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...