Seems like ALL my right wing friends have left.. What happened?
Hello:
We had people like Delivering the Truth, Salt and Pepper, ITguy, the Austrian, deaves, camel, soeng, the old Surfer dude, and lots of others.. Now, there's only the Trumptastic person..
Seems like you're a part timer these days. But, even if you're not, it doesn't explain the mass exodus of right wingers.. I think Rosie and I scared 'em away..
I have been more of a part timer lately. It gets busy this time of year. And truthfully a person gets tired of answering....."no, I am not a racist, sexist, alt right nationalist, xenophobic, ........etc because of my support for Trump. "
I hope you take a little mental breather only because I feel a lot better myself when I do that. Just stand back a bit like you are right now and take a few deep breaths. You are passionate and thorough in trying to answer everyone who speaks to you. I used to be like that a zillion years ago, I get it. Take a deep breath, you deserve it.
Hi Excon I'm still here but I must admit left wingers have thin skins and have to be treated with kids gloves, we right wingers never would have cried if Trump lost other than say crooked Hillary cheated or some other name that would have upset you whiners on the left. I hope you don't spend the next four years whining about the loss , will you admit it when you see Trump do good?
TBH, it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't like the atmosphere and left. I did get a number of complaints about how liberal the site is. *shrugs* When people complained, I always said I wasn't going to censor opinions. They could have fired off 20-30 questions in a day too... nothing was stopping them. But, yeah, I heard repeatedly from some people that I needed to rein in the discussions to make it more welcoming. I don't specifically remember any discussions I had with the people you mentioned, but I do know I had similar talks with several. The only person I know of on the list is Camel and he is more or less a gypsy. His net comes and goes, so I'm sure he'll be back.
*If* these folks have left because they didn't feel welcome, I don't think it's something to be proud of though. How will we (collective) grow without people challenging our thoughts and ways of thinking? Every yin needs a yang or we'll all be sitting here patting ourselves on the back thinking about how wonderful we are... which is great, I guess, if one never has the wish to become more.
Some people who have gone dormant made my head want to explode at times, but in a good way. Hopefully they start to come back. I don't like conflict, but I do like critical thinking and trying to understand others.
That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Asking the administration of Q&A, opinion, or polling site to reign in the questions and opinions of people because they challenge their views.
I don't think it was ever phrased quite that way. It was more along the lines of site activity leaning a certain way that some people felt it would push out those with different opinions. From that aspect of it, the statement was probably generally accurate... If people are arriving on a site that leans one way, your average conversationalist isn't going to jump into a "shark tank." You'll only get a handful of very strong-willed people and even they will grow tired of it over time. So, there was some logic in the idea, but I obviously wouldn't shut down discussions as a solution to that problem. Instead, I just suggested that the people who took issue with it create more discussions that suited them to balance it out.
Agreed; I like a debate... to share and counter share ideas and thoughts.. Mind you, if you don't mind me saying so, (just expressing an opinion) there were some who had no interest in debate and chose instead to belittle in lieu of putting forward opinions and points..
Yea but you can't debate with someone who has no vocabulary or ideas and who just spouts abuse and personal insults.. It doesn't address the issue at all... lol rest assured it doesn't upset me.. and i am not offended by being called names.. but it does ruin a perfectly good debate.. and as JA said..you cannot learn much from someone who just spouts hatred and illogic..
True, but with the right attitude you can have great laugh at their expense. I guess it depends how funny you find the ignorantly absurd though. I rather enjoy watching people have breakdowns over silly things.
The again my primary purpose is to escape constant debates and just have fun conversations, create jokes, and shoot the chit with people from different places with different experiences. Some debate and deeper discussions, but that's not the primary purpose. It's droll and boring quick to me. Plus so much intent and context gets lost in typed word so much of the time it becomes about explaining the context.
All good points... lol I am trying to find reasons to disagree so i can turn this into a deeper debate that can go on and on :P but I cant :P I guess my purpose *IS* to debate... I like just normal chit chat and love getting to know people, but I am a joker in real life.. I am known for it...want a witty quip, come to me.. so I suppose I am looking for something to keep the old brain active.. something to think about, to research and to have a bit of a verbal thrust and parry over... I very often play devil's advocate just so I can get a bit of a debate going... for me it's practicing using language and stretching the old brain a bit... so while I don't get upset by it, I do get disappointing when the other person just resorts to personal insults... It ruins a good debate
Oh, I knew they didn't LIKE the abundant posts, but I didn't know they officially complained about them. I thought right wingers LOVE free speech.. No, huh?? Especially when it's SOOOO easy to skip the posts you don't like..
They're probably looking for echo chambers, where there's no back and forth, and they get SUPPORT for their opinion.. How boring would THAT be?
Were I looking for echo chambers, you and I would NEVER have spent hours going back and forth. You confuse LOSING a debate with being shut OUT of a debate..
excon
This post was edited by excon at December 7, 2016 10:35 AM MST
Sure we don't agree on lots of things. I never felt unwelcomed or pushed by you or anyone here though. On the other hand we're both what some may say are "rough around the edges". That might bother some others more than it does me because of that similarity.
To be clear, I wasn't speaking about anyone you mentioned by name. As far as I know, those folks never lodged any complaints, but I can say that "too liberal" was something I heard more than once.
I think we all want to feel like we belong somewhere, so it's understandable that some people would move along if every time they logged in they were met with a wall of dissenting opinions... especially if they're more geared towards bashing the opposition rather than constructive discussions and critical thinking. So much about the discussions this year related to how the other side was wrong, not about how to make things better. I wonder if the discussions had been reframed to be more inclusive and inviting of different opinions if it would have made a difference.
Not sure I'm what you would consider a "right-winger." I have been off awhile recently. I've just had a particularly hectic rl of late. Wasn't anything lacking on the part of this site or the users, rest assured :)
my2cents 