Chase, what is the off topic forum for?

[Cacc]

I'm gonna put a freeze on this topic before it gets janky.

So far I think everyone here has been mostly pretty respectful / seems to be arguing their sides in good faith. Thank you for that, gents, and it's a credit to the boards.

However, a public discussion about inflammatory political issues that aren't related to the subject of the boards isn't doing anyone any good. It's only a matter of time before someone gets upset, someone else invokes Godwin's law, and the thread explodes into something causing headaches all over the boards.

Anyone who wants to debate race issues or other hot button political issues that are not related to improving yourself as a man or getting better with women or building an awesome lifestyle, either do it in private via PM (so long as the conversation is civil and you aren't dogging the other guy about something he doesn't want to discuss) or go to a place like "Change My View" on Reddit (just found this the other day. Pretty high level of discussion there. They have a "popular topics" section that has a directories for all the hot button issues, including one on race).

If you really want to talk about race on GC, there's a place for that, but it needs to be related to one of the points of the site (i.e., you're not opening the topic just to stir the pot or get a rise out of people).

Chase

"For discussion of ALL things outside the topics of the other boards." That's what it says under the "Off Topic" Headline before you click on it. It doesn't say, "For discussion of off topic things that still relate to what the site is about."

Additionally, there was a Trump post awhile back before he won the Presidency with about 3x as many replies, even yourself commented on it MULTIPLE times, and so did Franco.

This is the girlschase boards where smart, intelligent folk gather; who's going to get all emotional and start throwing purely insults? This isn't reddit...

This is your boards and you can regulate it whichever way you wish,

but why the censoring?

 

[trashKENNUT]

Cacc,

Because people get retarded. People get upset. If a guy likes Zac, who is willing to put down his own ego and discuss real issues

And really listen, and still get stood up. You learn people are just retarded in general, and they don't mind getting people fucked, as long as it is not them who is paying.

Anyway, summary of it

JUST SEE MY OLD POSTS, THERE IS MANY AD HOMINEM. IMAGINE IF IT IS THE RACISM TOPIC, TSK TSK

All flying in for 'no reason' = (Cognitive dissonance/causality)

Kk, enough tooting my own horn. I write like shit, too.

Zac

 

[Chase]

Cacc-

The topic you started veered off your OP and into "Is race real?" Which is just one of the nastiest forum-killer topic out there, where everybody decides who's on what team and hates all the folks on the other team ever-onward.

However... I'm not a perfect reader of these things. So I've put a poll up for guys to vote: do the members of the GC boards want to be able to discuss whether race is real or race is skin deep, or are we better off leaving that to all the other websites on the Internet and keeping this place free of that drama?

I realize when you get immersed into politics it can seem like this is the most important thing in the world, and anywhere that won't let you talk about it is censorship. But not everything is appropriate in all places and all contexts; arguing race after hours once your Bible study lets out or your statistics class hits the bell might feel important to you, but there's a very good chance it is only going to piss off or irritate everyone else there. Instead, you save it for happy hour, or private conversations with friends, or whatnot.

Anyway, in case I am wrong and the boards disagree, there's a poll up on this now.

Chase

 

[Cacc]

I realize when you get immersed into politics it can seem like this is the most important thing in the world, and anywhere that won't let you talk about it is censorship. But not everything is appropriate in all places and all contexts; arguing race after hours once your Bible study lets out or your statistics class hits the bell might feel important to you

Not sure if you were trying to take a crack at me there. This topic isn't as big a deal to me as you think. I had something
on my mind at the time and started a thread to hear a discussion. It helps me shape my worldviews into something that makes more sense.

There isn't a reason for me to vote because I got what I wanted out of the thread. I just found it very odd that it got
frozen when plenty of other political threads haven't. Which is probably because I didn't think it was as big a deal as it might be
for others.

I can see why it is a lot more toxic than other topics might be. I still think people should just toughen up... But I agree
when people look at a thread like that it probably kills the mood and gives off negative energy. Which isn't how I felt nor
my intention, but alas.

 

[Chase]

Cacc-

No, I was not trying to take a crack at you there.

We occasionally get guys who start rabble-rousing on the boards asking deliberately provocative questions. Sometimes they're just trolls, but I know you're not that. Sometimes they are guys who get sucked into something and want to talk about something everywhere, because they view it as very important to discuss. I didn't know if that was you or not, and was trying to think "How do you explain this to someone who maybe has decided this is a very important topic in dire need of discussing, and that anyone who doesn't agree is in that 'Part of the Problem' box?"

I agree, people should toughen up. I'd also much prefer a world where people can speak plainly to one another without getting hurt or upset. That said, text also happens to be a uniquely bad medium for sensitive conversations, due to the dearth of social signals in the medium (you can't use facial expressions, voice tone, etc., to convey that you aren't attacking someone), and due to the way people communicate - they build these big long replies they get more and more invested in as they write, without getting feedback from others as they write them. It's easy for guys to get extreme very quickly over text, and at that point they start alienating each other. More discussion of that here: Email: Not for Important Conversations. When that happens in forums, you can get lingering bitterness.

But I agree when people look at a thread like that it probably kills the mood and gives off negative energy. Which isn't how I felt nor my intention, but alas.

Exactly, yeah. That's the thing. It's not like a conversation with friends, where you talk about it and it's done and now it's past. With a forum thread, it's a piece of writing, and others will come and read it and get inflamed, long after the writing is done. And then they will type out their replies, and others will feel drawn back in and feel the need to respond.

So you have a balance to maintain. "How inflammatory a topic can we allow on XYZ subject before we have to pull the plug?" We pull the plug on other inflammatory things too - guys get too crazy talking about how it's all looks, or all muscles, or all about being a white guy, or all about being a young guy, or whatever it is. If it starts to veer into "This thread is becoming a distraction", we'll usually try to moderate it out. The general opinion being "There are tens of millions of websites people can go to piss each other off at; we want this to be one that's calm, chill, positive, and personal improvement oriented."

Chase