What's the deal with all the negativity? Got any ideas to help combat it?

[BonsaiK]

I've been at this place a while now, and I've detected a definite pattern to the thread creation. Every month here I see, on average:

* At least five threads that are variations of the old "what will you do when the end of the world comes" theme
* Between one and four threads about how we're supposedly going to all die in December 2012 just because the Mayans (who were so clueless about the future that they didn't even forsee their own civilisation collapsing in 1697) stopped their calendar at that arbitrary point
* About fifteen threads all asking variations of a "under what particular circumstances would/could you kill someone" question
* At least two threads about whether the death penalty is a good idea or not
* At least three threads about firearms
* At least four threads about relationship problems (I created this thread ---> http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.117161?page=1 <---to try and condense these all into one thread and also solve the problems themselves, but sadly very few of you use the Search function)
* Over two dozen threads accusing someone (a person or corporate entity) of racism
* About the same quantity of threads which are just incredibly negative pro/anti religious arguments (that never go anywhere worthwhile, because those sorts of discussions never do)
* At least two dozens other threads that are otherwise generally misanthropic in nature ("stuff you hate", "why I think [fill in the blank] deserve to die" and other Internet Tough Guy stuff etc

The average age of a person on this forum is (I think) about 18 or so, and most of you are also American. Which means that you're mostly young folks with your whole adult lives ahead of you, living in the richest, most prosperous country that the world has ever known. Is it drastically out of line for me to suggest that maybe some of you folks cheer up slightly? Why are there so many negative discussions here? I'm not saying don't talk about these things - far be it for me to dictate to people what to talk about - but... it's kind of getting me depressed, when I log on here and it's just the same old "a meteor is going to hit the earth, what do you do" and "is this racist?" stuff over and over...

I'd like to know if fellow Escapists:

1. Have any ideas about the reasons for the general negative tone of threads here
2. Have any suggestions for how to improve things for now and into the future

Thanks for your time!

 

[El Poncho]

Well you can ignore them but not everyone will do that.

 

[Turtleboy1017]

Meh. Tis the internet my friend.

But I'M not negative

I am SUPER happy to be on the BEST website in the WHOLE INTERNET. Life is so great!
If you want the tone to improve on the website, start out by making some happy threads!

"What is your Sunday Afternoon?"

"What food brings a smile to your face?"

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

I suppose death is an interesting subject.
seeing as no one truly knows what happens after.
we see the corpse decompose, but we know nothing else.

negative things are normally more interesting.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

Pessimism is good! It makes the whole world go round and round like a fucking merry go round!

 

[Mordwyl]

This is the same reason you very rarely hear good things in the news: Negative information is more alluring to people. It's science.

 

[zirnitra]

you forgot all the threads about abortion and legalisation of cannabis, which never go anywhere ether.

1) a lot of people on here are miserable nerds

2) they need to go outside and play in the sun and get girlfriends.

 

[Ursus Astrorum]

It's just 'cause I can't justify the way everyone is looking at me.

...

*runs for cover*

 

[No-one important]

Is it drastically out of line for me to suggest that maybe some of you folks cheer up slightly?

it's kind of getting me depressed

Do you see how these two things are slightly contradictory?

Meh. These forums ain't great. They seem to be gradually degenerating in quality anyway, so you might as well just enjoy the downhill ride.

There seems to be a rather odd notion held by most of the community; that this is one of the most "intelligent" forums on the internet. That ideal is most often held by those who let down the quality the most frequently. Those same people happen to be the ones who make the threads of which you speak.

Really, people here can't have a simple conversation without acting as though they are being personally attacked whenever someone presents an idea that differs from their own. Someone makes a thread about raising children religiously, so - like a scolded child - a theist makes a thread about raising children atheistically.

These problems are without clear solution and will perpetually dog the Escapist until resolved.

 

[Generic_Dave]

Well "What are you going to do after the world doesn't end?" is kinda redundant. ;-)

On a (slightly) more serious note, it's the attraction of the maudlin. Misery loves company, but it loves even more to know that there is worse shit out there. So some of its a combination of not wanting to be the only person who thinks this sick shit and partly to reassure yourself there are worse people out there than you? I think English soap operas are a good example of this, as so much bad stuff happens to the same people.

It's also probably got to do with the whole dystopian setting that most games are played in. We grew up (or are growing up) in other peoples fantasies and the need to share how they think it would be is all pervasive. And perhaps the attractiveness of a clean slate, a fresh start? The opportunity to build it better next time.

As for the abortion / death penalty etc...same reason there's always a flame war going on about Halo or whatnot...they're divisive issues and people want THEIR OPINION to be heard (and sometimes followed slavishly)...

The only way to prevent so many is containment. All abortion discussion here, all end of the world here...either that or outright censorship...but that's too far by a country mile.

* Between one and four threads about how we're supposedly going to all die in December 2012 just because the Mayans (who were so clueless about the future that they didn't even forsee their own civilisation collapsing in 1697) stopped their calendar at that arbitrary point

This always amuses me...it's like saying our civilisation will end when the clock hits 31 December 9999 because that's when our calender ends (try put a 10,000 date into a form). Time doesn't end, you just add to it.

 

[Bendon]

I guess we can just combat it by making more positive threads. I saw a few about scientific discovery a while back that were actually pretty interesting... I wish I remembered what they were though

 

[Daezd]

I've been at this place a while now, and I've detected a definite pattern to the thread creation. Every month here I see, on average:

* At least five threads that are variations of the old "what will you do when the end of the world comes" theme
* Between one and four threads about how we're supposedly going to all die in December 2012 just because the Mayans (who were so clueless about the future that they didn't even forsee their own civilisation collapsing in 1697) stopped their calendar at that arbitrary point
* About fifteen threads all asking variations of a "under what particular circumstances would/could you kill someone" question
* At least two threads about whether the death penalty is a good idea or not
* At least three threads about firearms
* At least four threads about relationship problems (I created this thread ---> http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.117161?page=1 <---to try and condense these all into one thread and also solve the problems themselves, but sadly very few of you use the Search function)
* Over two dozen threads accusing someone (a person or corporate entity) of racism
* About the same quantity of threads which are just incredibly negative pro/anti religious arguments (that never go anywhere worthwhile, because those sorts of discussions never do)
* At least two dozens other threads that are otherwise generally misanthropic in nature ("stuff you hate", "why I think [fill in the blank] deserve to die" and other Internet Tough Guy stuff etc

The average age of a person on this forum is (I think) about 18 or so, and most of you are also American. Which means that you're mostly young folks with your whole adult lives ahead of you, living in the richest, most prosperous country that the world has ever known. Is it drastically out of line for me to suggest that maybe some of you folks cheer up slightly? Why are there so many negative discussions here? I'm not saying don't talk about these things - far be it for me to dictate to people what to talk about - but... it's kind of getting me depressed, when I log on here and it's just the same old "a meteor is going to hit the earth, what do you do" and "is this racist?" stuff over and over...

I'd like to know if fellow Escapists:

1. Have any ideas about the reasons for the general negative tone of threads here
2. Have any suggestions for how to improve things for now and into the future

Thanks for your time!

Negative threads thrive because people like to talk about negative things.

Always. Forever. Since the dawn of man, when ape guy #1 pushed ape gal #3 of off ape cliff #29 and, was charged with ape person murder of the second degree, it was the ape talk of the ape town.

What would you rather we talk about? How wonderful the world is? How great our days were? What our favorite flavors of ice cream are?

The fact is, these topics have very little discussion value, whereas everyone has something to say about negativity.

There's your answer.

 

[Unstoppable Wall]

Well my advice is the same as Bob Marley's: Don't Worry, Be Happy.

Peace, War, Love, Hate, Chaos, and Greed
-Unstoppable Wall

 

[HuCast]

Well my advice is the same as Bob Marley's: Don't Worry, Be Happy.

Peace, War, Love, Hate, Chaos, and Greed
-Unstoppable Wall

I think it was written by Bobby Mcferrin

 

[ThreeWords]

Meh. Tis the internet my friend.

But I'M not negative

I am SUPER happy to be on the BEST website in the WHOLE INTERNET. Life is so great!
If you want the tone to improve on the website, start out by making some happy threads!

"What is your Sunday Afternoon?"

"What food brings a smile to your face?"

Its obviously because not enough people have seen pictures like this and so there life is pointless.

Spoiler: Warning, contains severe levels of awesome

I'm all for this kind of attitude, it's the basis of my life. Well done, both of you

I agree with you for the most part.

However, I'd also like to raise objection to the extremely STUPID threads that surface on these forums:

" what is your superpower!" - They don't exist, shut up about them already. no matter how much you wish, you aren't going to EVER get that power, or any power.

"if you could date anyone!"- normal responses sometimes, usually a celebrity, but alot of the responses are FICTIONAL characters (and some of them aren't even goddamn human). Please stop doing this. It's fucking creepy. These fictional characters will NEVER EVER exist, so why waste your time thinking about?

"What would you do if you ruled____?" This is similar to that superpower thing, in that it will never happen. I don't understand why people have this need to tell OTHER people about their fantastical designs for the world under their rule. That's a thought that occurs to you when you are bored, and then you shrug it off and return to reality. You don't dwell on it, that's just childish.

I don't want to sound defensive, but if you don't like them, ignore them. It's not like people force to read their threads, and they seem to enjoy it, so what you're simply chiding them for having some fun. At the risk of sounding like a hippie, I say to you: Let it be, man, and relax

 

[Lord George]

Its obviously because not enough people have seen pictures like this and so there life is pointless.

 

[chronobreak]

You gotta just ignore it. The Mods aren't willing or are too busy to lock most of the crappy threads that show up on here, and some of them do not violate any of the rules that we have, so there's nothing they can do when their hands are tied. If it were me, if I saw "What kind of cellphone do you have?" it would be locked right away, or merged with one of the other hundred similar threads. We can either raise our standards to make this board inaccessible to crappy topics, or just watch as it becomes like every other forum out there. I'm sure they don't want to alienate people from coming here, so the first option would never happen. I can't believe there's people that actually think this place is strict.

There is nothing we can do really, except keep trying to make quality posts, and getting the search feature improved. Also, people need to start using the report button more and letting the Mods know what this community will or will not stand for. In the end, it comes down to us.