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Author Topic:   What's happened to the discussions?

Octopus posted 12-10-98 12:39 PM ET
Maybe it's just my warped perception, but the quality of debate seems to have seriously decreased lately, and the number of contributors as well. Usually there are enough good new posts in the morning to last me through two cups of coffee, but today there were only one-cupfull. I haven't been posting nearly as much as I used to because there's been nothing to discuss. I've been a defender of "off-topicness" because I thought the debate was generally of pretty high quality here. Lately, though, all I've really seen is "Pearl Harbor Day" (A-bomb, good or bad? Yawn...) and the "greatest defect" thread ("we're stupid!" "No, we're ignorant!" "No, we're selfish!" yada yada yada). There seems to be an inordinate amount of fluff ("nakid") around here lately, but little serious discussion like there had been in the past. What happened?

CClark posted 12-10-98 12:47 PM ET
Could be that we've run out of dead horsess to flog. Or it could be that some of the regulars have actually got lives which are placing demands on their time.
Personally, I don't read all the threads, just the ones whose titles look interesting. (You won't find any posts by me in the "nekid" thread.)
Like most of the others, I'm hoping that after the demo is out we'll have a lot more things to discuss here. Of course, it'll mean tearing ourselves away from the demo long enough to check the forums...
Abdiel posted 12-11-98 05:16 AM ET
This brings up an interesting topic. . .
My father once led a long family discussion based on a statement he had heard. He placed before the family the statement, "You are barking up a dead horse." It turns out that he had actually heard someone use this mixed metaphor, and of course, he found it funny. We then spent the better part of a few hours constructing our own mixed metaphors. If this sounds like a stupid activity, then I apologize, but it's a great way to foster creative thinking in children. . .besides being a lot of fun.
Saras posted 12-11-98 05:26 AM ET
Ok, a magic-box-of-wonderful-topics-to-discuss:
is TV violence causing crime
is porn causing rape
should China be kicked out of security council
should spice girls be put in a zoo
should Boyzone be castrated
are Metallica gay
is marylin manson a hypocrite
should IMF bail out countries that phucked up
you tell me

Please pull one out of the box and make it a thread. I see potential in many of these. Or add new ones in this post for someone to start a thread. I believe a lot of crappy threads would never been started if they were put under scrutiny of the forums before, so to speak, going to print.
Tapiolan poika posted 12-11-98 10:48 AM ET
Another possible reason for reduced will to argue, might be that we know one anothers POVs pretty well, by now, and, since few posters here seem willing to change attitude on any of the subjects discussed, it gets less interesting to post after a while...
Or?
Tapiolan poika posted 12-11-98 10:49 AM ET
It's fun with metadiscussions!
DCA posted 12-11-98 10:56 AM ET
"few posters here seem willing to change attitude"
hehe, for some reason you just got me to think about some great people in Bank's Excession novel - they set out across space to meet strange aliens and change /themselves/. sort of anti-missionaries, you could say... not to many people like that here or anywhere, I'm afraid..
DCA,
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
MikeH II posted 12-11-98 11:34 AM ET
I agree see the Brian Reynolds speaks on release date thread for my more detailed opinion.
Hothram Upravda posted 12-11-98 04:23 PM ET
Not to much else to talk about. Purdy much talked about ever aspect of SMAC that we can think of.
Besides it only a few posts. Just don't read them if your not interested .
Hothram Upravda
TB
BigER posted 12-11-98 04:30 PM ET
Octopus, I reccomend decafe.
Oh did i say that?
But seriously-if you want to talk about something-Why don't you give us some more threads.
Personally I think a thread I started "This day in History" has alot of potentiel for some wild SMAC stuff.
Excuse the horn blowing. But this thread has pretty much been ignored.
Lets get creative folks I know we can do it.
Spoe posted 12-11-98 04:50 PM ET
The funny thing is, that this is itself one of the topics that keeps getting rehashed every few weeks.
Octopus posted 12-11-98 10:11 PM ET
"Octopus, I reccomend decaf"
You'd better be kidding... Get between me and my morning coffee at your own peril...
"if you want to talk about something-Why don't you give us some more threads."
Tried it. It didn't work. None of these got a decent response:
-- Different ways to play multi-player
-- the Human Hive (I couldn't even get a decent response out of the anti-Hive fanatics!)
-- What is Morgan society like?
(and these are just the ones I started recently)
"Excuse the horn blowing. But this thread has pretty much been ignored."
Mine too.
"The funny thing is, that this is itself one of the topics that keeps getting rehashed every few weeks."
It's been getting more and more true every week. Most people have been blaming off-topicness, but even the off-topic threads have been pretty weak lately.
Octopus posted 12-11-98 10:15 PM ET
"Besides it only a few posts. Just don't read them if your not interested "
That's my point, there aren't enough interesting posts.
"might be that we know one anothers POVs pretty well, by now, and, since few posters here seem willing to change attitude on any of the subjects discussed, it gets less interesting to post after a while..."
Maybe someone should start a thread about how they think the other posters on the forum would stand on certain issues, then we'd see how true this statement was...
Hothram Upravda posted 12-12-98 04:15 PM ET
Unforchenily the posts you started have already been talked about in the past. We are going to start runing out of new topics till the Demo. But once it comes out there should be a whole messload of new and interesting game play related posts. Just wait .
Hothram Upravda
TB
DHE_X2 posted 12-12-98 04:47 PM ET
Saras, members of Metallica aren't gay. First of all, Lars Ulrich is married to some supermodel, second of all, the lyrics Hetfield writes obviously shows that he is straight. As for the other two members, I don't know, but I would assume not, simply because we would have heard something about it by now.
Jimbo2 posted 12-12-98 04:57 PM ET
This was discussed several months ago, before I left.
I believe it was Brother GReg or someone like that that said all the worth while topics have been discussed.
If you think about it, it's true. Are there any questions that haven't been answered in your mind? If there is, then that's a serious topic, but since there are no serious topics, I conclude that no one has questions.
Just for the record, I never liked serious threads. I read them and hopped over to the CCC Club or the I CLub.
Octopus posted 12-12-98 05:15 PM ET
"Are there any questions that haven't been answered in your mind?"
Yes. Quite a few. Nobody's interested in providing the answers, though. And not just questions about SMAC.
" the posts you started have already been talked about in the past."
Unless these discussions took place before the chronicles broke up (approximately when I started reading these forums), they HAVEN'T been discussed (or else the discussions have been very well hidden). There's been no discussion of what the Morgans are all about. There's been no rational explanation by the anti-Hive crowd about what makes the Hive "evil", or at least what makes MY conception of the Hive "evil". There's been very little discussion of multi-player at all.
I don't even care if the topics are on-topic or not, as long as they're interesting. The "What makes a religion (an answer to Tapiolan)" thread was good for about a day, and then it died down. That issue has (definition of religion) has never been properly hashed out, even in all of the atheism threads that have been on these forums. It should have been, but it was never adequately discussed, in my view. The vast majority of posts lately have been about nothing, or about how many posts some people have, or how certain individuals were going to eat NIMburgers and drink vodka. I've got no problem with that stuff, but when it's the only thing here, it gets on my nerves.
Jimbo2 posted 12-12-98 05:20 PM ET
Conglomerate from what I understand is a capitalist society, who's only objective is to make more money, with no regard to human life or anything else.
As for the Human Hive, some people find it to be communist society.
Does that help any?
Octopus posted 12-12-98 05:27 PM ET
"Does that help any?"
No. Why don't you read the threads and see why not.
Saras posted 12-14-98 04:09 AM ET
DHE,
check out this site:
http://members.xoom.com/yogsothoth/metallica.html
It might start a controversial discussion...
Arnelos posted 12-14-98 06:20 AM ET
My answer to Octopus's question:
I've been gone for a week :-)
(perhaps a BIT self-inflating, but oh well. I can see, by the posts that have taken place, that I was not the only person mysteriously missing for the past week or so...).
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Author	Topic: What's happened to the discussions?
Octopus	posted 12-10-98 12:39 PM ET Maybe it's just my warped perception, but the quality of debate seems to have seriously decreased lately, and the number of contributors as well. Usually there are enough good new posts in the morning to last me through two cups of coffee, but today there were only one-cupfull. I haven't been posting nearly as much as I used to because there's been nothing to discuss. I've been a defender of "off-topicness" because I thought the debate was generally of pretty high quality here. Lately, though, all I've really seen is "Pearl Harbor Day" (A-bomb, good or bad? Yawn...) and the "greatest defect" thread ("we're stupid!" "No, we're ignorant!" "No, we're selfish!" yada yada yada). There seems to be an inordinate amount of fluff ("nakid") around here lately, but little serious discussion like there had been in the past. What happened?
CClark	posted 12-10-98 12:47 PM ET Could be that we've run out of dead horsess to flog. Or it could be that some of the regulars have actually got lives which are placing demands on their time. Personally, I don't read all the threads, just the ones whose titles look interesting. (You won't find any posts by me in the "nekid" thread.) Like most of the others, I'm hoping that after the demo is out we'll have a lot more things to discuss here. Of course, it'll mean tearing ourselves away from the demo long enough to check the forums...
Abdiel	posted 12-11-98 05:16 AM ET This brings up an interesting topic. . . My father once led a long family discussion based on a statement he had heard. He placed before the family the statement, "You are barking up a dead horse." It turns out that he had actually heard someone use this mixed metaphor, and of course, he found it funny. We then spent the better part of a few hours constructing our own mixed metaphors. If this sounds like a stupid activity, then I apologize, but it's a great way to foster creative thinking in children. . .besides being a lot of fun.
Saras	posted 12-11-98 05:26 AM ET Ok, a magic-box-of-wonderful-topics-to-discuss: is TV violence causing crime is porn causing rape should China be kicked out of security council should spice girls be put in a zoo should Boyzone be castrated are Metallica gay is marylin manson a hypocrite should IMF bail out countries that phucked up you tell me Please pull one out of the box and make it a thread. I see potential in many of these. Or add new ones in this post for someone to start a thread. I believe a lot of crappy threads would never been started if they were put under scrutiny of the forums before, so to speak, going to print.
Tapiolan poika	posted 12-11-98 10:48 AM ET Another possible reason for reduced will to argue, might be that we know one anothers POVs pretty well, by now, and, since few posters here seem willing to change attitude on any of the subjects discussed, it gets less interesting to post after a while... Or?
Tapiolan poika	posted 12-11-98 10:49 AM ET It's fun with metadiscussions!
DCA	posted 12-11-98 10:56 AM ET "few posters here seem willing to change attitude" hehe, for some reason you just got me to think about some great people in Bank's Excession novel - they set out across space to meet strange aliens and change /themselves/. sort of anti-missionaries, you could say... not to many people like that here or anywhere, I'm afraid.. DCA, Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
MikeH II	posted 12-11-98 11:34 AM ET I agree see the Brian Reynolds speaks on release date thread for my more detailed opinion.
Hothram Upravda	posted 12-11-98 04:23 PM ET Not to much else to talk about. Purdy much talked about ever aspect of SMAC that we can think of. Besides it only a few posts. Just don't read them if your not interested . Hothram Upravda TB
BigER	posted 12-11-98 04:30 PM ET Octopus, I reccomend decafe. Oh did i say that? But seriously-if you want to talk about something-Why don't you give us some more threads. Personally I think a thread I started "This day in History" has alot of potentiel for some wild SMAC stuff. Excuse the horn blowing. But this thread has pretty much been ignored. Lets get creative folks I know we can do it.
Spoe	posted 12-11-98 04:50 PM ET The funny thing is, that this is itself one of the topics that keeps getting rehashed every few weeks.
Octopus	posted 12-11-98 10:11 PM ET "Octopus, I reccomend decaf" You'd better be kidding... Get between me and my morning coffee at your own peril... "if you want to talk about something-Why don't you give us some more threads." Tried it. It didn't work. None of these got a decent response: -- Different ways to play multi-player -- the Human Hive (I couldn't even get a decent response out of the anti-Hive fanatics!) -- What is Morgan society like? (and these are just the ones I started recently) "Excuse the horn blowing. But this thread has pretty much been ignored." Mine too. "The funny thing is, that this is itself one of the topics that keeps getting rehashed every few weeks." It's been getting more and more true every week. Most people have been blaming off-topicness, but even the off-topic threads have been pretty weak lately.
Octopus	posted 12-11-98 10:15 PM ET "Besides it only a few posts. Just don't read them if your not interested " That's my point, there aren't enough interesting posts. "might be that we know one anothers POVs pretty well, by now, and, since few posters here seem willing to change attitude on any of the subjects discussed, it gets less interesting to post after a while..." Maybe someone should start a thread about how they think the other posters on the forum would stand on certain issues, then we'd see how true this statement was...
Hothram Upravda	posted 12-12-98 04:15 PM ET Unforchenily the posts you started have already been talked about in the past. We are going to start runing out of new topics till the Demo. But once it comes out there should be a whole messload of new and interesting game play related posts. Just wait . Hothram Upravda TB
DHE_X2	posted 12-12-98 04:47 PM ET Saras, members of Metallica aren't gay. First of all, Lars Ulrich is married to some supermodel, second of all, the lyrics Hetfield writes obviously shows that he is straight. As for the other two members, I don't know, but I would assume not, simply because we would have heard something about it by now.
Jimbo2	posted 12-12-98 04:57 PM ET This was discussed several months ago, before I left. I believe it was Brother GReg or someone like that that said all the worth while topics have been discussed. If you think about it, it's true. Are there any questions that haven't been answered in your mind? If there is, then that's a serious topic, but since there are no serious topics, I conclude that no one has questions. Just for the record, I never liked serious threads. I read them and hopped over to the CCC Club or the I CLub.
Octopus	posted 12-12-98 05:15 PM ET "Are there any questions that haven't been answered in your mind?" Yes. Quite a few. Nobody's interested in providing the answers, though. And not just questions about SMAC. " the posts you started have already been talked about in the past." Unless these discussions took place before the chronicles broke up (approximately when I started reading these forums), they HAVEN'T been discussed (or else the discussions have been very well hidden). There's been no discussion of what the Morgans are all about. There's been no rational explanation by the anti-Hive crowd about what makes the Hive "evil", or at least what makes MY conception of the Hive "evil". There's been very little discussion of multi-player at all. I don't even care if the topics are on-topic or not, as long as they're interesting. The "What makes a religion (an answer to Tapiolan)" thread was good for about a day, and then it died down. That issue has (definition of religion) has never been properly hashed out, even in all of the atheism threads that have been on these forums. It should have been, but it was never adequately discussed, in my view. The vast majority of posts lately have been about nothing, or about how many posts some people have, or how certain individuals were going to eat NIMburgers and drink vodka. I've got no problem with that stuff, but when it's the only thing here, it gets on my nerves.
Jimbo2	posted 12-12-98 05:20 PM ET Conglomerate from what I understand is a capitalist society, who's only objective is to make more money, with no regard to human life or anything else. As for the Human Hive, some people find it to be communist society. Does that help any?
Octopus	posted 12-12-98 05:27 PM ET "Does that help any?" No. Why don't you read the threads and see why not.
Saras	posted 12-14-98 04:09 AM ET DHE, check out this site: http://members.xoom.com/yogsothoth/metallica.html It might start a controversial discussion...
Arnelos	posted 12-14-98 06:20 AM ET My answer to Octopus's question: I've been gone for a week :-) (perhaps a BIT self-inflating, but oh well. I can see, by the posts that have taken place, that I was not the only person mysteriously missing for the past week or so...).