Deuce 1 #1 November 13, 2002 I'm really not very good at arguing. I think I'm pretty good at making my point, but if you disagree, I really don't care, unless you are going to correct a genuinely false reliance on fact on my part. I appreciate somebody when they give me information I don't have, and thus help me to be right about something, but if they don't have that, their opinion is just entertainment. If it isn't even entertaining, I'm finding something else to do. Do you find that people in the "real" world are as argumentative as they are on line? I'm reading some of these hypothetical situations in some of the threads and I'm thinking OMG! Why create such a disaster so far removed from real life just to have a hypothetical coniption (SP?) about it. "Yeah, well what if you were an Arab? Yeah, well what if you were poor?" Ach. It's what Talkback is for, and I'm grateful for the forum, but some of the sniping that goes on is distasteful, and I don't think many of the snipers would be so snotty in person. JP Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #2 November 13, 2002 Quote I don't think many of the snipers would be so snotty in person probably not. It's the internet so most people have a harder time communicating through words. Luckily....writing is sort of my forte'. I do well here but others get discouraged and have to resort to "other means." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
christoofar 0 #3 November 13, 2002 Quote I'm really not very good at arguing. I think I'm pretty good at making my point, but if you disagree, I really don't care, unless you are going to correct a genuinely false reliance on fact on my part. I appreciate somebody when they give me information I don't have, and thus help me to be right about something, but if they don't have that, their opinion is just entertainment. If it isn't even entertaining, I'm finding something else to do. Do you find that people in the "real" world are as argumentative as they are on line? I'm reading some of these hypothetical situations in some of the threads and I'm thinking OMG! Why create such a disaster so far removed from real life just to have a hypothetical coniption (SP?) about it. "Yeah, well what if you were an Arab? Yeah, well what if you were poor?" Ach. It's what Talkback is for, and I'm grateful for the forum, but some of the sniping that goes on is distasteful, and I don't think many of the snipers would be so snotty in person. JP Dude. One word: therapy. I shant elaborate. ____________________________________________________________ I'm RICK JAMES! Fo shizzle. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhillyKev 0 #4 November 13, 2002 What a load of crap. I'm insulted by your post and think that you are what's wrong with America...just my opinion, feel free to disagree Personally I like a good discussion, I wouldn't call most of what goes on in the forums arguments. Arguments to me involve peronal insults and irrational statements. For the most part I see people viewing their opinions, maybe passionately but I doubt anyone is turning red in the face and getting mad at their computer screens. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gawain 0 #5 November 13, 2002 Quote ... just to have a hypothetical coniption (SP?) about it. Um...to correct a genuinely incorrect item: conniption is the proper spelling... ......So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright 'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life Make light! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #6 November 13, 2002 Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gawain 0 #7 November 13, 2002 Quote ...a green microscope! LOL* ...ahem...that's "irrelevant"... So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright 'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life Make light! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,589 #8 November 13, 2002 Quote ...a green microscope! LOL* ...ahem...that's "irrelevant"... This is Talk Back. We don't need no steeeenkin' relevant. Wendy W.There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gawain 0 #9 November 13, 2002 Quote This is Talk Back. We don't need no steeeenkin' relevant... It may be Talk Back, but this a becoming another pissing contest... So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright 'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life Make light! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #10 November 13, 2002 Quote ...a green microscope! LOL* ...ahem...that's "irrelevant"... What is grey, has 4 feet, and a trunk? Thatsa relevant. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #11 November 13, 2002 Quote this a becoming another pissing contest... Why......is there something warm running down your leg? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
christoofar 0 #12 November 13, 2002 ____________________________________________________________ I'm RICK JAMES! Fo shizzle. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildblue 7 #13 November 13, 2002 Good timing, just got this today. Besides the rest of it being kind of funny, I'll bold the relevant parts (and gawain can correct the spelling) ---- Five Internet Truths By A. J. Axline It has become sadly necessary to deliver a collective slap to the faces of a certain percentage of the goofy family we call "Internet users", and to remind these misguided souls of some self-evident truths concerning what the Internet is, and what it isn't. First, as the name suggests, the Internet is an international network of computers. It is not cable TV, although many websites offer "programs". It is not radio, although there are Internet "radio stations" that broadcast music, news, and/or drivel. The Internet is a network, with all of the technical issues and limitations that are normally associated with a network. So, if you find that your online game of "Wheel of Fortune" is a bit sluggish, don't write Chaucerian-length missives to your ISP (or to the operators of the website in question) venting your impatient spleen all over them. If you simply must have instant-on access to your entertainment, then turn on your radio, television set, or bug zapper. Second, unless they state otherwise, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is only responsible for providing you with access to the Internet. ISPs are not censors, babysitters, or moral gurus. Users who demand that ISPs regulate the content found on the Internet are flyblown idiots. This is akin to walking into a public library, paying for a library card, and then complaining that you're able to access books that you find distasteful. You know, books that claim that the Earth revolves around the sun. Those books. Third, the Internet is available to anyone who has access to it. If you walk into a global forum expecting that everyone is going to think and act the same way you do, you are, at best, monumentally naive. Further, if you believe like a misguided spouse that you can change the people you encounter in forums and chat rooms, you need to seriously re-evaluate your powers of persuasion. (That last sentence is deliciously ironic given the subject matter of this week's column, but let's forge ahead anyway, shall we?) Fourth, your e-mail inbox is not sacrosanct. Please, don't start wailing and gnashing your teeth that it's not right, it's not fair, blah blah blah. E-mail is a direct derivative of the Internet; it is not (nor should it ever be) the same as the postal service of your homeland. Do you really want the government of each individual nation (or better yet, a consortium of governments) regulating how you, and everyone else, can or can't use e-mail? Yes, it's not right, it's not fair, blah blah blah. And bad things happen to good people, and babies starve while politicians (like the ones you would put in charge of regulating e-mail) plow through the trough like a razorback on Dexatrim. Suck it up, and show some guts. Learn how to regulate your own e-mail, and keep the government out of it. Fifth, the Internet offers a never-ending cornucopia of pornography. There's no getting around it: if you use the Internet, you will one day, inadvertently or otherwise, be exposed to pornography. Pornography is the number-one income generator on the Internet. One study reports that pornography accounted for $350 million in Internet sales in 2001... and trust me, this isn't from 1,000 perverts paying $350,000 each annually. Sex sells, and porn permeates the Internet like a red sock in a load of whites. You can learn how to avoid it, block it, stomp on its pop-ups and filter its pages, but you cannot, cannot eliminate porn from the Internet. It would be like trying to eliminate war mongering from Dubya's vocabulary—it ain't gonna happen folks. So, there you have it... five simple truths concerning the Internet. Now smile, take a deep breath, and repeat this modified version of the Serenity Prayer after me: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And the Good Sense to use the Back and Delete keys when I am offended. A. J. Axlineit's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #14 November 13, 2002 "What a load of crap. I'm insulted by your post and think that you are what's wrong with America..." Hee hee...ya mean like this one? At least he's got his sauve manners going for him. Yeah, I know what you mean. People start a post with some unique definition of reality and then describe a theoretical situation in that reality. How can you discuss that? Then apply their theoretical answer back to the real world. Huh? "Well...what if the CIA put monkeys up my butt and they trained them to fly out during New Years Eve parties and kill innocent caterers." It's bound to happen, right? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #15 November 13, 2002 Quote Well...what if the CIA put monkeys up my butt and they trained them to fly out during New Years Eve parties and kill innocent caterers." Hehehehee....That would be really cool....unless you were a caterer. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gawain 0 #16 November 13, 2002 Quote Why......is there something warm running down your leg? Yes, but it was the coffee I spilled while rushing to answer the phone...So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright 'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life Make light! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deuce 1 #17 November 13, 2002 Quote Quote ... just to have a hypothetical coniption (SP?) about it. Um...to correct a genuinely incorrect item: conniption is the proper spelling... ...... Ahh, thank you! JP Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lummy 4 #18 November 13, 2002 Vote for LUMMY for RELEVENT!!!I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. eat sushi, get smoochieTTK#1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deuce 1 #19 November 13, 2002 Quote"Well...what if the CIA put monkeys up my butt and they trained them to fly out during New Years Eve parties and kill innocent caterers." It's bound to happen, right? Exactly. Quote"What a load of crap. I'm insulted by your post and think that you are what's wrong with America..." The kind of enlightened response I was referring to. If I'm what's wrong with America, ignore me. I don't mind at all. I think people with that kind of viewpoint would more productively spend their time looking past what they think is wrong, and focusing their time and attention on what is right, or on guiding people and events towards what is (or they think is) right. I doubt I'm alone in my response to being told I'm full of crap and that I'm what's wrong with America. The person saying that gets ignored. And my second point is that they are unlikely to say it to my face. I LOVE spirited discussion! But responding to another person's point by saying "You're an assh*le for having that opinion!" ends discussion, and initiates argument. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deuce 1 #20 November 13, 2002 Quote Vote for LUMMY for RELEVENT!!! Can I be Vice-Relevant? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scoby 0 #21 November 13, 2002 Quote It looked like a green microscope to me Ore an elaborate bong... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hagar 0 #22 November 13, 2002 In the real world there is certain mechanisms that keeps a discussion from lasting forever. Discussions usually end when one of the parties gets to drunk tired or hungry to go on, or resorts to physical violence. On the internet no such mechanisms exist. If you are fighting an intense flamewar before going to bed the flamewar will still be there in the morning, probably with some fresh insults from your dim witted opponent. There is one limiting factor though; if a discussion is going on long enough, someone is going to be compared to Hitler or nazism, or more popular these days, Bin Laden or terrorism. Once compared to Hitler or Bin Laden, you can withdraw from the discussion and declare yourself the winner.--- PCSS #10 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sebazz1 2 #23 November 13, 2002 _____________________________ If you can piss above this line ~ Call your local fire dept. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
