|
I have to agree with Jazz that the forum and the board in general is what you make of it. The mods and admin are here only to make sure some simple rules are followed.
You aren't always going to read things that you like. I read things on here from across the political spectrum that I don't agree with. Does it get my blood boiling? Sure. That's politics.
There are some people on here with varying degrees of knowledge and experience, from across the political spectrum. I have been sad to see some drift off over the last while. While it may seem that it has largely been those from the "right" that have left, I would say that we have also lost many from the "left" as well. These people have left for different reasons but from what I can see they have left for a couple of reasons:
1) People come here to give their opinion and when someone with a different point of view calls them on their opinion they don't like it. Many people do not like to be challenged in their world view. Some stick around to scrap for a while, other's leave right away.
2) People come here to have a discussion but find the discussion devolving into partisan squabbles, and quickly. I have feeling that many would like to have two Politics boards. One for the "left" and one for the "right" where each side can devour their own tails in endless backslapping and finger pointing at the other camp. The only way to solve this is for people to raise the level of discussion (i.e. where people actually discuss rather than just whip off one liners or post voluminous tracts that leave little room for debate). The key to debate/discussion is both reading the other person's words and making a genuine attempt to understand what they are writing before you reply.
3) Some people's tone of writing is extremely arrogant and off-putting. There is a reason why many moderates do not even dip their toes in the water here any more. The derisive and dismissive tone of many posters here is horrible. The arrogance that some have in their positions is unconscionable. The quickest way to lose a debate is to piss off your interlocutor.
There are other reasons but most boil down to these points.
Here is my New Year's wish...
Take these three points to heart and raise the level of discussion.
1) Respect the other person in writing even if you don't respect their point of view.
2) Support for your position is important but not always essential. The thing to remember is you can go too far in either direction.
3) Try to see things from the other person's point of view.
Happy New Year.
__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke
|