Future of the BR...

[Kadagar_AV]

I must say, I love the BR as it is now.

With that said, I start to feel like we lost some voices, without gaining new ones... And that is absolutely rubbish. Don't get me wrong, a LOT of people have breaks and come back... And I must say, I don't think there has ever been a better BR to come back to than now.

So what is the problem?

The problem is that we NEED more people here. Take me and PVC as an example... I effing "hate" (read that right everyone) him. With that said, over the years, I have come to understand him, respect him, and we have also blunted of each others sharper sides. Same would go with Rhyf, Frags or a ****load of others.

By now, I honestly think I could take PVC's (or whatever churchboy's) stance in a debate defending christian beliefs against stupid, or brilliant, atheists.

I still think USA = Evil. But with that said I would give MajorRobertDump my couch and free access to my liquor.

I think we need fresh meat.

Thus i propose 2 things.

1. Send some PMs to the old timers, primarily the ones you hated. Most will check in at times, might urge them to visit again.
2. Recruit. If you have an interesting political discussion with someone, point them here.


This forum is... Strange...

I think it is pure happenstance that it came to be as good as it is, but if you think about it, how many political boards do you know of that are better? The only criteria is that you had some interest in a TW game, basically. That is, for me, however a good a measure as any of thinking individuals. Sure we lack girls, sure we lack a lot of the population.

But what we got was a member base with an IQ above average, able to discuss things in a nice environment.

So don't market it as a TW board, market it as a political Subforum that has survived for what? A decade, in a ever more turmoild internet. With some fantastic characters to boot :D

[Sasaki Kojiro]

It's seems to me like there's much more consensus than there used to be.

[Kadagar_AV]

I'm always down with more people back here. You need thick skin though.

And I dare say that those of us who have been backrooming for years and years have a wealth of factoids, anecdotes, and knowledge of the 'situation' that is the Backroom that many posters take for granted. A new poster may well be overwhelmed with the apparent snarkiness and sarcasm that we've all grown accustomed to. Nothing really to do for it but let people lurk and observe, and join if they want.

I think an added dilemma is that.. People here are just too good.

When we have a new member, we absolutely JUMP him with assaults we have planned for years. I've seen that happen.

I think that the old timers have to get a little bit better on... Answering HIS questions, instead of pushing OUR questions in his face, showing our "obvious superiority".

Not long ago I seem to remember some religious nutcase walking in here, and he was very much trampled (heck, the religious NUTCASES trampled him too!!). I was very much part of it, so don't get me wrong! However, looking back, I can clearly say I was more interested in showing him the errors of his ways, than I was interested in learning where he came from, what his opinion was, and how that came to be.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Well I don't think we're all that smart. We're just smart enough not to get into huge dumb arguments or to post too many talking points.

[Kadagar_AV]

Well I don't think we're all that smart. We're just smart enough not to get into huge dumb arguments or to post too many talking points.

We are by no means smarter, we just have some odd 10 years of experience of repeatedly meeting the same arguments.

[Kadagar_AV]

Well, yeah. Some people invite universal scorn, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Like me?

Had I, when I walked in here as a proud atheist socialist from the only right thinking country, PROUD of Sweden being close to the feminist equal dream, with a background of me thinking I am being right and everything else being UNHEARD of from any source I have ever met.... ... ... Met myself now.

I don't think I deserved scorn. I was young, trying to use the internet to further my political understanding. Having the ability to reach out to people across the globe was AMAZING, and I don't think I would have deserved to be smacked for being stupid.

What I am saying is... If we meet someone new, we have to get better at ANSWERING them... Instead of PUSHING what we believe in down their throats.

[Kadagar_AV]

I agree with you. The person who occasions this 'universal scorn' is as yet totally hypothetical. I merely wanted to point out that despite our best intentions (should we ever let them out of the deep dark place where we keep them hidden) some people just piss you off.

