Skeptics

[Guest DWA]

I have just laid out circumstances under which, by Forum rules, it is.  Sorry.

This situation can be fixed.  The solution to falling down a rathole is not to.  It's pretty obvious that it is unacceptable to a lot of thoughtful people that thread after thread goes down that rathole because of...well, condescension by people who don't get that an open mind is what forums like this are about.

[dmaker]

" I have just laid out circumstances under which, by Forum rules, it is.  Sorry."

 

Sorry, wrong again. There is nothing in the rules that says it's against the rules to not believe in Bigfoot. It does say if you don't have preconceived notions, etc, that you will find a decent discussion, but it hardly says it's against the rules to not believe. 

 

Could you please expand on your statement and explain which rules you think are being broken and how?

 

 

 

"...condescension by people who don't get that an open mind is what forums like this are about."

 

I do love irony.

Edited November 29, 2013 by dmaker

[the parkie]

^^ Or you could, you know, stop being so condescending all the time.....just a thought.

I would suggest that this was a "quick and inflammatory response" by yourself just a few minutes ago.

Does this break the rules as you see them?

[dmaker]

Not at all. I find many of his statements to be condescending. I don't see where it's against the rules to point that out. I'm not attacking him personally, I am merely pointing out that his comments come across as condescending, particularly when he says things like any reasonably intelligent person would believe such and such...or when he refers to himself as a teacher and the rest of us as his students. I find those comments condescending and infuriating and was pointing that out in an attempt to be helpful and curb some of the conflict here since comments like those get my back up pretty quickly.

Edited November 29, 2013 by dmaker

[the parkie]

You didn't say you found his argument condescending, you said you found him condescending.

You are attacking the arguer, not the argument. I thought that was against the rules?

[dmaker]

How can his argument exist separate from him? You're nitpicking words.  It's not like I called him names, or insulted his intelligence or something. Condescending, while negative, is not an insult. It's how his comments come across to me. 

[Guest DWA]

^^^Ding.  That.

 

If the arguer and the argument are inseparable, the Forums' rules allow attacking the arguer.

 

They don't.

 

OK, off to greener pastures until we move farther along the discussion advocated by Norseman.  It's clearly time when a key poster (bipto) indicates that the tone of discussion may send him away.

Edited November 29, 2013 by DWA

[dmaker]

So when you say that any reasonably intelligent person would agree with you, you are not stating that everyone who disagrees with you has less than a reasonable level of intelligence? Is that not an attack?  Two can play that game. 

 

I'm not trying to throw the rule book at you. Not my job. I'm simply saying threads could go down a lot smoother if you were to ratchet back your tone sometimes and accept the fact that there are opinions contrary to yours. Dismissing people as trolls or less than reasonably intelligent is not going to help this situation.

[the parkie]

"You are condescending" is different from "I find that argument condescending".

The latter is attacking the argument, the former is attacking the arguer and is designed to provoke and therefore inflammatory.

My understanding was that this is against the rules - If I am wrong and a moderator would like to correct me please do so as if the rules are open to interpretation in this way then perhaps they should be clarified?

You state that you cannot take your endless argument with DWA to the Tar Pit, have you considered taking it to PM or starting a new thread when the existing thread descends to an endless argument between the two of you? Whilst not in the rules, it would certainly be polite and courteous to the original poster and others trying to have meaningful debate around you.

[salubrious]

Gentlemen.

 

Its pretty obvious that you all know the forum rules. If I can offer a bit of advice:

 

Use the report button- the report button is your friend. The moderators watch a lot of threads but its quite a task to follow all of them. That is what the Report Button is for.

 

In the meantime this thread is locked while the moderators are working out what next, and to give some time for cooling off.