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Axe to grind know it alls
Recently I have noticed that there are people who apparently enjoy having controversial posts. One in particular stands out. I have no problem with people expressing different opinions but are they doing this just to get attention? They don’t care what the responders to their posts have to say as only their opinion is the correct one and everyone else is wrong unless they agree with the op which is rare.
I have always looked at the Audiogon forums as a resource to get information and exchange ideas . When the post is a one way street, I think it does little if anything to contribute to the forums so going forward I will just ignore their posts. Anyone else irritated by these posers?
I have always looked at the Audiogon forums as a resource to get information and exchange ideas . When the post is a one way street, I think it does little if anything to contribute to the forums so going forward I will just ignore their posts. Anyone else irritated by these posers?
105 responses Add your response
Hello George, Yes, I really (as in actually) thought it was funny. But I don't think it was really (as in very) funny. I now understand that you assumed he was ticked off at me because he titled his thread "Axe to grind know it alls". But his original post gave no specific examples and named no specific user names. I had no reason to believe he was referring to me as one of his so called "Axe to grind know it alls". Only much later in the thread did he give a specific example of what he was referring to. It was a reply posted on another thread he started that he titled "Sucking the romance out of the music". My post was in response to this specific example he cited in which a member told him to put on some music and be romantic with himself. I just posted that the reply to his cited example was relevant and funny. I still think it was a relevant and funny reply which lacked any evidence of a particular axe to grind. I believe most members would agree with my assessment. I had and still have no intention of being mean to ishkabibi. I'm simply calling them as I see or hear them and funny is funny. Thanks, Tim |
I tend not to agree with the approach of just ignoring trolling or other inconveniences and pettiness we all find ourselves confronted with at various times during our lives.In "real life" I'm not bashful about shining a spotlight on inappropriate behavior and appreciate it when friends or even strangers make me aware of boorish behavior I've engaged in. This is how we grow as human beings. This assumes that someone has the moral compass to look inward and make changes when appropriate. At the end of the day we all have our own values and I can't tell you what's "appropriate" anymore than you can tell me what's "appropriate". It's a different game on the internet, and in my experience a waste of time to engage with trolls. Good luck though. |
@big_greg You hit the nail squarely on the head. Yes, there are people that are so insecure that getting attention on an internet forum is a balm to their fragile egos. They are like little children that misbehave because they want/need attention. No matter whether it’s "positive" or "negative" attention, as long as someone is paying attention to them, they feel a little better about themselves.I find the best course of action is to identify and ignore these people. It’s a phenomenon that occurs on many forums. @ishkabibi Now that I have read Noble100s response to your thread I have to admit that it is pretty out of line. Immediately above he basically describes himself as liking "little creative things" which is pretty ironic coming from someone who spent the last year posting his long winded spiel about distributed bass arrays a thousand times. And before that it was the repetitive class D amps thingy. My understanding of the word "creative" is not that. Fortunately it could be worse, he could post a link to his system with every post as an example of perfection. |
I tend not to agree with the approach of just ignoring trolling or other inconveniences and pettiness we all find ourselves confronted with at various times during our lives. I prefer to adopt the approach that a little nudge or unexpected shocking response, with it being as relevant, targeted and humorous as one can muster, can work wonders by providing a good enough jolt to the discussion to bring participants back on track and move on to more productive discussion. Plus, it's a heck of a lot more fun than doing nothing. For example, say you're visiting grandma and the discussion between you, mom, sis and gramma has suddenly become so boring that it's actually about various meats that gramma thinks tastes like chicken. Sure, you could just grin and bear it until the topic eventually turns to something more interesting. Or, you could shake things up a bit, spur a quicker topic change and have some fun by interjecting that you've discovered that bald eagles taste just like chicken. Yes, gramma may poop her pants spontaneously but someone's also bound to quickly change the topic of the discussion. Mission accomplished! I just think little creative things like this are sometimes more effective and entertaining with these little, homeless troll creatures. BTW, how do they all those little imps get electric and internet access underneath bridges? Tim |
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Here is an example of a reply to one of my posts..... I posted that High End Audio is Sucking The Romance out of Music.... Hello ishkabibil, "I have no idea what you're talking about but I'm going to teach you how to spend a romantic evening with your music and your S.O.: 1, Get yourself looking and feeling as attractive as possible; haircut, shower, shave, man-scaping, a dash of cologne and some cool new clothes. 2. Cook a good meal, play some music, light a candle or two and serve it with an expensive bottle of wine. 3. When the mood strikes, move casually over to the sofa and …... make love to yourself. Sorry, I heard you currently don't have a S.O. Love the one your with, right?" ishkabibi, I really doubt you can expect a more apt, strong and humorous reply to your original thread question than that. I'm not sure if you related that thread post reply because you were upset, offended or just to illustrate how incredibly creative and funny a fellow member's response actually was. In any case, I'd like to thank you for quoting it for all to enjoy. Very relevant and funny. Thank you, Tim |
Yes, there are people that are so insecure that getting attention on an internet forum is a balm to their fragile egos. They are like little children that misbehave because they want/need attention. No matter whether it's "positive" or "negative" attention, as long as someone is paying attention to them, they feel a little better about themselves. I find the best course of action is to identify and ignore these people. It's a phenomenon that occurs on many forums. |
I feel that the authority to delete posts should be left to the moderator. If an OP has the authority to delete posts then that person basically only wants yes people or people that only agree or say what they want to hear and not allow alternative opinions. Yes, rudeness should be a capital offense here, but not agreeing? I, for one have enjoyed and learned much from contributors that some didn't appreciate. When there is name calling, insults or "trolling", the the moderator should step in. Most have gotten to where they are in the audio world totally differently that I did. My taste are different than my friends. But, we do agree that although it may be my style, good music is good music. I'll like and appreciate any music that is good. Be it "classical (don't like that reference), jazz, blues, country, ethnic, non-English, you name it. same for equipment. Well made, well designed, nice sounding equipment just is. Yeah, some people do have an axe to grind. So what? Let them rant. no harm done, and I don't have to participate if I don't want to. I appreciate this forum and most (vast majority) of the people that contribute. I've seen references to music, equipment, artist from members here that I would have never found out about. Even from the so-called negative posters. I don't care for rude people. That is unnecessary. I get a chance to read about and interact with people I would never have the opportunity to meet or interact with. That is a good thing. You want the rudeness to come out? Start talking about Bose equipment here. anyway, with the state of the world the way it is now, enjoy your music, acquaintances, family and friends. |
The problem with nerds like us, is that they all think they are mister or misses know it all and the rest is talking pure nonsense. Even if they can agree for 95% of the previous poster. People need to grow up and accept that other people can be knowledgeable too. It is too much competition instead of cooperation in here. People can be jealous if somebody is saying interesting things and they take the feeling of lacking in knowledge too personaI, feeling incompetent and starting to rant and troll to fix their ego/identity by taking it on others. I just like to read an learn from a lot of people. I am happy when new insights in audio reproduction are being shared. I am not impressed by trolls at all (on any forum). This is 2020. If you can't stand the heat, don't enter the kitchen. |
I rather enjoy the drama, trolling, arrogance, fanaticism, egotism, factions, poking, shoving, feather ruffling, gasping, pearl clutching and just individuals generally getting their panties in a bunch on these forum threads. I'm fairly certain our founding fathers saw all this coming from all their highfalutin riffin on that freedom of thought, freedom of speech and the pursuit of happiness jazz. https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/In-a-Word/2019/0926/Poking-holes-in-pretentiousness-with-highf... They'd get together at their little double secret Constitution parties, typically booze fueled events that always got more interesting once the wigs came off and they began hurling them at each other to emphasize their points. I like to imagine those wily rascals all giggling uncontrollably like school girls once they began collectively ruminating on what their fine ideals would eventually lead to. I choose not to despair about the current state of this Audiogon Forum affair. How about we all just give a wink and a nod in acknowledgement to that wise old guard crew? Tim |
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The light at the end of the tunnel is ... a colonoscope. I belong to 4-5 audio boards. Each one suffers from trolls to some extent. We've now had decades of time to adapt our social pathologies to Internet communications. You know, the old comment that some are comfortable screaming things at others on boards that they wouldn't dare do IRL (or they might dare only because they have an AK-47 set to full auto-fire). As the Doors put it, "People Are Strange." |
