For a while, I was posting in another forum as well as this one - I feel kinda' bad because I was dividing my attention, but I digress.
It was a forum based around one of my favourite video game series and they had some pretty cool threads about all the games from the series. Because the games are internationaly successful there is a good mix of people from all over the globe there.
The forum looked a lot like here, except anyone could have an avatar and their own banner in their signatures...I'll get back to this later.
But, what kept me coming back was their "serious" discussions. Lots of people discussing religion, politics, and basic problems about life. Some of the topics were pretty good, but after a while I started to notice that most of the people posting prefered arguing w/ each other than actually discussing their views...I mean we've been known to do this here, but usually we come to an understanding and everyone learns something from it. There, it was just an all-out brawl.
Another thing that annoyed me was that since most of the posters were not from the US anyone that was was automaticaly hated by the rest of the world. We're the reasons for the wars, the poverty, and the total unrest in the world. That got old fast.
The avatars were pretty (I chose not to get one), but the banners were ridiculous. Most of them were larger than the actual posts I was reading....
...so, after being in a few wars of words I decided to look up some of the profiles of the people that were posting and I came to find out that 90% of the users were CHILDREN. I'm talking 17 and under. Now, I have nothing against kids giving their opinions, but when they start acting like second graders in the school yard I figure that this was getting too silly (I forgot that the forum is based around video games
).
The final straw came in a religious debate. The fundamentalist Xtians were trying to convert the atheists and the atheists were trying to destroy the belief structures of the Xtians. I decided to take on the voice of reason and post "Why bother? There is no real way to know the outcome until you're dead". The only reply I got from someone was "If you think it's such a useless argument then why are you postin?" I took that as a cue to stop posting altogether.
So, what did I learn?
No matter what country people post from, you can always find close-minded, immature, idiots.
Just because your avatar and banners are pretty, it doesn't mean you know how to post.
Most kids that play Final Fantasy between the ages of 15-19 think they know everything...
-Ferret
"Back and totally focused!"
It was a forum based around one of my favourite video game series and they had some pretty cool threads about all the games from the series. Because the games are internationaly successful there is a good mix of people from all over the globe there.
The forum looked a lot like here, except anyone could have an avatar and their own banner in their signatures...I'll get back to this later.
But, what kept me coming back was their "serious" discussions. Lots of people discussing religion, politics, and basic problems about life. Some of the topics were pretty good, but after a while I started to notice that most of the people posting prefered arguing w/ each other than actually discussing their views...I mean we've been known to do this here, but usually we come to an understanding and everyone learns something from it. There, it was just an all-out brawl.
Another thing that annoyed me was that since most of the posters were not from the US anyone that was was automaticaly hated by the rest of the world. We're the reasons for the wars, the poverty, and the total unrest in the world. That got old fast.
The avatars were pretty (I chose not to get one), but the banners were ridiculous. Most of them were larger than the actual posts I was reading....
...so, after being in a few wars of words I decided to look up some of the profiles of the people that were posting and I came to find out that 90% of the users were CHILDREN. I'm talking 17 and under. Now, I have nothing against kids giving their opinions, but when they start acting like second graders in the school yard I figure that this was getting too silly (I forgot that the forum is based around video games
).The final straw came in a religious debate. The fundamentalist Xtians were trying to convert the atheists and the atheists were trying to destroy the belief structures of the Xtians. I decided to take on the voice of reason and post "Why bother? There is no real way to know the outcome until you're dead". The only reply I got from someone was "If you think it's such a useless argument then why are you postin?" I took that as a cue to stop posting altogether.
So, what did I learn?
No matter what country people post from, you can always find close-minded, immature, idiots.
Just because your avatar and banners are pretty, it doesn't mean you know how to post.
Most kids that play Final Fantasy between the ages of 15-19 think they know everything...
-Ferret
"Back and totally focused!"
