Anyone else feel like we should skip antagonistic threads?

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo I'm still looking for the setting in our moderator tools that will default the font color for a poster to white.

Or Latino or Asian?

[frayne]

People neither have to click on the thread, read it or comment on it. IMHO, it is kind of like the boob tube, you can always change channels, turn it off or simply walk away. I believe for the most part we are all adults. Little offends my sensibilities at this point in my life.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords Or Latino or Asian?

No, white!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa It's not about disagreement, it's about gratuitous antagonism, shades of racism, and other elements which add nothing positive to the discussion.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Quote:

Do I have a second?

YES!

Discussion groups go through many phases of growth and change. This one migrated from the "bunch of reasonable folks in a coffee shop" to the "nightclub" stage where with a few bouncers, except for an occasional drunk everyone minds their p's and q's to the next level...and i'm not sure what to call it but I havent seen a lot of luck with the "y'all be nice now" approach. Many boards at this size and volume just ban threads on race, politics and religion.

Of course, you have to go through the "y'all be nice" stage until it becomes obvious that a handful of buttheads have no intention of complying.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo No, white!

Almost too subtle for me!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well this forum doesnt let you size text down to the nearly unseeable, which was a great feature of the old forum. So white text it is.

Maybe we change the forum default for all users to white, so we have to highlight only what we want to read?

[ERD50]

Well, just my humble opinion, but please, let's not get *too* politically correct around here. Let's be adults.

Personally, I thought the buttermilk thread was hilarious! IMO, not only was OAP at his 'eccentric' best, but if you actually read what he said, there was nothing 'racist' in it - the mention of ethnicity added a bit of authenticity to his deconstruction of the pronunciation. And he was careful to balance it later with a story of a race that it is apparently OK to describe as obese. I found it encouraging that the PC police didn't jump on it (maybe they have by now).

Now, I don't read every thread anyhow, but I *did* skip over that Mexican/drunk/driving thing. Something about that just screamed 'nothing good can come from this' - but, I didn't read it so maybe I'm wrong. My loss then, but I'll take my chances.

So, bottom line, it's kind of a tough call. But I would agree, a thread started just to rile things up (unless it's a positive type riling up) should be discouraged.

Which probably doesn't help one bit - but there, I said it.

-ERD50

PS - Hey - what happened to the 'A new post has arrived while you were posting feature'!!??

[Sam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 Personally, I thought the buttermilk thread was hilarious! IMO, not only was OAP at his 'eccentric' best, but if you actually read what he said, there was nothing 'racist' in it...

I agree. I'm so glad you said it first. I wanted to, but did not for fear of missing something racist in the thread. So I went back and read it a couple more times. I couldn't find anything racist.

So I'm at a loss as to why the buttermilk was mentioned several times here

[cute fuzzy bunny]

For the record, the buttermilk thread wasnt that offensive to me. A little racial stereotyping and making fun of fat people and how some people talk but in fitting with the OP's sense of humor, I didnt have a big problem with it.

I can do without the racist 'mexican' threads and the 950th thread on iraq.

[calmloki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam I agree. I'm so glad you said it first. I wanted to, but did not for fear of missing something racist in the thread. So I went back and read it a couple more times. I couldn't find anything racist. So I'm at a loss as to why the buttermilk was mentioned several times here

Ooo Ooo! I know! It was the dialect! And this from someone who thinks that they control their native racism. I'm telling you (generic you) - take the Harvard test in my racism post - it's quite enlightening. And dang it - I enjoy some dialect - it adds flavor to jokes.

[bright eyed]

i've certainly heard conversations in restaurants or coffee houses that were in the same vein - but of course the person or group being made fun of was not either in the room or in the group - often loudly discussing it. on the internet you never know who is in the room - but we have the luxury of relative annonymity here...

perhaps a rule of thumb is - if you were standing in a room full of (whatever group or individual) would you feel so footloose and fancy free to launch into rawkus laughter and poke fun of their speech patterns? give it a try...and let me know how it goes

[OldAgePensioner]

Sam, and ERD50, thanks. I'm not sure that was the thread CFB was referring to because he actually has seen the same and posted such.

