I’m crawling out of the MUD PIT!

originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: SBMcG

It was some ego-driven BS and nothing to do with your OP.

I generally agree with your OP, but with the caveat that it only reflects the moods and interests of members. ATS could have a time-out on the Pit and yet I expect the same members would seek expression everywhere else. The toothpaste is out of the tube as they say.

This isn't an official ATS comment, just my opinion.

Right on!

I will allow that some can probably "handle" the Mud Pit better than others.

Just not me. I'm too A-type...

Wow...

Taking Kandinsky's UK politics poll I TIED -- Conservative 61%, UKIP 61%!

I tend to be a social libertarian so I'm not surprised. Still would probably go with May...

This is not "thread drift", BTW... This is an example of what I was talking about in my OP -- a more substantive and worthwhile discussion of political matters without all the Bravo Sierra.

My Results

a reply to: SBMcG

We're probably on the same level there

I'm also planning to take time off from political threads. They're too corrosive and I don't enjoy seeing the dark side of members I've respected for so long. It's all bait and switch, ad-hom and generalising the world's 7 billion into two groups.

I'll wear my snowflake lapel patch and stand in the corner for a while.

a reply to: SBMcG

I pretty much feel the mud pit should just be renamed the troll pit. People in there post so many blatant lies and such that is almost embarrassing. And I feel for that very reason it seems like every other thread made is in that forum. Why bother having to post links, or proof of any kind when you can just slander anyone at will?

Meh. The Mud Pit isn't for everyone. I do like a good mud fight once in a while, it feeds the ornery little brat in me. I jump in, throw a lot of mud, then run away and hose off.

Seriously, those who don't like it, just pass it on by. There are many fabulous threads and ideas. I have a few ideas myself that I want to write on, that have nothing to do with the sub-moronic filth of political in-fighting.

Sometimes, in sheer frustration, I will get in the pit and stir it up....simply because the entire world is turning into one big dung heap of nonsense. I may stir it, but I won't lick the spoon, cause....you know.....it's the mud pit and I don't have to.

I may work on something that is interesting, relaxing, and makes everybody happy. Perhaps that shall be my penance for hiding rocks in my mud balls that I throw at certain individuals.

Pacem cum omnibus vobis. Don't get all worked up, it's Latin.

originally posted by: mymymy
a reply to: SBMcG

I pretty much feel the mud pit should just be renamed the troll pit. People in there post so many blatant lies and such that is almost embarrassing. And I feel for that very reason it seems like every other thread made is in that forum. Why bother having to post links, or proof of any kind when you can just slander anyone at will?

That's it.

Again, speaking just for myself, it's almost like the Mud Pit was set up to fail.

One thing I think we can all agree upon is that it's not getting any better.

That's why I'm out...

a reply to: FissionSurplus

I suppose if I were indifferent to the subject matter, I wouldn't get worked up about much of anything.

But I'm a fighter by nature. An environment like the Mud Pit is going to bring that out in me every time.

a reply to: SBMcG

My apologies.

originally posted by: Sublimecraft
a reply to: SBMcG

My apologies.

I'll take all the sympathy I can get...

originally posted by: Lolliek
I've stopped going into the Mud Pit. Can't take it anymore. I'm pretty much an Independent, but every time I would agree to anything said on either side, I felt like my head was bashed in - by the opposing side. I still go to the political threads, and yes - the ugliness is bleeding through.

My bookmark opens up to the New threads. I just scroll right past anything that says Mud Pit. I miss the days when there was an Above Politics tab. But I guess at this point I'm considered an Old Timer (in both ATS terms, and in RL, unfortunately). And you know us Old Timers - always wishing for the 'Good Ole Days'!

It is bleeding through, even the non political threads are being turned into politics. Same here being an Independent and feeling like you have to pick a side(which ever one is favorable to the majority at the time) is tiring. If actually doing it is not only dishonest to oneself and others, makes time worth not spending in such an environment.

Sure, let the MudPit stay, apparently it helps a lot of people who feel trapped in life with their political(which are now more than ever lifestyle) views, but contain it there for sanity.

a reply to: SBMcG

I have many a post in the pit, and never get too pointed. There is no point.

If you can't handle the pit-stay out.

The mud pit is great, it is like the real world.

-minus the punch in the nose

I would laugh if some dude was starting problems and yelled "wait, don't hit me, T&C's, T&C's"

Blame CNN, they shut down their comments section.

MP is comedy

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: SBMcG

I have many a post in the pit, and never get too pointed. There is no point.

If you can't handle the pit-stay out.

I can "handle" more than most -- maybe even more than you.

But I'm also a realist; and to me, at this point, the Mud Pit represents nothing more than an investment with nothing more to offer than diminishing returns.

AS I said in my OP, I'll still read it because many of my favorite ATS'ers do a lot of posting there, but will not post there myself.

originally posted by: SBMcG
a reply to: FissionSurplus

I suppose if I were indifferent to the subject matter, I wouldn't get worked up about much of anything.

But I'm a fighter by nature. An environment like the Mud Pit is going to bring that out in me every time.

That's part of it, at least for me.

For me, I'd like semi-intelligent discourse on a subject (so I guess I should stay out of the 'pit). Yes, I have my political beliefs, but when an argument is reduced to partisan name calling, broadbrushing, ad hominems, bait and switch, moving the goal posts, twisting words, and other fallacies, it's no longer an honest debate, or even fun: it's a school yard mud-slinging attempt, which accomplishes nothing in the long run, because proud partisanship will not concede, and it will continue on.

Or, perhaps, learn which trolls to avoid.

a reply to: SBMcG

So it's the diminishing returns that have you not posting....????

Odd.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: SBMcG

So it's the diminishing returns that have you not posting....????

Odd.

Odd? Really...?

So if there's no upside to doing something you keep doing it anyway?

Isn't that the definition of "insanity"?

a reply to: SBMcG

It is an exchange of ideas with no guarantees that you are going to feel a positive return.

We can't always convince everyone we are right of even have a point.

Perhaps the pit out grew you, not you outgrowing the pit?

originally posted by: Liquesence

originally posted by: SBMcG
a reply to: FissionSurplus

I suppose if I were indifferent to the subject matter, I wouldn't get worked up about much of anything.

But I'm a fighter by nature. An environment like the Mud Pit is going to bring that out in me every time.

That's part of it, at least for me.

For me, I'd like semi-intelligent discourse on a subject (so I guess I should stay out of the 'pit). Yes, I have my political beliefs, but when an argument is reduced to partisan name calling, broadbrushing, ad hominems, bait and switch, moving the goal posts, twisting words, and other fallacies, it's no longer an honest debate, or even fun: it's a school yard mud-slinging attempt, which accomplishes nothing in the long run, because proud partisanship will not concede, and it will continue on.

Or, perhaps, learn which trolls to avoid.

To me -- and I'm not criticizing ATS here -- the root of the problem in "The Pit" is the adage "give-an-inch-take-a-mile"...

It's Human nature to bend the rules. We're hardwired to push the envelope. And there seems to be an exponential correlation between that human trait and people like me who tend toward the A-type personality range anyway.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: SBMcG

It is an exchange of ideas with no guarantees that you are going to feel a positive return.

We can't always convince everyone we are right of even have a point.

Perhaps the pit out grew you, not you outgrowing the pit?

Are you so invested in that forum that you can't understand a person who is at least as smart as you are making an intellectual decision to walk away?

a reply to: SBMcG

Can I be blunt?