, 'favourite flowers, please'. No way we can get in a scrap over that. BTW, anyone who replies 'primrose' is a ****

🙂

TJ we were only unpleasant on the logo thread because you (presumably inadvertently) wound us up something awful by being casually insulting.

This from you, when you happily admit to trolling at the end of the logo thread?

Isn't there a name for such a tactic?

TJ we were only unpleasant on the logo thread because you (presumably inadvertently) wound us up something awful by being casually insulting.

No, he was playing rhetorical games! Ha ha, what a japester!

No, he was playing rhetorical games!

... whilst professing to be completely honest ...

Charlie - I said it several times right from near the beginning. However DrJ was the only one being deliberately unpleasant.

However DrJ was the only one being deliberately unpleasant.

Sorry if you found me "unpleasant", TJ, but I found your attitude a bit ridiculous - to adopt an extreme position and defend it taking advantage of the fact that on the internet nobody can check what you say. For me that devalues the whole discussion, hence my dismissive response to your claims.

Anyway, that is in the past now. Let's move on.

DrJ - fair enough. Nuance in text based conversation. The position I adopted was no where near as extreme as the one people kept trying to push me into.

Your posts appeared to me to be really rather unpleasant and intentionally so - so to go back to your original point in this thread perhaps some of it is the lost non verbal communication when have text based debates making people appear more bitter and extreme that they intend

thegreatape - Member

Isn't there a name for such a tactic?

yes, but you'd get banned for saying it 😕

There was an argument that I didn't start?

I've noticed the prevalence of this across many other forums of late. What's causing it is anyone's guess.

I reckon it's a reflection of the zeitgeist (for want of a better word) in as much as we've had the Age of Analysis and what not and, due to recentish developments such as life coaches or gurus or whatever you want to call them and various other self-development programmes etc, we're now witnessing the inevitable emergence of the over-confident. This is the Age of Self Confidence IMO and the internet is merely reflecting the over-plus of the many who foolishly believe they are correct in every situation they find themselves in. Whether or not they [b]truly[/b] have such self-belief or whether it's merely bravado is another matter entirely.

This is the Age of Self Confidence IMO and the internet is merely reflecting the over-plus of the many who foolishly believe they are correct in every situation

There are a few on here who's views are intransigent but most are happy to learn and possibly review their own position in light of new info or a different perspective. It's called reasoned debate, which most on here are quite capable of and a few just aren't.

The trick is avoiding the 'aren'ts' 😉

The trick is avoiding the 'aren'ts'

Or just recognising people's personality traits/flaws and learning how to work with them without it destroying a thread!

I must have missed out on that one, probably because I don't live in Los Angeles and have never had therapy.

🙂

Okay, maybe it's not that extreme here (yet!).

learning how to work with them without it destroying a thread!

Moon on a stick molgrips unless by 'working with' you mean 'ignoring', as more often than not it is the only viable solution.

[i]a very small number of folk who are unpleasant and killfile script works nicely [/i]

Interested in that. I'm not sure what it is, but are you indicating that with some sort of software, I could avoid seeing posts from someone on here ?.

I'm really pulling back from STW because of one particular individual on the forum who, imo, is just plain mental.
I get the impression that the mods just tolerate that person, but have they stopped to wonder how much [i]traffic[/i] he is costing them in people like me who are just going to find somewhere else ?.

Its one thing tolerating an idiot swaggering around on your website being nasty to people, as if he owned the place.

Quite another to see that people are directing themselves away from here because of said mental bloke.

you can all do one.

Moon on a stick molgrips unless by 'working with' you mean 'ignoring', as more often than not it is the only viable solution.

True.. I hate to give up on people but that in itself causes more problems than it solves...

Interested in that. I'm not sure what it is, but are you indicating that with some sort of software, I could avoid seeing posts from someone on here ?.

Dunno about STW specifically, but in general killfiles are limited in value because you see other folks' replies quoting the person you want to "kill". Self control is the way forward 🙂

Solo - Member

a very small number of folk who are unpleasant and killfile script works nicely

Interested in that. I'm not sure what it is, but are you indicating that with some sort of software, I could avoid seeing posts from someone on here ?.

Yes I think this is the one

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stw-killfile-plugin

[i]Self control is the way forward[/i]

Too true. Hence why I'm probably going to go off and play somewhere else.

TJ.
Thanks.

