"All the threads about {insert hot topic here} bother me" "Why can't we move all the threads . . ."

[Stinky The Clown]

. . . . . "about {insert hot topic here} to some DU dungeon"

It doesn't matter what side of this you're on, my question is the same: Why does it bother you to the point you need to comment about it? Why not just ignore threads that bother you? You can hide them. DU has that function. You can also exercise self control and just read past them. Most importantly, maybe there are a lot of people who are more interested than you to read about a certain topic, or to avoid a certain topic that you wish to read.

I'm sure we all have topics, and maybe even OP authors, who we find personally uninteresting (at best) or totally annoying. It is really pretty calming to simply train your eyes to skip right over whatever offends you. As a bonus, you start less shit with people, and maybe more important, no one knows what you're thinking.

The nature of the internet is that "bandwidth" is, for all intents and purposes, a non issue. This corner of the internet is a discussion board.

Let the discussion proliferate.

Live and let live.

Control your own self.

[hlthe2b]

1. Yes... I find the threads complaining, worst than the litany of irritating threads...

That is what "ignore" threads is for.... I guess (from a glance at the "greatest" page), that some just need to vent. :shrug:

And yes, it has not escaped me that this is also one of those threads complaining... nonetheless....

[harun]

2. Because DU is one of the last oasis and we don't want it filled with crap.

[Fumesucker]

3. "Crap" of course being defined as "stuff I don't care about"..

Remember when Michael Jackson began pining for the fjords?

This place went totally bonkers, I didn't care one way or another about MJ but apparently a lot of other DUers did care.

[harun]

12. Crap as defined as astro-turfing and Corporate Media propaganda.

I'm not advocating limiting the stuff I don't care about. That is easy to ignore. The other stuff wastes energy, shifts the debate from factual content and obscures the real issues we want to address.

[liberal N proud]

4. True - but who decides what crap is?

I understand your frustrations with seeing all the threads about <insert topic here> but ones DUer's crap is another DUer's passion.

What would we be without all the daily hype on what ever the outrage of the day is? And what would we be without all the complaining about all the hype on what ever the outrage of the day is?

It is a big merry-go-round and we can all hop on and off when we need a fix or get too full.

:hi:

[NV Whino]

13. We need a forum for

Outrage of the Day. That would solve everything. :rofl:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. One man's crap is another man's fertilizer.

If you think a thread is crap, you can ignore it, hide it, or if you think it really doesn't belong, alert on it. Complaining about "crap" produces even more crap.

[pintobean]

6. "Why does it bother you to the point you need to comment about it?"

How is this OP any different?

[William769]

7. Tit for tat?

[demwing]

16. Because the OP isn't asking DU to change according to his needs

he's asking DUers to work within the system that is already established.

The OP is encouraging openness, the alternative is limiting open conversation.

[lunatica]

8. We should all have our own one person group thread

Where we can be in complete agreement with ourselves and/or vent mightily without any criticism from ourselves. And where we can be as uninformed as we wish.

[Little Star]

9. I was laughing during the royal wedding event......

It seemed to me that for every thread about the royal wedding there was 5 threads complaining about the royal wedding threads.

Starting a new thread to complain about a subject just creates more threads about that same subject. Makes no sense to me.

I always just pass right by any threads that bore me.:shrug:

[pipi_k]

10. Hee hee...

One of the funniest things for me was seeing all the "Who doesn't care about the Royal Wedding?" and "Who ISN'T going to be watching the Royal Wedding?" threads.

Apparently some cared so much they had to take the time to tell everyone how little they cared.

:+

[Little Star]

20. lol! That was pretty funny. n/t

[frazzled]

11. Another point of view

Yes, you can hide threads or not read them if they bother you. It's everyone's individual right.

But there's another aspect: this is a community, not just a "bulletin board" or telephone pole where there is an individual right to tack up any and everything. When your community gets overrun with threads that annoy or embarrass you, even if you're not reading them, it's probably a community you don't want to belong to. It may make you feel like it's a place you don't belong or don't want to participate in.

Take the example of your own real life community. Let's say all the neighbors on your block put up Sarah Palin yard signs, or insist on playing loud marching band music. Sure, you can close your curtains to avoid seeing the signs or close your windows to shut out the sound of the military music. But then you are not living in a community, and you'll probably want to (a) complain to the local authorities, or (b) be forced to move to a place you otherwise would like to stay and live.

