Bad General Topics

[Snatch Steal]

Let's jump right in.

 

This doesn't discredit anyone as a bad user. It doesn't make anyone a worse person. I'm not calling anyone out. This is all just observation.

 

Sometimes we get question topics, which end up being very conversational.

 

Sometimes we get funny, weird news stories, that give us a giggle.

 

But other times, we get either extremely tragic or uplifting stories that are so down in the dumps or happy go lucky that they generate no real discussion aside from a few quips from witty users.

 

Here's an example:

 

"Woman killed by vivisection in Iran for not wearing a hijab in public."

 

Who the heck is gonna say "Darn woman, she had it coming"?

Probably no one. It eventually gets to the point where you can predict who says what based on their political alignment, be they conservatives, liberals, or (my least favorite) the "midway" folks, who think life can be balanced perfectly.

 

The happy ones aren't as bad, because there's always that one doom and gloom character showing up, saying something along the lines of "waaaaaaah, the world is dark and cold, news is bad, this is an exception not a rule."At least that's interesting.

 

But the sad ones are the same thing every time, or someone's clearly just being contrarian. I mean, of course there are the ones that say "Nah article's bad" or discuss things outside of the actual event, but I'm really bothered by the amount of topics with simple answers.

 

Like, come on, guys. We can look up "bad stuff" and get all the sheet we need. Why not create a fun conversation, or ask a question?

 

That's just me though. I think it's more productive to talk about things other than death and despair with simple answers.

[mitchermitcher]

Sometimes we get question topics, which end up being very conversational.

I agree with the thread, this sorta sheet needs to happen more often. Makes reading through General pretty entertaining and sometimes educating.

 

General =/= news

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Every once in a while I get into the habit of putting up a few General threads related to thoughts/hopes/opinions on non-political stuff.

It gets drowned out eventually and the front page turns into the same old.

Maybe I should try some more.

[Snatch Steal]

I agree with the thread, this sorta sheet needs to happen more often. Makes reading through General pretty entertaining and sometimes educating.

 

General =/= news

 

Every once in a while I get into the habit of putting up a few General threads related to thoughts/hopes/opinions on non-political stuff.

It gets drowned out eventually and the front page turns into the same old.

Maybe I should try some more.

 

Now we're thinking

 

 

We will pioneer a new General of fascinating question topics

[Mutant Monster RAEG-HAPYP]

I'm probably guilty of either super happy, super tragic, or both, but, I feel like I tried to make things interesting between the shark story, the knock offs topic, and such, but you might onto something here. Maybe more people would come here if it wasn't just bad news and politically charged arguments all the time.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Exposing Iran is a smaller move in a larger game. Perhaps a critique of Islam as a whole. Those topics need to be there to show that there is a world outside of your bubble. You need that outrage and sorrow

 

 

Would that I could, I'd make every American have to view the Daesh Nitric Acid video. There are real monsters out there. Ignoring them or downplaying them doesn't make them go away

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Maybe more people would come here if it wasn't just bad news and politically charged arguments all the time.

Every once in a while I get into the habit of putting up a few General threads related to thoughts/hopes/opinions on non-political stuff.

It gets drowned out eventually and the front page turns into the same old.

Maybe I should try some more.

 

We're working on a way to cut down on the amount of political arguments in this section right now, since yeah, it's not sitting well with us at all either to certain extents. (That, and some other ways to reform the section so it's more enjoyable for users, but still generates appropriate discussion)

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Exposing Iran is a smaller move in a larger game. Perhaps a critique of Islam as a whole. Those topics need to be there to show that there is a world outside of your bubble. You need that outrage and sorrow

What you need to understand though is.

Not caring about seeing it here =/= ignoring it. It's fully possible to know about a situation and be active in doing good while not wanting to see it all the time.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

What you need to understand though is.

Not caring about seeing it here =/= ignoring it. It's fully possible to know about a situation and be active in doing good while not wanting to see it all the time.

It's not the same. Watching men lower women into Nitric acid while chanting from their text shows you how bad it really is. A "NYT sideline Daesh kills 20 doesn't." People don't realize the horror and they need to.

 

Daesh is one example. Same goes for BLM and other troubling issues that affect us

 

I'm sorry, but your bubble is gonna get popped one way or another

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

It's not the same. Watching men lower women into Nitric acid while chanting from their text shows you how bad it really is. A "NYT sideline Daesh kills 20 doesn't." People don't realize the horror and they need to.

 

Daesh is one example. Same goes for BLM and other troubling issues that affect us

 

I'm sorry, but your bubble is gonna get popped one way or another

You do realize you just repeated yourself while ignoring what I said, right?

