Quote:
Originally Posted by gblake
What are some other rabbit holes to dive down?
|
Here's one: Before we post a response, we should try evaluate
why we are posting it.
In my experience, the intent of a (non-questioning) post can be (very loosely) generalized to one of three categories:
1) Discussion
2) Debate
3) Rant
I mean something fairly specific by each of these words, which I will explain here:
A "discussion" post in one made in good faith for the purpose of exchanging information with another participant in the thread. If there is disagreement, the goal is to present your view in a way that the party you disagree with can understand and might reflect on and change his own. By the same ticket, doing this requires that you be willing to read other people's posts and reflect honestly on your own position.
A "debate" post is one made where the goal is no longer to communicate with or persuade the person you are addressing, but rather to convince any other readers that you are correct and he is not. The difference between a discussion and a debate is largely one of audience - in a discussion, you are primarily speaking to the person with whom you are discussing. In a debate, you are speaking to convince an external audience. Usually, once you cross the threshold from discussion to debate, a lot of good faith is lost and honest exchange of ideas ceases. This is usually where people tend to wall off and get defensive, and the thread turns sour. Debates, by nature, tend to become rude - when convincing an external audience, it rates to discredit your opponent.
A "rant" is where you are no longer arguing with the other person, or even to convince an audience - the only audience left is yourself. Rants are posted purely for the author to read his own post and feel justified in his own belief. All possible productivity is gone, and the only real end of such posts is alienation of others.
In the vast majority of cases, I believe that the goal of posting on a forum should be discussion. Rarely, when a person both shows that they are not interested in honest exchange of ideas and is posting information that one considers harmful, debate can be warranted. Rants are always counterproductive.
A lot of rudeness (perceived or otherwise), I think, is the result of people posting in a manner appropriate for debate (or ranting) and not for discussion. I know for a fact that I've been guilty of my fair share of this.
Edit: Changed wording to avoid potential misunderstanding.