ITT we argue about the merits of this topic existing

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

I'll start.

Pros:
- It was coming anyway
- This time it won't be off topic

[Cramulus]

there are too many threads like this on the board. These threads are responsible for the board sucking so much.

I just wish every single person on PD would change their posting style until I'm happy. Those fucks.

[East Coast Hustle]

Awesome. Threads like this are really helpful and in no way do they exacerbate the problem. Thanks for elevating the level of discourse!

[Jasper]

If I was still a mod, I'd probably delete this thread.

But I can't, because of polio.

[Richter]

I think topics are the problem at the root of all this.  We should all jsut add new posts to one massive, ineffable, text wall.

[Cramulus]

Merits:

This thread gives people the opportunity to express some of the negative, critical energy that's going around today. It's just what the doctor ordered!



Take two flounces and call me in the morning
                    /



How about you take two STFUs and GTFO before I wake up?
                        /

[Dimocritus]

Merits:

This thread gives people the opportunity to express some of the negative, critical energy that's going around today. It's just what the doctor ordered!

Agreed in every sense of the term.

[rygD]

I think the OP should be banned from creating new threads.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I think this thread should be split because it's obviously going to turn into drama.

[rygD]

Why not just lock all threads but this one and keep all the drama out of other threads?

[East Coast Hustle]

I think the problem is that for whatever reason, PD has become less a place where people trade ideas and thoughts about what's going on in the world around them, how their interactions with the world around them effect themselves and others, and how we might be able to harness and/or direct that and more about presenting everything from a personal and purely self-centered framework.

IOW, we used to bitch about our jobs/politicians/etc. and apply these gripes to a larger framework or use them to build to an overarching point about something besides ourselves, now we just bitch about our jobs/politicians/etc. BECAUSE of how it effects us. It's one thing to occasionally interject an interesting or amusing purely personal story into the dialogue. It reminds us that we're some bizarre permutation of a tribe and that we're here to help each other progress and build. But when that kind of dialogue overtakes everything else and becomes the FOCUS of the site, we've really literally become nothing more than "facebook for weirdos". The foundation of this site is the desire to understand the processes that rule our environment well enough to be able to use them for our own ends (even if we have wildly differing ends amongst ourtselves), not the desire to know what you and your boyfriend did last night or what petty personal tribulations you are going through on a daily basis. I apologize if that's not what some of you want out of PD.com, but you are free to discuss all of those things amongst yourselves via PM, or IRC, or, you know, some other forum that's meant for that sort of thing. I used to think that unfettered growth of this site was to be desired for its own sake, now I realize that was just ego talking for me and that really this place might be better off (in the context of it's original stated purpose) being smaller and leaner. I don't know what can be done to impose this, and I'm not certain that I should even attempt to impose anything here anymore, but I want everyone to be very clear about what my problem is, at the very least.

ETA: C7P'd into separate thread to get feedback from the people who won't bother with this thread (and rightfully so).

[Cain]

Meta threads are totally hilarious and original.  No, really.

[LMNO]

While I agree with ECH about using PD as a pool of ideas and resources, I'm afraid I haven't been that good at adhering to that. 

Looking back at the past 6 months, I think my two biggest contributions have been The Spider Project and the SME 30 Day series, one of which is simply re-telling other people's creative output, and the other being partially fictionalized stories about my day-to-day life.

I have to admit, the Aneristic Delusions subforum is one of my favorites, and I read it voraciously.  And I'm interested in new approaches to psychology and philosophy, even at the risk of it turning into spaggy mush.

The problem is that I both really like the site because of the new ideas and concepts it often presents, and at the same time don't have many new ideas and concepts to offer.

[PeregrineBF]

The problem is that I both really like the site because of the new ideas and concepts it often presents, and at the same time don't have many new ideas and concepts to offer.

That's about right for me. Some people have more ideas which are good for this forum than others. I also think there is some pressure to be seen as a creator. We call out for new interesting content, and we want to make content, so we spew something new out. The problem is when the "interesting" bit gets dropped. Everyone has the occasional good idea, and thus more users are a good thing. Yet everyone feels the pressure to post new stuff, and ends up posting the occasional stinking turd, and thus more users are a bad thing.

[Dr. Paes]

Sage. Please.

We've got threads full of comments about the pointlessness of the thread.
Now we've got meta-threads with comments about the pointlessness of the meta-thread and how little it helps the problems in the actual threads. If we just left the meta-thread alone it'd be pretty clear what we think of it.

Or should I start a topic to discuss the merits of meta-threads and how they only exacerbate the problem and make everyone negative and we can go and be negative in that.

I can't tell if people are complaining about the meta-thread because they dislike it or because it is a meta-thread about complaining about itself.