An Interesting Video Pertaining to Forums

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,329]

So in my YouTube subscriptions, I saw that one reviewer/ranter I follow Pieguyrulz posted this PSA about forums.

 

 

He mostly discussed how to be in a forum environment where everything is positive and any negative opinion is instantly frowned upon. This makes me wonder: How can we as a community apply some of the things said in PSA to improve the way some of us think?

 

Now, the user discussed 2 different types of forums: The ones that have a variety of different opinions ranging from positive to negative and the ones that are mostly positive. For the most of it, I see this community fall into the former. People will state their opinion on whatever and not get too much hate or flame for it. But I still will see those instances where members are extremely positive where I'm just thinking, "What will happen when they go out and see how negative and cynical the world can be?" Or instances where people will get dog piled for stating an unpopular opinion (partially the reason the thread for it was shut down).

 

What I'm saying is that this forum community really seems to go either or. There are moments where I'll see them clash, but that's usually calmed down within a few days.

 

So how do you think we as a forum can improve in how we express our opinions or how positive/negative we are?

[碇 シンジン 27,427]

What is the value in negativity? I dont think there is any, only thing it does to me is make my mood sad and I don't think it is needed  in my situation.

 

Negativity often gathers more and more negativity around itself since people start defending their beliefs and it causes Friendships to be broken, why is that needed in a forum about a show that tells how Friendship is Magic?

 

I dont see any reason

[Jeric 46,835]

What is the value in negativity? I dont think there is any, only thing it does to me is make my mood sad and I don't think it is needed in my situation.

 

Negativity often gathers more and more negativity around itself since people start defending their beliefs and it causes Friendships to be broken, why is that needed in a forum about a show that tells how Friendship is Magic?

 

I dont see any reason

What you are describing is called self perpetuating negativity. There is actually a distinction between that and calm criticism. There are many members I can point to who can provide a pointed contrary position while maintaining an approachable manner.

[TopQuark 409]

So how do you think we as a forum can improve in how we express our opinions or how positive/negative we are?

 

I don't recall seeing any major negative reaction of anyone's personal opinion, on these forums or otherwise (barring the Youtube comments section, of course); just some little spats that don't last more than ten comments, then forgotten. Then again I don't go looking for that kind of stuff, and usually ignore it when I find it. I think we are preforming acceptably, given the nature of a lot of the Internet. Always room for improvement, though.

 

What is the value in negativity? I dont think there is any, only thing it does to me is make my mood sad and I don't think it is needed  in my situation.

 

Negativity often gathers more and more negativity around itself since people start defending their beliefs and it causes Friendships to be broken, why is that needed in a forum about a show that tells how Friendship is Magic?

 

I dont see any reason

 

I believe the movie Inside Out well depicts the benefit of occasionally feeling negative emotions, and parts of The Cutie Map from season five show that a well-tempered friendship should be able to survive a difference in opinion.

[Drakkon 362]

I'm personally a fan of communities with overwhelming positiveness and strong negativity being frowned upon. I don't log on the internet anymore to correct others; my desires lie purely in having plain innocent fun. I try to avoid places where there is frequent unstructured arguments or communities that have "structured chaos". There isn't any deficiency in the amount of users who need to learn to be able to look at themselves and their form of expression objectively in this community... however, this applies to pretty much the whole world. Being able to look at yourself in 3d is extremely hard for many people, and the truly hopeless people will never read or consider a request to try to question their habits. Many people that don't understand the real world and the heftiness of their words are likely to not understand it for a reason more base than just not realizing the sensitivity of the subject.

 

For those people, the only way to realize it is if they all by themselves consider it. "Self-discovery" of sorts is only possible if you don't have any doubt that the thought was brought to you by an external desire for pacification, neutralization or self-destruction. This applies far beyond just conversational habits. These philosophical discussions are fine in my opinion for the art of "group" self-discovery, but I wouldn't get your hopes up of changing the people you have in mind. With some luck they will, in time, develop.

[ponylaces 1,869]

Saw this video about 10 minutes after it came out. ;D

 

I'm not gonna lie, I have seen people on here that can be too positive about the show and sometimes forget it has flaws. But most have pretty fair opinions about the show. When someone has a negative opinion on an episode or aspect of an episode, people here respect it and instead of going batshit insane.

 

I'm fine with criticism or "negativity" as long as it's reasonable and not nitpicking.

[Koukatsu 5,898]

I think we have a pretty good balance of positivity and debate pit. :comeatus: