Why all the focus on the negative in topics?

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

So I have seen a lot of threads on the forums here in general having a title like "worst X" or "least favorite X" or other negative things, and I wondered why? Wouldn't it be better to focus on your favorite things rather than the negatives, have threads about "best X" or just neutral opinions on something? Now I am not saying to not discuss negative things or anything of the sorts, but if you are making a thread about a TV show, a band, a character, etc. I think it would be better to keep the title neutral so everyone would feel welcome to post in the topic no matter their opinion on the entertainment in question.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Nightmare Lyre

[Mr F 1,522]

Becouse people like saying things are bad, look at the sea of haters that hates random stuff.

Also becouse we like hating stuff, and being pessimistic. (or something like that.)

[Fluttershyfan94 5,742]

Know exactly how you feel, this was actually a problem for me not so long ago. I almost wanted to stop using the forum since it was focusing so much on the negative that everyone seems to have forgotten the positive. Believe it or not I feel like it has gotten better though. I guess it was sort of just me feeling a little down.

 

We should focus on the more positive things, it's a forum talking about my little pony. It shouldn't be all serious and stuff, I think it's only because of the drought. Once season 4 starts we'll see fresh topics and a lot of people will return and etc. I need to start thinking of some topics, most importantly though positive topics, something fun.

 

So I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Fluttershyfan94

[ReverseFaller 2,483]

I've noticed this too, but I have the feeling that once season 4 starts we'll be seeing a lot more positive threads around here.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

I don't think that such a trend toward negatively toned discussions characterizes, or is necessarily unique to, our community. Humans have a tendency to get much more amped over bad news than good. Bringing out the negativity in people and airing the dirty laundry in various situations spawns intense interest - more often known as this strange "drama" that some people continue to treat like an unprecedented phenomenon plaguing the fandom.

 

In reality, there's "drama" everywhere: just turn on the news and hear yet another update about a war everyone you know finds ridiculous and yet continues to criticize; or track down a local newspaper and find yet another front-page story about some controversial lawsuit or yet another shooting. The drama-mongering that goes on in this fandom is enough to make one sometimes think that the fate of the international economic engine rests on a four-figure deal.

 

Here's a screenshot of what currently passes for top news of vital importance from Google:

 

There's actually a surprisingly simple neuropsychological reason for this: the part of your brain responsible for deciding that something is "bad" (known as the amygdala) has a direct line into your long-term memory - a luxury that positive experiences do not have. That leads to negative experiences being far, far more impressionable than positive ones, and they're ultimately the ones that we have a natural tendency to gather around unless we make a conscious effort to avoid them. There's some pretty interesting reading to be done on the topic if you google for "negativity bias".

 

---

 

If a trend toward negative topics bothers you, honestly, the best advice I can give is to avoid reading or participating in them - that only propagates them further. Instead, spend that time making a positive contribution toward something cheerful, or even start a friendly discussion of your own. It's not going to come intrinsically, because your brain will instinctively try to gravitate toward "bad" stuff, so expect to make a conscious effort toward this. On a community as large as MLP Forums, there's plenty to choose from, so you shouldn't have any issue finding the gems if you look for them.

 

As Tina Fey once said...

 

Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.

[Shanks 10,816]

I think part of is because there is a lot of controversy in the fandom right now and the lull between seasons hasn't helped that. Things have calmed down a bit but some people are still anxious, I will admit twilicorn pissed me off but I have tried to stay positive throughout the whole thing even if my criticism has been harsh at times. It is for that reason and Equestria Girls being better than I thought it would be that prompted me to become neutral on that particular matter. Part of it is also because some people for whatever reason can't help but be pessimistic even if there isn't any reason to be. It is for these reasons that I made a certain thread a while back asking people to say something nice about their least favorite mane 6 character.

 

 http://mlpforums.com/topic/47503-say-something-nice-about-your-least-favorite-mane-6-character/

[King 5,625]

Negativity is sadly something that we all deal with. The nature of being human is that we are an emotional species, its in our very blood...thats why people get very upset when they hear about someone killing a dog, or hurting a child and so on...its in our genes to be emotional.

 

When we're emotional, we tend to want to tell others, find a way to release this emotion, which can attribute to people opening up threads about sadder topics when they feel down.

 

As Felds said, if you really dislike the negativity, its best to ignore those sorts of threads, and focus on being happy...smile once in a while

 

(originally intended to bombard you all with a text wall, but decided I needed to say something short and sweet ^-^ )

Edited September 22, 2013 by Dawn♥Rider

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

Well there is a difference between "Emotional" and "Sad" though (something people who hates Emos and triple A game developers seems to forget most of the time). But my point is that when someone makes a discussion topic, it seems on this forum even more so than any other forum I have been too it starts out pointing at something negative. When making a new thread, what I am asking is to try to and hold the title if nothing else neutral if not positive at least, don't start a topic named "Do You Hate Harry Potter?" but instead "Your Opinion on Harry Potter?" as an example out of the top of my head.

[TheSupremeLeaderOfChaos 1,206]

A while back, there seemed to be a whole lot of 'Who's your favorite _____' and such. I guess we ran out of those topics so now we're going to the opposite of that, or the negatives.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

Well there is a difference between "Emotional" and "Sad" though (something people who hates Emos and triple A game developers seems to forget most of the time). But my point is that when someone makes a discussion topic, it seems on this forum even more so than any other forum I have been too it starts out pointing at something negative. When making a new thread, what I am asking is to try to and hold the title if nothing else neutral if not positive at least, don't start a topic named "Do You Hate Harry Potter?" but instead "Your Opinion on Harry Potter?" as an example out of the top of my head.

 

Unfortunately, the forum staff cannot control the titles users choose when starting new topics. However, if you feel the topic (or even the OP) could be better, by all means feel free to report it and suggest something new.

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

Unfortunately, the forum staff cannot control the titles users choose when starting new topics. However, if you feel the topic (or even the OP) could be better, by all means feel free to report it and suggest something new.

Well I am mostly asking everyone in general to try and do that for their titles rather than asking the admin team to go around changing things

[Mutemutt 773]

Weird, I never really got the impression that there were that many negative topics. And I always felt that the "Worst X" / "Least Favorite X" were kind of expected especially when there are "Best X" and "Favorite X" topics (I mean, there's a top and a bottom to every favorites list right?). Or maybe I've just gotten used to it... Still, I think there's much more neutral topics than negative topics and you can certainly do worse than "Least Favorite Mane 6".

[GhostPony750 959]

Well, people usually LOVE to hate, as I pointed in many of my posts. We will always try to find something to hate, maybe because it bothers us a little or we just don't feel good with it. Then we will hate it a lot, and start doing thing against the said thing.

 

MLP haters is a good exemple. Or politics, japanese products. (me) And that's why we have Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in our show.

 

The life would be boring if we liked everything, right?

 

Oh wait, Feld0 pointed that out already.

Edited September 22, 2013 by GhostPony750

[Ragland Tiger 3,401]

For the sake of being a devil's advocate,  there is an equally troubling phenomenon called "hugboxing";  that is, the denial of problems by a community, even though the evidence of such problems is clear and present.  One of the unfortunate effects of this is how some  groups want to "police" the concerns of the larger fandom because of their relationships to the show staff, or Hasbro itself.  For example:   http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/05/an-appeal-to-fandom-keep-calm-and-trot.html

 

Their interest in this is hardly devoid of a subtext.
 

I'm not saying this for the sake of being a troll.  I love the show and what the fandom, in general, stands for.    I'm not a hateful person, and I genuinely like most of the people I've met in the fandom, but I reserve to myself the right to voice my legitimate concerns.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Ragland Tiger

[Zygen 6,066]

Eh, I don't feel much of a negative tendency, it was much worse during the twilicorn and EqG controversies.

 

Really it's like Feld0 said, humans tend to tell about the negatives more then the positives, many reasons for it but yeah.

 

But really I don't find it's that bad personally.

 

And if you feel it's that bad you can always post random topics about positive stuff. Or idk .

 

You could also go to the forum games and forum lounge and screw around xD.

 

Anyways, personally I don't find a ton of negativity, and even the bits I find aren't a terribly big deal generally.

 

If any topics bother you just avoid them, that's what I try to do.

 

Or contribute to the positive yourself, be a part of the change you want to see .

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

I think you guys are misunderstanding me here. I am not saying to not discuss things that are negative, I am just saying that when making a thread about a subject that is about normal harmless entertainment and such it might be better to start it up without a bias in the title to allow both those who dislike and those who like the media to add in their 2 cent without feeling they are unwelcome because the OP have a strong enough opinion to name their entire thread after their opinion.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Nightmare Lyre

[Scootalove 10,689]

I don't really know why either. I could say that there will always be a huge flame war in negative topics, but everyone has their own opinion. So we could say that they try to back up their own opinion.

[Soundgarden 2,758]

You might be misunderstanding the meaning of negative topics. The majority of people do not create them to start dumb shitstorm, but because they find enjoyment in discussing things

 

And personally, discussing the negative aspects of something can help me appreciate said thing a lot more

[Mutemutt 773]

I think you guys are misunderstanding me here. I am not saying to not discuss things that are negative, I am just saying that when making a thread about a subject that is about normal harmless entertainment and such it might be better to start it up without a bias in the title to allow both those who dislike and those who like the media to add in their 2 cent without feeling they are unwelcome because the OP have a strong enough opinion to name their entire thread after their opinion.

 

Er, well your opening post (and topic title, as well) gave the impression you talking about the topics themselves rather than their titles...

 

But yeah, I'm not really a fan of the "leading" topic titles either (leading as in a leading question). I don't really think I've run into too many of those either though.

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

Er, well your opening post (and topic title, as well) gave the impression you talking about the topics themselves rather than their titles...

 

But yeah, I'm not really a fan of the "leading" topic titles either (leading as in a leading question). I don't really think I've run into too many of those either though.

Well I am sorry for the misunderstanding (English isn't my first language), but yeah that is my entire question here, why have the topic titles be negative and steer the thread into negativity from the start when staying neutral in the title might help give more views from both sides when discussing such harmless things as entertainment.

 

Sure, if you are making a thread about someone getting murdered or some other serious topic like that it's of course entirely okay to be negative and focus on what a terrible thing it is that have happened, but if it's a topic about a opinion on a character, TV show, band, etc. it's just better to keep it open to discussion instead of having all the focus being on "how much it sucks" when that obviously will never be the opinion of everyone.

[Misty Shadow 7,901]

I don't know my friend, internet life is hard. But look at me. I turned out somewhat alright. Why I remember even in the early days of the MLP fad, bronies talking 'bout the things they hated left and right, while those not in the crowd just sat there waiting for the slightest sip of sugar and sunshine.

 

Yeah, I wish we focused on positive stuff more often as well, but you know. It's the way things are, and we get used to it at some point.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

Because it's human nature and desire, we all need(and want to) vent sometimes and it's better to expend hate in a harmless way like tearing apart works of media we don't like. It's the reason internet reviewers like Spoony, Linkara, the Nostalgia Critic, The Cinema Snob, Todd in the Shadows, The Angry Video Game Nerd, and all these people exist.  

 

It's a release, a way to burn of negative feelings in a way that's harmless and fun. I believe George Carlin even said that it was like a release for him and the audience to get up on stage and complain and cut loose everything everyone had been holding back and let it go.   

Edited September 22, 2013 by Shoboni

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

But again, why make new threads and have it all be on bashing the media in question? If we made a thread about, say, the Saw films and having the title be "Saw Discussion" rather than "Saw, The Worst Film Ever" or something like that, people could still say they disliked it, but those who liked it could also come with their opinion, and we could all live in harmony and have cake and ice cream. It's not that hard for what might say a lot for the general attitude of the forum environment in the long run.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Nightmare Lyre

[crazitaco 596]

But OP, aren't you kinda doing the exact same thing right now, with your own topic?  "Why all the focus on the negative?" Just based on the word choice you used for the title, one could assume that its going to be an opinion that criticizes those who focus on the negative of topics. If you didn't want to imply a negative bias towards the topic, you should have used something more along the lines of "The usage of positive and negative words in topic titles."

 

Just sayin :x Practice what ya preach. That being said, topics can be whatever one wants them to be about. There's nothing wrong with starting out a topic with a bias; some people see the OP's opinion and are swayed to agree with them. Others (like myself) see an opinion and decide to oppose it, just because its my natural tendency to oppose things (and break up circle-jerks). I saw your topic and thought "Well, he/she obviously doesn't like "negativity" i'm gonna go against your opinion before even reading it." Of course if your argument was good enough i would just change my mind and write in favor of said opinion.

Either way who cares, its just a random topic on a website. lol

Edited September 22, 2013 by crazitaco

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

But OP, aren't you kinda doing the exact same thing right now, with your own topic?  "Why do you all focus on the negative?" Just based on the word choice you used for the title, one could predict that its going to be an opinion that criticizes those who focus on the negative of topics. If you didn't want to imply a negative bias towards the topic, you should have used something more along the lines of "The usage of positive and negative words in topic titles."

 

Just sayin :x Practice what ya preach. That being said, topics can be whatever one wants them to be about. There's nothing wrong with starting out a topic with a bias; some people see the OP's opinion and are swayed to agree with them. Others (like myself) see an opinion and decide to immediately go against it, just because we feel like it I saw your topic and thought "Well, he/she obviously doesn't like "negativity" i'm gonna go against your opinion before even reading it"

Either way who cares, its just a random topic on a website. lol

No need to get snarky here. Besides, me mentioning negativity doesn't equal preaching negativity, I am just pointing out something I think we could all benefit from thinking about some when making new threads. And sure, have your own opinion in the OP whether it be negative or not, but keeping the title neutral and open for discussion does just that, it opens it to discussion and allows more people to come in and talk about it, not only the ones who dislike the media in question.