Fascinating, isn't it? A tiny group of people, each irrevocably set in
his/her/its ways - utterly immovable - arguing with each other, saying
things and assuming postures that would be utterly unacceptable to their
personae in, for example, a cocktail party. For trolls, sociologists, and
psychologists it's incredibly fertile ground. Introduce any stimulus and it
quickly evolves into predictable personal attacks. I introduced two original
posts: [Why alternative medicine "works"] & ["lies" vs. "errors"]. Responses
quickly resolved into two groups:
1. Proponents and skeptics of alternative medicine
2. Personal attacks that have nothing to do with the topic
It's my observation that the responses to my posts are typical of responses
to most original posts on mha. After three or four rational responses in
category #1 the topic is exhausted, but #2 often descends into vicious
territory, and even after dozens of off-topic posts many of these threads
have life to them. People here spend enormous energy on google and
elsewhere, looking back to substantiate their claims and arguments, seeking
evidence, doing research to prove that so-and-so lied or deceived. The
attacks and counterattacks degrade into the nasty and personal. Casual
visitors here might click on a few of these threads and instead of posting
their question or observation, immediately move on to more rational (and
safer!) discussion - on Yahoo, as an example.
If a visitor came by carrying a wonderful pearl of information that you
would love to see, it would probably be dropped elsewhere...
No wonder the population here is so small.
Re-nanosabbaticalizing...