Intellectual Discussion..not so intellectual anymore?

[Inagi]

I remember when I first came here, ID was FULL of really interesting stuff, that perked your brain really well.

I loved to post in that section.

But as time has grown on..it all seems to be rehashes of the same old stuff, and people flaming eachother for perfectly reasonable opinions.

I dunno, it just seems that ID has gone downhill from when I started here and now. :\

[Bleachfangirl]

When I was new, I loved it too. I kept wanting to make post because everything was so interesting. Things change...something will come along.

There are only so many topics to talk about that are considered intelligent. Most of now seems a bit like general chat stuff, but whatever. I suppose as long as they can discuss and argue (no flaming or negative repping though), it's still fine.

Eventually, something new will come along and it will be back.

[Neo Necron]

Not only that, but these days a lot of stuff which should be in ID ends up here in GC instead :/

[pulse]

It's probably partly just to general laziness on everyone's behalf; but also, there is a lot of flaming and not respecting others opinions that happens in those threads, and that can make someone weary, it's not by everyone it's normally just a select few but if I knew someone's going to attack your beliefs I just wouldn't post in ID at all.

So maybe it needs a different kind of moderating to it, but then for such topics that come out of it it's hard to always be diplomatic.

But anyway, the best way to solve this dilemma is just to make more new threads in ID.

[Violet]

That's one thing about message boards. I always see the same topics popping up over and over again. It makes it hard to post sometimes. People end up debating things in General Discussion topics anyways, I don't really see the need for an intellectual section unless you can come up with real out-of-the-box things.


OH and also, I'd like an intelligent discussion where you don't have to be paranoid about someone ripping your skin off for having a different opinion.

[ChloChloAriadne]

I dunno, Chef boy.

I think it's a bit of both, really.. I think that the quality of Intellectual Discussion topics has gone downhill a fair bit.. Without question, really.

But I think everybody thinks that after a while? Like.. After 6 months or so very similar topics get recycled, and we begin to hear similar points of view from everybody.. There's not much left to say after a while, I suppose.

Maybe that's it?

[Leviathan]

I too agree with the sentiments. I remember when people posted really long and in depth posts in ID and I was actually forced to read all of the replies in the thread before posting. Now people seem to write whatever they want despite the way the conversation is going.

[Jin]

It goes through cycles. Just like people get tired of naming their favourite final fantasy character, people also get tired of describing why they believe or disbelieve in God, just to have their opinion on a question that can't be answered vicsiously attacked by some idiot that thinks he or she has all the answers. Arguments turn into trench warfare about the most off topic things because people grow tired of circling around their points over and over again. Someone states his opinion and why, the other person states theirs and why. Most of the topics covered are subjective, so neither answer is wrong, but both parties thinks it's their duty to convince the other of their side. It circles and circles until someone slips up in a completely unrelated point and is attacked for it, starting a flame fest.

ID will pick up again and then once again die. It's the cycle of idiocy.

[Meier Link]

Arguments turn into trench warfare about the most off topic things because people grow tired of circling around their points over and over again. Someone states his opinion and why, the other person states theirs and why. Most of the topics covered are subjective, so neither answer is wrong, but both parties thinks it's their duty to convince the other of their side. It circles and circles until someone slips up in a completely unrelated point and is attacked for it, starting a flame fest.

ID will pick up again and then once again die. It's the cycle of idiocy.

havent been here for that long but i agree with the stated above.

i dont mind when people state their beleifs but cramming them down peoples throughts is just rediculous.

"ID will pick up again and then once again die. It's the cycle of idiocy"
ive seen this alot through other forums.

and i really dislike when people bash on other people calling them names just because they abriviate common words, or try to make them feel less educated for misspelling words (i do that alot).

it seems like people are more content bashing on each other then discussing the topic at hand. (i know i sound like a hypocrite because i'm bashing on people that bash on others)

[Walter Sobchak]

Teenagers only have so many things to talk about. Most of TFF isn't smart enough to have intelligent conversation, and the ones that are all agree with each other. There is only one smart poster on the right (Sasquatch), so that takes a lot away. There are only about four types of threads in Intellectual Discussion.

