Direct me to the drama please

[Exhuminator]

Being passionate about something does not equate to being dramatic.

The civil war comment was at least a little dramatic.

I don't dislike anyone because they took a different point of view than me, especially if they took the time to try and explain it.

Maybe if we all were discussing these things together in a room in actual reality, rather than via a thread with text and all its limitations, the debates might prove more fruitful.

[marurun]

Man, this place is downright sedate compared to another board I frequent. I avoid the political thread like the plague there.

I concur. We may disagree, but most of us can do so without too much trolling or acrimony.

[Ivo]

But they're cool toys.

(Seriously, I buy Transformers every now and then, and have a few displayed in my office, 'cause duh. Transformers. My favorite? This guy.)

Is there also a Spidey transformer?

[jp1]

Being passionate about something does not equate to being dramatic.

The civil war comment was at least a little dramatic.

I don't dislike anyone because they took a different point of view than me, especially if they took the time to try and explain it.

Maybe if we all were discussing these things together in a room in actual reality, rather than via a thread with text and all its limitations, the debates might prove more fruitful.

Civil war?

On the other note, no doubt it would be easier to relate in person. Still, I don't hold a grudge over internet stuff. I am misunderstood by obviously intelligent people often. No reason to believe the reverse isn't a possibility.

[dsheinem]

I'm confused. Did Mike leave the site? I know he hasn't posted for a week or so, but now I see that his name is one I can't click on...and he doesn't show up on the list of members.

Frankly, given his personal insults directed towards me of late (and sporadically over the years, for that matter), I don't really mind seeing him go. Still, I am a little surprised that anything I've seen him involved with posting in the recent past would have been enough to push him out.

[Exhuminator]

Civil war?

A week ago J T said; "Get yourselves in check before there is a civil war." I thought it was a dramatic comment. To be fair though, we were all pretty excitable last week.

[J T]

My civil war comment was dramatic, I'll admit that. I didn't actually believe a civil war was just about to happen though. And to give context, as I mentioned at the end of that post, I had talked with some people at that time who actually were saying that they thought we should launch into a civil war and I said to them "wtf that's crazy."

[Forlorn Drifter]

I would hope that the... heightened tension as of late wouldn't have been enough to drive Mike off, but unless there's something I'm missing, we shouldn't make assumptions as there may have been another driver for him leaving.

I think the biggest problem in the "World" thread is that it is inevitably a thread for negativity, even if we're just going by the name of the thread. I think with the specific issues as of late, besides the general widening of the gap in politics on the US side of things, everybody is a both more defensive and more aggressive than usual due to whatever they have personally witnessed/experienced/dealt with in their personal lives and fear of what it might mean for interactions here. I'd like to think I've personally gotten better over the years, but with my past here in some of the politically related topics, I'm apprehensive to dive in or try to explain/mediate in the idea someone might dig something up from the past to use against me. I'm especially worried in cases for things I no longer believe, or things I've loosened on, or what have you.

I know for me personally, going on 21 years of most political discussions ending in "its not polite to talk politics" or myself being accused of being any or all of the following- "redneck, white trash, hick, inbred, stupid, religious extremist, racist, bigoted, backwards, voting against their own interest, non-empathetic, etc."- I have a really hard time trusting that anyone is going to take anything I say in good faith.

[jp1]

Civil war?

A week ago J T said; "Get yourselves in check before there is a civil war." I thought it was a dramatic comment. To be fair though, we were all pretty excitable last week.

Ah, I missed that one. Your side has all the guns anyway.

I would hope that the... heightened tension as of late wouldn't have been enough to drive Mike off, but unless there's something I'm missing, we shouldn't make assumptions as there may have been another driver for him leaving.

I think the biggest problem in the "World" thread is that it is inevitably a thread for negativity, even if we're just going by the name of the thread. I think with the specific issues as of late, besides the general widening of the gap in politics on the US side of things, everybody is a both more defensive and more aggressive than usual due to whatever they have personally witnessed/experienced/dealt with in their personal lives and fear of what it might mean for interactions here. I'd like to think I've personally gotten better over the years, but with my past here in some of the politically related topics, I'm apprehensive to dive in or try to explain/mediate in the idea someone might dig something up from the past to use against me. I'm especially worried in cases for things I no longer believe, or things I've loosened on, or what have you.

I know for me personally, going on 21 years of most political discussions ending in "its not polite to talk politics" or myself being accused of being any or all of the following- "redneck, white trash, hick, inbred, stupid, religious extremist, racist, bigoted, backwards, voting against their own interest, non-empathetic, etc."- I have a really hard time trusting that anyone is going to take anything I say in good faith.

Hey man, don't let anyone throw the past in your face. Reserve the right to change your opinions based on new experiences or better evidence, nothing is wrong with that. Personally, I appreciated your post and took it at face value.

Nothing wrong with being a redneck either. I know some really great guys who happen to be rednecks.

[fastbilly1]

Drama, drama, drama. So here is the thing, I have not been on the site for over a month due to work. I only came back on it today, because I got an email from my friend, mjmjr25 stating that he is gone from the site and asked me to delete his account. So after talking to Ack about this yesterday (who is going through unrelated work and health issues) and reading into the threads that caused these issues, here is what needs to be said.

All of you have different opinions and all of you are adults. So discuss your opinions like adults. There is no need for name calling. If someones opinion differs from you, talk to them about it. There is no reason to try to harm someone personally or professionally over something in a hobby forum. We all have thoughts that we are never going to change, get over it. We should be able to have a formal discussion about politics, without it coming down to calling other users Bigots. We have lost alot of good users over the years due to issues like this and to be honest, losing mjmjr25 is a pretty big blow to me personally being that he was one of my closer friends.

Furthermore its not like we are pumping out new content to bring in more users (on Something Awful we were downgraded from "needs no introduction" to "a definitive source on the introduction to retrogaming" to "a site with a bunch of best of lists"). The last thing this site needs to do is become more cliquish.

So to sum this all up, everyone needs to go back and read the rules for the site:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 22&t=19455

Of note:
- Always display a positive, friendly attitude
- Be respectful of others' opinions
- No personal insults. Direct personal insult of another member, i.e., "You are an idiot." and all the variations. Why? Because this isn't grade school.
Bottom line -- don't try to tick off others.

Like others have said, this is a super relaxed website (to again reference Something Awful if you post without content there you are banned, and there is a fee for your account), just get along. It is not that hard. If you have differing opinions on politics with someone, thats great, that is what makes the world go round. But at the end of the day, we all signed up here to because of a love of retrogaming (or to make fun of noise). So lets get back to it.