Ranting and raving forum

Ludo

OK...I completely fail to see the point of this forum and how it is allowed on a website which prides itself on DISCUSSION. It is great fun to read at times but it can also be incredibly frustrating. According to the charter you are not allowed disagree with the rant in any way or you will be banned.
So basically anyone can start a thread (or join in an existing thread) and state the more rediculous rubbish and no-one is allowed contradict them or point out the error in their "facts".

Let's take this trivial issue on the thread about "dressing your kids the same":

It must be considered a form of child-abuse. The parents are either lazy or just plain twisted.

Being a parent of twins myself, who insist on dressing the same a lot of the time, I find this statement completely ignorant. How do I address it within the charter?

Why does a discussion website host a forum which actively bans discussion?

FlutterinBantam

Agree with you there horse, the format is all wrong.

Most threads don't go for more than 5 or 6 posts, good idea but not working in my opinion.

efb

+1. I think it goes against the boards ethos of rational discussion. I mean is it for trolls to wind up people? Some of the rational people put forward for disliking something is frightening. Surely if you have an opinion it should be open for reasonable debate and discussion? Even PI allows that, and that's surely a far more sensitive area.

CuLT

For what it's worth (purely from a personal perspective), I completely agree.

People should get a blog if they want an unhindered soliloquy.

Xavi6

I think it would be good if responses were allowed once they were in the form of a counter-rant. Basically along the same lines of the OP just from the opposite side.

No smart one-liners, images or emoticon posts, just head to head ranting.

Currently most threads end up repeating themselves after the fourth or fifth post.

Twins should never ever be dressed the same though :pac:

Karl Hungus

It's an interesting idea and sometimes it can be a fun forum, but there's really nothing in the forum that couldn't exist elsewhere on boards, most of the threads on there are just typical AH fare anyway. The only thing that makes it different is that these threads take place in a plastic bubble where every reply has to be in agreement, which is indeed self-defeating for a discussion board, and I'd say that most of the threads in there don't even need the plastic bubble protection from disagreements.

Ludo

Xavi6 wrote: »

Twins should never ever be dressed the same though :pac:

LOL...try telling that to my stubborn two year olds...some days they insist on it and you can either spend an hour trying to get them ready to go in different clothes or let them wear the same thing

Karl Hungus wrote: »

It's an interesting idea and sometimes it can be a fun forum, but there's really nothing in the forum that couldn't exist elsewhere on boards, most of the threads on there are just typical AH fare anyway. The only thing that makes it different is that these threads take place in a plastic bubble where every reply has to be in agreement, which is indeed self-defeating for a discussion board, and I'd say that most of the threads in there don't even need the plastic bubble protection from disagreements.

Agree with all that. It is basically AH without right to reply.

javaboy

Xavi6 wrote: »

I think it would be good if responses were allowed once they were in the form of a counter-rant. Basically along the same lines of the OP just from the opposite side.

No smart one-liners, images or emoticon posts, just head to head ranting.

How would you suggest they define a rant? Moderating that would be an absolute nightmare.

humanji

I thought the whole point of the forum was to pretty much stiffle the rant? Wasn't it set up because people kept posting inane rants in places like AH, and since they constantly ignored the phrase "get a blog" this was a happy medium where they can rant away and bother nobody else?

If there's going to be full debates on the rants, you may as well put it back in AH.

Slidey

Modding it is labour intensive as it is.

If people were to disagree with each other in there it wouldn't take long before the personal abuse would start.

TBH I find it hard to grasp that posters dont just ignore the stuff they dont agree with.

Xavi6

javaboy wrote: »

How would you suggest they define a rant? Moderating that would be an absolute nightmare.

True, and it's not a task I'd wish on my worst of e-enemies, but I just don't see the point of the forum in it's current form.

It's interesting to read the OP of a thread but after that it all gets a bit pointless.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Big_G

Free speech is fine, but you have to be willing to have your views rebutted at some point. This is why ranting and raving is inane. It often is the worst form of trolling, because you can't tell the people to piss off.

I don't think it belongs on Boards. If you allowed it to degenerate into personal insults (which I would like ) then you could just move the thread to the Thunderdome. Isn't that what it is there for?

orestes

You ever just wanted to walk out to your back garden and scream at the top of your lungs? That's what the forum is for, literally just venting your spleen about stuff that pisses you off, and not everything that pisses people off is rational, logical or fit for discussion. The users don't want to discuss anything, they just want to shout about stuff that annoys them, and I don't really see a problem with that. Sure the threads can get a bit repetitive after a couple of posts but it's kinda reassuring to some people to know they aren't the only ones who get worked up about a particular subject I think. Someone who posts a thread saying they just stood on an upturned plug or something isn't exactly looking for a discussion or advice, they just want to vent, which I think is perfectly normal and healthy, why not provide a place for them to do that?

