Can't tell the players without a scorecard - classifying DU posters

[arendt]

Given the level of invective all over this board, given the one-issue-fanatic posters and the pro-DLC gunslinger gang, how is an infrequent poster to know whether the incoming fire directed at him is just random (or even heartfelt and genuine on the part of an honest poster) or part of some larger, on-going firefight? That is the question that popped into my mind. (And, if I had any brains, I would have thrown it right back out. But I don't, so...)

The obvious solution- to say that so-and-so is a T**** (or any of an increasing list of pejoratives) - is banned by DU rules. And rightly so. Nevertheless, that ban merely limits the insults based on the creative writing ability of the insulter. It also does not prevent the kind of alliances of convenience (and of principle) that form over time as posters get to know who is on their side and who is against their positions.

However, what is to stop someone from adding to the DU entry on, say Wikipedia, that gives "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to various posters? Well, the moderators might then tombstone that person. (Mods - feel free to give an official opinion.) Although, that raises the issue of what right DU has to censor people for what they say about DU in places other than DU. I mean, I bitch all the time to flesh and blood human beings about the cranks I find on DU; and I'm sure the same is done about me.

But, maybe such a Wiki free-for-all would move the invective out of DU entirely, or at least give the infrequent poster a list of people he can put on ignore. Consider the list to be sort of like a movie critic for DU posters. Of course, you don't agree with every single review, but if the reviewer is in sync with you, he can save you a lot of time and trouble. Maybe the site should have a grid, or several grids, where multiple reviewers give ratings about multiple frequent posters.

I'm late for work. I will check back on this much later. Feel free to discuss this; or just to flame me. But, please, mods, don't tombstone me for saying something that I'll bet a lot of folks are thinking.

Ducking and covering,

arendt

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Well,

arendt :thumbsdown:






:D

[yardwork]

29. I am literally LOL!

That was great.

[bryant69]

2. I don't know - i think it's better for secret freepers like myself if people don't pay too much

attention to this kind of thing.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[yardwork]

30. Oh, did you become secret recently?

Just kidding. :pals:

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. I welcome the advent of a DU blacklist, and hope to be named first

Perhaps if a secret PM message campaign is started against me, one day all the other posters will have me on ignore, and I will get dejected and leave DU forever!

I know of one or two who will be willing even at this point to wiki-denounce me, so I really think we should get the ball rolling on this thing.

Start a wiki with http://pbwiki.com/

Call it DU-nouncer-wiki!

Let's get this show on the road!

[Cronus Protagonist]

45. I'm running against you in the primary

But I'll support the nominee for the general.

:P

[mmonk]

4. Seems like a lot of wasted energy just to put people on ignore.

Why not just do it on the fly? Also, people aren't as easy to package at times. People have varying views about different things. I don't know what prompted your idea, so maybe it would be better for me to find out before looking for such solutions. Thing is, I don't put people on ignore. So it doesn't matter to me what people post unless it's a direct unwarranted attack or something (or of course, a racist or republican operative or something like that).

[papau]

5. Running for class president? n/t

[TahitiNut]

6. Just what we need: making it personal on a grand scale.

Lord knows too many cannot comprehend the distinction between 'message' and 'messenger' ... what the hell! :shrug:

:eyes:

[ProfessorGAC]

20. My First Thought As Well

Read the posts. Make up your own mind. We don't need any form of content policing.
The Professor

[dweller]

7. dweller

:thumbsdown::thumbsup:

d p

[Bitwit1234]

8. Who cares if Hillary bashers don't like me. I like Hillary

and I let everyone know it...if the Obama bashing Hillarys can't stand the heat why in the hell don't they get out of the kitchen..no all they do is bash Hillary more....now give me a thumbs down...I'M AN AMERICAN AND I CAN BELIEVE IN AND SUPPORT ANY DAMN PERSON I WANT. No matter what the Obama American Idol group think...so there.

