fastair

I hope this is the right place for it, as I notice it here in this forum, but the Mods can move it if they feel it is too risque for this board.

So in the past 72 hours, posts by non-novice flyers, non FT newbies have been a bit over the top...a trend that has been going on for awhile.

An airport that has frequent ATC delays, a poster alludes that the carrier doesn't do maint work to weaken the faith in that carrier (unfounded.)

Anyone who defends UA is name called an "apologist". One doesn't have to defend UA, just state that a flyer has some personal responsibility.

A poster who is in a foreign country and doesn't get what he wants claims that those people (geographic stereotype) can't think outside the box.

I post harsh stuff. It's my style, but I don't make up stereotypes, call ames, make up unfounded accusations. I offend, but I do it in a mostly professional way. Sure, I lose some posters just because of my style, but I know that the form a message is delivered reflects on the poster, and that an entire debate can be lost, even if there are valid points, when a poster goes overboard. State a bunch of facts, and put one lie in it, and everything, even the true stuff becomes suspect.


Can we get away from name calling, sensationalistic baseless accusations and stereotypes? For each of the examples above, there are many many more...this is just what I saw in the last 3 days on this forum. Many of the posts no longer exists as they were removed or edited for such content. Do the Mods have to be babysitters, editing out the insults and deleting the responses?

flyinbob

Really?

How is that different than calling someone a UA apologist, which I really don't think is name-calling.

murphyUA

What fastair basically said was "experienced flyers/FTers", so in this scenario, I don't see how that's "name calling."


For the most part, the ones using the word "apologist" are people who seem to hate all aspects of [insert person/company], and won't bat an eye at flaming [person/company] or someone defending [person/company] without doing any sort of fact checking or general thinking before making such a post.

And yes, I'm placing a stereotype.

tom911

Is that different than the posters you criticize?

sweeper20

Well as long as you only offend people in a mostly professional way, by all means, carry on offending them.

fastair

I speak truth, I don't sugar coat things. People don't always want to hear the truth, some people want to be coddled. Some people feel that a customer is never wrong and cannot be even partially at fault. These people ate often offended at the simple facts. That doesn't make me want to make empty promises are lie just to please them. If this offends, and it does to some, then I will continue.

The thread isn't about taking my post out of context, but rather about posters using exaggerations, sterotypes, lies, false inuendos, and name calling to skew opinion. By falsely attempting to discredit someone with statements of insult or lie, it detracts from a posters, and any legitimate facts in the post's impact. That is the point, that one cannot build an argument, or a house on foundations that lack integrity.

tom911

Maybe it's time for you to take a break from the United forum. Have you discussed your concerns with the moderators there?

fastair

Prior to starting this thread there, I did, as I anticipated it would quickly go off-topic, and people would get personal, then it would be shut down. The mod I spoke with said they would leave it open, and if it deteriorates, then they would act accordingly.

Needless to say, it immediately became about me, vs about the original topic, and has been moved. My point is still the same, there is no need for people to label any poster or group of posters as anything, no need to talk about perceived cultural liabilities, and no need to imply/state baseless statements that have no factual or emperical basis in order to weaken the other side's position.

The thread isn't about any single post, or poster, rather about what I see as a more prevalent style of debate that avoids the neutral facts and tries to emotionally charge simple, logical discussions with irrelevant mis-statements and name calling.

If one feels the need to make it about me, and me alone, feel free to PM me until my inbox is full, which would be in about 5 PMs.

CPRich

Frankly, I'm not sure how it's on topic here...

fastair

I didn't post it here to begin with, and I refuse to speculate on specific mod actions, as that is against FT TOS.

jhayes_1780

Well, I was offended by Fastair quite some time back... and it was in a professional way. I can't even remember what it was, but it was about a specific UA policy. I learned it was actual policy, and while I thought it was unfair, Fastair was quite professional in explaining the reasoning behind the policy. I for one really appreciate Fastair's viewpoints on FT.

Ocn Vw 1K

This is the key concern I have as a moderator. FlyerTalk has so many substantive topic threads, and some special forums such as: CommunityBuzz to arrange meetups and exchange personal greetings, Only Randy Petersen to ask FlyerTalk's founder a direct question and a Technical Issues forum. But we don't have a forum about the general housekeeping or climate of FlyerTalk or its members. Perhaps we should. That would be up to FlyerTalk's TalkBoard to recommend.

In the meantime, we do have a FlyerTalk chat network which might be usable for an exchange of views among those on Chat.

For the reasons above, this thread is closed. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator.