Thread Derailing 101
 

In the last several years, a disturbing trend has emerged in the threads in this sub-forum. Namely, nearly every one of them gets derailed at some point. Users will inevitably jump in on the discussion, ability to contribute be damned.

Why is this? Is it a characteristic of our psyches? Are people that bored? What makes it entertaining to do?

These questions and more will be the focus of this thread. What do you think?

I think people just want to have their opinion heard, even if they don't understand what is being discussed. It could have something to do with wanting to seem intelligent or witty. Or they could just want to increase their post count.

But this begs the question. Of what value is post count? Is there some reason they would want to appear intelligent or witty to random strangers? What is the base motivation here?

I think users see a high post count as a sign of seniority. Wisdom is implied by seniority although I'm not sure seniority itself gives anyone any more insight. The whole concept of seniority should be met with skepticism.

Hmm... An interesting point. It's always interested me how seniority is treated almost universally as a virtue. Yes, it is common sense that you will accumulate knowledge with age, but is that really the case? It seems that several people choose instead to squander their time and, in fact, many younger people surpass the wisdom of their elders. It's a somewhat disturbing trend, at least in the United States, and one that bears looking into. Why wouldn't people be continuing to try and accumulate knowledge? Is sloth that powerful of a force in our nature?

When you say derailment do you mean a digression away from the core topic or a complete load of bullshit being thrown in?


Because Digression is merely a natural flow of debate to reach the ultimate conclusion. Debate, in order to be more effective, must be anarchic in nature, and not follow a rigid structure or topic, but rather be able to look at other points related to the topic at hand though a chain of relations to ultimately reach a conclusion. However, this can completely derail into a different argument, but I believe that is only good if it was achieved through natural flow.

TL;DR Its part of the nature of debate and flow of discussion.

I believe after a certain point, people feel comfortable with the knowledge they have gained and stop seeking it. Its a hallmark of laziness, but is perhaps inevitable. Maybe one day, the desire to grow ceases and is replaced with the desire to aid in the growth of others. There comes a time in a persons life when they feel personal development is no longer a worthy pursuit and instead seek to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. That time may come sooner for some than for others.

But is even that true? How many of us go on to not do anything with the knowledge we've accumulated? And even if it is true, this is the same kind of attitude that contributes to such issues as racism. If they were to continue learning, they would understand the futility of that stance.

No, if we are to deal with these kind of social issues, this slothful attitude can't be tolerated.

But your comment about racism proves my point. How many old people do you know that still talk like its the 1950's? My grandmother still says "nigger." She's 89 years old. No one is going to change her mind at this point. Its too late. The older generation is why racism can still exist. They pass their ideas onto the next generation, no matter how ignorant, and they are perpetuated. If the old generation had managed to stay with the times, this wouldn't be such a problem.

Yes, but you misunderstand, that is exactly what I was saying. They should stay with the times. This begs the question, why do we limit our educational requirements to only high school? Should we not be requiring all our citizens to maintain a certain level of learning? I would go so far as to suggest standardized tests over the course of everybody's lifetimes.

I find it offensive that you find my lack of education disturbing.

How do you propose we give people the incentive to take these tests? You can't threaten them with bad grades anymore. These people are working for a living. You can't just give them a homework assignment.

I find your lack of education that of a stray cat!

Y R U IGNRIN ME KILLSHTE I TOTTES POSTED BEFORE YOU PY ATENTION 2 MEEE

This also brings up the question of the condition of other countries, we shouldn't simply focus on the U.S. What are the economic conditions in your country, AsterGray?

Well, we could start instituting a system wherein people get hired based on their certified level of performance. This would solve a lot of the unemployment issues plaguing our country.

WHY DO YOU HATE CATS SO MUCH GIVE A STRAY A HOME

Do you feel your upbringing has instilled a bias in you against felines, then?

What are your feelings on the social interaction between those from your country and those from America, based on what just happened?

Do you feel your upbringing has instilled a bias in you in favor of felines, then?

Stray cats are a serious problem. They kill the native bird species and have no natural predators.

But where are the jobs going to come from in the first place?

Dicks.
The answer to all of your question is Dicks.

....

You're welcome.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3...lqovo1_400.png

To the first, are you saying that you don't favor the natural flow and ebb of evolution? Surely you can see that this is the natural way things should be, sir.

Well, a lot of jobs will be created simply by having people to evaluate our cumulative population.

And what do we do with the people who can't pass the tests? Throw them on the street? We have too many homeless people as it is.

Domesticated cats already have destroyed the natural progression of evolution. Cat populations are artificially bolstered by humans. We have increased their fitness to unnaturally high levels.

I for one welcome our new feline overlords.

As should you all,

for


the remowvolution is neigh.

No, we relegate them to the menial jobs. Somebody has to do them. It's not like there's anything inherently wrong with physical labor anyway.

But that's an incredibly large assumption for you to make. Who are you to say what the natural progression of evolution is? We are not outside its reach, you know. Our own natural actions, and their consequences, can easily be categorized as a consequence of evolution itself. Perhaps we should simply welcome our feline overlords.

Humans are self aware so our actions can be considered beyond the scope of what is natural. Increasing the number of a certain species is going to have serious environmental repercussions. What do you think would happen to the insect population if we treated spiders like cats and bred them so that they are far more numerous than nature demands?

i like chicken
i like liver
meowmix
meowmix
please....deliver us from evil,

and lead us not into temptation

and forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors

and give us this day our daily meowmix, your will be done

hallowed be your name, meowmaster amen to one and all

Yes, we are self-aware, but how are you so sure that's not natural? Why are we so quick to judge ourselves as unnatural? We are in nature, we are spawned by the history of nature's "actions", we are natural in every way.

In fact, the only way I could see us being 'unnatural' would be the acceptance that there is a diety at work and, the last time I checked, you were an atheist.

Finally, I feel that our world would be much greater were there spiders around. Eventually, a special breed of spider would emerge as dominant and the rest of nature would adapt to it. It's all perfectly natural.

I feel this religion lacks proper substance. Do you have any proof that your so-called meowmaster really exists?

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs45/f/20...ey_Seagull.jpg

yes.
yes i can

pictured, the meowmaster and its minions.


not pictured: the mountain of skulls they are posing on.

I didn't say humans are unnatural per say, I'm saying our actions can single-handedly disrupt a fragile system and we should take care to avoid such actions. I would say that it is "natural" for the world to continue with or without humans, so we must make the conscious decision to act in the planets best interest.

By the way, by your definition, the existence of said deity would make it part of the natural world and would therefor not be unnatural.


Also, a special breed of spider just sounds ridiculous. What are you proposing, some sort of man-spider?