[msongs]

9. that does it! you'll never be oprah again nt

[MonkeyFunk]

10. Oh my

THIS is bound to be helpful.

[Tyler Durden]

11. You are making me question my wisdom in taking you off ignore.

Or not.

Why you insist on making the easy and simplistic difficult is beyond me.

The internet is a full contact sport. Wear a cup (or the female protective equivalent).

And yes, that's stolen but I'd be embarrassed to show that I know who said it and in what context.

[Le Taz Hot]

12. Then it would turn into a popularity

contest and we already have two of those types of things on DU now. There's already very much a mob mentality here and I think all a "ratings" system would do is exacerbate that. I've had more than one (young) poster PM me in despair, feeling they've been picked on -- and after reviewing the threads they were referring to, I have to say, they WERE being picked on just because they didn't "fit in" with the "cool kids." It's a form of bullying and my heart breaks for them. Personally, I've had 52 years of marching to my own trumpet and I'm an old, hard-assed broad that can let stuff bounce off me. Not so the younglings.

My two cents -- probably overpriced, all things considered. ;-)

LTH

[hfojvt]

43. why are you marching to a trumpet instead of a drum?

:spank: that's naughty right there :spank:


Trumpet player here. :hi: Is there a trumpet player's group?

[Danger Mouse]

13. I don't like that idea. I mean, there's plenty of DUer's I absolutely loathe...

but i don't feel it's right to just ts them because i dislike them. People treat other people so poorly on du a lot of the time...i highly doubt that such an idea would make it any better. honestly.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

14. It Would Be A Monumental Disaster.

And for the record, DU is DU because of all those things you mentioned. It wouldn't be nearly as entertaining or addictive without some of those aspects inherent within it.

Fact is, you have to have a thick skin to be here. If someone says something you don't like, either alert the mods or frankly get over it. And if it gets to a point of serious offense then take it upon yourself to put the poster on ignore. Having a predetermined list of thumbs down posters to use as an ignore list is just plain silly and illogical.

To be honest, if there was only one thing and one thing only that I could choose to be removed from DU, it would be the whining.

[Tyler Durden]

19. And how the FUCK are YOU?????

You doing OK? You were massively missed. This is actually the first "free-range" post of yours I've seen.

Stiff upper lip old boy, and as I paraphrased on another thread, the internet is full contact: wear a cup.

[Missy Vixen]

21. It's good to see you, OperationMindcrime

Please give the boys a hug from my husband and I.

Julie

[yardwork]

33. Hi OMC! How are you and the kids? Happy holidays to you!

:hi:

[lonestarnot]

49. Woohoo! Happy day to see you here!

:applause:

[blondeatlast]

15. In a bar (as I imagine DU yo be), bar fights happen. Then you chill out and buy a round.

Or you could leave.

I don't care for your suggestion myself but see you the next time--and I'll "buy."

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

17. Perfect Post.

I agree with you completely.

Here's one on the house, for ya:

:toast:

[blondeatlast]

16. Or--you could simply start your own board...

:shrug:

Happy holidays, dammit. :hi:

[Marrah_G]

26. Why do you hate Christmas?

[blondeatlast]

28. My bad. Merry Christmas, dammit.

:rofl::hi:

[hootinholler]

42. I thought it's Merry Fucking Christmas.

:shrug:

-Hoot

[blondeatlast]

44. How's this?

HAPPY GODDAMN HOLIDAYS, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!

Yeah, that works... :rofl:

[Kucinich4America]

53. Actually, it's.....

FUCK Christmas :evilgrin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbTULjLtKP4

[Marrah_G]

47. That's more like it ! Don't let it happen again!

:hide:

[porphyrian]

18. Maybe we could be forced to have avatars of various shapes and colors to designate us.

In real life, we could cut them out of cloth and sew them on our sleeves.

