Rant: Caring more about politics than baseball

[jim]

Why can't people who don't want to discuss politics just not click on politics threads? Is that harder than clicking, throwing a fit because people have strong opinions that disagree with theirs and then leaving in a huff? Come on, guys.

Starting with the SECOND post of the Scalia thread - not second page - second POST - was celebratory stuff. There is some editing but I still see champaign on post 3. And if you were to be interested in the politics thread because of some of the thoughtful posts, you have to dance around all sorts of bull [expletive].

Hogwash, hissy fit - that's a good strategy though. It's their fault.

[Cheddar Tom]

I think the tone of Baseball Talk is way worse than Social at the moment....I guess I don't have the same issues Jim is experiencing. I believe I agree with Vidor on many political things but we butt heads in Baseball Talk. At the same, I believe I have many differences with BW23 in politics, but I find him to be one of the most insightful posters in Baseball Talk and find myself agreeing with him almost all the time. Can't think of one time my agreement/disagreement with someone in social affected our discussions in Baseball Talk. And why should it? I do not take political stances so personally that I'm going to avoid replying/agreeing/disagreeing with someone in BT all because we disagree about politics. That's crazy!

If you can't compartmentalize some of this stuff, I don't think an online community is the right place for you.

[jim]

I just know that in the past if you said "Brick layin' lesbians", you would have had to clean that up. Not now. That's a clue.

We should also get rid of those compartmentalized people. So the crazies, the hogwash people, the hissy fit throwers, and who else we got? Who am I missing?

[go birds]

the difference between the baseball threads and the political threads is that in the end we all root for the same team.

cant say that about the political threads.

there is absolutely no way to have a civil discussion regarding politics between people on different sides of the aisle.

but thats how it is in real life as well. at least with GRB you can avoid it if you try.

[thrill]

Why can't people who don't want to discuss politics just not click on politics threads? Is that harder than clicking, throwing a fit because people have strong opinions that disagree with theirs and then leaving in a huff? Come on, guys.

Starting with the SECOND post of the Scalia thread - not second page - second POST - was celebratory stuff. There is some editing but I still see champaign on post 3. And if you were to be interested in the politics thread because of some of the thoughtful posts, you have to dance around all sorts of bull [expletive].

Hogwash, hissy fit - that's a good strategy though. It's their fault.

So I post an opinion and then you immediately dismiss it with a condescending tone. That sounds very similar to the very behavior you dislike in certain other posters.

[jim]

Why can't people who don't want to discuss politics just not click on politics threads? Is that harder than clicking, throwing a fit because people have strong opinions that disagree with theirs and then leaving in a huff? Come on, guys.

Starting with the SECOND post of the Scalia thread - not second page - second POST - was celebratory stuff. There is some editing but I still see champaign on post 3. And if you were to be interested in the politics thread because of some of the thoughtful posts, you have to dance around all sorts of bull [expletive].

Hogwash, hissy fit - that's a good strategy though. It's their fault.

So I post an opinion and then you immediately dismiss it with a condescending tone. That sounds very similar to the very behavior you dislike in certain other posters.

You didn't post an opinion, you lectured. "... leaving in a huff. Come on, guys".

That's lecturing. So I responded in kind.

[jim]

Come on, guys is condescending too. Moderators should try not to be condescending. That's why I got out of that business, I can't do that.

[Cheddar Tom]

Why can't people who don't want to discuss politics just not click on politics threads? Is that harder than clicking, throwing a fit because people have strong opinions that disagree with theirs and then leaving in a huff? Come on, guys.

Starting with the SECOND post of the Scalia thread - not second page - second POST - was celebratory stuff. There is some editing but I still see champaign on post 3. And if you were to be interested in the politics thread because of some of the thoughtful posts, you have to dance around all sorts of bull [expletive].

Hogwash, hissy fit - that's a good strategy though. It's their fault.

So I post an opinion and then you immediately dismiss it with a condescending tone. That sounds very similar to the very behavior you dislike in certain other posters.

You didn't post an opinion, you lectured. "... leaving in a huff. Come on, guys".

That's lecturing. So I responded in kind.

I believe Thrill was suggesting that it might be easier to just not click on those threads instead of leaving and that it's pretty ridiculous that you have to leave because there are opinions counter to yours being posted. I didn't sense any lecturing.

[thrill]

Why can't people who don't want to discuss politics just not click on politics threads? Is that harder than clicking, throwing a fit because people have strong opinions that disagree with theirs and then leaving in a huff? Come on, guys.

Starting with the SECOND post of the Scalia thread - not second page - second POST - was celebratory stuff. There is some editing but I still see champaign on post 3. And if you were to be interested in the politics thread because of some of the thoughtful posts, you have to dance around all sorts of bull [expletive].

Hogwash, hissy fit - that's a good strategy though. It's their fault.

So I post an opinion and then you immediately dismiss it with a condescending tone. That sounds very similar to the very behavior you dislike in certain other posters.

You didn't post an opinion, you lectured. "... leaving in a huff. Come on, guys".

That's lecturing. So I responded in kind.

It might be lecturing, you're right. And I'm ok with your response. Just pointing out that you participate in the kind of posting that you're upset about.

[ghostrunner]

It hasn't really felt like much of a baseball site to me, but again that could be just the off season perfect storm whatever. Also I missed almost all of last year, so maybe this just feels like two straight off seasons in a row for me where by chance some good GRB friends IM'ed me to say adios. Probably hogwash or maybe they are crazy.

I think politics and serious social areas being discussed on a bulletin board that was supposed to be about baseball and the Cardinals is a mistake, because it introduces alot of noise which distracts people, and it also upsets people and seems to encourage the numskulls to come out of the closet. If Michael thinks those types of discussions should be allowed, then I would suggest moderating them and being more diligent about removing offensive or inflammatory posts.

That's my take on it.

I think the bolded is fine, but just want to point out that there are 4 reports in to the moderators since the beginning of the year. Two on one post, and two on another, and only one of those is politics related.

Saying something critical about a public figure - I'm mixed about that. If someone does that, are we supposed to remove it because someone else here likes that public figure? [expletive] gets talked about baseball players and manager here all the time. Stuff that makes me want to avoid the baseball forum, and game threads in particular. That's not my way of enjoying a game and honestly I'd probably be out of here if it weren't for social and political threads. I get the feeling game threads are to me what political threads are to Jim.

So I stay out of many of the baseball threads, which I think is preferable to me/us moderating the [expletive] out of the place, and something I think would probably be criticized. I guess I'm not sure what people find bothersome. There's a member here who regularly posts inflammatory stuff and I've grown accustomed to mentality saying "there goes ____" , but I'll try to address that next time I see it. Beyond that, people need to report things that bother them. It's that simple, IMO. If we don't respond at first - some of us may not be here for days at a time - send another one, or PM a mod directly.