Message board street smarts: Tips for using a message board without losing your mind.

[TaylorTG]

1. Captain chaos
Understand that there are people whom only desire to create chaos. Pay their antics no attention. Attention feeds the monster. The monster dies if you don't feed it.

Are you calling me a monster?

2. The consenting hostage.
Unless someone is threatening to injure you or take your life, you have the full on right to leave a thread unopened. See a thread topic that gets under your skin? You don't have to open it and subject your sanity to all of the posts that will indeed get under your skin. Don't want none of the rage causing content? Then don't open one. Don't be the consenting hostage.

I'll take my chances as a consenting hostage. Thanks for trying to warn me anyway.

5. 20 to life.
Feel that need to stay up until 3am arguing your perspective? Have you debated your side in the same thread over and over? Have you posted the same topic a buzillion times?
This is a message board. It has a log off button.
You're not stuck in a supermax prison, ordered to serve 20 years to life.

For me at least, Christianchat does feel that a supermax prison! I get 20-35 emails a day concerning this website! I barely have time for anything else when I'm online!

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Thanks for posting these tips, 1still_waters!

 

[ServantStrike]

Trolling a mod???

Wow.

 

[TaylorTG]

@ServantStrike
I am not trolling at all, my dear man. I am merely bringing an unorthodox opinion to the table.

 

[1still_waters]

This just crossed my mind due to a thread I made earlier.
It's 6 on my list.

6. The escalator rider.

So many of these heated events start due to escalation over something really petty.

Someone makes an odd remark, then someone replies to said remark with some declaration of some level of offense. Then the person replies back in defense to the person who got offended. Then after a few back and forths, what started as two pretty tame remarks, escalates into a huge scene.

My tip?

Get off the escalator before you're all the way up.
Simply quit replying to said remark before it gets too heated.

 

[Praus]

Someone makes an odd remark, then someone replies to said remark with some declaration of some level of offense. Then the person replies back in defense to the person who got offended. Then after a few back and forths, what started as two pretty tame remarks, escalates into a huge scene.

Corollary: Basketball

 

[Relena7]

This just crossed my mind due to a thread I made earlier.
It's 6 on my list.

6. The escalator rider.

So many of these heated events start due to escalation over something really petty.

Someone makes an odd remark, then someone replies to said remark with some declaration of some level of offense. Then the person replies back in defense to the person who got offended. Then after a few back and forths, what started as two pretty tame remarks, escalates into a huge scene.

My tip?

Get off the escalator before you're all the way up.
Simply quit replying to said remark before it gets too heated.

Having a sibling is a good way to learn this early, lol.

 

[1still_waters]

Having a sibling is a good way to learn this early, lol.

It goes something like this.

Person 1: Makes benign remark about something.

Person 2: Declares some level of offense toward said benign remark.

Person 1: Steps in to defend themself.

Person 2: Declares person 1 further offensive.

Person 1: Declares person 2 something or other.

So it's not like anyone really did anything wrong in the beginning.
Person 1 said nothing wrong. Person 2 isn't really wrong for possibly feeling offended.
But instead of just dropping it, both go from benign statement to full on brawl, and the "who started it" really isn't easily definable.

 

[1still_waters]

It goes something like this.

Person 1: Makes benign remark about something.

Person 2: Declares some level of offense toward said benign remark.

Person 1: Steps in to defend themself.

Person 2: Declares person 1 further offensive.

Person 1: Declares person 2 something or other.

So it's not like anyone really did anything wrong in the beginning.
Person 1 said nothing wrong. Person 2 isn't really wrong for possibly feeling offended.
But instead of just dropping it, both go from benign statement to full on brawl, and the "who started it" really isn't easily definable.

When a thread gets heated, I'll start at post one and try to find the first blatant personal attack in a thread. There is rarely a blatant smoking gun full on, first strike attack post. Most of these start with very benign comments followed by someone claiming some level of offense. Then it just escalates from there. Makes defining the wrong doer almost impossible.

So sometimes just for sanity sake folks, it's best to drop it if at all possible.