DrJ - fair enough. Nuance in text based conversation. The position I adopted was no where near as extreme as the one people kept trying to push me into.

True, your position was very like everyone else on here. However you inability to admit that was what wound everyone up. People weren't trying to push youminto any position,they were just try to work out what on earth you meant.

I know, you're going to tell me that you stated your position many times. I think the problem is that, that position was so trivial that folks struggled to see why you made such a point of it.

Ooooh...solo...name and shame!

[i]Ooooh...solo...name and shame! [/i]

Everyone knows who the mental idiot is. One on here is enough.

Although I could just flame him back to the stone age, arguing with an idiot is only going to produce two idiots.

I enjoy chatting about bikes.
I've occassionally wondered off onto other subjects.
I'm thinking now, that was a mistake.

As above, I intend to wind back on my STW time.

Cheers.

🙂

Yup. Pretty much given up posting on here now. I can't be bothered and just don't have the time to argue, so really only come on here for the classifieds now (which is still excellent). I'll only post on topics where I think I can actually help someone out with a useful answer, or if I think I really need an answer which google can't provide. The level of bitterness and sniping that can go on, isn't something that encourages me to hang around, but then I guess that's no different to most of the forums on the internet.

Someone mentioned that some of the regulars on here have probably stopped more people joining, and that's exactly what stopped me from signing up to post, as opposed to being a lurker.

I think I'll just keep to the bike section, as that's what I came here for. You can keep the rest tbh.

Bitter ? Yeah, a bit. The fun seems to have gone out a bit lately.

I guess the main problem is the shouty people with the loud opinions crowd out everyone else, who just want to get on a have a good time talking about riding bikes.

Very interesting article, very relevent to this place at times.

I enjoy chatting about bikes.
I've occassionally wondered off onto other subjects.
I'm thinking now, that was a mistake.

yeah, kind of been thinking the same lately.

As above, I intend to wind back on my STW time.

Haven't had a flouncette in a while 🙂

I think that there is a real undercurrent of anger and bitterness that people feel safe to vent in this way.there are also dodgy jokes that people pass on online or by of mobile phones that they probably wouldn't say out loud.I deal with kids in court and in the local newspaper blog site the comments will vary from misinformed to downright psychopathic .its a worry what is in people's minds sometimes

Interesting article.

Mark the 'Resident Grumpy' admin has said repeatedly that what you post here should be no different to how you'd conduct yourself in public. It's such a shame people often seem to disagree with that, and refer to the internet as somehow [i]"not real life"[/i].

I actually know someone (a fellow rider) who openly admits that he only posts on here to wind people up for his own amusement. He's fine with being a troll. He's an engineer studying for a doctorate in his spare time. A bright, witty and gifted person for whom I have much respect. But online he comes across as an attention seeking, hyperactive child. It's ridiculous.

I don't think the anonymity is solely to blame though. I think there's also something else at play.

In the outside world, anyone behaving in such a way as to annoy everyone around them generally quite quickly find themselves having no friends.

Most of us figure out as children that being unpleasant to those around us results in our loneliness, so we moderate our behaviour to suit our environment. If I had a reputation for hijacking conversation, lampooning discussion and undermining people for my own selfish amusement, I wouldn't be invited to join in with any conversations. I'd get that feedback pretty quickly.

So it's a self policing dynamic - it never becomes much of a problem. Yet online it goes on day in, day out.

Here, you can just post indiscriminately, at whatever point of whatever discussion you see fit, in whatever way your mood dictates, because that ability of the group to self police by shunning the unpleasant is taken away. Those undeserving of our time and attention can online ensure they get both.

Im ust be oblivious to this nastiness - I never see a problem on here even when the sensitive ones say there is?

same here ck. No more or less spikey than its ever been over the last *counts fingers* ten years or so Ive been coming here.

A few icklefwuffywuffy posters seem to take offence at a mis-timed fart. Its only the "forum big hitters"* though who lay into each other with anything like a loaded punch. I dont think Ive ever seen an old lag pick on a noob.

* you know who you are, al. 😉

Here, you can just post indiscriminately, at whatever point of whatever discussion you see fit, in whatever way your mood dictates, because that ability of the group to self police by shunning the unpleasant is taken away. Those undeserving of our time and attention can online ensure they get both.

Hmm .. Well. .. Agree up to a point. But if someone found their posts completely ignored they'd change or go away.