People have the right to say they don't like the direction in which their community is moving. The "love it or leave it" attitude is not a liberal one. So just as people have a right to post stupid or annoying things, others have the right to say they find them stupid or annoying ... or that they are damaging to the community.

There's a balance to be struck between individual opinions and the communal tenor.

[demwing]

18. So how does moving all those posts to a new forum

make them an less associated with DU? The posts will still be there, annoying and/or embarrassing you, reflecting poorly on you and on the community whose membership brings you so much pride. Hiding all that crap (what some people call "diversity of thought"), doesn't resolve the problem you highlighted. The only way to achieve unanimity of thought, and clean up DU's tarnished reputation, is to ban all those posts that are too icky. :sarcasm:

I would rather live in a community full of Sarah Palin lawn signs, than live in a community where putting up a yard sign of any kind was prohibited because it embarrassed the wrong people.

Freedom is sticky, messy, and often annoying. Ain't it cool?

[frazzled]

19. It's been done before

The I/P forum, for example, was developed because the great wrangling on that issue was impacting the community here. Posts on that subject must be posted to that forum. It's like asking your neighbor to take their marching band music inside.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. You're right, but . . . .

. . . . there is an essential difference. Those threads are all like-topic. I don't agree with having the I/P forum, but the site owners see it as serving some purpose, so I accept it and move on.

The threads that address the topic du jour are the focus of the OP.

[blondeatlast]

27. I think DU is more like a friendly, rowdy, neighborhood bar.

On any given night, we're apt to break into whatever groups interest us and go from there.

[Javaman]

14. Because DU General Discussion would suddenly be empty...

:rofl:

[Stinky The Clown]

17. Actually, I was hoping for the opposite to be true.

People ought to be free to post any damned thing they wish.

When people spark discussion (good or bad), they get the feedback that keeps them going.

When the thread drops like a stone, unresponded-to, they also get feedback. Feedback telling them they failed.

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. The Ichingcarpenter underground

Well, the "democratic underground" decade is almost over, and good riddance, and far as I'm concerned. The 00's were simply 10 years of people thinking about nothing but themselves. No wonder we were unable to get together and solve any of the many serious problems facing our nation.



Oh sure, some people did do some positive things in the 00's -- like jogging -- but always for the wrong reasons, for their own selfish, personal benefit.

Well, I believe the 10's are gonna be -- are gonna HAVE to be different. I think that people are going to stop thinking about themselves, and start thinking about me, Ichingcarpenter.

That's right. I believe we're entering what I like to call the Ichingcarpenter internet web days

But for you, you'll be thinking more about how things affect me, IIchingcarpenter. When you see a news report, you'll be thinking, "I wonder what Ichingcarpenter thinks about this thing?",

"I wonder how this inflation thing is hurting Ichingcarpter?" And you women will be thinking, "What can I wear that will please Ichingcarpenter?", or "What can I not wear?" You know, I know a lot of you out there are probably thinking,

"Why Ichingcarpenter?" Well, because I thought of it, and I'm here on the internet and you're at home reaading, so I've already gotten the jump on you.


Jane?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

22. All the threads asking for topics to be moved to a dungeon ...

should be moved to "Ask the Administrators". Since they're the ones that decide if something should be moved.

But threads complaining about threads asking for topics to be moved, we need a special place for those. Somewhere dark.

:hi:

[Stinky The Clown]

23. You make your point stunningly well.

And in doing so, make mine.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

26. Yeah, but who's gonna listen to a couple of clowns? nt

[UTUSN]

24. Thank you. "Why not just ignore threads that bother you?" & "Control yourself"

It has mystified me for 11 yrs or so why posters choose to post in threads they dislike what an extreme piece of crap they believe the thread to be, in the nastiest most flaming way. Usually, they do it in the first Reply of the thread, which kills it for whatever others might get it for what it was intended.

I routinely p.m. them and ask them to put ME on Ignore entirely, since we are unlikely ever to find common ground, and please not to respond. But this kind of poster almost always responds and more often than not with the f-word.

[Stinky The Clown]

25. A few of that type have responded in *this* thread.

[blondeatlast]

28. Thank you, Stinky. I agree completely. I use the scroll wheel far more often

than my left mouse button or keyboard.