People get annoyed about different things, some people are annoyed by things that others don't mind while others still will be very fond of the same thing, it's the nature of subjective tastes, preferences, personal experiences, etc.. If you don't like a thread or the subject matter or even the forum as a whole why is it so hard just to ignore it?

Slidey

*thanks* Orestes

ntlbell

Ludo wrote: »

OK...I completely fail to see the point of this forum and how it is allowed on a website which prides itself on DISCUSSION. It is great fun to read at times but it can also be incredibly frustrating. According to the charter you are not allowed disagree with the rant in any way or you will be banned.
So basically anyone can start a thread (or join in an existing thread) and state the more rediculous rubbish and no-one is allowed contradict them or point out the error in their "facts".

Let's take this trivial issue on the thread about "dressing your kids the same":



Being a parent of twins myself, who insist on dressing the same a lot of the time, I find this statement completely ignorant. How do I address it within the charter?

Why does a discussion website host a forum which actively bans discussion?

It seems you're upset because what was ranted about hit a point of yours and you want to whine back at the OP.

Personally I think dressing twins up or any kids the same is a form of abuse and it can have emotional and psychological affects in later life.

Lazy parenting is going for the "easy" option and by giving into your kids is being lazy.

So on this score the OP may be a bit OTT but has a very valid point and there literally tons of points made on boards every single day that will upset someone else

be them parents

gay

lesbians

on the dole

skangers

whatever the case maybe

no one is forcing you to read the forum.

my 2c

Xavi6

orestes wrote: »

You ever just wanted to walk out to your back garden and scream at the top of your lungs? That's what the forum is for, literally just venting your spleen about stuff that pisses you off, and not everything that pisses people off is rational, logical or fit for discussion. The users don't want to discuss anything, they just want to shout about stuff that annoys them, and I don't really see a problem with that. Sure the threads can get a bit repetitive after a couple of posts but it's kinda reassuring to some people to know they aren't the only ones who get worked up about a particular subject I think. Someone who posts a thread saying they just stood on an upturned plug or something isn't exactly looking for a discussion or advice, they just want to vent, which I think is perfectly normal and healthy, why not provide a place for them to do that?

People get annoyed about different things, some people are annoyed by things that others don't mind while others still will be very fond of the same thing, it's the nature of subjective tastes, preferences, personal experiences, etc.. If you don't like a thread or the subject matter or even the forum as a whole why is it so hard just to ignore it?

Isn't that what a blog's for, not a discussion board?

Hagar

Even now, while this debate is going on here, I'm forced to delete posts from that thread.
If you want to post there please follow the charter. Thank you.

tbh

it doesn't fit on boards. Allow one rant, then one anti-rant, then lock the thread. Thanks-off ensues.

orestes

Xavi6 wrote: »

Isn't that what a blog's for, not a discussion board?

You could say the same about the users on boards who keep fitness logs, reading logs etc here I imagine, what's the harm of it?

And boards long ago stopped being just a discussion site imo

grames_bond

the R&R forum is a brilliant place to vent, every now and again people need to bitch and moan about something and R&R is a brilliant place to do it, you can just relax and bitch about whatever you want without ramifications, no one is going to abuse you, or disagree with you which is a nice change of pace, for an angry forum it is one of the nicest places to go strangly enough! Brilliant forum!

Larianne

I don't know why people have such a problem with this forum. If you don't like it, don't click into the thread.

I love this forum. Something annoys me, in I go and post up a thread and my anger turns to glee when I see other people have the same opinion or bad luck as me.

Yeah, so a few times I've been annoyed by a few posts but sure I know that before going into the forum. It's only the internet ffs.

Galvasean

orestes wrote: »

You ever just wanted to walk out to your back garden and scream at the top of your lungs? That's what the forum is for, literally just venting your spleen about stuff that pisses you off, and not everything that pisses people off is rational, logical or fit for discussion. The users don't want to discuss anything, they just want to shout about stuff that annoys them, and I don't really see a problem with that. Sure the threads can get a bit repetitive after a couple of posts but it's kinda reassuring to some people to know they aren't the only ones who get worked up about a particular subject I think. Someone who posts a thread saying they just stood on an upturned plug or something isn't exactly looking for a discussion or advice, they just want to vent, which I think is perfectly normal and healthy, why not provide a place for them to do that?

People get annoyed about different things, some people are annoyed by things that others don't mind while others still will be very fond of the same thing, it's the nature of subjective tastes, preferences, personal experiences, etc.. If you don't like a thread or the subject matter or even the forum as a whole why is it so hard just to ignore it?

