WTF A2K?

Yes - duplicate the tags you like (and ask your friends to, if you wish). They will stick - but recognize that if there are a lot of other folks trying to go in the other direction, you might see the tags seesawing.

This is custom software. I can't comment on exactly how it works - I'm not a developer.

Thanks for your help Jespah
I didn't see your PS on your original response here until now.
Didn't mean to press you into discussion of something you didn't want to discuss.

You're right, is isn't just the newcomers. That's kind of what I meant when I said that maybe we all know each other too well. An interesting topic gets downvoted and trolled just because of who posted it -- probably due to some disagreement from years ago.

I haven't given up either but a lot of times when I'm thinking about posting a topic I look around and think "why bother".

I've only ever had two people on ignore. Those two are people who leave one insulting line and never add anything to any conversation.

I've always liked this forum because I could expect some well reasoned dissent to whatever opinion I had. It's the people who disagree with me that make me really examine my own beliefs.

When A2K first started I stuck around Abuzz because it all seemed too nice and polite here -- everyone always agreeing and patting each other on the back. Then it matured into a great place to talk about all kinds of things with all kinds of people. Then it became the cranky old man who yells at you to get off his lawn while waving his shotgun in the air.

Personally, I wish that a person couldn't use the vote buttons unless they'd posted some kind of comment or rebuttal.

Maybe an "ignore thread" button on the main page so you can collapse things you aren't interested in.

I'm not a moderator - I'm immoderate!

Anyway, tags can be nursed off the list. Let's say the subject is politics, and there are a bunch of tags someone added like libtard, idiot, rightwingnut, or similar.
Open the thread, and add your own tags - for example, politics, U S politics, sequester, voting rights - basically, what the thread is about. Sometimes it takes very little to change them, and sometimes I've added as many as eight without anything changing and then add a ninth, and all the insulting tags go away. I've no idea how that works.

On voting down, I do vote down threads by bots (there are ways to tell).

There is a way that you can choose to see all threads by selecting that choice in your preferences. There is a default thing in place otherwise, that will make a thread with a huge amount of thumbs down then not show up for you....
so to not have what threads you see affected by other's thumbing choices, you have to purposely go to Preferences and choose No re collapsing unpopular threads or posts.


Ah, I see there are two more pages and Jes explains stuff. Oops!

On the matter of NSFW (Not suitable for work, I think) - I have the impression that some companies will not allow some subject matter on the companys' computers. I've not worked in such a place so I'm unfamiliar with that. Anyway, I take the NSFW as a warning to people reading and posting from their workplaces so they won't open some forbidden subject matter (or something that might quickly devolve to forbidden subject matter).

The all kinds of people from all over and many walks in life who would call em like they saw em was the great value here.....it was always the people, which Robert never understood. I am not sure if there is time to save A2K but if is going to happen the intolorance must be replaced with tolorance and there must be more value placed upon reasoning. There is now too little listening and too much lying going on as well.

I think the quality of threads has diminished recently but I also think that is cyclical. We just finished the US election cycle and everyone seems worn out after a year of political debate. I also bemoan the lack of civility, but this is the Internet and flame wars have always been part of Internet life. I don't see that it is any worse than the first day I posted here, but it does take some time to grow a thick enough skin to handle the ad hominem attacks that will eventually come your way regardless of how you conduct yourself online. I'd rather we had more civility, more logic, more interesting topics but I think I'm getting a fair value for what I pay (my time). If the value drops further, my payment will drop, but I expect we'll see an uptick eventually.

As someone who left and came back, I'll say that the place is not what it used to be at one time. However, many of my old friends are still around and there are some new ones that are making a2k a valuable internet stop for me.

I left because I got my feelings hurt. But time has passed and I think I'm less vulnerable now. Experience and time can heal. I wish there were more posters on the quality level we used to have. But it's up to us to build the place by behaving in ways that encourage the kind of posters we would like to engage.

We've had a lot of discussion about this topic lately. I wish I'd have been here earlier. I think the way to deal with the flame is to just ignore. Responses, good or bad, is what some are looking for. I'm glad this place is here. There are a lot of conversations I wouldn't be able to have otherwise. A lot of smart people here, not just the one's I agree with.

I haven’t been on here for a year and have fewer than 200 posts. When I first registered I noticed the petulant or peevish arguments in some of the threads, tried to stay out of those, just figured it was because it was an election year.

I’ve noticed a few obvious trolls since I registered here one poster in particular who has a tendency to spam all the political threads with silly anti Obama comics and when you click on his profile you can view his juvenile tags.

I only pop in here about once a week and read what’s in the column on the bottom right “Featured Topics”.

BBB stopped posting on A2K for medical reasons, not anything related to the subject of this post or this thread.

I'm definitely finding myself in agreement with this. When I first started, it was so civil. I've been away for a while, mostly due to election season. Even still, I've been seeing either your basic internet fights or high-brow stuff that is out of my league and have shied away. And I admit to being a bit fearful of massive backlash and have not posted anything since my rash of random cyber-freedom and other posts that in hindsight probably weren't even worthy of being here. This is the first post I've even made since September. Thank you for posting something that could finally get me back into this, even if for a bit.

And I welcome you IRFrank. It's great that we have new, competent and responsible posters who will agree to disagree or agree with respect. We need to encourage people like you and deal effectively with flamers, either by successfully ignoring them and encouraging others to do the same. Or, in the case of those that can be reasoned with or enjoyed for their humor and ignored for their grump factor, tolerate them with a grain of salt.

Welcome back, Rex. Hang in there.

IRFrank has a cool mind - I never not read him, even if I'm sleepy.

I guess I've been singling people out to mention, when there are many posters I always read.
We can seem clubby since we get to know each other, foibles and all, and that clubbiness can be very off putting.

Well, osso, I haven't totally walked out yet. Hopefully, I'll find more interesting threads to add my two cents to.

I second the motion for IRFrank's nomination as Secretary of Reasoned Discourse.