I put it out there because the people were anonymous and it was exactly as it happened. But it does look as if we have closet types who want to make themselves seem perfect by falsely accusing and it's very clear that I neither attack a race or sexual orientation, simply told a funny story in a light-hearted way. Made a few laugh.

Guarantee it won't happen again cause the door just hit me in the ass. Happy moderators all around.

(Gonna stay around a few more minutes to send a few PMs with a private, anonymous email to stay in touch with a few. Won't mention names so I don't taint anyone)

[Sarah in SC]

Yeah, OAP describes my home state with great accuracy, I'm afraid. The diabetes epidemic along with strokes and other obesity related illnesses are well known to us in the South, and I took his thread to be just confirmation of what I see every day. I took no offence to OAP, because I know he's been out West, where there are just skinny people (and no one who drinks buttermilk for breakfast, for a long time!

Sarah

[Sam]

calmoki, what are you talking about?

[cube_rat]

So let me break down what comes across as racist is the buttermilk post, kay? How about desribing and pronouncing words on how an African American from the south may speak? Sort of like someone would write out how a Mexican person may pronounce "chicken" or "cheat" which would sound like "shicken" or "sheet". Actually the worst part of that particular post is poking fun at the morbidly obese. It's NOT a funny issue. It's an alarming issue, yes, but not funny.

I'm not morbidy obese nor am I fat, in fact I'm a health/excersise fanatic. I can't imagine the shame and self hatred a morbidy obese person with an obvious food addiction problem goes through on a daily basis. Try having people laugh at you as you're walking down the street, breaking chairs or not being allowed on an airplane. Food addiction is no different from alcholism, drug or sex addiction. They each have the same circle of self hate, loathing component that drives them to continue with their drug/poison of choice.

Have a little freaking compassion!

[Sam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldAgePensioner Sam, and ERD50, thanks. I'm not sure that was the thread CFB was referring to because he actually has seen the same and posted such.

No, it wasn't CFB. I think it was brighteye who mentioned buttermilk, and Martha who mentioned obese (which I translated - incorrectly I hope - into buttermilk).

[Sam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cube_rat So let me break down what comes across as racist is the buttermilk post, kay? How about desribing and pronouncing words on how an African American from the south may speak? Sort of like someone would write out how a Mexican person may pronounce "chicken" or "cheat" which would sound like "shicken" or "sheet".

I totally disagree with you. You can call it racist if you want. I make fun of my kids' American accent all the time when they speak Vietnamese, and they make fun of my Vietnamese accent when I speak English.

[retire@40]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GatorBuzz I've used countless forums. I've seen this handled mostly in two ways, which are 1) starting political threads with a title similar to "POLITICAL: Illegal Immigration" or "RELIGION: Pope's Comments on Islam," or 2) have a forum specifically dedicated to political or contentious topics such as religion, politics, or in my neck of the woods, football.

But you would still have to look at all those topics even though you may not click on it to view the thread.

One deficiency in this forum software is that there is no "ignore thread" option. You see a thread you don't like, you click on the "ignore thread" box and that thread never appears again when you click on "new posts."

That would solve a lot of problems.

[Sam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by retire@40 One deficiency in this forum software is that there is no "ignore thread" option. You see a thread you don't like, you click on the "ignore thread" box and that thread never appears again when you click on "new posts."

Yes, that and improve the current "ignore list" feature, so that the threads started by the ignored never show up in the first place. Call that new feature "Total invisibility" !

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam No, it wasn't CFB. I think it was brighteye who mentioned buttermilk, and Martha who mentioned obese (which I translated - incorrectly I hope - into buttermilk).

Its okay, i'm the lightning rod. I'm used to it. Keeps me from spending a lot of money on hair gel.