How often do you have an "I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole" reaction to a DU discussion?

[Silent3]

Especially gender, race, guns, "privilege", "woo", "rape culture", voting third party/maybe not voting... the typical flame war stuff.

17 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Never - I'll say what I like, I don't care how people react
	2 (12%)
	Never - But I'm cringing thinking about the reaction I'll probably get
	0 (0%)
	Sometimes - Holding back when I'm not feeling that impassioned or interested in a topic
	1 (6%)
	Sometimes - Hoping (usually in vain) that my words won't get twisted, turned into a straw man
	2 (12%)
	Often/Always - Just can't be bothered wasting my time with that crap
	11 (65%)
	Often/Always - Can't take the ration of shit I'll get if I speak my mind
	0 (0%)
	Often/Always - Hoping I'll make DU a better place by not stoking the flames
	1 (6%)
	Other (please explain)
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. Regularly. n/t

[Bonx]

2. Per day or per hour ? nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. The better answer for me is "rarely" but never is as close as your poll gets.

I rarely touch discussions where my response would be indistinguishable from everyone elses.

Say something once, why say it again?

[Silent3]

8. I venture into threads like that when I think I at least have a slightly novel take...

...on the discussion, but when nuance is needed, nuance is often ignored, viewed suspiciously, or angrily rejected by people who are purists about some things, who find anything that strays from their view as "part of the problem", something that needs to be crushed.

[Agschmid]

4. Yup.

In before the likely lock...

[avebury]

5. More and more.

I am also losing patience with the alert process that makes DU look like it is High School. Thank God for Trash This Thread and Ignore!

[Katashi_itto]

6. Per Hour.

[donco]

7. Lotta troll

post lately.

[Silent3]

9. It's not so much any particular OPs that bother me

It's more the pattern of reactions to what people post, especially the obnoxious "I've got you pegged!" kind of reaction, where it seems that some people are only scanning for key words and phrases that set off their personal alarm bells, they figure smugly that they've "heard it all before", and simply spew back a slash-and-burn repsonse to the predetermined caricature they've cast you into.

[quinnox]

10. Sometimes, and I'm also trashing threads constantly

You named the thread categories where there is a high probability of my trashing them instantly.

"rape culture" -- I always put these in the trash can, if you (you=duers in general) don't want me to participate in your thread, this is a good topic to post about.

"privilege" threads - High probability of trashing, but there are a few that seem reasonable to me.

"guns" - instantly trashed, not interested.

"woo" -- instantly trashed, really not interested.

A few others --

"Nader" threads -- instantly trashed

"vote in the midterms!" threads -- instantly trashed.

"look how adorable Obama and/or Michelle looks! or family pics" -- instantly trashed

"Obama is the bestest and most progressive president ever!" and other empty headed cheerleading threads -- instantly trashed

[Silent3]

12. The funny thing is that I'd like to get into some of these topics more often that I do...

...maybe even start an OP about some of them, but in order to get to what I'm hoping would be a few interesting and thoughtful responses I know I'll often get so much in the way of knee jerk, couldn't-be-bothered-to-pay-close-attention-to-what-you-actually-said angry retorts that the effort of a carefully worded post doesn't seem worth it.

[quinnox]

13. and those are real concerns

often, it seems "the mob" is just itchin' to pounce on their favorite pet topic.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. or pet poster

It seems that discussion here it really not possible most of the time any longer.

[quinnox]

18. Yup, it sure seems that way a lot of the time lately

there are still a few thoughtful duers around who have intelligent things to say, but its getting harder to find.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. I admit, I SOMETIMES look at the Obama \Michelle\ kids cute threads

but that is the ok, let me see if I can learn a thing about how the photo was taken. It is the same reason at times I look closely at Nat Geo photos... it is not the subject perse.

But pretty much, that list gets trashed. There are a few other subjects that increasingly are getting trashed, like the US is the most evil country like evah!!!!

[SoCalDem]

16. Our trash lists are

synched

I used to hang out here constantly, but our "new" crop of argumentative, vindictive "members" have pretty much turned me off

[quinnox]

17. lol

Well, you obviously have great taste!

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I have been finding myself using the trash can a lot more

and ignore, goes without saying.

I am getting flashbacks to HS, not kidding. And this time I do not mean bullies. It is like I got into a time machine with professor Emmet... yee haw, back to the future!

[On the Road]

19. This Site Has Really Been Taken Over

by the activists-at-all-costs. It is impossible to learn anything or have a decent discussion. There is a reverse Poe's Law at work in how difficult it is to distinguish trolling from honest posts. I am anticipating that things will change a bit when primary season gets closer. In the meantime, ten-foot-poll comments seem to be half the page.

[Eleanors38]

20. Might be less 10 ft pole moments if TOS were followed.