skippy the dead wrote:Some Schmo wrote:For those who do have this problem, I have a question: when you go to a dinner buffet, do you eat everything in sight?
No, but I also don't want to start eating something only to find that it's been spoiled.
As I said in Don's thread, I am dismayed when an otherwise interesting discussion here in the Terrestrial forum gets totally derailed and destroyed by petty personal attacks and baiting. When that happens, the thread rarely, if ever, recovers. And it's a damn shame.
I understand that, but to continue the buffet analogy, once you taste something that's been spoiled, how do you react? Do you keep on eating it, or move on to something else?
Yes, sometimes, threads get derailed, but it's my opinion that if there's still life in a discussion, it will survive. If a discussion starts to "go downhill" then it's likely that all there was to be said about that topic's been covered (at least, for those involved). I can't remember a time when a conversation appeared to be preempted due to some off-topic remarks. Delayed, sure, but not completely killed, unless it was ready to be.
That's my sense of what happens, anyway. And usually, if the conversation does have more life, someone starts up a new thread for it.
I don't know... I find this place very entertaining. I have a feeling that what entertains me others might call 'noise.' The last thing this place needs is moderation to keep the content dry, or suppress its entertainment value. I don't begrudge those who yearn for something different, but I would if it were at the expense of the fun we have here now.