Give me a break! Now I am accused of being inflammatory because I am being polite!?
If anyone took offence coz they thought I was being too polite - and I don’t believe anyone did - then I would wager they were already fully-primed to blow
But it does help to illuminate a point: for whatever reason - some people are hair-trigger sensitive to any perceived sense of personal injustice and as previous posters have pointed out, that’s how a lot of these problems start
So how can we dial that down?
There has been lots of talk about people “respecting divergent positions” - ok - great - but now you’ve got a 'real live one’!
I am the aforementioned ‘divergent position’ - disagreeing with some points, as you do, as a divergent, but doing it politely and not abusing anyone. Other points I am actively agreeing with
I want the discussion to be constructive. This is a chance to see if we can’t move the needle forward on human interaction within cyberspace - at least amongst users of Forumosa
And yep, it was wrong. I thought, maybe wrongly, the temperature of Rocket’s posts was rising, which is how I probably justified it to myself, but sure, telling someone to ‘Stay calm!’ is only ever going to be antagonistic, and counter-productive - I see that now
no, I’m not accusing you. Just said the impression from your posts. And, I’m not saying I got the impression because you are polite.
I meant to say I felt your way to ask questions others was impolite even though you are using polite language. if this makes a sense.
The matter was not your position, but the way or tone of your posts, for me. I think no one was offended by your posts, though. maybe just annoyed at most.
Instead of focusing on the miniature of the tone and whether that constitutes an opportunity to feel offended, or even ‘slightly annoyed’, I’d rather focus on the objective of the discussion - how can online interaction be improved?
And don’t worry, I am not putting myself forward as some shining example - I have crossed the line on a few occasions - I know that - and sure, I can argue ‘I was provoked!’ - but hope on this thread at least we can take a step back from that reactive impulse and find a better way to communicate - especially in discussion/argument scenarios
That solution does not mean, however, that I have to walk on eggshells the whole time and agree with everything that everybody says
From the locked thread, one thing that was noticeable was that the people who were claiming that trolling was ruining Forumosa seemed to be way more abusive than the people they were complaining about
It’s no good saying:
“I respect everyone’s right to have an opinion! (unless that opinion is different from mine - in which case you’re an effing this or effing that)”
It needs to actually mean something in practice
I am going to endeavour to show more restraint in my posting in argument threads, but I would ask other posters to consider the possibility that they are being too eager to take offence and then escalating situations by overreacting
As a previous poster mentioned:
Rocket expressed similar sentiments referring to discussion:
I agree!
But let’s try to remember that the above ideal does not always involve people agreeing with you - it’s a two-way street
so, I think in discussion/argument scenario, the tone or manner is as important as the content, and more important than polite language, to get a better communication on internet with many unspecified people. This is my position or opinion on your theme.
I still cannot get your points, and not sure you are doing intentionally or unconsciously. Some of your sentences could be manipulation tactic to deface the posts of other posters to win a debate. But it’s ok. This is your thread, and I got some fun here.
Sure. I accept that. So long as you apply your forensic analysis of my ‘tone’ to the tone of other posters. Even if you don’t, I’ll still do my best
Ok, I understand how you could have that feeling as well coz my point is simple, but it is a question:
What can we do, as users of Forumosa, to improve clarity around what is considered to be acceptable posting behaviour in argument/discussion threads?
There has been a lot of great input - some of it I agree with (including most of yours), and some of it I don’t
Meanwhile, some posters accused me of asking too many questions, which is also understandable, but there are reasons:
(a) My point is a question. (b) I don’t have the answer.
As other posters said, they like discussions where opinions evolve - me too - a solution that involves all Forumosa users, needs input from a range of users - hence the questions
This is not an argument that can be won and forced down people’s throats - it’s gotta be a collective, conscious consideration
