You can't get upset over these kinds of things. You just have to accept the fact that there are a few types of people that enjoy those sorts of things, and let them go mess around on their own. That's one of the main reasons why I almost never go into the lounge anymore. It just doesn't interest me.

There are three main groups of people who enjoy these sorts of things. The first are the stupid people. They're so dumb that they don't realize how pitiful they really are. These people are funny to watch.

The second group is made up of the people who are passionate about the subject, and will defend their view point to their fiery death. These can swing either way; sometimes they provide spectacular fireworks when their "opinions" turn out to be horribly wrong. Other times, they're just noise in the thread.

The third group is made up of the people who just like to argue, and don't really care what they're arguing about just so long as they get their fix. We have several prominent mods and staff members who fall into this category. I find no humor in watching this group, as they generally make everyone else look retarded without getting emotionally involved themselves. Basically, they make the other two groups amusing while at the same time remaining completely humorless themselves.

Nope, I don't have to accept it, and I won't. These people are trolls and they have no place here. I can't stand just sitting by and seeing people like this get away with being idiots. There needs to be some accountablilty.

And it's not just the lounge:
Idiots harping on XNA and C#. That should be right up your alley Mikey [grin].

It's a public forum, and as such there are always going to be discussions that not everyone agrees with. We can't shut down threads simply on the basis that we (as staff or mods) don't agree with the topic. Even political and religious threads get some legs around here and some actually stay open until they peter out. It's pretty much the same in the real world - you call out the riot police when a huge demonstration is on the march, but no one actually does anything to stop it until the crowd becomes unruly.

Quote:Original post by Gaiiden
It's a public forum, and as such there are always going to be discussions that not everyone agrees with. We can't shut down threads simply on the basis that we (as staff or mods) don't agree with the topic. Even political and religious threads get some legs around here and some actually stay open until they peter out. It's pretty much the same in the real world - you call out the riot police when a huge demonstration is on the march, but no one actually does anything to stop it until the crowd becomes unruly.

Actually weren't those political/relgious threads being killed off as soon as they were started at some point (a few years back if I recall) because of the trolling and just general stupidity? And now they're still very closely monitored? I'm pretty certain that was the case.

Frankly, this isn't a democracy. It's a website. And I have no issues with hardcore moderation on the public forums. And if I did take issue with the rules being too rigid, I'd go elsewhere until I found what I was looking for. My rights in the real world and my "rights" on a forum on some website are very different things to me. I personally believe those kinds of threads should be killed before they even start. They're blatent attempts to get people worked up in a lather over something very stupid - At least with the political threads it can be about something concrete and real (even though I'd probably kill those too). In the end, this is up to the people who run the site and they can run it how they see fit. But as long as I see threads like that, I'm going to continue to voice my annoyance over it. I know why you can't/won't do anything about it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it or even agree with it.

Mind you, I'll be keeping it to my journal, which wont show up in the topic listings with headings like "XNA == Communist conspiracy" in Game Programming (even though it was moved much later).