Hit-and-Run

[DeeZire]

Lately I've been experimenting with the hit-and-run approach to thread participation. I'll get caught up with the topic at hand, (since I'm usually late,) make a pertinent comment, and then leave, never to return. Is this bad manners?

This approach developed after noticing that if I pop the thread-starter's balloon with logic or facts, there's a really good chance they're going to ignore me. Of course, many of the threads I hit-and-run appear to be posted specifically to bait people into ridiculous arguments. My problem is, ridiculous arguments have a tendency to keep me up nights, so I've found it's in the interest of maintaining my health that I use this hit-and-run technique.

Why even bother visiting these argument-baiting threads, you may ask? Well, I look at it this way - what would George Carlin do? Would he stand idly by while his neighbors attacked reason and common sense with dogma and propaganda? I don't think so.

So, thank you in advance for any insight you might be willing to shed on this pressing dilemma, although if I follow my new pattern of thread etiquette, I'll never get to find out what anyone said!

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Since you won't read this, I can say whatever I want, huh?

Seriously, you should normally avoid troll threads, because the teenager behind them is aching for the attention his parents won't give him, but on the other hand, when said teenager really gets upset that the grown-ups don't agree with him, and he starts throwing statistics and quotes without a source at you, it's just sooooooooooooooo much fun to present him with facts that shoot his conspiracy theories down.

The latter should be done in moderation though, because it's not good for your mental health to argue with morons. As the proverb goes:
"Never argue with idiots. They'll only drag you down to their own level and beat you with their experience (in idiocy)."

 

[DeeZire]

Curiosity killed the cat but I'm still here. Apparently, this is not as pressing an issue as I thought, so I'll just proceed with my juvenile plan.

I had to laugh at the teenager reference, considering that the usual suspects I tend to deal with are definitely not teenagers. It just really bothers me that a supposedly serious discussion would ignore any viewpoints that contradict the premise of the OP. This, to me, seems to be the type of rudeness that would deserve a hit-and-run response. I look at the hit-and-run technique as a defensive 'pre-ignore' tactic - utilizing the ignore function without actually putting annoying people on ignore. Annoying people can be quite entertaining, which is why I feel justified in being an annoyance myself, from time to time.

(Obvioulsy, I need something to do today. Actually, I have something to do today, I'm just waiting for the appointment to show up.)

Thanks again for everyone's patience. I know I'm no George Carlin, but there's nothing wrong with aspiring to a higher plane of communication - especially around here, where communication is the goal.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

I always hit and run. Unfortunatly I'm to busy of late to spend any real time here.

So instead I just drop in, say a few idiotic things and leave.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

I think that's a valid strategy, but will note with some ire that your contribution to a not-very contentious food price thread that I started was to pop in with a non-substantive, ad-hominen attack-post which I think was probably triggered by something Ami said but which included me in the smears and sneers. It was indeed "hit and run," so color me unimpressed.

 

[ChilledVodkaIV]

whoever the fuck george carlin is.

 

[DeeZire]

George Carlin was a famous comedian from the US. He made fun of conventions, he was politically incorrect, and he pissed off people who were unable to laugh at themselves.

 

[DeeZire]

I think that's a valid strategy, but will note with some ire that your contribution to a not-very contentious food price thread that I started was to pop in with a non-substantive, ad-hominen attack-post which I think was probably triggered by something Ami said but which included me in the smears and sneers. It was indeed "hit and run," so color me unimpressed.

I apologize, Rox. What happened was, during my sudden conversion from Liberal to Conservative, my zeal for being absolutely certain that I was right overtook my sensitivity to others.

I will admit that my frustration at being ignored in other political threads was partially caused by a thread you started, (not the food thread) in which my logical and profound comment was passed over like a turd on a sidewalk. I am relieved to see that your choice to ignore my posts was not caused by the dreaded ignore button, but rather a personal choice by you to avoid opinions that threaten your perception of reality. That's understandable. We all do that, to one degree or another.

I will attempt to be more courteous in any future ad-hominen attacks.

Peace

D

 

[Guest]

whoever the fuck george carlin is.

George Carlin was a famous comedian from the US. He made fun of conventions, he was politically incorrect, and he pissed off people who were unable to laugh at themselves.

CV knows.

He's just being - CV.

 

[DeeZire]

CV knows.

He's just being - CV.