Agreed. We just have to be better at not bringing THE ALMIGHTY SMITE HAMMER OF GOD onto them the first time they open up for debate.

EDIT: Just the fact that they OPEN up for debate should be a clear sign of respect..

Don't get me wrong, of course we should absolutely break them down with time... Just... You know... babysteps... ;)

[Fragony]

Backroom's problem is that there are many people who have been here for a very long time. If you see joindates going as far as 10 years or more it might be a bit intimidating for newcommers. Personally I think it's a welcoming place but it has a reputation for being a bit of elitist place. Undeserved imho

[Kadagar_AV]

Backroom's problem is that there are many people who have been here for a very long time. If you see joindates going as far as 10 years or more it might be a bit intimidating for newcommers. Personally I think it's a welcoming place but it has a reputation for being a bit of elitist place. Undeserved imho

Deserved IMHO.

[a completely inoffensive name]

I don't make good posts, I allow other people to make good posts in response to my ignorant posts. You don't need more people like me. I am just a leech, learning from others and not contributing anything.

[Kadagar_AV]

I don't make good posts, I allow other people to make good posts in response to my ignorant posts. You don't need more people like me. I am just a leech, learning from others and not contributing anything.

I don't get it, elaborate please?

[Montmorency]

I don't think he intended any irony. He should thank you just to be polite, though.

[Kadagar_AV]

I believe that was a dry, sarcastic, self-effacing, and ironic use of humor.

I never loved You as much as now.

But please do not let us use that as gateway for new members?

[Centurion1]

people trickle in people trickle out its the way it goes im afraid.

Personally, I don't know whether its the backroom or whatever but my political views have changed pretty radically since I joined and will likely continue to change. I've also helped to make the backroom a slightly more stupid, hateful place and for that I am proud.

[Fragony]

people trickle in people trickle out its the way it goes im afraid.

Personally, I don't know whether its the backroom or whatever but my political views have changed pretty radically since I joined and will likely continue to change. I've also helped to make the backroom a slightly more stupid, hateful place and for that I am proud.

It is not the backroom that did it but I sure am a lot more mellow than I was 10 years ago. I was basicly a closet-nazi back then, or at least had some dubious views on certain things. The scorn I got was well deserved sometimes, but people change.

[CountArach]

It's seems to me like there's much more consensus than there used to be.

This. We used to have two well-defined 'sides' who rarely agreed on anything, and would often quibble amongst each other in the details, but without ever letting it get personal. These days, not so much.

I think the level of snark in the backrroom has also drastically increased compared to what it used to be. As said above to understand snark and sarcasm one must usually be aware of the background and characters who gave rise to that snark, and that can be off-putting for new people, not to mention it can derail threads etc.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I feel like we had this discussion already, but it's possible I simply received a vision/imagined it/had some bad cheese a few weeks ago.

Either way, this issue has been on my mind also.

The thing that I think has changed is that there is a lot more mutual respect between the members that have stayed than there was a few years ago and the quality of debate has increased as a result.

This can't be a bad thing.

At the same time though, we have become very cliquey, and we are also no longer as tolerant of people who haven't spent as long around so many divergent voices as we have. Case in point, Kadagar and I get on reasonably well most of the time now, at least. That's because, all credit to him, he made the effort to have a manly sit down with me and we hashed some things out. We still don't agree on a lot of things, but we no longer think the other is nuts/morally bankrupt/intellectually dishonest.

So we don't fight, we just argue.

Cube, is also correct we jump on newcomers we consider insufficiently developed. Take the occasional Evangelical who braves these boards, he get mobbed by first the atheists, then the Catholics, then Sigurd, then someone calls me down like an angel of death to finally put him out of his misery. The last one lasted, what, six days? I quoted something like six Biblical verses at him and we haven't heard from him since.

He got zero support, from anyone, that because we mostly get on now as a group - but it's also a symptom of a greatly reduced number of voices, that there is often no one willing to give the newbie a chance.