[arendt]

22. Well, I've heard from Ranters, Levellers, and Anabaptists; but not from any Quakers

Its wonderful to see all the rough-tough posturing about what rugged he-men all you keyboard commandos are. But, as usual, your desire to be tough has caused you to miss the nuance.

There IS a difference between a tough discussion and a bar-room brawl. I think my personal line got crossed when people started to post images of people giving you the finger. What's next, pictures of gruesomely murdered bodies?

I'm sorry, but the discussion here has gotten completely fragmented and everyone is on hair-trigger to prevent their particular sect of politics from being dissed. Posting a lengthy argument is almost an invitation to being nit-picked to death or to being called a bore or an elitist.

To me, this place is beginning to sound like the camps of Cromwell's Army, where every sect of non-conformity of that era was recruiting and politicing. Here is a list of the various groups from that era:

Adamites
Anabaptists
Baptists
Barrowists
Behmenists
Brownists
Diggers
Familists
Fifth Monarchists
Free-will Men
Gindletonians
Jacobites
Levellers
Lollards
Muggletonians
Puritans
Quakers
Ranters
Sabbatarians
Seekers
Socinians

Taken from http://www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/index.html

My point is that the most of the sects of Cromwell's Army were in the dustbin of history within twenty years, as was popular democracy in England. I think DU is starting to really suffer from the kind of anarchic factionalism that has historically destroyed the solidarity of democratic movements.

You all tell me that that is simply "the price of freedom" or "if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen". Fine. I heard you.

I'm telling you that its hard to get anything useful done in the middle of a battlefield, Ludwig Wittgenstein excepted.

DU was billed originally as a safe haven for liberals. You sure can't say that anymore. I am tired of taking fire from one fanatic after another on some obscure and/or off-topic parts of my posts. I don't have the time to keep lists of everyone's hot buttons. Its like mapping a moving minefield.

What my OP suggested we discuss is more like social networking than a police state. I just want to know, vaguely, where people are coming from before I waste energy responding. Is that really equivalent to tatooing a number on your arm? Maybe the moderators could come up with an algorithm that simply groups people by whom they interact with.

Given the first ten hours of responses, I doubt I will get any kind of serious discussion on this followup. Just more abuse.

Go ahead.

arendt

[blondeatlast]

24. We're too stupid for you. Got it. Start your own board and enjoy good debate with those

who agree with you. :eyes:

[blondeatlast]

40. Edit--I was agreeing with myself.

:shrug:

Maybe the OP would approve of that?!

[lapislzi]

25. Sounds like 1970 all over again

when the left fell apart with infighting and factionalism. I don't think we've ever recovered from that. Fortunately for our side, the right isn't in much better shape, and their divisions run even deeper.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. You Sure?

You wrote an OP complaining about DU. Then you write a follow-up insulting everyone who replied, whether that reply was invective-filled or not.

I don't think you do want to discuss this. You've made your mind up.

Look; you don't want to get involved on a discussion board like this because it offends your sensibiliities? Fine. Nobody will force you.

But, the idea of performing an end-run editing process is antithetical to the idea of a discussion board. It ceases to be a discussion when only certified views are posted by certified posters.

Your idea is fraught with peril and yet all you did was take the rejection of same personally. That doesn't seem like someone who really wants to discuss this idea. It seems like someone wishing to make a pronouncement that we should all greet with homage.
The Professor

[HCE SuiGeneris]

39. An excellent survey of the situation

as evinced by the following final quote from his post "Given the first ten hours of responses, I doubt I will get any kind of serious discussion on this followup. Just more abuse."

[blondeatlast]

54. Nah, it's brilliant performance art. I'm a Gindletonian, btw. You?

I have no idea what one is, but I'm reasonably sure it beats being a Barrowist.

I could be wrong.

[cali]

46. L:OL!!!

Most pretentious post on DU- EVER. Just mind boggling.

