What's up with the Lounge Policing lately?

[Disch]

BHX just got on my (and others) case in another thread for "continuing to derail a topic" by talking about a tangent topic for ~25 pages. Maybe this wouldn't have bothered me so much... but coupled with LB's recent rant about Lounge behavior and what topics should and shouldn't be allowed... and with the number of reported posts that happen in here vs. in other areas in the forum... it's got me thinking.


What the hell, guys?

The Lounge is a place where we can dick around and talk about whatever. I can understand being strict on the programming forums where the threads are largely informative will actually contain stuff other people might use later... but for talking about nothing or having a never ending debate about theism.. who cares if it gets a little out of whack. It lets people blow off steam in a weird way and can be fun.

I was really enjoying that topic until people started butting in with "let this thread die" and similar posts.

If you don't like a Lounge thread, stay out of it. Don't piss on other people's fun just because you're not having any of it.



EDIT:

I should clarify I'm not intending to single out BHX here. He just happened to be one of the people in that thread... but he wasn't the only one. Nor was that thread the only one where I saw things like that happen.


EDIT 2:

Since it's more than 1 person... I have to consider the possibility that I'm in the minority on this one. Maybe you guys are right and I shouldn't be so casual here? Though I find it strange that the "lounge" isn't a place meant to be casual.

But am I in the wrong on this one?

[giblit]

Some of us don't really care for when a particular person is trying to convert us to their religion. Especially when it keeps popping up in our "my topics."

[edit] I tried ignoring the topic as much as I could but a certain somebody was getting on my nerves.

[Disch]

There was just as much (or more) trying to convert him to Atheism as there was him trying to convert us to Christianity.

[LB]

I changed my opinion in that recent thread by me, by the way.

[JLBorges]

Yes, I agree that 'The Lounge is a place where we can dick around and talk about whatever'. I find it somewhat unreasonable when that is, in effect, extended to: ''The lounge needs only one thread. We can dick around and talk about whatever in that one thread'.

Why can't we start a new topic for 'having a never ending debate about theism..'? And not usurp the topic where a member wanted to know: 'Adoption by Homosexual Couples - What's your opinion?' IMHO, hijacking a thread shows contempt for the person who started the topic. Why should the original debate have to be buried because some people now want to participate in another debate?

[helios]

Since it's more than 1 person... I have to consider the possibility that I'm in the minority on this one. Maybe you guys are right and I shouldn't be so casual here? Though I find it strange that the "lounge" isn't a place meant to be casual.

Meh. Regardless of whether or not a given topic is acceptable, no one was given mod powers to go around attempting to kill threads.

[Disch]

@JLBorges: It was a tangent discussion. It wasn't like the thread got intentionally derailed... the topic just naturally shifted.

It basically went like this:

"Do you think gays should be able to adopt kids?"
"No, I'm Christian and it's not right."
"What? You're Christian, but blah blah blah"
"blah blah blah"
-thread "derailed"-

[firedraco]

I think that the natural sliding of a topic into off-topic discussion shouldn't be considered an issue.

Just because a topic was created with a specific title doesn't mean that it has to remain on that forever. Like in real life, conversations may start with one topic but go on to others.

[Disch]

Topic drifting is just a small part of a larger issue though. It seems like there's more reporting/moderation going on in the Lounge than there are in other boards.

That just seems entirely backwards to me.

[JLBorges]

> It was a tangent discussion. It wasn't like the thread got intentionally derailed...

Agreed. I don't think anyone here was intentionally trying to derail a thread. It always starts as a tangent discussion.


> Like in real life, conversations may start with one topic but go on to others.

That is a false analogy. Conversations taking place between a small number of people in a closed-knit group may (often do) start with one topic but go on to others. The lounge is a public forum, for open, public debate and exchange of opinions.

[BHX]

I just went off because I'm (as cire puts it) mostly a Lounge bunny, but several members who were taking part in that thread had jumped my case for migrating topics to tangents of the main topic calling it thread derailing in past topics. So of course it made me mad to see members who jumped my case suddenly finding it perfectly fine that they were doing what I have been told not to do. Not to mention it seemed even more unfair when I thought about the fact that Fredbill was banned the first time for thread derailment when he mostly posted in the Lounge. So you can see where I started to see a double standard forming.

