I just want primary season to end...

[Bjorn Against]

What the hell do we care about in this world?

That is the question we need to be asking ourselves as we watch primary season unfold and we watch people attacking each other over the most pathetic of issues. I've seen flamewars erupt on this site over haircuts, drug use from decades earlier, kindergarten essays, cackling, UFOs, and who knows what is coming next. Is there any topic which is not too frivolous to waste our time arguing about?

I am sick of seeing posts with only a one or two sentence on a candidate get hundreds of responses. I admit I myself have given into the temptation to respond to flamebait, and I have in turn kicked some very unworthy threads. I am going to start making more of a conscious effort not to respond to flamebait though. If I am going to debate anyone I am going to debate the people who look like they are at least trying to put some thought into their argument even if I disagree with it, but I am going to make a conscious effort to not feed the trolls and I would encourage others to do the same. If we are going to have debates we need to have debates not get into fights over meaningless crap. It is sad to see the posts that nearly everyone disagrees with get hundreds of responses while many of the best, most well thought out posts sink.

People need to remember that many people lurk on this site and see what is posted here, and they are more likely to see the posts with hundreds of responses because that will be near the top of the page quite often if it keeps getting kicked. What kind of posts do we want representing this site?

We have many excellent posts on this site, some of them informative, some of them humorous, some of them angry, and some just plain brilliant. Yet because most of these great posts don't have people getting into flamewars they don't get as many responses and don't get seen by enough people.

I am sick of debating haircuts and kindergarten papers, I don't care what side of the debate you are on they are irrelevant issues. We need to be debating about the war, about health care, about global warming, about how to go about restoring the Constitution, about holding those in the administration who committed crimes accountable for their crimes, about how to help those in poverty, we have numerous important issues that need to be discussed.

But instead we are arguing about vague unsourced rumors that someone may have sold drugs decades ago. I can give good solid criticisms of any of the candidates running and I will, but I am sick of seeing people getting all worked up and screaming at each other over something as trivial as the sound of a candidates laugh.

I know it is sometimes hard to resist responding to flamebait, but I know I am going to make more of an effort to and I hope others will join me. There are people who are here to disrupt, and they want nothing more than for you to get into a flame war with them and keep their posts kicked near the top.

Please can we all just try to acknowledge the good posts, and resist our temptations to kick the worst of DU? It will make this site a much better place to be.