[Centurion1]

i feelz bad now

[CountArach]

Cube, is also correct we jump on newcomers we consider insufficiently developed. Take the occasional Evangelical who braves these boards, he get mobbed by first the atheists, then the Catholics, then Sigurd, then someone calls me down like an angel of death to finally put him out of his misery. The last one lasted, what, six days? I quoted something like six Biblical verses at him and we haven't heard from him since.

That's because he was banned for posting his beliefs as a holocaust denier. That said, I get what you mean. I have never seen the Backroom as united as we were in that week.

[Hax]

Yeah well, I love you too, guys.

Should I go to a training camp in Pakistan and go jihadi​ on you guys?

[InsaneApache]

I'm an elitist.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Yeah well, I love you too, guys.

Should I go to a training camp in Pakistan and go jihadi​ on you guys?

Nah, too conformist.

That's because he was banned for posting his beliefs as a holocaust denier. That said, I get what you mean. I have never seen the Backroom as united as we were in that week.

I thought he wasn't actually banned, just the thread closed. Not perma-banned at any rate.

[CountArach]

I thought he wasn't actually banned, just the thread closed. Not perma-banned at any rate.

He definitely was.

[Kadagar_AV]

We had a similar discussion, but it much sprung from a "thank you all" post I made.. I wanted to revive the topic without attention to the fluff, so to say...

And as to our latest newcomer... Poor guy! No wonder he opened some controversial debate to try and "get us".

[Populus Romanus]

I wouldn't feel sorry for truth1337 (if that is who you are talking about). Has anyone been watching his escapades on the TWC?

[Beskar]

He definitely was.

Sorry Countarach, he wasn't perma-banned. He accumulated the typical "if you go over x amount of points, you get a temp ban". I obviously cannot discuss the finer details of each infraction, I am just pointing out not to jump the gun and he is currently served his time ages ago and has been free to post here again for a while.

(You can see the Backroom FAQ on the things he might have received an infraction for.)

[Strike For The South]

I am single handedly keeping this place afloat.

The problem is all of you think you know everything, you don't.

This problem is compounded by the second problem, your posts are to damn long. 75% of the posts back here contradict themselves. If a thread goes longer than a few pages, it is nothing but contradictions

Back in my day people read, contemplated, synthesized, and formed their own opinions from there. Now one of you gets your hands on "The Road to Serfdorm" and parrots those opinions on here as if you were some intellectual heavyweight.

Even worse is those posts, which are so shallow they look liked they were ripped straight from some type of punditry.

I basically only post back here blitzed drunk anymore because I see the same mouth breathing opinions. The only threads I start are things that tip my outrage meter

[Hooahguy]

Has anyone been watching his escapades on the TWC?

Yup. Im actually shocked hes not banned. His posts regularly contain Antisemitism and an entire thread of him basically denying the Holocaust.
No wonder I avoid the TWC.

[a completely inoffensive name]

I am single handedly keeping this place afloat. The problem is all of you think you know everything, you don't.This problem is compounded by the second problem, your posts are to damn long. 75% of the posts back here contradict themselves. If a thread goes longer than a few pages, it is nothing but contradictionsBack in my day people read, contemplated, synthesized, and formed their own opinions from there. Now one of you gets your hands on "The Road to Serfdorm" and parrots those opinions on here as if you were some intellectual heavyweight.Even worse is those posts, which are so shallow they look liked they were ripped straight from some type of punditry.I basically only post back here blitzed drunk anymore because I see the same mouth breathing opinions. The only threads I start are things that tip my outrage meter

Well I never finished the first chapter of Road to Surfdom because I got bored, so the jokes on you.Also, let a man try to be something he isn't in the cyberworld, if we can't do that here, we can't do it anywhere.

[Strike For The South]

Well I never finished the first chapter of Road to Surfdom because I got bored, so the jokes on you.Also, let a man try to be something he isn't in the cyberworld, if we can't do that here, we can't do it anywhere.

Then why talk about political theory at all?