EXACTLY.
I think it serves a useful purpose (heck, I wouldn't put so much time and effort into it if I didn't truly believe it did).
Sometimes people want to be able to just let loose about something that bothers them without being drawn into a long and taxing discussion on the matter.

As for the people asking, 'Why dont they just get a blog?'.
The main advantage R&R has over setting up your own blog is that it gets viewed by many more people (than most blogs anyway).
There is nothing more satisfying than getting something which has been bottled up inside you off your chest and having an audience come along and say, "Wow, Im glad im not the only one!".

Yes it certainly is a unique part of boards.ie, but just because it is different doesn't mean it is bad.

Penn

As the OP of the main thread in question, about Parents who dress their kids the same, I actually disagreed with the person who said it was a form of child abuse. I think thats going too far. If your kids demand to be dressed the same, I have no problem with that. Same way if I had a kid who wanted to wear his Spiderman t-shirt, then on it goes.

My rant was about parents who force their kids to wear the same. Who will dress the kids the same no matter what. And with regards to twins, dressing them alike if they so wish is fine, but if I get their names wrong (and I have done in the past as I have identical twin cousins), don't blame me for getting their name wrong.

I agree with how, if you wish to counter-rant, you could start a new thread. Or perhaps bring it to After Hours and get more peoples opinions on the matter, and invite the OP to discuss it there. But the R&R forum would be a terrible place if counter-ranting in thread was allowed, and would lead to a lot of bannings, warnings, and eventually, people would just leave

Keano

I enjoy R&R so would hate to see it go. If it was possible to have a "no thanks" button it would fit right in their so people could disagree nicely with peoples rants :pac:

Ludo

ntlbell wrote: »

It seems you're upset because what was ranted about hit a point of yours and you want to whine back at the OP.

Whine eh? Is any reply now a whine? Is you reply to this thread a whine?

ntlbell wrote: »

Personally I think dressing twins up or any kids the same is a form of abuse and it can have emotional and psychological affects in later life.

Lazy parenting is going for the "easy" option and by giving into your kids is being lazy.

Psychological affects for letting them dress the same when they want to? Really? Proof please. Anyway, this is completely OTT so take it to the parenting forum if you want to discuss it further with me. Oops...;)

ntlbell wrote: »

So on this score the OP may be a bit OTT but has a very valid point and there literally tons of points made on boards every single day that will upset someone else

be them parents

gay

lesbians

on the dole

skangers

whatever the case maybe

no one is forcing you to read the forum.

my 2c

But on a discussion forum and every single other forum here you at least expect the right to post a valid, polite response. Not to get the post deleted and a possible infraction for it.

Ludo

Keano A Legend wrote: »

I enjoy R&R so would hate to see it go. If it was possible to have a "no thanks" button it would fit right in their so people could disagree nicely with peoples rants :pac:

I actully don't want to see it go. This is not the intention of this thread. I think the idea of a no thanks button would be great and simple solution in that forum but probably too difficult to implement in the short term.

Galvasean

Ludo wrote: »

But on a discussion forum and every single other forum here you at least expect the right to post a valid, polite response. Not to get a ban for it.

I think you are misrepresenting the R&R moderators. We don't ban people for posting such responses. We will usually delete such posts and leave an on thread reminder about the R&R charter.
Bans are generally reserved for those who make things personal (ie: abusing other posters).

Think of it as the rant being the topic. Anything that does not ad to the rant is off topic, and as with most forums off topic posts get deleted.

Larianne

It's like Know Your Loungers thread. You don't post a pic with a reply, the post gets deleted and you're told off by the mods. Those are the rules. Same goes with R&R, those are the rules.

I don't understand OP what you want out of R&R? If counter-rants were allowed would it not just be like AH?

Ludo

Galvasean wrote: »

I think you are misrepresenting the R&R moderators. We don't ban people for posting such responses. We will usually delete such posts and leave an on thread reminder about the R&R charter.
Bans are generally reserved for those who make things personal (ie: abusing other posters).

Think of it as the rant being the topic. Anything that does not ad to the rant is off topic, and as with most forums off topic posts get deleted.

Fair point and apologies...post edited. I know it is a very difficult forum to moderate and don't think I am having a go at the mods. Just the idea of the forum itself.

5starpool

It certainly is up there with the most pointless of forums on boards, but it isn't that hard to ignore it in fairness.

This oft used picture sums this particular thread up as well.



If you don't like it ignore it. To the OP, I'm sure there is someone on a forum in the US or UK who has posted a similar need to the twins point before, but you presumably did not search the interweb to rebut that argument, so feeling the need to do so here is hardly the most logical thing ever.

So to conclude - silly forum, ignore.