On Sep 24, 7:00?pm, Frogwatch wrote:
By comparison to the newsgroups I have just been browsing, we are
downright genteel here. It is even possible to reason with people
here. If you think our arguments are acrimonious, go to
alt.politics.usa and read the posts. I wouldnt even consider posting
anything there because there is no hope of reason. Many of the other
political newsgroups are the same. "Rational discourse" is an
oxymoron on political newsgroups it seems. I like a good logical
discussion even when nobody agrees. You can feel that people will go
away and consider your ideas even if they never admit it. "Winning"
an argument on usenet is probably unknown and would be a hollow
victory anyway, what would be the point?
Maybe I am really naive but was really shocked and depressed by the
level of invective on those newsgroups. Based on the nature of the
posts, I wonder if there is any hope of Americans agreeing if we ever
really have to. I'll keep my discussions about boats here but I wish
it were possible to carry on a rationale political discussion because
I truly am curious about the ideas of the other side(s).
I apologize for getting political earlier today.

Were you around, under a different handle, a couple of years ago?

Drag up rec.boats from some time in about 2004, 2005, or early 2006 in
the Google archives. It ain't a pretty sight. Threads starting off as
a discussion of a boating topic would get almost instantly ruined. As
soon as poster "A" rendered an opinion about outboard boats vs.
sterndrives, poster "B" would charge into the thread for no reason
except to start calling names, or continue name calling that began in
some political thread. We had posters from as far away as Australia
opining about Kerry vs. Bush, the War in Iraq, etc..(in extremely
antagonistic and hostile manners)......and there were a lot of people
who just hung around to continue a feud or to look for a fight. At one
time, I think less than half the NG were active boaters.

Some folks would like to return to a free for all flame fest. Some
think it's good entertainment. Others are pleased with the relative
improvement in tone and increased percentage of posters who are
actually interested in boats and boating. My personal opinion; there
are any number of places where a guy can go find or start a political
snot fight. Not that many boating NG's, so we should use some
restraint or risk screwing this one up entirely. However, the NG will
be what the group, collectively, wants it to be (so those of us who
would prefer that it not return to its former status as continuous
political grudge match may occasionally be seen discouraging OT
political posts).