There are no bubbles being popped.

The knowledge is there. The actions able to stop it can still be made.

Doesn't mean I can't not want to see that sort of thing (negative and horrible things) around here constantly, in general. (Pun not intended)

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

You do realize you just repeated yourself while ignoring what I said, right?

There are no bubbles being popped.

The knowledge is there. The actions able to stop it can still be made.

Doesn't mean I can't not want to see that sort of thing (negative and horrible things) around here constantly, in general. (Pun not intended)

I'm not ignoring you. I'm saying hearing=\=seeing

 

The difference in impact between the two IS the bubble. Hearing that a truck full of solider was blown up is part of the "plan" seeing it isn't and makes much larger of a difference

 

You don't truely know something till you're inundated by it's vivid existance

[vla1ne]

not everything can be fun, sometimes general gets the dark stuff. both generate discussion, but the dark stuff is where the people are going to actually post in, because by nature, we look more at the tragedies than we do at the happiness. there's no discussion to be had about a firefighter rescuing a kitten, that's how the world should be, and it simply affirms that all is right in the world. on the other hand, ISIS, Daesh, and other extreme groups decapitating/raping/ beating their hostages shows us the darker side that we don't see as often, the negative incites more discussion, and personally, i think it's already at a good balance. yeah there are explosions in general at times, but really, would any of you actually come to general if it was all kittens and rainbows? there's no real in depth discussion in the happy posts, I'd still like more of them, because uplifting stuff's good for the heart after a long day, but hey, no matter if it's good or bad news nobody forces people to post, so the discussions are voluntary for the most part.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

1. shows us the darker side that we don't see as often

2. there's no real in depth discussion in the happy posts

3. nobody forces people to post, so the discussions are voluntary for the most part.

Not going for argumentative but I feel this should be addressed.

 

1. This isn't really true. I've seen plenty darker myself, but I'm just one person. Can't really judge how much people have seen. Even those not posting may have already watched the things elsewhere

2. Ehhh, I'd argue many of the others don't have much depth after a few posts

3. Similar to what you said earlier, human nature. But I mostly can agree with this one

[vla1ne]

Not going for argumentative but I feel this should be addressed.

 

1. This isn't really true. I've seen plenty darker myself, but I'm just one person. Can't really judge how much people have seen. Even those not posting may have already watched the things elsewhere

2. Ehhh, I'd argue many of the others don't have much depth after a few posts

3. Similar to what you said earlier, human nature. But I mostly can agree with this one

when i said darker side, i mean really dark. war, rape, severe police brutality, extreme poverty, those kinds of things. also politics. but really, politics is it's own beast, it'll make its' way inside of discussions here and there whether others want it or not. not saying you haven't seen those kinds of things, but they are more likely to hold attention, because they are, for the most part, anomalies. focusing on the odd story is just natural, since normal stories are just more things that you can see everyday. for example, most nights that i decide to walk around my street, nothing happens around me, but a few nights ago, as i was coming home from the movies, two cars crashed 50 feet away from me, that's an event that is out of the ordinary, and as such, it garners more attention, and that's what i was getting at.

 

as for happy posts, what i mean is, they have far less back and forth, for better or worse, controversy spurs more direct discussion and argument. for example, right now, if we didn't have disagreements on some level, this discussion thread would have far fewer replies than one in which we all agreed, in general no pun intended, it takes at least two different viewpoints for discussion to remain, when it boils down to one, as many happier threads tend to do, then people will more often simply not respond, because nothing remains to be pointed out.

 

to further extend that third thing you've pointed out, if people want more happy stuff in general, then the simple answer is to go out and find more happy stuff to put in general. topics are posted by the users of the website, if people put more effort into finding more lighthearted topics, then the trend of general would change to one of more lighthearted discussions. it's a really simple answer to any question of negativity, the people who post topics set the tone, if you don't like the tone, or just wish to change it, set topics of your own.

[♪ ♪Aria ♪ ♪]

 

 

Sometimes we get funny, weird news stories, that give us a giggle.

This is my favorite kind of topic.......

 

 

 

when i said darker side, i mean really dark. war, rape, severe police brutality, extreme poverty, those kinds of things. also politics. but really, politics is it's own beast, it'll make its' way inside of discussions here and there whether others want it or not. not saying you haven't seen those kinds of things, but they are more likely to hold attention, because they are, for the most part, anomalies. focusing on the odd story is just natural, since normal stories are just more things that you can see everyday. for example, most nights that i decide to walk around my street, nothing happens around me, but a few nights ago, as i was coming home from the movies, two cars crashed 50 feet away from me, that's an event that is out of the ordinary, and as such, it garners more attention, and that's what i was getting at.

