Open Question!

[Missy-Q]

This is exactly what I was going to say. Seriously, the size and depth of some of the replies, coupled sometimes with a slightly threatening nature, just makes me not be arsed to make a reply.

man, that would make me want to reply even more!

I guess it mainly comes down to personality types. Your 'expressives' are obviously going to want to dominate a conversation, your 'drivers' are going to want to shoot them down with one-liners. The 'amiables' will avoid the confrontation altogether, and the 'analytical' type personalities will consider the argument and post their views based on what they research. Same as the way everything else works.
I am a type B expressive personality. Some people love me for it and some can't stand me, but personality profiling tells us that we can't change the essence of who we are, we can only control our personality type through awareness of it, and through greater empathy for the other personality types we encounter.

 

[Robbo]

This is exactly what I was going to say. Seriously, the size and depth of some of the replies, coupled sometimes with a slightly threatening nature, just makes me not be arsed to make a reply.

Oh come on Ad, we're grown men here mate, and hopefully some of those men have the courage of their convictions to stand by their opinions and explain them ..... if I said something Missy didn't agree with, he'd tell me and would articulate why ... would he get threatened?
I think not.

Some people do elicit what you may interpret as threatening but WTF [this is instead of bejeeepers], that's just heated debate.
I've had people threaten me on here and so have a lot of the mods, just ask Gassy .... we just laugh it off otherwise we'd go doo-lalley with it all.

If you have a valid opinion and you can stick to the points then you should articulate as much .... what you suggest dissuades you isn't much of an argument in my book mate and if you disagree with this, I am gonna smash your head in.

 

[Robbo]

man, that would make me want to reply even more!

I guess it mainly comes down to personality types. Your 'expressives' are obviously going to want to dominate a conversation, your 'drivers' are going to want to shoot them down with one-liners. The 'amiables' will avoid the confrontation altogether, and the 'analytical' type personalities will consider the argument and post their views based on what they research. Same as the way everything else works.
I am a type B expressive personality. Some people love me for it and some can't stand me, but personality profiling tells us that we can't change the essence of who we are, we can only control our personality type through awareness of it, and through greater empathy for the other personality types we encounter.

..hey Missy what about that demographic of poster who just shoots you down because of who you are and not what you say???
How should we deal with them?

 

[Sinister]

Would I be right in assuming this has half-stemmed from this thread? From a personal perspective; I've read all the replies / debates, and despite having an opinion - I have two reasons for not expressing it.

Firstly; because I've only been in the sport for approximately 6 months, if that, and with so many posters quoting the successes and / or failures of previous teams - I have no experience to speak from.
Secondly; I can't be arsed. I'm surprised I read the whole thing; when it came to hitting the reply button - I just couldn't bring myself to do it. There was enough fuel in the fire without someone else jumping in - and sooner or later, it's going to end up a little less than pretty.

It's the same on every forum though - people either love to be involved in 'discussion' which usually disintegrates into a series of jibes, or they take the view they're better off out of it.

 

[Robbo]

Would I be right in assuming this has half-stemmed from this thread? From a personal perspective; I've read all the replies / debates, and despite having an opinion - I have two reasons for not expressing it.

Firstly; because I've only been in the sport for approximately 6 months, if that, and with so many posters quoting the successes and / or failures of previous teams - I have no experience to speak from.
Secondly; I can't be arsed. I'm surprised I read the whole thing; when it came to hitting the reply button - I just couldn't bring myself to do it. There was enough fuel in the fire without someone else jumping in - and sooner or later, it's going to end up a little less than pretty.

It's the same on every forum though - people either love to be involved in 'discussion' which usually disintegrates into a series of jibes, or they take the view they're better off out of it.

To be fair, there was nothing you could really add being as you have olny been in the sport for six months; you could of course express a general view on the subject of support/celebration but then that would have seemed quite daunting.

Some of the problem is, people don't like being wrong and even worse is being made to look wrong in public but then it beggars the question of why people post in forums at all.

If people post just to have others back-slap them then that's a pretty lame reason because one of the things I was told to do when writing for PGi [though I didn't always do as I was told] by a man much smarter than myself was to, write articles that had half of the people agreeing with you and the other half not... wise words indeed for media driven authors.

I also think that if people post in forums and the first time things get abit hairy and they naff off, that's pretty lame too.
Forums are for discussion, heated or otherwsie, as for threatening behaviour?
What's anybody gonna do .... cyber slap me?
I think my jaw can just about handle that and I can't believe people are sooo sensitive as to avoid writing anything for fear of that ... surely not...

 

[Bolter]

Oh come on Ad, we're grown men here mate, and hopefully some of those men have the courage of their convictions to stand by their opinions and explain them ..... if I said something Missy didn't agree with, he'd tell me and would articulate why ... would he get threatened?
I think not.

Some people do elicit what you may interpret as threatening but WTF [this is instead of bejeeepers], that's just heated debate.
I've had people threaten me on here and so have a lot of the mods, just ask Gassy .... we just laugh it off otherwise we'd go doo-lalley with it all.

If you have a valid opinion and you can stick to the points then you should articulate as much .... what you suggest dissuades you isn't much of an argument in my book mate and if you disagree with this, I am gonna smash your head in.

Sorry, you got me wrong. I dont feel threatened, far from it. Never have, and if I did, that would be when I would join in. I dont mean that people are threatened either, sorry, maybe bad wording but if someone less able was to pose a thought and get some part of their thought structure messed up, maybe use one word wrong (like threatened) they would get pounced on

But threads do sometimes get a little heavyweight. I know you know what I mean.

Personally, sometimes I dont care for the subject, sometimes I cant be arsed, sometimes (most times) Ive had a long day and dont want an internet argument with someone I havent met.

But, if thats anyones cup of tea, thats great. I dont mind what goes on, I post when I see something I want to post in, other times, I just dont. Doesnt mean I dont have an opinion, or that im not a grown man or whatever.

Smash my head in? You'd have to catch me first

 

[Sinister]

A cyber slap in terms of forums and suchlike would be getting yourself banned. I'm sure you're fair in the sense of letting someone express an opinion and provided it's kept kosher, speaking freely - but obviously there's always going to be a point of someone arguing (or shall we call it debating ) with you (or another mod) and the fear of being banned. The large majority of forum mods will rightly say "As long as it's all within the boundaries, of course we wouldn't ban them!", but sometimes in practice - it doesn't always work that way.

Besides, you lose one member, and it hasn't really got any effect on your member-base. They lose access to P8ntballer and they've lost what is probably one of their main sources of recent goings on, not to mention a massive trade-site; but if they want to try and argue their case, it'll be through private messages, which won't make much difference - or through someone else, which could see them banned as a result of.

More often than not - arguing with the powers that be just isn't worthwhile.

 

[Missy-Q]

..hey Missy what about that demographic of poster who just shoots you down because of who you are and not what you say???
How should we deal with them?

Typically this is an expressive personality.
An expressive will always (subconciously) wish to be the centre of attention. If someone else is already there they will attempt to oust them, just because they are in the centre, not necessarily because they disagree. An expressive is the most jealous of the personality types, and also the best suited to the entertainment industry, or Sales.

Flattery is typically the best way to deal with an expressive personality - that is, if you want something from them.
EG. If I am selling to an expressive, I am going to play to that ego, and tell them that no-one else is able to buy in the quantities they can buy in. This, in theory, would secure me a larger order as the expressive attempts to meet the expectation set.
Shutting them up is another matter altogether, and not something I was taught. My studies focused on how to open varying personality types up for increased sales revenue.

 

[Cook$]

A cyber slap in terms of forums and suchlike would be getting yourself banned. I'm sure you're fair in the sense of letting someone express an opinion and provided it's kept kosher, speaking freely - but obviously there's always going to be a point of someone arguing (or shall we call it debating ) with you (or another mod) and the fear of being banned. The large majority of forum mods will rightly say "As long as it's all within the boundaries, of course we wouldn't ban them!", but sometimes in practice - it doesn't always work that way.

More often than not - arguing with the powers that be just isn't worthwhile.

I welcome arguments. They keep the forum alive.

Also, I won't ban people for arguing with me. I'll only ban people if it's funny.

 

[WOODY LOKI]

I often write long posts then don't bother posting them as I feel that my use of English will lead to misinterpretation. I also can't be bothered to post my opinion if it's different to other more distinguished forum users because I don't feel I need to cause friction or draw attention to my team or myself. I don't mind a good debate/argument, I do have a back bone, but those that know me well enough will know I'm a relaxed guy that hates upsetting people.