Why is that so ? ... I think that it must be because of FEAR ... fear that their selfish and thus fragile ego might be challenged.
I should know better by now just who it is that so commonly does that and just never even begin to read their posts. It really irks me when I do not pay attention to who those folks are and invest a lot of time reading through the comment thread formulating in mind what I will respond with, only finding out at the end of often a very long thread that I cannot comment because I am "not a friend" ...
As it turns out, when that happens, it has always been a person of the "Right-wing" and often "Christian" persuasion ... and those being the last choice of who I would ever seek "friendship" with under such circumstances anyway.
(I might not ordinarily post these thoughts but Gather seems to have little choice of subjects lately to respond to so what the heck) :-)
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Comments: 58
Most of the over two hundred families who home school in that county, were secular, but the kids could not be handled by the school system. I remember one woman had a child whom she had to go with to school every day, for the whole day. So she decided to do it on her own at home and cut the travel time... The child had problems synchronizing the sound with the image in his brain... He was a brilliant kid, only if one had the patience to wait for him to catch up...
There's another, smaller number of people whose posts I will have nothing to do with because I consider them treasonous/somewhat unhinged/potential terrorists. There's nothing to be gained by interacting with such people.
It is not racist to criticise Barack Obama, nor is a person who thinks climate problems are not caused by carbon dioxide in any way a child murderer.
We all have our own reasons for using gather; personally I find the emphasis on commenting a PITA and am quite happy with zro to ten comments per post. I like the backlinks I can post to my other sites however.
It has more to do with them not having the facts correct. When given the actual facts they run and hide behind their self-imposed firewalls. Or they simply fabricate an alternative-reality "history" to stroke their own egos while, well, lying.
Unfortunately for them, most people are much more aware than these folks seem to hope they are. Which means most people see them for what they are - B.S.ers.
But unusually you are right on one point. Most people here do see you for what you are these days.
Your sentence does not even make sense. Probably because it is factually deficient, i.e., wrong.
You've been repeating the same lies
Wrong. 100+ years of science.
to try to discredit genuine climate research for about five years now.
You did a Google search and posted blogs from non-science blogs, lobbyists, and other nonsensical stuff you didn't even read. You even pointed to an article debunking a silly statement by a denialist without reading enough to even know that you were debunking the point you were insinuating. Let's reiterate that - you did a Google search and copy-and-pasted stuff you didn't read, insinuated it said what it didn't say, and then you started to insult people.
All common tactics of the denialist industry.
All of this was documented in detail here.
But unusually you are right on one point. Most people here do see you for what you are these days.
See "Which means most people see them for what they are - B.S.ers."
And to Susan G., see "Or they simply fabricate an alternative-reality "history" to stroke their own egos while, well, lying."
On one level the buffoonishness is humorous. On another level it is just pathetic.
And I absolutely refuse to kowtow to people who insult me and my friends and then run crying to gather's staff when they are paid back in the same coin.
As for left and right, the terms are meaningless, when people who call themselves liberals behave like Nazis we are entitled to treat them as we would Nazis.
The friends only restrictions are used because gather does not give us an option to block comments from a few people who are only here to systematically disrupt / hijack threads that express a point of view different to their own.
I find that abusive posts are best ignored. IF there is anything a troll can't stand, it is being ignored.
But...I must admit that I have been provoked at times and have given it back to them in kind. I always regret it later...that I let myself descend to their ugly level.
When I see people deleted out of hand, or for gaining the upper hand in some point of controversy, it's inevitably at the hands of a left wing athiest. And likewise that's the demographic of the "I'll pull the discourse down to petty personal insult, and run the thread out to mouse busting length" trolltype.
It goes both ways, and I get your frustration, you're not like that, but you can't deny they're out there. It does go both ways, I'll allow. There's a balance hard to reach and no moderator. But I've said screw it to scrolling through three miles of trollthread to find some conversation related to the article, and that's pretty much the aim, isn't it?
At some point the host has a responsibility to legitimate commentators, Gather doesn't let you block individuals, that's who your beef should be with. Ian is absolutely right.
I frankly shake my head at the patience exhibited by you guys sometimes, I wouldn't take that shit, even when I could throw it back.
Frankly, you can't leave a point of contention unchallenged on your own post, and you have to sleep sometime. If it is on topic, or courteous when it goes sideways, great, I would think, but I'll have to put a few contentious works out there before I judge anyone.
Unless you delete me. Then you're a dirty no good rotten $@#.