That's okay. I don't mind talking about George Carlin.

 

[Guest]

whoever the fuck george carlin is.

Ooooh, ello you. Long time no see.

Fancy a shag?

 

[Trinique_Fire]

Hit and runs are no more bad mannered than the posts that get completely ignored because the poster doesn't fit into whatever clique or popularity group is abound at the moment...like you said about your post getting passed over like a turd on the sidewalk. It happens on the AH, GB, BDSM, everywhere you turn. Some days are better than others, but it must just be a human thing.

If a hit and run is bad mannered, than color me Eliza Dolittle.

 

[keeblercrumb]

Rocket? No, I'm just glad to see ya!

I want to thank you for this thread. I have never participated in a board to any degree before I came here.

I have found this experience here on AH to be unsettling for a number of reasons, including this feeling of.... being in a large, crowded room, with some people engaged in screaming arguments, some stumbling around in bewilderment, some necking or fucking in the corner, some standing on soap boxes, etc., etc.. But that is not a metaphor, it is exactly what this place is.

The only difference is that in this place, you are safe behind the wires and ether out there in cyberland.... And in THIS place you may be anyone you care to be and say anything you care to say without the limitations placed on us by civility or fear or our own personal realities.

Is there something that binds us? On this board, it is the writing porn thing but that clearly is not really it, at least it does not seem so to me.

Rather it seems a place where people seek solace and distraction from the loneliness or dissatisfaction in there own reality. THAT is what binds us.

No generality fits all, of course. I think there are a few surprisingly functional people here who are just entertained by it all and use this as an entertainment outlet in their lives.

And so we bring these "needs" for company, sex, solace and friendship here. And when, as it must happen, our voice gets lost in the din of noise, it is hard not to feel hurt and let down by it all.

If I wanted to feel ignored or marginalized, I would just stay in my own reality, I don't need it from this place too.

But it is a noisy, crowded place, and not a place for reasoned debate, even if a occasionally a discussion breaks out in the middle of argument.

And then there is the fact that I must work for a living and cannot just live in the never-never land anyway.

So... I hit and run.

Gotta run....


-KC

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

I apologize, Rox. What happened was, during my sudden conversion from Liberal to Conservative, my zeal for being absolutely certain that I was right overtook my sensitivity to others.

I will admit that my frustration at being ignored in other political threads was partially caused by a thread you started, (not the food thread) in which my logical and profound comment was passed over like a turd on a sidewalk. I am relieved to see that your choice to ignore my posts was not caused by the dreaded ignore button, but rather a personal choice by you to avoid opinions that threaten your perception of reality. That's understandable. We all do that, to one degree or another.

I will attempt to be more courteous in any future ad-hominen attacks.

Peace

D

Since that's the way you want it, I'll let this post guide the tone and level of respect for a different view conveyed in any future responses I may choose to make to your comments in a thread.

 

[neonlyte]

CV knows.

He's just being - CV.

I prefered him when he was less gauche...

 

[Guest]

I prefered him when he was less gauche...

 

[Guest]

I prefered him when he was less gauche...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I want to thank you for this thread. I have never participated in a board to any degree before I came here...

Yer all right for a missile.

Worse than hit and run is the opposite, to become obsessed with a thread, to lie awake nights consumed with things you should have said and to jump out of bed at 4 AM and fire up the computer, even though you know no one but you is the least bit concerned with early Etruscan economic policy or the two classes of psychotropic drugs; to find yourself responding to Amicus as if he were actually capable of rational discourse; to find yourself going back and editing your posts into multi-page, eye-glazing essays. That's bad.

Just show us your tits and get out. That's really what this place is best for.

 

[Guest]

I want to thank you for this thread. I have never participated in a board to any degree before I came here.

I have found this experience here on AH to be unsettling for a number of reasons, including this feeling of.... being in a large, crowded room, with some people engaged in screaming arguments, some stumbling around in bewilderment, some necking or fucking in the corner, some standing on soap boxes, etc., etc.. But that is not a metaphor, it is exactly what this place is.

The only difference is that in this place, you are safe behind the wires and ether out there in cyberland.... And in THIS place you may be anyone you care to be and say anything you care to say without the limitations placed on us by civility or fear or our own personal realities.

Is there something that binds us? On this board, it is the writing porn thing but that clearly is not really it, at least it does not seem so to me.