"To me, this place is beginning to sound like the camps of Cromwell's Army, where every sect of non-conformity of that era was recruiting and politicing. Here is a list of the various groups from that era:"

And as with all extraordinary pretentiousness it's unintentionally:

:rofl:

[SoCalDem]

23. Here's what you do.. Ignore it all, and move on when someone starts bugging you

Then put it out of your mind.. Life is too short to hold "online grudges" against people you probably will never meet.

the person who hates what you said about "X", may be your bestest pal when you say something about "Y"..

Resist the temptation to "keep score"

Just play for fun :) :hi:

[blondeatlast]

32. Stop making sense. Really.

:thumbsup:

[The Straight Story]

31. I don't even want to know what people say about me

:rofl:

[blondeatlast]

34. 8th Street Marauder, right?

The brown plaid gives it away everytime, you know...

:rofl:

[madinmaryland]

35. IBTL!!1!!

[Occam Bandage]

36. You know, I was just thinking that.

"This board isn't quite personal enough. I'm tired of getting into conversations with people, and having it turn out that they didn't agree with me! I don't want to have to go to the trouble of judging posts on the merits. We need to ease the process of classifying people into easily-dismissed groups of 'enemies.'"

[Bucky]

41. Nice post, Slobodan

Oh, wait, you're on my side. Please edit the previous ad hominem attack to read, "Nice Post, Jan Hus."

[yardwork]

37. May I share my experience, faith, and hope?

From time to time some posters on DU annoy me. Heck, I even got annoyed with Skinner once, and judging by his response to my PM, he was annoyed with me. I've put folks on ignore. I've taken breaks from the board (a very, very good idea and something to do on a regular basis, by the way).

I always take the folks I have on ignore back off after a week or so because I'm curious about what they're saying. And guess what. Lots of times I've found that when I'm not squabbling with them, I actually enjoy their posts.

Some of the posts that most amuse me on this thread, for instance, were posted by folks I've had on ignore at one time or another. I'm glad that they are no longer on ignore, or I would have missed a lot of posts that made me laugh over the years.

I'm glad that DU is here. It's kind of a family of sorts. I don't make the mistake of thinking that it is a real family, though. I don't let it interfere with my contact with flesh-and-blood people. (I'm letting it interfere with packing right now, which is fine.)

If you find yourself complaining about DU to people off DU, during your flesh-and-blood hours, I recommend that you consider taking a break. No internet board is that important. You're right - we can't really tell the paid operatives from the earnest amateurs. We can't always tell the trolls from the sincere. Also, the board format makes it easy to decide that somebody is an "enemy" just because of disagreement over one tiny point, when in real life one might become best friends with that person (or not, and that's ok too).

I guess my experience has taught me that when I'm taking it too seriously, it's time to take a break.

[shadowknows69]

38. I plead occasional poor mental health

[cali]

48. I nominate the OP

for a DUzy.

[MilesColtrane]

50. Nice post Pol Pot.

I think that's a fine idea. Let's have everyone watching each other and giving a black demerit to anyone who doesn't agree with them.
That'll really instill a fine sense of unity that's sorely lacking.

For Christ's sake! Don't people know there's a war on? We've all got to be careful about what we say.

I, for one, welcome our new lynch mob overlords.

[Chovexani]

51. I'll respond with the respect this OP deserves.

[earth mom]

52. It takes awhile to figure people out, I've got some down, others not so.

The problem with your idea is that people love to play games and to manipulate. I've been told by people that I have on ignore that that they don't even know me when I decide to reply to their b.s. directed at me. Like WTF?!

There are those who can't stand it if you don't march in lock step with them and will do everything they can to take you down. They PM their little friends so they can mount an aggressive attack and try to smear you. It's like some ugly high school popularity contest. I try and stay out of it as much as I can. Sadly, I trust few around here.



Btw-On another board I was on, they did an individual rating system which came down to a lot of hurt and angry feelings before they pulled the plug. Anything like that here will be much worse. :nuke: