Pigeon Holed

Feelslikefar

Feelslikefar

Senior Member
Location
Nashville, TN
One of the interesting things about forums is that you can fall into a certain type of poster, one that does 'Fluff'
or one that has an opinion on any subject you care to bring up.

Enjoy reading more than posting. I read links from posters who give them, hoping to learn something.

If you have noticed, I post more music topics than any other and rarely post on the more conversational threads.
We might not post, but doesn't mean we do not have an feeling for the subject,
just that others have expressed it better than we could.
So we hit the 'like' button.

I might be Pigeon Holed as a 'Fluff' poster.

For this type of Forum to be really good, we need both types of posters. Just saying...
 

On a forum the only connection anyone has with others is the written word. Not having eye to eye contact, not being able to see one another, we cannot read the body language. There's no nuance, no smile, no reassuring wink if it's meant to be funny. All this we do in day to day life, were it possible on a forum you wouldn't have the heated exchanges that inevitably occur.

You can call my own postings fluff if you like, I won't take it as an insult. For what it's worth, if I'm following and engaging on a thread and can see temperatures rising, I pull out and leave well alone. Likewise, if I get a direct negative reaction, I ignore both it, and the poster. In life, such spats are much more rare because we physically see the other person and know, from reading their facial expressions, that it's time to shrug our shoulders, walk away and leave well alone.

Lurk around some forums and see the kind of language used and I don't simply mean profanities. You never see someone who feels aggrieved say, for example: "I could be wrong, but...............(and then outline their case.) Instead they go off giving it both barrels only to promote a similar response from the recalcitrant. Then moderators have to step in before others might comment and fan the flame and so on and so on. So if a discussion is deemed as 'heavy' I will follow it and perhaps respond, but with care. By and large the users of this forum have the experience of life that tells them there is real flesh and blood on the end of every post, be careful how to respond, but even then we lose the enjoyment of the company of some who fall through the net.
 
I’ve been a member of this forum for four years now. I’m not a heavy poster. If you averaged out my posts they come to less than 20 a month. But, that varies a lot. I come and go. At times I’ve gotten irritated with certain members and vowed not to come back. But, eventually I do.

I don’t follow much of what you call fluff, although I have contributed some myself. I like threads that make me think, but I avoid those that are too controversial. There are members I think very highly of and a few I usually ignore. I sincerely try not to be a jerk myself. I’ve probably failed a few times in that respect though.

The nice thing about a forum like this is that it’s easy to pass over discussions or threads you don’t like or really care about. Probably there are others who will. It’s like a smorgasbord; something for everybody. And, it’s a way of interacting with folks who you would never know otherwise.
 
You missed mentioning one 'type' that turns up on most every Social Media platform: The conscientious 'jerks'. The ones that seem to work at being as abrasive and 'controversial' as possible. Like the child who will take negative attention when they can't get positive attention--these folks consider starting and keeping arguments going as being somehow a 'good thing' (even the arguments just keep cycling thru same points, no insights from either side, no compromise or understanding--except sarcastically intended).

As several people have pointed out the beauty of platforms like SF is that it is not that hard to avoid the problematic folks.
 
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