When there's a dark side, there's a good side, it's the principle of life, and the "dark" or "light" side is based on our own point of view

I do agree that violence, war, and politics can be classified as "Dark"........but it's not a reason we shouldn't talk about it, since every conversation has an answer, and the more the opinion, the easier we can draw a conclusion (at least)

 

These topics can be "Bad" or "Good" depending on your own belief.....,

But I'll always stay neutral and be objective to either......

[Snatch Steal]

I'm probably guilty of either super happy, super tragic, or both, but, I feel like I tried to make things interesting between the shark story, the knock offs topic, and such, but you might onto something here. Maybe more people would come here if it wasn't just bad news and politically charged arguments all the time.

 

The knock offs was a good thing for discussion, because it asked a question. People gave input, it was easy, didn't require too much reading, and gave some of us a laugh.

 

 

Exposing Iran is a smaller move in a larger game. Perhaps a critique of Islam as a whole. Those topics need to be there to show that there is a world outside of your bubble. You need that outrage and sorrow

 

 

And we've seen it. We've seen it a whole lot. We see it on the news, on other sites, sometimes even witnessing it for ourselves. Outrage and sorrow doesn't really quantify discussion, it just flings poo.

 

Also, it was an example. That was never an actual topic.

 

 

I'm sorry, but your bubble is gonna get popped one way or another

 

 

So why do we need to pop it here? This is a place for discussion, not moping about how the world is sheet. If we want news, we can look it up ourselves. 

 

You don't truely know something till you're inundated by it's vivid existance

 

And it's really gotten to that point. 

 

not everything can be fun, sometimes general gets the dark stuff. 

 

Edgy dude. 

I'm not discrediting the news stories, I'm just saying they don't have much of a place in General. The news story fad has gotten really old and kind of takes away from what General is really for: Discussion, not moping.

Also, participation on this site is voluntary, so everything should be fun in order to keep people coming.

 

because by nature, we look more at the tragedies than we do at the happiness. there's no discussion to be had about a firefighter rescuing a kitten, that's how the world should be, and it simply affirms that all is right in the world. on the other hand, ISIS, Daesh, and other extreme groups decapitating/raping/ beating their hostages shows us the darker side that we don't see as often, the negative incites more discussion, and personally, i think it's already at a good balance. yeah there are explosions in general at times, but really, would any of you actually come to general if it was all kittens and rainbows? there's no real in depth discussion in the happy posts, I'd still like more of them, because uplifting stuff's good for the heart after a long day, but hey, no matter if it's good or bad news nobody forces people to post, so the discussions are voluntary for the most part.

 

I specifically stated that happy posts aren't that good either, for this exact reason. 

YOUR nature could perhaps enjoy looking at tragedies, but particularly for me, I've seen tragedies my whole life, to this day, on the News and other media. We can get enough of it to choke a cow there, so why put it here? 

We see it all the time. This place shows it to us all the time. We get it, the world sucks. Can we move on?

 

 

This is my favorite kind of topic.......

 

When there's a dark side, there's a good side, it's the principle of life, and the "dark" or "light" side is based on our own point of view

I do agree that violence, war, and politics can be classified as "Dark"........but it's not a reason we shouldn't talk about it, since every conversation has an answer, and the more the opinion, the easier we can draw a conclusion (at least)

 

These topics can be "Bad" or "Good" depending on your own belief.....,

But I'll always stay neutral and be objective to either......

 

 

Well, okay.

The thing is, sometimes it doesn't generate much, other than "Oh, that's terrible!"

Because, really, what else is there to say? 

 

Heck, we could always just make a "News" subsection for stories like this. Then General could be based more around a topic as opposed to an article. The discussions would probably be healthier, or, if it isn't your cup of tea, then News could have the fiery political debates that these articles are known for generating.

[Mutant Monster RAEG-HAPYP]

I like the idea of a News subsection, tbh.

 

And yeah, if I wanted all those tragic and horrible news, I don't need to look far, as that's pretty much most news these days. Like I said, I have posted this kind of thing before, or I think I have, but still.

[vla1ne]

Edgy dude. 

I'm not discrediting the news stories, I'm just saying they don't have much of a place in General. The news story fad has gotten really old and kind of takes away from what General is really for: Discussion, not moping.

Also, participation on this site is voluntary, so everything should be fun in order to keep people coming.

it's called general, they have a place in there, because they are general stories. would you rather them be in misc? we saw how well that goes, people just meme things up and avoid any discussion altogether.

The users post the topics, you don't like the topics, it's easy as all hell to either not respond(ignore) and it's even easier to find topics that you think should be discussed and post them yourself. it's that simple. is somebody posts a darker topic, a moping topic, or any other topic of their choice, it's their choice, if you give attention to said topic, it's your choice, if you don't post topics of your own, then you don't have any say in what topics are and are not to be posted, barring the obvious things like porn and gore. this forum is made by it's users, be the change you want to see. from what i see here, you want things to change without actually changing them. I post topics once in a blue moon, if i wanted to change the tune of general, then i'd post my kind of topics, the same goes for you and everybody else.

 

this isn't an attack, it's just me being blunt.

 

 

. 

 

I specifically stated that happy posts aren't that good either, for this exact reason. 

YOUR nature could perhaps enjoy looking at tragedies, but particularly for me, I've seen tragedies my whole life, to this day, on the News and other media. We can get enough of it to choke a cow there, so why put it here? 

We see it all the time. This place shows it to us all the time. We get it, the world sucks. Can we move on?

never said happy topics weren't good, i said they don't generate as much discussion. i like happy as much as the next guy, but general speaks for itself. look at the threads that get the most responses, and you tell me what gets more discussions on average.

i also never tried to say that people enjoy tragedies, I said that tragedies, and generally controversial arguments get more attention, and like i said, look at the threads in general, they speak for themselves. but aside from all that, allow me to reiterate my main point again:"if people want more happy stuff in general, then the simple answer is to go out and find more happy stuff to put in general. " I'm not adverse to happy discussion if that's the intent, but there's no reason for anybody to act like something that's so easy to solve is in any way a problem.

[Aerion Brightflame]

We're working on a way to cut down on the amount of political arguments in this section right now, since yeah, it's not sitting well with us at all either to certain extents. (That, and some other ways to reform the section so it's more enjoyable for users, but still generates appropriate discussion)

 

How are you gonna do that without instituting a ban on them?

 

I can think of three ways, but none of them are especially good. And all of them threaten to kill the discussions.

 

Since honestly, yes the section is more charged than it used to be, and yes a lot of that is focused on politics, but where the funk else is room for discussion like that in this forum? It might be very shitty quality discussion and debates, but it's still the only place where ideas about matters that aren't YGO can really be discussed. Now yes, a lot of that is political arguments, but politics is an important thing to discuss in this day and age. If people do not want to take part in those kinds of discussions or find them uncomfortable, then they are under no obligation to do so. But we should still be able to discuss them when it's pertinent. 

 

If the issue is the political discussion is flowing into too many other places like the status bar (Despite me being guilty of this), then that is fine. It can be policed fairly well. But the political arguments in general have made this section more active than any time I can recall since I've been here. 

 

In effect; the ability to have a place for open discussion is a good thing. If this section is having this at a decent rate despite the fact that this site as a whole is fairly inactive, then I think it's better to just let this section be the place for discussion than the break the section apart into lower activity sections. 

[Snatch Steal]

it's called general, they have a place in there, because they are general stories. would you rather them be in misc? we saw how well that goes, people just meme things up and avoid any discussion altogether.

The users post the topics, you don't like the topics, it's easy as all hell to either not respond(ignore) and it's even easier to find topics that you think should be discussed and post them yourself. it's that simple. is somebody posts a darker topic, a moping topic, or any other topic of their choice, it's their choice, if you give attention to said topic, it's your choice, if you don't post topics of your own, then you don't have any say in what topics are and are not to be posted, barring the obvious things like porn and gore. this forum is made by it's users, be the change you want to see. from what i see here, you want things to change without actually changing them. I post topics once in a blue moon, if i wanted to change the tune of general, then i'd post my kind of topics, the same goes for you and everybody else.

 

By this logic, why are you posting here? You have just as much free will as I do. This logic of "if you don't like it, don't post in it" is clearly not exemplified by your posting to something you don't like.

 

I created an idea. I'm not expecting to wave my wand and create a perfect General, I--and several other users, in fact--think that General ≠ News.

Do you know why we have an Advanced Clause? Because someone decided that "nice card 10/10" was a shitty way to do things. Now, review quality is significantly better. This is an effort to make General based less around News. I even offered that we create a new section just for News, so it isn't eliminated entirely, because clearly some people do enjoy news.

