Knowing when NOT to reply

You know the feeling. As you finish reading the text on screen, a rush of adrenaline fills your body as you endeavour to counter the ignorance before your eyes. While you don't want to admit it, emotion runs high as you try to put into words a coherently constructed rebuttal. As you smirk and grin to yourself, and are about to press the submit button, you realise that you have taken the bait. Suddenly, you backspace all your text. Congratulations: you have just wasted 5 minutes of your life!

Knowing when NOT to post is just as important as knowing when to post.

Keep that in mind the next time you are compelled by your intellect and/or emotions to reply in haste. Eventually, you will acquire the skill of judging when NOT to post and will save yourself valuable time and energy.

reply to post by Dark Ghost


sorry, i just had this sudden urge to reply

I just failed didn't I

quit being so rational.....Maybe I shouldn't have replied to this but I got tired of splitting wood.

You're probably going to get a record number of stupid replies to this thread

reply to post by Dark Ghost


Yup.

For every post I have made, there were probably two that have been aborted.
This has not been one of those times.

reply to post by Dark Ghost

Knowing when NOT to post is just as important as knowing when to post.

So true but some times the urge to counter attack is just to strong .... then the edit button comes in handy

reply to post by Dark Ghost


where is my five mins?

no but seriously you have a point in there.
now its ten,,,

This usually happens when reading the OP - but before reading the replies to the thread!
I find that if I'll read the entire thread, my comments have probably already been addressed by an earlier post.
A little restraint goes a long way sometimes when it comes to replying to an established or lengthy thread.
Besides, a good part of the time my planned response gets obseleted by other (previous) poster's comments and I'm glad I read everything before going off "half cocked".

ganjoa

In my case I type/keyboard so slowly it's a lot more than 5min. But yes sometimes I take the bait, sometimes I write then decide not to post it. I learning.

reply to post by Dark Ghost


Have you been spying me? (Looks around, puts tape over webcam, replaces scotch tape with black tape, looks around again....)

Wow op, I think you just summed up half my time on ATS right there, I can't name how many times I have done that, several times in a row, and then just walked away for awhile.

Wish I could do it more often, I would have a lot of ATS points if could do it everytime.

reply to post by Dark Ghost
I just couldn't stop myself. I can't even use being inebriated as an excuse. The "reply" button just called to me. It looked so tempting. I tried to stop myself , but it felt soooo good. I feel so dirty now.

My 30 seconds on here.

I don't post or reply anymore.

My post for the week.

Peace,
K

I only submit 1 reply for ever 5 i type out. I make it a point to re-read the thread and my post before submitting.

You cant take back things you say out loud, and sometimes things slip out you wish you wouldn't have said. This is not an issue with posting online, you have ample opportunities to think twice about what you post.

Im glad to see im not the only one who does this

DC

I don't hit reply on about 5% of my posts. I should probably up that to about 40% at least.

reply to post by Dark Ghost


To REPLY or not to REPLY that is the question.

My mother always taught me very simple instructions for this exact problem...If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all.

I will admit there are many times I have wanted to reply in a certain way and have remembered these very words only to have the Devil inside of me say, to heck with it; kind of like that scene in Animal House, but I digress.

I probably should not have replied to this thread, but oh well. Since I did I might as well complete it, right?

This is a web site that implores people to DENY IGNORANCE is it not? Some threads beg for . There are obvious trolls looking for trouble. But there are those that refuse to accept ignorance. Fact is, if you write a thread you are fair game for anyone with a keyboard to pop off. Fortunately, T&C with the help of moderation eliminates the truly rude ones; the ones that sneak through the cracks well they can still be alerted or completely ignored.

Anyone that does write a thread needs a real thick skin on any forum. It is the first rule of Journalism; not everyone is going to agree with what you say and everyone has Freedom to respond.

reply to post by Dark Ghost


EDIT : Post removed after taking a moment to control my enthusiastic support of this suggestion.

There is always, on ATS, a fine line between;
"Answer not a fool according to his folly
lest you be like him yourself"- (Proverbs ch26 v5) and
"Answer a fool according to his folly
lest he be wise in his own eyes"- (Proverbs ch26 v6)

reply to post by Dark Ghost


I always use the saying;

"think twice and post once."

Then edit like hell....

Hmm.


I never have problems with that.

If I got a star for every reply I've written but never submitted...

Sometimes your emotions get the better of you. Even if you feel strongly about something, sometimes you can come across as bias and ill informed, even if you meant well.

But this is ATS, and luckily this is a place where most people consider their words carefully, and responses are well thought out. Even if someone has a knee jerk reaction to a comment, the reply is usually heated but measured, and never leads to the lowest common denominator.

ATS is a good community, and it's because of the considerate intelligent people that make it, which is rare considering this is the internet. A while ago just for kicks I posted 'Playstation sucks' on 4chan. I heard curse words I didn't know existed, got death threats, and so forth.

Good post BTW, S&F.

reply to post by watchitburn


Defiantly more deleted posts than posted here to. I believe this post was worth it to show support for the thread.

I'm also more liberal with my flaggings and star giving than i used to be, its just a digital image, if a post is good, click it, you dont have to agree with a post to see its value in a thread!