Ignoring off topic and disruptive posts isn't always the best solution. First of all, you pretty much have to read the posts to figure if the posts are dispuptive, and secondly, the reader will often need to wade through a bunch of off-topic garbage to find out if or when the original thread ever gets back on track. Personally, I've always thought the cure for this would be for A'gon to grant the OP of each thread, the power to delete any post in that thread. The OP could police the content to his or her own sensibilities. Sure, a few of the threads may end up becoming sanitized to the point of boredom, and some could still end up as free-for-all whoopee sessions, (either of which still could be enjoyable by some). Nevertheless, I believe most of the A'goners here would use the power to delete only when posts start to derail the thread, taking the OP's thread into an unintended direction. There are a great number of thoughtful posters in A'gon's history that never/rarely share their opinions and expertise anymore. One has to wonder if constantly wading through off-topic tripe, the sniping, the shouting, and immature content; hasn't turned them completely off of A'gon. I believe readers would gravitate toward OPs that allow divergent opinions to be expressed while disallowing disruptive behavior. Toolbox |
Here is an example of a reply to one of my posts..... I posted that High End Audio is Sucking The Romance out of Music.... Hello ishkabibil, I have no idea what you're talking about but I'm going to teach you how to spend a romantic evening with your music and your S.O.: 1, Get yourself looking and feeling as attractive as possible; haircut, shower, shave, man-scaping, a dash of cologne and some cool new clothes. 2. Cook a good meal, play some music, light a candle or two and serve it with an expensive bottle of wine. 3. When the mood strikes, move casually over to the sofa and …... make love to yourself. Sorry, I heard you currently don't have a S.O. Love the one your with, right? |
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Information is good....But just strict informative post, a little bit cold....If we ask for abx verified one it is too much cold for me... Some comes also to chat about audio in a relaxed way and about their experiences and impressions.... Some very friendly, some less so; each post is also warmer or colder, relatively to the moment where the poster wrote his impressions or opinions or relatively to the person who he speak to .... We are humans, all we must ask is politeness, more politeness, and humor.... My best... |
One of the other Audio forums declares itself an AbX free zone, which I interpret as meaning you can’t post that someone’s observation is invalid because it wasn’t ABX tested (please someone correct me if I’m wrong). I think those kind of guidelines are helpful to keep a forum a productive place. There’s so much goodwill going on here, people sharing a lifetime of experience, even if that runs contrary to what others think. While these “garbage” posts garner lots of views and responses, it’s not a sustainable model. When I come here and browse the recent posts and see troll posts, it makes me feel differently about the forum, and makes me think where else can I spend my time, energy and sometimes share my limited knowledge. Sure a newspaper could sell lots copies with something obscene or controversial on the cover, but when the novelty wears off and people Need to know what’s actually going on, they’ll reach for another source. |
@falconquest ....Unfortunately, you're correct. Occasionally a forum opens with a ludicrous statement that draws the worst of our commentary. I'm just as guilty as some.... We 'ought' to be more focused on helping each other get the best out of our Existing systems, or the posted query regarding whatever pesters the OP. Too often, though, 'preference' overrules simplicity; "Well, you ought to be using/buying/applying 'X', and while you're at it...." The old Roman Games comes to mind.... ...but, I'm just weird.... |
Here's the problem. this kind of thread becomes the one that people hoard to, to make comments, and when I post a thread about room treatment I get very few responses. So while the OP here creates an irrelevant thread, it gets top billing while those that create the potential to learn something and share experience seemingly go unnoticed. .....and no, I'm not trolling, just find it frustrating. |
*S* Thanks for the offer, Eric....but save it for a more deserving party. At least this forum is living up to it's title.... OK, I'll be the sacrificial goat for this 'next' page.... "Hurryhurryhurry, step right up...offers like this don't fall from trees!" Who amongst 'you' would prefer to stake me over a fire ants' nest as opposed to reading my drivel? (I'm going to operate under the statement that it's 'good to keep your friends close, but your enemies Closer...") No axes, Please. I 'leak' easily enough in Real Life...(blood thinners...)... |
I could name a few but I won’t...make you feel like a pos...💩.....that’s why i seldom post here...some are here to learn, not to be ridiculed for their particular taste or particular choice of components. Yea, some have money to burn, but some are just getting by and yet still choose this as their hobby. It’s the ones here with money to burn who are the worst offenders, all in my own opinion 😁 I pretty much know everything that i need to know of this hobby any way from my own mistakes and successes along the way. So this is merely entertainment at best. Let the hate begin...Hahaha...don't care. |
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