UPDATE:
I would like to clarify, this thread was not created in reply to a specific person. That would be immature. I'm attempting to address a long-standing concern that I believe is shared by several of my fellow members, and I am hoping we can see less animosity both toward and from such posters in the future.
From the
Board Rules:
QUOTE
Useless Posts - Do not post messages in the forum that contribute nothing to the conversation. It's considered to be highly annoying to do so, so unless you have something to say, don't.
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Another update:
The most popular poll choice no longer makes sense. Sad, but I was tired of people scrolling right past my posts like they don't even exist.
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Update the 3rd:
I wrote a follow-up:
read me.
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The thing that a lot of people don't seem to understand is, when you create a thread, regardless of its purpose, if the thread didn't need to be made, a lot of people will be pissed off by the mere existence of it. The issue isn't so much your specific action, but rather the impact of them seeing it and thinking, "dammit, not this crap again." The last straw was the one that broke the camel's back. Yours is just further digging a heel into the wound.
So, I'm writing this in hopes of defusing a few time-bombs.
Right off the bat, I have to say this:
Keep a sense of humor and a cool head. Trust me, being able to respond calmly and constructively to criticism, as well as casually shrug off or even laugh at an insult, will greatly endear you to a lot of people. You're among prickly, adult company here; it's no place to be thin-skinned, and definitely no place to take yourself seriously.
Typical reasons why your thread didn't need to exist:- you posted it in the wrong section
- a very similar thread already exists making yours superfluous
- the topic is unclear, is flame-baiting, is truly pointless from the start, or just generally not a topic that warrants discussion of any kind
So, users are flaming you, being mean and derailing your thread? Well, of course they are. They're exhausted from the sheer volume of obnoxious peons who slither across these boards spamming incessantly, and they don't have the patience to be nice to you and respect you, even if you deserve respect. Hell, most of them are too jaded to even make such an effort anymore. They can't be respectful to you, because in context, you don't look like an innocent poster with legitimate concerns or a topic to discuss, you just look like one more part of the problem; another random person who spams pointless comments to increase their post count and be the center of attention.
What can you do? For starters, you can avoid making new threads unless absolutely necessary. If you're a lurker or recruit, you probably shouldn't be making new threads at all unless it's in Site Discussion or Requests. People get upset when you make new threads that didn't need to be there, pushing other decent threads off the front page into oblivion.
Craig Ferguson proposed a very good system for filtering our thoughts, and I believe it's useful here. Before making new threads, ask yourself these 3 questions:
- Does this need to be said?
- Does this need to be said by me?
- Does this need to be said by me now?
If you're thinking of making a thread for something that already has a thread, you really shouldn't. Even if that thread has fallen off the first page, odds are everything worth saying about it was already said. If you really think you have some important new insight, then go ahead and make the thread, but people are bound to disagree with you.
If you're thinking of making a thread to raise a question or otherwise help yourself or other members, that's nice, but make absolutely sure there isn't an existing thread that already answered the questions well enough. If a question can be answered by a simple forum search, it doesn't need a new thread.
If you're thinking of making a thread for something you care about but nobody else has heard of, don't. Seriously, don't.
Lastly, please try to appreciate the position the users you view as trolls are in. They've seen a lot of people post of lot of random crap, for all manner of misguided reasons, and they were all equally obnoxious. A lot of longtime users have pretty short fuses when it comes to this stuff. There will be days where you can't help but annoy some of them; try not to let it bug you, and defuse the situation if you can. If not, just walk away.
TL;DR version:Lurk more. Post less.
This post has been edited by FourThirteen: Apr 15 2014, 04:50