Reply #131: the spiral

[Kanary]

I guess I better get this reply off to you before I'm in the middle of another locking. :)

I fully understand your description of the spiral, and agree completely.

I will submit, however, that isn't where it begins. I would suggest that, while there are people who lurk and enjoy lurking, most people who post here do so because they want to interact with others...... not just because they enjoy typing. There is a dynamic that most posts don't get a response, so people get into trying for the unusual and dramatic in order to get attention, and a response. The higher the level of emotion, the more "unusual" the posts can become, just in order to participate.

The other dynamic is that the atmosphere got set here that this isn't a place for *listening* and *understanding*...... it is the place for a "debate" that culminates in a "win". So, people talk past each other, and it escalates to shouting, and combined wiht the point above, you have the start of your spiral.

I don't know what it would take to get the idea across that we're all in this together, but........ I don't see that happening.

It's Rugged Individualism to the MAX.

Some good old-fashioned communication skills classes would be nice. :hi:

Kanary