Rather it seems a place where people seek solace and distraction from the loneliness or dissatisfaction in there own reality. THAT is what binds us.

No generality fits all, of course. I think there are a few surprisingly functional people here who are just entertained by it all and use this as an entertainment outlet in their lives.

And so we bring these "needs" for company, sex, solace and friendship here. And when, as it must happen, our voice gets lost in the din of noise, it is hard not to feel hurt and let down by it all.

If I wanted to feel ignored or marginalized, I would just stay in my own reality, I don't need it from this place too.

But it is a noisy, crowded place, and not a place for reasoned debate, even if a occasionally a discussion breaks out in the middle of argument.

And then there is the fact that I must work for a living and cannot just live in the never-never land anyway.

So... I hit and run.

Gotta run....


-KC

 

[Guest]

Yer all right for a missile.

Worse than hit and run is the opposite, to become obsessed with a thread, to lie awake nights consumed with things you should have said and to jump out of bed at 4 AM and fire up the computer, even though you know no one but you is the least bit concerned with early Etruscan economic policy or the two classes of psychotropic drugs; to find yourself responding to Amicus as if he were actually capable of rational discourse; to find yourself going back and editing your posts into multi-page, eye-glazing essays. That's bad.

Just show us your tits and get out. That's really what this place is best for.

I'm not here to see your tits.

 

[Guest]

I want to thank you for this thread. I have never participated in a board to any degree before I came here.

I have found this experience here on AH to be unsettling for a number of reasons, including this feeling of.... being in a large, crowded room, with some people engaged in screaming arguments, some stumbling around in bewilderment, some necking or fucking in the corner, some standing on soap boxes, etc., etc.. But that is not a metaphor, it is exactly what this place is.

The only difference is that in this place, you are safe behind the wires and ether out there in cyberland.... And in THIS place you may be anyone you care to be and say anything you care to say without the limitations placed on us by civility or fear or our own personal realities.

Is there something that binds us? On this board, it is the writing porn thing but that clearly is not really it, at least it does not seem so to me.

Rather it seems a place where people seek solace and distraction from the loneliness or dissatisfaction in there own reality. THAT is what binds us.

No generality fits all, of course. I think there are a few surprisingly functional people here who are just entertained by it all and use this as an entertainment outlet in their lives.

And so we bring these "needs" for company, sex, solace and friendship here. And when, as it must happen, our voice gets lost in the din of noise, it is hard not to feel hurt and let down by it all.

If I wanted to feel ignored or marginalized, I would just stay in my own reality, I don't need it from this place too.

But it is a noisy, crowded place, and not a place for reasoned debate, even if a occasionally a discussion breaks out in the middle of argument.

And then there is the fact that I must work for a living and cannot just live in the never-never land anyway.

So... I hit and run.

Gotta run....


-KC

Nice work, Uncle.

 

[The_Fool]

I'm not here to see your tits.

No, but I wouldn't mind a glance at yours...


I consider myself more random and disconnected rather than hit and run.


Accentuate the trivial, marginalize the irrational, ignore pontification and worship the metaphor.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I post a variety of places.

What I post depends on the attitude of the OP or the participants. Mostly I want to see what kinds of responses I get, if any.

I'm reading about Adolf Hitler's sound and textural techniques. He knew how to play people, to make them adore him or make his opponents act nutty and careless.

 

[Handprints]

Lately I've been experimenting with the hit-and-run approach to thread participation. I'll get caught up with the topic at hand, (since I'm usually late,) make a pertinent comment, and then leave, never to return. Is this bad manners?

There are people on here who have the time and inclination to follow up every response in a thread, every change in nuance in an argument and even any change in tone or point of view over months of a poster's comments. I envy them the time...

No-one is going to consider it bad manners if your real life (which includes decisions to spend less time here) takes precedence over your on-line life. Okay, if you become a target of ranting, the ranter usually gets annoyed that there's no way to rub your nose in things...

This goes double for pertinent comments, which are of themselves evidence of good manners.

H

 

[DeeZire]

Since that's the way you want it, I'll let this post guide the tone and level of respect for a different view conveyed in any future responses I may choose to make to your comments in a thread.

Thank you, Rox. Although I'm not sure exactly what you said, I appreciate that you said it.

+1 to ya'll for adding your 2 cents. The insight is duly noted, and I am eternally grapefruit.