zoocrewphoto wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:27 am
Unfortunately, some people think that disagreement means bullying. I wish everybody would stay nice in their comments, but I don't think it gets bad that often. I can't remember if Pugsy was added as a moderator because of alphabet boy or the spam attacks, but it was a good idea, and Pugsy would have been my first choice and probably many people's first choice. She has done a great job.
I remember when I first started going online (back when it was newsgroups, before Netscape). I was taught that you have to have a thick skin. I was also taught yo read posts for a bit before posting, figure out how things go first. I don't think that things are any worse than back then. But people seem to complain a lot more.
what you've sparked something in me that i've been thinking about for some time. i'm hoping that i can word this so that what's in my mind will flow out of fingertips, making sense to others.
i don't think this can be categorized as "these kids these days". but i do think it's a change in what the internet has become as more folks come aboard and start using it. zoo, the time you talk of was when computers were pretty bulky. they were desktops. they were tethered to the wall by a phone line. one used that computer at night, after a days work. OR as it morphed into something that was used at work, well that's where one used it too. but only in limited amounts of time.
it was still the home computer where you did the bulk of web browsing. and you paid a lot for that privilege. it was more expensive, because you were paying for long distance connections, if you were connecting to hobbyist bulletin boards across the country. so you were separated by distance, money and time.
if you were having a discussion with someone, you kind of had to think over what was being said. after you had logged off, it might be sometime before you contacted that one person or persons you were exchanging messages with. you had more time for contemplation; more time to mull over what you were going to say. and also more time to digest what the other(s) said.
over time, we now have an internet that is "social media". we have the internet in the pocket computers that we call phones. (though hardly anyone uses them for telephones that you use for conversation by voice.) hell, i carry one too and it's very convenient. "where was that target store again?". do a search and get a map of directions!
i think this leads to a lot of down time being filled by us with checking those messages, here or facebook or wherever you hang out. and you see AT ONCE all of the injustice being perpetrated and you, of course, have to answer that RIGHT AWAY. and then check it ten minutes later to see if that *sshole has decided to respond.
there's no time to calm down and consider the other person's point of view. it's down to a zero sum game. i'm right. you're wrong. now, die in a fire.
am i guilty of this? more than i like to admit. i'm not typing this on a phone. i'm home on that desktop computer. but i no longer work for a living. i find myself with time on my hands. and there are days when i keep coming back here, multiple times a day, just to see what the current outrage is.
i know it's not healthy and i try to knock it off and go outside.
and sometimes i DO that, sometimes i don't.
anyway, not trying to be the old man who yells at clouds. not saying it's those damned kids who are ruining it.
i'm just someone who is trying to get on with my life.
I've done a whole lot of erasing in the years I've been here, but there have been a handful of times a cooling off period might have left me feeling better about what I'd said or not said. As to locked threads, I've been here 13 years and can remember maybe 3 until recent months. KnightSleeper, I'm sorry you were misinformed. If someone told you there was a pattern of locked threads going on for five years, they gave you misinformation as to the timeline.
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