Do you older members get ticked when us newbies butt in on your conversations?, page 2

Originally posted by janasstar
Okay then. In the future, since I can't count on help from the mods when I'm being threatened, I'll have to resort to other measures. I suppose that if a person is ranting at me in a certain manner, then it's okay for me to retaliate in same manner? So be it.

Wait a sec. Let's talk. To a certain point I heartily agree with you. There are some irritating things here. On occasion a Mod can be intimidating and over-bearing. Power corrupts. Sometimes the moderation can be uneven. Sometimes 'rules' are used, in my opinion, unfairly. For example, some one-line posts are pithy and full of information content. No fair to call them out. Sometimes complaints are ignored. And, frankly, I get tired of the "This is my ball and if you don't like it go away" attitude I see expressed once in awhile. There also seem to be certain people who are treated more equally than others. I'm not screaming bloody murder about this; it's not a knife-twisting complaint.

I would attribute most of this to the fact that there are lots of people involved. No one person is going to see things precisely the same way. Those who expect absolutely consistent justice all the way will probably be disappointed. Dallas is not Seattle and lots of people like it that way. It's like going to see a movie. There's nothing like the Big Screen and the bone-jarring acoustics. It's great. But to see a movie in the theatre you have to sit with a bunch of other people, mostly strangers. Sometimes they are talking. Cell phones ring. Babies cry. Kids act out. People sneeze and spill things. It's irritating, but if you want to see the advantges of the Big Screen, you put up with it. The traffic here is great, but that means there is some noise.

Not that I present myself as a Perfect Poster--I've just broken through 1,000 posts and that's a milestone for me personally (there are only about 600 people who have done it out of 117,000), but I've found that like in any environment there are rules, and then there is the 'way things are done,' the style, so to speak, that is often unwritten. So if I may offer some personal opinion and ideas from observation here.

a) Don't even think about calling anybody names like "Yer an idiot." Instead, suggest that though the poster is probably a very good person in all respects, a good parent and kind to animals, the ideas expressed in his last post, though perhaps not originally his own and therefore not really his responsibility, do have some fairly serious logical flaws, and these are A, B, and C. Perhaps they can be resolved. (If yer good you'll nail them, though--no escape if you have them pinned to the mat!

b) It would be really nice if your facts were correct. If you say something like, "The Canon AOS 094 Fako digital camera is capable of infrared photography!" you'd better be right because I guarantee someone will check up on it and there's probably an expert photographer that has seven of them in his closet and knows them inside and out. And though they may say, "Schuyler is probably a good person in all respects, however...." you will feel the sting regardless.

c) It would also be really nice if before posting a new thread, members would use the search function and see if it has been recently discussed. For example, if you were to post "How 'bout that Billy Meier wedding cake UFO. Ain't that great!" I know there will be a collective groan and feeling of "Oh, no. Not that again!" It's not that anyone wants to discourage a new person from learning about the matter, but if you'd just been through a thousand posts on the subject, you'd groan, too. Sometimes it's better to use the ATS archives to educate yourself on a topic before bringing it up again. Besides, if you have a new spin on the issue, so much the better! Springer just expressed this on this topic, so I feel fairly safe to bring this one up.

d) Well thought out posts are probably better than snappy opinions expressed in a couple of sentences. It surely does take longer, but I believe if you put your heart and soul into making a case it will be better for everyone. Not everyone likes or will read long posts, but those who do will appreciate the time you took to compose it.

e) I have also found that I shouldn't make snap judgements just because I don't like a post. Several people that I originally felt were complete dolts (not that I would EVER express such a thing) have turned out over the months to be friends. And once I mark a person as a friend, even if they post something 'doltish' it slows me down a bit so that I don't snap back. You want to keep your friends, don't you? So I'm gentle going back. And wouldn't you know, we wind up sharing experiences, finding ourselves on the same side once in awhile, and actually appreciating each other. I never would have thought, but there you are.

I also think a thicker skin helps. Every post back at you does not have to be taken as a personal insult. Just let it ride. Revenge is best tasted cold. One of the most insulting members here who I think did me wrong just got banned. Ha ha. It had to happen. The person was an idi----uh, I mean she was probably a very good person and all, but now she's gone. Too bad. But in any case, eventually you will be known by your posts, for good or ill. So don't be shy; let's see what you've got!

[edit on 9/5/2007 by schuyler]