CatmanV2
Member
- Messages
- 48,987
100% with you on that. You nailed it. A forum with a broad variety of topics, advice banter, humour and camaraderie. And car stuff. Lots of car stuff. It's what's draw us all here in the first place, after all.I try and stay out of these things but surely there are better places to discuss highly emotive, contentious, serious and negative issues other than a Maserati forum. Off topic is great place to raise light hearted funny topics, general advice or other non Maserati topics, but surely other social media is more suited to solving deeply serious political conspiracy theories for example. We’re all different of course but personally I come here to escape the depressing and corrupt media, learn about car stuff, get help, give help and have a bit of fun with people who love a cool car brand called Maserati. Others are clearly looking for something far more deep and meaningful which seems to be causing the recent heat.
I think this is a great objective, however I just don’t believe it stands up in the real world and not deliberately. I work in a big corporation and we always advise our teams to avoid discussing challenging topics on email. Reason? Interpretation of the written word is super difficult as it depends on variables outside of the authors control such as the mood of the reader, and the authors judgement of what is and isn’t okay for how to land a point. People also tend to exhibit less empathy behind a keyboard than they do face to face due to the signs we give each other from body language and facial expressions in person. That’s one of the reasons I believe social media can be so toxic and things quickly escalate out of control and become more polarised.Personally is not the subject to be discussed thats the problem, it’s certain people’s inability to engage in civilised and constructive debate, all too often people chuck insults at each other.
Interpretation of the written word is super difficult as it depends on variables outside of the authors control such as the mood of the reader, and the authors judgement of what is and isn’t okay for how to land a point. People also tend to exhibit less empathy behind a keyboard than they do face to face due to the signs we give each other from body language and facial expressions in person. That’s one of the reasons I believe social media can be so toxic and things quickly escalate out of control and become more polarised.
Embarrassingly I’m too dumb to know what a virtual coconut means on the interweb so don’t know what reaction emoji to react with (laughing/shocked/angry/loving it) delete as appropriate<virtual coconut> (if that's not going to be over polarising)
C
That makes two of us.Embarrassingly I’m too dumb to know what a virtual coconut means on the interweb so don’t know what reaction emoji to react with (laughing/shocked/angry/loving it) delete as appropriate
Same here.That makes two of us.
It also means you're calling me dumb, so now I'm deeply offended.
Where will this insanity end!
You are so wrong. The earth is flat, otherwise my car would roll away.I'll continue to beat the drum that it's got to be more about the how than the what. Yes, I agree that some topics aren't even fit for debate, of any kind...the earth is, in fact, round. But if people can be respectful; not call names; apologize when a comment gives offense, and similar, I think it goes a long way. I wonder how some folks make their way through life with a total lack of self-awareness...but it's apparently done all the time. You can even be President of the United States!
And it seems like it would be easier to police actual conduct than it would be topics of conversation. I may be naive, but I bet I could pick 40 people on this forum and an incredibly contentious topic...and those 40 could conduct themselves in an appropriate manner while debating the matter, so long as the ground rules were laid out in advance.
Or maybe not!
Let’s be honest, It has already become a chat room for mates and has been for a considerable length of time. That in its self, has put many people off, additionally it’s an outlet for moaning, groaning, complaining and don’t forget the boasting. Not to mention those jumping on the bandwagon when some minor comment upsets the woke society, you know who you are and you are not helping things either. I see very little technical help or advice on the forum. More of look how large my cigar is, I’ve been a mechanic for X amount of years, I got up this morning and might go to work after I have emptied the cats litter tray, and so on. It’s not a car forum, it’s a general forum, where cars (irrespective of make) are included.Your forum, your call. I’m not particularly interested in the contentious stuff but the line where it starts is different for different people and if you get too restrictive then more people may drift away than you expect. Anyway there are lots of long established members including mods who post on a whole variety of topics including the hot stuff.
There is a high chance that it will become a chat room for 40 or so mates but I suspect you know that already. Best of luck with it.
Embarrassingly I’m too dumb to know what a virtual coconut means on the interweb so don’t know what reaction emoji to react with (laughing/shocked/angry/loving it) delete as appropriate
That makes two of us.
Doh!Give the man a coconut!
Clearly it's on line, so it has to be a virtual one.
C
They’ve actually mostly been Petit Coronas, and that’s nothing to boast aboutMore of look how large my cigar is