There is definitely an issue with nuances not coming across in a brief text. I'm sort of aware that I come across as more "unpleasant " than I intend - so I hope people don't bear grudges. Sometimes the implicit smiley is a bit too implicit and not enough explicit.

I can't see the problem either. If anything I find the 'handbags' tends to add to the general gaiety of the place. Being as they are mainly utterly preposterous, pointless and daft

Anyway... I blame Jamie. Its his fault for instigating all this 'eggs' nonsense. It was a lot calmer around here before all those chickens turned up

Thankfully, I'm not alone in thinking it's not that different - the same stuff still gets taken over by the same two or three people at which point most posters get bored and go off and take the piss on another thread. There are far more positives than negatives FFS.

(apart from binners and Stoner).

[img] [/img]

*insert witty Bristolian humour here*

So, who is really into statistics then? Every time one of these huge long argument threads starts up we should log the time and date, then we can see if there's a pattern. Likewise the sexist and poor taste ones.

Then it would be interesting to correlate that with certain members' activity from the DB logs. That way you could find out whose fault it really is 😉

and date, then we can see if there's a pattern.... the sexist and poor taste ones

monthly cycles?

bdum tish for the twofer.

Generally when ernie, TJ, JY and Z-11 (and some of the other right wing nutters) cross swords on a thread, I generally think it's time to walk away and piss somebody else off 🙂

(not detracting from ernie's, TeeJ's and especially JY's huge positive input on other threads of course).

I'm really into statistics.

@stoner: playground respect acknowledged 😀

[img] [/img]

never mind eggs and all that crap - who is (or was) jackthedog ?

Bitter? I prefer stout.

DrJ - Member

There is definitely an issue with nuances not coming across in a brief text. I'm sort of aware that I come across as more "unpleasant " than I intend - so I hope people don't bear grudges. Sometimes the implicit smiley is a bit too implicit and not enough explicit.

and it is very easy to do so. Done it lots of times myself on another forum on which I think Dr J posts.

The trap of self-righteous certainty combined with saying the same thing again and again seems one to avoid.

It worries me slightly that I don't see all this nastiness... does that mean I've already fallen too far? Has my recent epic with TJ branded me as a "big [s]s[/s]hitter" 😯

I think there is a good deal of fairly impassioned debate on here, often between relatively intelligent people who have opinions and are happy to discuss them.

I'm not sure that's a bad thing. I've certainly learnt a lot from listening to other people's opinions on here - particularly opinion I don't share. (except TJ 😉 )

Yes there is also A LOT of banter, teasing and name-calling, but it seems generally good-hearted to me. (Maybe that's just the weegie in me, as in Glasgow insults to your face are a sign of affection and you're only really in trouble when someone calls you "mate" or "pal").

It's much worse on other forums.
If you want to see proper insane bitterness and animosity then have a read of some YouTube comments!

[img] [/img]

GrahamS...hmmm...you're new here aren't you? 🙂

Oh sorry.. I should have said: "except TJ and deadlydarcy" 😉

🙁

Maybe that's just the weegie in me

We're not in Kansas any more Toto.. 🙂

(that was a joke based on the absurd idea of Judy Garland missing the home comforts of Glasgow in case anyone thinks I'm being mean.. 😕 )

Ooh now I feel bad. I have turned into one of those cyber-bullies that John Craven tried to warn me about.

Sorry deadlydarcy: You know you are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey...

🙁

Graham - considering the number of posts the % that are nasty is small and clearly it depends on the people involved on how people take it

Well I hope you didn't take any of mine to be directly insulting to you TJ. If you did then I apologise unreservedly.

I'll admit that I find you incredibly frustrating to debate with and my frustration and annoyance may have leaked into my posts - I do [i]try[/i] to target the argument not the arguer though, so apologies if there was any collateral damage.

I'm sure I'd be quite happy to sit and have a drink with you.

Not at all graham - I am surprised how amicable that thread was despite my provocation 🙂

Splendid. Mine's a pint of unbranded hops-based alcohol at an unadvertised venue of your choosing 😀

Not at all graham - I am surprised how amicable that thread was despite my provocation

TeeJ, you're a ****

A star?

Yeah, something like that 🙂

A star?

nearly, it does look a bit star-shaped

[img] [/img]

it does look a bit star-shaped

I was tempted but thought I'd set it up for someone else 🙂