How does one measure whether someone is "contributing" to a discussion...I mean, very often, B-Bob or A-Train only post sarcastic one-liners, and I personally have to say that often enough, those are my favorite "contributions" to the discussion... As quoted above, I have been accused of not contributing, so this made me think a little bit...let's take this thread as an example and let's see... SJC contributions in this thread... - Question if either everyone who makes a remark like that should be fired or nobody (serious question, remained unanswered) - Remark that thread should probably be moved to D&D (happened) - Discussion of how to politely ask someone where he comes from iwithout offending them (serious) - Question about AB's driving school skit (slightly unrelated, but not cheerleading for anyone) - Question whether Bill Singer is white, black or what (serious, out of curiosity) - three posts with dumb jokes (play of words) then, the first Timing contributions in this thread... - provocative reference to Limbaugh case without discussing the case at hand, including rolleyes - insult- and hate-filled post "You are so incredibly disingenuous that it's disturbing...You are simply out of touch with the world and this whole thread is simply an exercise in you being a shrill, disingenuous waste of time." SJC - stating that he disagrees with giddyup on the matter, but that Timing's offensive style is unacceptable (as it was really the first post in the thread where someone went from discussing - right or wrong - to directly personally insulting someone) Timing - another insult-filled post (this time towards giddyup again) - insult-filled post towards SJC - aggressive post towards giddyup ("You'll get no more of my time with your inane little games today so you can move on to someone else now, thanks.") SJC - first recap of Timing's "activities" Timing - bitterness continuing to shine through in an insulting and xenophobic post full of hate and criticizing SJC's criticizing of others' style (see the irony ) SJC - second recap of Timing's "activities" - unrelated "smilie" post reminding of Jeff's sticky again Timing - increasingly bitter and hateful post saying SJC has contributed nothing SJC - summary of Timing's "activities" in this thread (this post, had to post it in a new thread...) Contributions, final score: SJC: a few, quality questionable Timing: only hate and insults I'll leave it up to whoever is reading this thread to decide which contribution is preferable . -------- Anyway, away from this example which obviously is only half-serious, what do you think really constitutes a contribution and when is a post not a contribution in your opinion? In my opinion, contributions (not a complete list, just a few that come to my mind) are: - facts - good articles or links to those articles - detailed arguments (like those MacBeth sometimes makes, I criticized the length sometimes, but there is no denying that it is usually a great contribution) - jokes to lighten up a thread, including sarcastic remarks - even an "I agree" can be a contribution in my opinion, as often people have already brought up the most important arguments, but seem to be outnumbered and therefore an "I agree" might change the perception of someone who first comes to the thread as she sees that that opinion has more supporters than one - baiting, to a certain extent, as it can help drive a discussion, and if it is done cleverly and in a humorous way (even if the humor is not evident at first sight) - even criticism of other people's posting content and style is a contribution, in my opinion, as it helps develop certain standards of the board we are trying to uphold. NOT a contribution, in my opinion, are: - personal insults - baiting only for the purpose of getting an opportunity to degrade and insult other people - partisanship for the sake of partisanship - what I mean is that sometimes, especially in the D&D, it seems like a reflex - people know to which "camp" the other poster belongs and automatically post against that poster, it seems - why can people not disagree on some issues and agree on others? I am sure I am missing some things on both sides of what is or what is not a contribution, but perhaps you can correct me or add some more. Thanks.
Dear God, will it ever end? Could there be an all at once, multiple poster smackdown apocalypse in order to cleanse the bbs?
I think the other thread was locked because it kind of got out of hand with the insults. The other thread made me think about what a "contribution" is and I think that question can be discussed. If a moderator wants, they can remove my little "recap" and just leave the general questions there about what is and what isn't a contribution...
Actually, I have jetlag and cannot sleep! Anyway, Timing, no hard feelings, let's just forget it. If anyone wants to close or delete this thread, please feel free to do so .