Some quick thoughts.
- Re ratings: yes, a few A&H regs have picked up some followers who autistically trail them around to negrate them. They are the Russell Greer to your Taylor Swift, friends. Make the field in which you grow your fucks about this barren. I understand there is a Japanese word, “tsundere” that explains this behaviour.
- The Overton window on A&H is a problem, but not in the way that has been suggested here. The Farms has a surprisingly diverse membership and part of that is geographical diversity with all the sociological implications that brings.
In illustration,
@Alec Benson Leary further upthread described himself as a “moderate lefty”. I too would describe myself as a “moderate lefty”. Alec and I have had some very pleasant discussions in A&H, but the truth is that his definition of moderate lefty and mine are fundamentally leagues apart, whilst - and this is important - both being completely reasonable and probably uncontroversial in terms of how “moderate lefty” is defined in our national and local political spectrums (I hate that phrase, but it’s the best fit for what I mean).
My Overton window as a millennial Brit with the significant privilege I am lucky enough to have benefited from is quite simply not going to be the same as that of a zoomer who grew up in rural Appalachia with hardly a pot to piss in. That’s actually what makes A&H interesting and worth visiting: this is a place where the majority of posters get to hear views and opinions that lie pretty far outwith their own bubble.
Stamping on the variety of those opinions is shitty not because “muh freeze peach” but because it would essentially wreck the most interesting thing about the forum. Yes, we have to put up with a certain amount of shitposting to get that. Yes, we also have our inner biases that make us think various posters have a room temperature IQ. It behoves us to come to discussion here in good faith, with grace for other people’s experiences, and with courtesy in discussion. Frankly, a little more grace and courtesy would solve many of the issues that trouble A&H has as a board.
- Following the above, it might be worth discussing the opening of a sub forum/ghetto for non US based threads and discussions in A&H. In the Brexit thread, most frequent posters are working with a set of understood shared norms and assumptions about British political and constitutional issues. I don’t think this is apparent to non UK posters and as a result there are a lot of confusing loose ends when they try to pick up the discussion.
Likewise, any discussion about “free speech” and “hate speech” issues, especially regarding the US and UK, devolves into autistic shitflinging in part because the UK posters have in the main no understanding of the scope and quirks of the First Amendment, and the US posters don’t realise that. Many things are given castiron First Amendment Protection in the US that in Scotland, would give me a legal defence to a criminal charge of assault on the basis that they constituted provocation to violence.
It would be helpful if we could try to remember that even on a majority Western and English speaking board, there are some distinctly different norms in play. It’s also not somehow humiliating to say “I don’t know a lot about X topic, could someone explain Y”
- LEARN TO SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH. A huge amount of thread derails and autistic slapfights are caused by the inability of many A&H posters (and we’ve all done it once) to read the room, realise that your “challenges” and “just asking questions” and “rebuttal” are of no fucking interest or value to anyone actually engaged in the thread, and to quietly tab out without spraying your opinion like lukewarm piss all over the thread.
The gun control threads are the absolute worst fucking examples of this. If you have nothing of value to contribute to the discussion - and for clarity, your opinion is not automatically of value - just shut up and read and hopefully learn something.
- Yes, you think your opinion is obviously the most correct and informed one. Literally everyone else on the board thinks the same. No one is coming to an epiphany on the Farms.
- Quote your fucking sources. Just fucking do it. I don’t care if they are shit. If you can’t find any source for your claim, even a swivel eyed one, stop making it or ask for help to source it. Pro tip: many of the things you “know are true” are either outright wrong or significantly more nuanced than you realise.
- It’s actually fine to block/silence/whatever posters you think are fucking morons/communists/nazis if it improves your user experience. The right to free speech does not include the right to be taken seriously. Just quietly mute them and move on. And don’t bother telling them, either.