[Ispil]

I was just annoyed with most of the fallacious arguments from both sides. That, and I fail to see the point of arguing a topic to achieve nothing at all. Hell, nothing could even be learned from that thread's actual talking points concerning Christianity or Atheism. It was mostly the same straight-forward points made for decades, and it was getting quite annoying to read.

[Disch]

but several members who were taking part in that thread had jumped my case for migrating topics to tangents of the main topic calling it thread derailing in past topics

Yeah see... that's the kind of thing I'm talking about. I think everyone should just loosen up in the lounge.

[LB]

I'm kind of half-way between Disch and JLBorges here. Some people don't like the idea of excess tangent topics being spawned from each topic, and others don't like going on tangents within a single topic. I'm not really sure where middle ground is, but it's not at one of the edges.

[htirwin]

EDIT:

Mostly it's annoying because it's so far from being a real debate. It's a lot of repetition and circular logic. It could go on forever.

I think it's also a little bit that I am more sensitive because of the annoying never ending coverage of the missing airplane on the news.

[Mats]

When you have a real-life conversation, topics do change.
"Hey so the Clippers won against San Antonio the other day." //sport
"Oh yeah I saw, I was visiting LA the other day." //travel
"What were you doing there?" //question
"I was there for an air conditioning conference." //Business

So I don't see the reason for the lounge having such a strict policy of staying on topic.

[cire]

If you don't like a Lounge thread, stay out of it. Don't piss on other people's fun just because you're not having any of it.

For me, it's not so much not liking a 'thread' as it is not liking the people who are pissing on other people's fun just by... being themselves.

For instance, the "Good C++ Practices" thread is filled with pointless posturing and childlike personal exchanges that have no business in any public thread. The icing on the cake, as it were, is that the people who propagate those types of posts invariably contribute little to nothing in the programming forums.

The "If you don't like it stay out of it" argument doesn't really hold much weight with me. If I am to assess whether or not I'll care for a thread, I must peruse the thread. If I read a thread and don't like it, I have every bit as much right to post in the thread as anyone who reads it and enjoys it. In addition, the tendency to continuously evolve a thread's subject to tangential subjects makes early dismissal difficult. Who knows what the 22nd page of that thread will actually be addressing?

There is also no way to mark a thread/users to be ignored, which would go a long way towards satisfying my personal issues with the lounge (bunnies.)

[htirwin]

There is also no way to mark a thread/users to be ignored, which would go a long way towards satisfying my personal issues with the lounge (bunnies.)

Try this. Just post it in the web console and it will delete all posts on a given page authored by anyone in {"user1" , "user2", ...,"usern"}.

var ignored_users = new Array( "user1", "user2", ..., "usern" );
var html_source = document.documentElement.innerHTML;
var i = 0;
var message_id = "";

while (i < html_source.length) {

    if (html_source[i] == '<') {

        if (html_source.substring(i, i + 22) == '<div class="C_forPost"') {

            i += 27;
            var j = 0;
            while (html_source[i + j] != '"')
                ++j;

            message_id = html_source.substring(i, i + j);

            var found = false;
            while (!found) {
                if (html_source[i] == '<') {
                    if (html_source.substring(i, i + 18) == '<div class="dwho">') {
                        i += 33;
                        j = 0;
                        while (html_source[i + j] != '/')
                            ++j;

                        for (var k = 0; k < ignored_users.length; ++k) {
                            if (ignored_users[k] == html_source.substring(i, i + j)) {
                                var element = document.getElementById(message_id);
                                element.parentNode.removeChild(element);
                            }
                        }
                        found = true;
                    }
                }
                ++i;
            }
        }
    }
    ++i;
}

It is possible to use a browser extension to automatically run this script each time the page loads. If someone is willing to work that out, I can write a script to filter out threads as well.

Then again this seams a little harsh.

And it would be strange if different people had different sets of visible users.

[N36fSL3A]

BHX wrote:

Not to mention it seemed even more unfair when I thought about the fact that Fredbill was banned the first time for thread derailment when he mostly posted in the Lounge.

I do not know how this promotes your point.

[ResidentBiscuit]

I agree with Disch. It's the lounge, nothing wrong with topics going off on tangents.