GoKunming Forums

Nasty Habits

Magnifico (1981 posts) • 0

Jesus, some of you qualify for a PHD in The Life of Neddy.

nnoble (889 posts) • 0

@Alien I'm answering your question 'Where does it (animosity) come from.

It may be false memory, so someone else who has dipped in and out of GK over a decade or more may think differently, but at one time the level of animosity was negligible. Certainly there were strong disagreements but not much more than just that. Then, as I remember, there were one or two, no more than that, who not only put forward their views strongly but made a habit of accusing others of being a, b or c. Furthermore, not only were they making accusations, that were most often utterly incorrect, but they put themselves on a pedestal and more or less decreed 'I am right' 'you are wrong'. One of these people more or less stated: 'I am China friendly' 'You are enemies of China'. This person in particular was making blanket accusations to people who'd been operating in China for very many years. So many threads were hijacked and polarised by one man. The overwhelming majority of posters at that time had very good working relations with all the Chinese they worked or lived with or simply encountered in daily life, regardless of things that annoyed them. To have this individual come along with their holier than thou attitude was offensive. That, in my opinion, was the point when the forums soured. One of those who came on here repeatedly accusing others is still operating in the same manner today. Only the name has changed. Some of us are still irritated by this individual and remember well the implausible and offensive accusations he made. Look back, I think four or five years when this person started under his first alias. Compare the nature of the forums before and after.

Alien (3819 posts) • 0

@Tonyaod: Wish I had the answers. I don't think posting on GoK, per se, is a nasty habit; attractive to me because I like to know what others think, and like to kick in my thoughts. I don't think it's an addiction, or not a strong one anyway.
Actually, I don't think the habit of mutual insult etc. that has taken over many forums is necessarily 'nasty' - not sure it really hurts anybody, although it seems that some posters are trying to do that - but I just think it would be interesting to discuss why it occurs.
Your second paragraph is more of the same.
@nnoble: seems like a pretty good historical summary of gokunming posting, although I'd tend not to put so much 'blame' on the one individual you mention - but why, despite your fingering one, or more than one, initiators of the tendency, do so many people want to join in at virtually the same level? Strikes me as a cultural phenomenon that goes beyond any particular individual.

Tonyaod (824 posts) • 0

I think I'll let the readers of GoK decide whether or my prediction was correct.

Alien (3819 posts) • 0

@Tonyaod: I think you've misunderstood the meaning of 'rhetorical', but never mind, I'm not really interested in debating definitions unless they're important for some large discussion.
Or maybe you're right and I'm wrong about the definition - who cares?

Magnifico (1981 posts) • 0

maybe people are envious of neddy?

envy is one of the 7 deadly sins. when people aren't busy being motivated by greed or lust, envy is not far behind their list of motivations for doing things.

Tonyaod (824 posts) • 0

Rhetorical - used for, belonging to, or concerned with mere style or effect.

Rhetorical answer - An answer spoken to produce an effect and not necessarily to answer the actual question

An example of rhetorical post:
"I think you've misunderstood the meaning of 'rhetorical', but never mind, I'm not really interested in debating definitions unless they're important for some large discussion.
Or maybe you're right and I'm wrong about the definition - who cares?"

If the point is irrelevant then in the absence of any other point in the post, it would render the entire post irrelevant, and thus, the only point of the post is not not make a point but to sound intellectual but instead, comes off as a clumsily put together comeback.

This post brought to you by...RHETORIC: huh, what are we talking about again?...RHETORIC

Alien (3819 posts) • 0

OK, you can win this one (about what rhetoric means and your categorization of my sentence as rhetorical) if you like.

But I don't see how it makes my questions unworthy to think about - if you think they are worthless, don't want to think about them or go in that direction at all, then you don't have to bother to do so - it's just that they're more interesting to me than all these ceaseless personal attacks - i.e., trying to understand why they occur is more interesting to me than simply engaging in them. If nobody else thinks as I do, then I guess that would kill the kind of discussion that interests me.

Tonyaod (824 posts) • 0

@Alien, I have no problems with the types of questions you are asking and hence, I did exactly as you suggested, I ignored it. Thus why I choose to engage mmeddy and not you, which was the thesis of my previous post.

Currently, I am engaging you on a discussion regarding the pattern of your rhetorical posts, all talk and no sustenance. You post questions in which you yourself offer no concrete viewpoints or beliefs, always relying on vague rhetorical ideology when forced into a corner to provide an answer.

But then that has never really interested me and again, that's why I've never responded to any of your posts. We can go back and fourth from here. You post some kind of rhetorical response/question and I respond, ad infinitum, much like Pinocchio with his 1000 whys.

You may continue to respond if you like, just pretend I said something smart and witty so that you can comeback with a rhetorical question. It's a one-man play, really, you don't need me.

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