This Board Feels Like High School — Page 2

I agree with Spider.

I think the Board is like High School, but in a different manner than has been discussed.

Many around here do not disagree with a poster's opinion--instead they attack the poster; many trash other people's threads in the spirit of "fun," members band together in cliques just like children do at a High School playground.

What's unfortunate is that it's all so unnecessary.

People should be able to ENJOY their chosen hobby at an Internet Message Board WITHOUT dodging all the obstacles I have just mentioned.

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Well yeah, the point of the random thread is to be completely random--bring up anything on your mind! It's not limited to age range or hussy status!

so gimme your lunch money, bitch.

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Oh come here, Wolfie, I'll teach you the proper ploys when you talk to boys. La la la la.

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I think it's good that some of the special interest threads have taken hold....the smoking thread, the angst thread, the Adam Pascal thread.... Special little cultures have developed in each of them by virtue of people having a common denominator of interest. And I suspect that some online friendships have arisen in the process.

In general interest threads, the problem crops up when two or three "friends" come in and hijack the thread for their own purposes and start treating the thread like a chat room or having private (as in "no one else is welcome" discussions) that should be taking place via PM. Nothing kills a thread faster than when two or three people start conversing with each other in a thread when it's NOT about the topic. I enjoy the rapid fire witty exchanges that take place from time to time, but there is a lot of posting that is of no interest to anyone but the two people involve. I think of it as narcisistic posting...that goes on because the posters seem to think they look cool. I usually find it either boring or obnoxious, and stop reading the thread.

spider, I think that you perceive the clique thing to be more restrictive than it is.... I associate you, vaguely, with certain other posters on this board because you tend to always join in discussions with those people (and the same can probably be said about me), but I would never hesitate to add something to the discussion if it was of interest to me. I don't see you as being part of a clique that I'm not allowed to interact with. But by the same token, I'm not going to wander into the angst thread or the Adam Pascal thread, because I don't belong there... does that make sense?

Some of the ugliness invariably arises when a new poster shows up..which should be a good thing... but charges in and tries to "take over" by dominating discussions either with an attitude of authority or by sheer volume of posts...without getting the lay of the land first. I'm not targeting any one person here. There is always someone fitting that description, and occasionally they pull it off, but more often than not, it is just plain irritating.

Okay. That's my Saturday morning and I haven't had coffee yet ramble. A little disjointed, maybe, but honest thoughts on the topic at hand.

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I like that analogy. Better than my interpretation, actually.

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papa - within the realm of my 'party' scenario, why do I picture you as the man at the bar with a martini and a pipe telling off-color political jokes?

If that's the case, pop, then perhaps you could explain why I feel like you're out in the backyard in the dim lighting enjoying a 'smoke' with some of our other regulars?

pop - I only think that because I wander out myself, occasionally

ck - at least in my party, you are always more than welcome!

I must say I get along better here than at most parties.

Then again, at my age people's ideas of parties involve darkness, lots of alcohol, and extremely loud music. Not much room for real conversation there.

I don't know, my HS wasn't overly clique-y but I don't know where I would be put on the boards because I haven't been here much at all lately.

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I'd love to attend one of DGrant's parties. I'd be the one in the corner, hanging on to every word spoken by D and Margo. (Naturally I'm assuming that you wouldn't have a party if Margo wasn't there!)

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