 

 

never said happy topics weren't good, i said they don't generate as much discussion. i like happy as much as the next guy, but general speaks for itself. look at the threads that get the most responses, and you tell me what gets more discussions on average.

i also never tried to say that people enjoy tragedies, I said that tragedies, and generally controversial arguments get more attention, and like i said, look at the threads in general, they speak for themselves. but aside from all that, allow me to reiterate my main point again:"if people want more happy stuff in general, then the simple answer is to go out and find more happy stuff to put in general. " I'm not adverse to happy discussion if that's the intent, but there's no reason for anybody to act like something that's so easy to solve is in any way a problem.

 

 

If it's easy to solve, why are we having this discussion?

 

Looking at some of the more recent general topics, the ones that get the most attention appear to be the ones that are very discussion based and ambiguous, not based around an article. The ones that get the most attention seem to be well-constructed: The Bootlegs one, one about Summer, and Dreaming. The news stories get a couple replies, but nowhere near the other ones.

 

Clearly, according to these recent trends, the discussion-based inquiry topics clearly outdo news.

[vla1ne]

By this logic, why are you posting here? You have just as much free will as I do. This logic of "if you don't like it, don't post in it" is clearly not exemplified by your posting to something you don't like.

 

I created an idea. I'm not expecting to wave my wand and create a perfect General, I--and several other users, in fact--think that General ≠ News.

Do you know why we have an Advanced Clause? Because someone decided that "nice card 10/10" was a shitty way to do things. Now, review quality is significantly better. This is an effort to make General based less around News. I even offered that we create a new section just for News, so it isn't eliminated entirely, because clearly some people do enjoy news.

 because it's my choice to post here. i could have ignored it, but i chose not to. that's how this works. 

"The users post the topics, you don't like the topics, it's easy as all hell to either not respond(ignore) and it's even easier to find topics that you think should be discussed and post them yourself."

in other words, if you want to discuss the topic, then post in said topic. if you don't want to discuss, then don't post. the logic flows perfectly. i wish to discuss the topic at hand, so i posted. and you apparently wish to discuss it as well, considering you're the OP.

 

I told you exactly how the general (and by extension, all other section) threads work. post what you wish to discuss, discuss topics that you wish to discuss, and ignore topics you don't wish to discuss. I have a ton of opinions on the presidential thread, but i have no desire to post them because i don't feel like holding the discussions/arguments there. that's how this works. you talk where you want, and you don't talk where you don't want to. it's how activity works.  your proposed solution is to divide news and discussion to separate sections? meh, i don't quite care for dividing the sections up more than they already are, but go ahead, let's see how much it changes.

 

 

 

 

 

If it's easy to solve, why are we having this discussion?

 

Looking at some of the more recent general topics, the ones that get the most attention appear to be the ones that are very discussion based and ambiguous, not based around an article. The ones that get the most attention seem to be well-constructed: The Bootlegs one, one about Summer, and Dreaming. The news stories get a couple replies, but nowhere near the other ones.

 

Clearly, according to these recent trends, the discussion-based inquiry topics clearly outdo news.

because i just told you how to solve it. post what you want to see. if you don't want to, then that is your choice, but others are posting topics they wish to discuss, there's no reason to stop them from doing so. this discussion is just another example of what i stated earlier, you wanted to talk about this, and we are talking about this, that's how you have an effect upon general.

 

by your second comment, we can assume that general has already changed thanks to the topics changing. general speaks for itself. the topics that have been posted the most today have been more on the lighthearted side, so therefore, your desire's already being granted. see how easy that is? the topics of discussion belong to the people willing to go out and find them.

[MiracleGhost47]

I don't mind simple-answer posts. Would I like complicated posts more? I suppose that depends on how interested I am on the topic. I don't wanna read paragraphs of feedback from something I'm not that interested in when I could just look at the short summary. I think we need a mix of simple-answers and complex answers, or at least posts with "tl;dr".

[♪ ♪Aria ♪ ♪]

I don't mind simple-answer posts. Would I like complicated posts more? I suppose that depends on how interested I am on the topic. I don't wanna read paragraphs of feedback from something I'm not that interested in when I could just look at the short summary. I think we need a mix of simple-answers and complex answers, or at least posts with "tl;dr".

Simple Answers are more enthusiastic to read, while Complex Answers can be very interesting and provide useful information, so both are fine to me.....

[Halubaris Maphotika]

"Bad General Topics"

 

The severe irony in this title.

[Snatch Steal]

"Bad General Topics"

 

The severe irony in this title.

did you really have to bump this just to point out the title

 

I hope no one decides to reignite any passion they found in posting here