You can pretty quickly determine which people post nothing but crap anyway. So it's easy to simply not waste our time on those people.
try bubblews.com lots of fun over there
Indeed, it is easy to determine which people post nothing but crap. These articles don't deserve a response anyway, so they should simply be ignored. There are plenty of worthwhile posts on Gather, and if we focus on supporting those and avoid enabling bigotry and delusions we will see better postings. Those who continue to post dishonest crap will be relegated to frothing pathetically to themselves.
I would certainly encourage you to write more. We need more thoughtful essays. Perhaps we can stimulate a series of posts on particular issues, where someone summarizes the issue and we all provide possible solutions based on actual facts.
I also happen to remember from several years ago that I was one of the people who's always been against deletion of comments. However, because it was stated that Christians of the right were the people who always deleted the comments, I started a post showing all the people who deleted comments who called themselves liberals and were also not Christians. I think at this point, everyone can see that right wingers are not the only ones who delete comments by a long stretch and we could never keep up with all the ones they delete in an ongoing post. I have to think that the left just hasn't wanted to make posts for only their friends to comment on because it's their MO to wait until someone makes a point they can't refute and then they change the preference to comments needing their approval. So that works basically the same way, but they're just more unwittingly transparent. And isn't that almost always the way with them, anyway?
I even had one tell be once that in a true democracy, when the will of the majority lead in the wrong direction the government must step in and do what is 'right.'
Me? I'm so anti - authoritarian, pro personal liberty and so far to the left I'm a borderline anarchist (another political philosophy the people who think it's kewl to call themselves left wing do not understand.) Can you imagine the reaction from some people if I posted an article on that topic. Or for that matter if somebody wrote about how eugenics has always been associated with the left rather than the right?
I know it is ironic, Ian, but if I were to liken the whole thing to music, I would say they're drumming to the beat of the top 40's hits genre here and that's the mentality of the whole thing as I see it. If you want to introduce a different genre, they aren't going to like it and they have no means by which to appreciate it anyway so that's why things like you suggest writing about can't be a basis for anything but flame wars. They don't know what to do with it, and they can only do what they can do so it's partially our fault for fantasizing a false premise that all things are fairly equal. They're just people and you either like them or you don't. For the most part, I prefer dogs myself.
Well, you KNOW you can certainly comment on any of my posts. Maybe you shouldn't point to Christians ~ not everyone is the same, no matter what banner people tend to put them under.
HUGS, and thank you for sharing this with your FRIEND in Artistic Minds®
It's the left who is deciding to stop allowing comments when someone makes a comment that blows their whole argument that are doing what David says in the first comment of the thread. The comments need to have their approval or they won't get posted at all.
David Prosser Feb 7, 2013, 3:32pm EST
"It is strange that those most often sure of what they're saying can't stand to have any disagreement with it. It's almost as if they're on fragile ground. Having said that, there are some few I wish that fragile ground would open up beneath and swallow."
There probably isn't one of us who has made comments on climate change posts of the left that hasn't experinced exactly this. And I suppose we might have moments of wishing the same to some of them too, though we're usually somewhat kinder.
I also stop reading postings of those who never read or comment on mine after I have visited and remarked on theirs time after time. Gather should be about helping each other, not just about giving lots of points only to certain members.
One guy friended me so I could comment. Then he got mad at me (I don't know what I did to make him mad) and he defriended me. Now I can't comment on his articles. And I have a good many things to say to him....oh well. Off to other articles.
Thanks Jerry. Interesting topic. Gather is going through many changes. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
Now I'll go back up and read the comments.
People will do whatever they wish and those who choose to abuse are issued the following response on my posts:
Thank you for showing us your abusive nature.
Goodby!
It is not within my power to control the actions of others, however it is within my power to respond appropiately in a civilized fashion.
As to my mentioning "Christians" as I have and with the "categories of" added above most recently, is because there have been a very few who, when I have commented on their posts, have called me, or at least strongly implied, as being of the Devil and Satanic ... because my own Generic Spiritual views seem to conflict with their own.
I might add also, that no one here, so far, fits that specific group of folks, and it being "one of them" that set me off in writing this very post.
You are asking reason from people who can't use their brains to reason; you are asking civilized behavior from people who don't have the concept of civilization; you are asking one cell organisms to be as complex as a human...
I think I am friends with some of the best people on Gather of all persuasions. I do from time to time find new ones. Lots of great reading, but has slowed down some lately. They come and go, ...and then come back.
I was just thinking about some comments on an elderly member's post. While I totally disagreed with her political views and conclusions, I was shocked at how vicious some of the comments were. I was offended, but she never commented on the abuse. I'm not sure how many times I'd endure that kind of comments without restricting something. I hope I never have to find out.