Where has all the discussion gone?

[beli]

Ponderings on this evil blueness

Where has all the discussion gone?

I'm aware that posting nature of any site is cyclical. Get some new posters, lose some old ones, some stay the same, and on we go. The nature of the site evolves. The topics rotate.

What I'm intrigued with at the moment is:

FYM is, in my opinion, dominated by Christian threads and/or posters. Even threads that are not actually about Christianity end up that way.

The U2 musical forum. Heaven forbid (/jk) that anyone suggest that the new album is not musical droppings from the Gods. Negative reviews of the album brand the reviewer as an idiot or worse.

PLEBA has gone Bono feral. Correspondence regarding any other member will not be entered into. Nor will discussion. Its predominately or a poster expressing hatred for another woman because she has received a lapdance / hug / kiss from Bono and its not fair.

Its Official was a forum for playfulness and delicious stupidity. Now there are an increasing about of serious threads.

My question. Why all the piousness?

 

[Kieran McConville]

We live in serious times, Beli!!!!

No really, I have no easy answer to the question. I think the Interference community is splintering (various other forums have of course sprung up from the detritus).

 

[A_Wanderer]

The only thing that I can think of is that there is no new news just more of the same, until something big goes down what needed to be said has allready been done. That and the big political events of the year are over.

 

[AcrobatMan]

FYM is, in my opinion, dominated by Christian threads and/or posters. Even threads that are not actually about Christianity end up that way.

i dont know why this happens....we will get "quotes" in this thread to...

I am running away

 

[Dreadsox]

I do not think you can peg FYM like that.

Before the election this was not true....

Fym rolls and changes.....


Two years ago it was all Iraq

It changes with the times

Three years ago 9.11

 

[beli]

To quote myself:

What I'm intrigued with at the moment is:

So why is FYM "biblical" at the moment?

 

[Calluna]

I think it is because everyone is burned out with politics at the moment and since the US election showed that most people voted on "moral values" this has put the focus onto Christianity.

 

[Dreadsox]

We are stuck in a moment....and we can't get out of it?

 

[BVS]

What I'm intrigued with at the moment is:

FYM is, in my opinion, dominated by Christian threads and/or posters. Even threads that are not actually about Christianity end up that way.

People speak about and form their opinions based o what's important to them. That's how it works.

The U2 musical forum. Heaven forbid (/jk) that anyone suggest that the new album is not musical droppings from the Gods. Negative reviews of the album brand the reviewer as an idiot or worse.

PLEBA has gone Bono feral. Correspondence regarding any other member will not be entered into. Nor will discussion. Its predominately or a poster expressing hatred for another woman because she has received a lapdance / hug / kiss from Bono and its not fair.

How is this any different?

 

[indra]

I think it is because everyone is burned out with politics at the moment and since the US election showed that most people voted on "moral values" this has put the focus onto Christianity.

I think this is true. Plus a couple of other reasons, 1) the Christmas season brings the focus to religion for some people, and 2) when there isn't much else to talk about, religion is always good for a discussion.

As far as the weirdness in the forums dealing more directly with the band, I've noticed this on other band sites when a new album is released or there is a tour. It seems as if those events bring the nutcases (and I'm not targeting anyone, OK) right out of the woodwork. Many people get overly excited, others get really grumpy, and there are some pretty heated clashes. I remember on The Church board there were some pretty heated debates when their last studio album came out...debates over the album itself (some loved, some hated), the cover art/liner notes (some loved, some hated), the band members' looks (mostly the lead singer/bassist -- some loved, some hated, but pretty much everyone did agree it didn't really matter), the quality of the official photos (loved/hated), etc., etc. I think it's interesting that one of the spats I had with another poster led to a really great friendship, so sometimes good can come out of these trying times.

Most of the people who came when the new album was released (and during the tour which followed) soon went back to whatever rock they crawled out from under (a few stayed). I don't think it will ever be quite the same (I don't think anything is ever exactly the same), but it will return to a more normal state in a little while.

 

[AcrobatMan]

Three years ago 9.11

so FYM should have been biblical 2000 years ago

 

[Anthony]

Where is the love, I hear you ask?

I shouldn't worry about it, beli, everyone's still a bit highly strung if you ask me. What with the post-election stress and the new U2 album coming out, emotions are running high. Regarding FYM, when emotions do run high, people usually end up talking about God.

Ant.

 

[AcrobatMan]

I think it is because everyone is burned out with politics at the moment and since the US election showed that most people voted on "moral values" this has put the focus onto Christianity.

Atheists are more moral than religious people..

 

[BVS]

Atheists are more moral than religious people..

That's a great generalization. Thanks for the intelligent remark.

 

[Anthony]

Hrm... a highly debatable statement if there ever was one. To keep things in context, however, tell that to all those who voted on 'moral' grounds.

Ant.

 

[indra]

Atheists are more moral than religious people..

No, no, no, you have it all wrong, we aren't more moral, we are more logical. How many times do we have to tell you that?

 

[AcrobatMan]

No, no, no, you have it all wrong, we aren't more moral, we are more logical. How many times do we have to tell you that?

Ok I rephrase

Some atheists are more moral than most religious people

 

[indra]

Ok I rephrase

Some atheists are more moral than most religious people

Well, I agree with that. Plus, we're more logical. Damn, we are good!

 

[Salome]

the focus on Interference drifted away from fun quite some time ago

when you aim for a more professional organisation (I will leave further cynical remarks for another thread) you don't nessecarely create an environment that is built around fun and laughter


re. FYM
god is great topic for debate because whatever you say you won't be proven wrong anytime soon
and that's just awesome

 

[BVS]

re. FYM
god is great topic for debate because whatever you say you won't be proven wrong anytime soon
and that's just awesome

That's the greatest line I've ever heard in here! I had wine shooting out my nose...and that's just awesome.

 

[AcrobatMan]

god is great topic for debate because whatever you say you won't be proven wrong anytime soon
and that's just awesome

Agree..

God is one thing you can say anything... God is this and God does this....and God is that...and God is within me..or God lies there....

and still you can walk out of the discussion without being called STUPID ..

On the contrary you can retaliate really hard if asked for proof of whatever you have said.

 

[LoveTown]

I used to post a lot in FYM but now I don't because of how ugly it got during the campaign. I just got tired of being stressed out over a website.

 

[A_Wanderer]

You may be on the loosing side but it doesn't make it the wrong one.

 

[verte76]

I'll speak for myself. I'm burned out to a crisp on politics. We had a fg eight month long campaign. It is so much healthier in other democracies, in my opinion, when the campaign season is a matter of weeks. There's actually quite a bit going on in Washington what with Bush's new cabinet picks and the controversy over the Social Security policies, but I'm tired. This will pass and we'll start debates over this when Congress gets back into session and there's stuff in the press about what big shots in Congress are saying, etc, etc. The election involved Christian evangelicals, what with the gay marriage controversy, so we're talking about that. I'd like to do something about the length of our campaign season but it's the media's game and we're powerless to change it.

 

[A_Wanderer]

The thing is that Bush's evangelical vote didn't surge and he got more or less the same ammount of the "gay" vote as he did last time - I fear that this is a meme to explain away the election in a way that involves no introspection.

 

[U2Kitten]

The reason for the religious posts is probably because it's a religious holiday season (Christmas/Hanukkah). You don't see it that way in July.

Negative posts on the band: Please understand this: as U2girl and I pointed out, it's not that you shouldn't say anything negative about the band. I do. I don't like Crumbs or most of Pop. What the people bitching about the bitching are trying to say is that there are trolls who continue to find ways to bring their hatred for the 2 latest albums into any thread, or to post a Pop is great thread in the guise of bashing the 2 newest albums, and it's gotten very tiresome. Maybe some of you aren't around enough to notice that, but it pisses me off to see someone come into one of those redudant rerun bashing threads and go 'everyone has a right to their opinion' because that's not the issue, we know that, it's that some of them do the same things over and over so much and drag it into threads it doesn't belong that it's dragging the forum down. Thank goodness some people are finally seeing this and not taking the bait from the trolls.

PLEBA: True PLEBA has become more Bono gushing lately, but I attribute that to a new influx of PLEBAns who were rabid in ways the rest of us were not. I could name the names, but I don't want to cause trouble as at least one of them is a frequent poster here. I want you to know that the PLEBA veterans have also lamented this both on the board and in private. However, we're all here and we have to deal with each other's styles. If people start to leave the personality of the forum would really change. And I don't agree there is no gushing over other members, it's there, just not on such a large scale. If anyone wanted to post gushing threads on other members, that would be okay, come on in!

As for IO, the reason I left was because I was posting serious toned threads and got seriously admonished for it by zoney. I haven't even read it in weeks so I don't know what's going on now. Personally I find it the biggest waste of cyberspace outside a chatroom, and as mindless as any drivel over boy bands, but hey, we all got our own things. That's why there are so many forums!

That's what I notice as someone who is here waaaay too much

 

[beegee]

I could name the names, but I don't want to cause trouble as at least one of them is a frequent poster here...

....As for IO, the reason I left was because I was posting serious toned threads and got seriously admonished for it by zoney.

unbelieveable.

you don't want to single anyone out....except jeff.

 

[Dreadsox]

so FYM should have been biblical 2000 years ago

No, would have been hard there was no FYM.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I kinda agree with beli. I understand the cyclical nature of FYM but there's just not much for me to get involved with at the moment and it's disappointing (not that I've done anything about it like start an interesting thread or anything )

I haven't stepped foot in PLEBA in like 2 years. It's scary and I don't relate to U2 in that kind of crazy obsessed with Bono and what he was wearing yesterday way.

And the best thing about FYM this week is that Salome posted.

 

[verte76]

The thing is that Bush's evangelical vote didn't surge and he got more or less the same ammount of the "gay" vote as he did last time - I fear that this is a meme to explain away the election in a way that involves no introspection.

I don't mean to imply that Bush got more religious votes than he did in 2000. After all, I myself am a practicing Catholic, I voted for Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004. I was talking more in terms of the President's own religious views, which are basically evangelical Christian, and how they may be influencing various policy decisions on his part.