1. Anti-Christian threads, because no one can think of anything more constructive criticism.
2. Meaningless discussion, like circumcision or "the meaning of love". MM makes a lot of these.
3. Questions that no one knows the answers to, like life after death and aliens. Really, how far can you go with it?
4. There is usually a marijuana legalization thread once every few months.

In reality, its just a rehashing of things talked about for thousands of years. Also, a lot of the good posters left (Fragdemon, Casanova, Whitney, Merlin for the most part.) The biggest problem is the flaming, and the staff doesn't do anything about that.

It will only get worse once the American presidential nominees are decided.

[SOLDIER #819]

I am bored.

I don't think it's even really the repeated subject matter. With proper interest, any topic can seem exciting when you're talking to new people, and that may be what is lacking. Intellectual Discussion has never generated a large member base, and you basically end up talking about the same things with the same people without any large gaps in time. It boils down to the same meat you've had one too many times.

So if you want more interesting discussions, recruit more people who have the guts to stick through it.

[Angantyr]

I won't bore you with the details but simply put its not because the topics are getting repeated (They're more or less been discussed on a different angle).

The problem is all the good topics get ignored, maybe 1 or 2 replies but they never reach 2 pages (I have TFF set to show 50 messages at once, so thats a bit). As for flaming, yeah people get so egotistical to have a proper debate. Take the last thread I made about the Gods being Aliens, just turned into a huge shitfest... I won't point names but the whole thing was very disappointing and was something I was interested in looking at. It didn't need to happen but it did.

I used to see interesting threads (Don't look there anymore) which had decent conversations going on but they were quickly overwhelmed with the typical boring threads. I wouldn't mind an interesting one but thats just the way the cookie crumbles.

EDIT: Just looked in there now, by Thor's asshair's nearly every topic isn't worthy of the ID Forum.

[Pete]

I agree with James and Angantyr on this. We see the same couple of topics regularly, and after defending our own points of view to death, we grow tired of rehashing the same argument. In more than a handful of topics, I could copy and past from old posts to answer questions.

At the same time, it often becomes so petty that we find ourselves simply attacking each other because it was done to us or our beliefs. One thing I enjoy is a decent debate, but if I'm going to be attacked and given negative rep (oh the humanity!) for stating what I believe, then **** it. If a mature topic comes along, then yes, I'll gladly throw my two cents in, but if I'm going to be told that I'm crazy for my beliefs, and bashed for them, then I don't see a point in it. I think a lot of members feel the same way. It's one thing to ask me why I believe in God (or any other being/principle/etc), but it's another to call me insane or an asshole for it.

So in short, I feel that the two major issues at hand are a lack of interesting and new topics, and a lack of respect for other members and their opinions/beliefs.

[postalblowfish7]

i also had fun posting in this thread when i first joined. but after being incinerated by constant flaming (by certain unnamed neo-cons) i got fed up and just ignored this board altogether. people get real passionate here about unfounded opinions, and love to simply make up facts or weave intricate realities that support their warped, narrow-sighted weltanschauung. if that's the way you want to be more power to you, but i'm not about to listen to your petty arguments regurgitated directly from the fox news hellmouth.

the same flamers were also bashing my rep points because i didn't agree with them ideologically. **** that. i'd much rather talk about firrion and ffxiii then argue religion and politics with a bunch of 3rd graders.

so yeah, that's why i don't post here anymore and don't plan on posting here again. now-a-days all the topics seem straight out of a middle school year book anyways.

[Furore]

I tend to just see ID as a general chat expansion myself. Except there's a real gem every now and then. And the no one liners rule is enforced better which I tend to like too...
I can understand that some were put off by the negative rep, but I've also noticed that fewer people have had the balls to negative rep anyways due to us all now being able to see who gave which rep.

I think the main thing is just not to get too passionate about something. If someone's inflexible with their opinion on something, try to explain it but don't feel the need to make them see things your way. If everyone did see the world the exact same way, wouldn't things be more uniform and less interesting? Just take it all a little less seriously...