New Name for Off-Topic Forum

[Maggie]

I enjoy reading well thought out arguments made by people with whom I might disagree. The problem is I rarely encounter such arguments on this forum.

If you think someone has made a poor argument, then say so and explain your reasoning. Resorting to silly retorts such as: “It is just sour grapes”; “We won”; “You are an elitist” or “I can’t stand all this whining” does not persuade the reader but will often have the opposite effect – ridicule has its place but not when presented alone without a well thought out counter-argument. Furthermore, a failure or a refusal to acknowledge the weaknesses of your own arguments does not project strength rather it reveals sophomoric and shallow thought.

Political discourse should be a polite exchange of ideas and arguments; however, that does not mean it should be devoid of passion. An attack against an argument or policy is often confused with a personal attack on the proponent of that argument. Perhaps, that is because people tend to personalize their politics a bit too much – which is a mistake. I don’t believe progressives/liberals are bad evil people – they are clearly not and I live among and are friends with a lot of them – but I do think they should have to defend certain policies on the merits and I resent those who resort to simple ridicule or convenient straw men.

The problem with that is that you are basically arguing with a brick wall. Nobody is going to change anyone elses mind on here, so it basically becomes a peeing contest.

The discussion, if any, will deteriorate, generally speaking, when one side makes no attempt to address the merits of an argument, which was part of my point.

You might be surprised that many of the people you might think, myself included I suppose, are “brick walls” will actually listen and consider an alternative point of view if it is logically, fairly and articulately presented – which I have done, happily, on the rare occasion that actually happens. That, of course, doesn’t translate (nor should it) into automatic acceptance of the alternative.

[martymoose]

Any one know if there's a way to auto filter the off topic forum for threads that start with "WAAAAA! OBAMA......."? I do realize it would remove about 80% of the off topic threads, but it would sure make it a lot easier to sort through the garbage posts with most of them gone.

[RoyalShock]

Newsflash . . . "Click it or ticket" doesn't apply to internet message boards. Sorry for any confusion our clever catch phrase has caused.

Signed,
Kansas Dept. of Transportation and Interwebs


And now to apply a stereotype for a cheap laugh . . .

Our resident liberals don't want to read the subject, decipher the subject's meaning and decide to click it or not. They want someone else to do the work and make the decision for them.


But seriously, splitting them up isn't such a bad idea. The Off-Topic forum has become fairly popular and could probably survive a division.