Please help me get into an internet argument
March 7, 2009 9:58 AM Subscribe
Please help me get into an internet argument.
A lot of issues with conflict are coming up in meditation practice, and it would be helpful to have some sort of laboratory in which to elicit a controlled conflict. A contentious web forum would be perfect. Any suggestions? Roughly speaking, I am atheist, liberal, pacifist and slightly authoritarian. The forum should be easy to join, and it should be hard to get thrown off for voicing unpopular opinions. The smarter the participants are, the better. As an example, perhaps Little Green Footballs would work, except that registrations are closed there.
A lot of issues with conflict are coming up in meditation practice, and it would be helpful to have some sort of laboratory in which to elicit a controlled conflict. A contentious web forum would be perfect. Any suggestions? Roughly speaking, I am atheist, liberal, pacifist and slightly authoritarian. The forum should be easy to join, and it should be hard to get thrown off for voicing unpopular opinions. The smarter the participants are, the better. As an example, perhaps Little Green Footballs would work, except that registrations are closed there.
This post was deleted for the following reason: The core question here—where are some places where conflicts happen/are okay, maybe?—seems kinda reasonable, but some of the details of what you're asking are not so great, and I don't think it's entirely cool to ask for targets for manufactured conflict. Maybe think this through a bit more, drop us a line if you need to discuss it. -- cortex
I do this exact thing on Cragi's List Rants and Raves. The trick is to pick one that isn't too busy or two slow...
posted by wfrgms at 10:04 AM on March 7, 2009
posted by wfrgms at 10:04 AM on March 7, 2009
Make a black-on-white textual image which summarizes your most controversial deeply-held position in a few words, and then post it on /b/ on 4chan.
posted by tehloki at 10:22 AM on March 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by tehloki at 10:22 AM on March 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
http://209.123.234.153/reeelapse/viewforum.php?f=1
posted by low affect at 10:22 AM on March 7, 2009
posted by low affect at 10:22 AM on March 7, 2009
Er... forgive me if I'm misreading this, but are you basically asking for suggestions of which forum(s) would be best for you to troll? You might be "elicit[ing] a controlled conflict", but the targeted forum members will be "having their community disrupted by a deliberately contentious newbie".
(feel free to use my response as an elicited conflict in a wonderfully self-referential meta-experiment ;) )
posted by metaBugs at 10:42 AM on March 7, 2009 [7 favorites]
(feel free to use my response as an elicited conflict in a wonderfully self-referential meta-experiment ;) )
posted by metaBugs at 10:42 AM on March 7, 2009 [7 favorites]
Reddit is a good bet. The easiest method would be to find a popular submission on atheism and post a comment sympathetic to religion. You needn't conceal your own atheism -- just find something to say which suggests there is some value in some aspect of religious belief or practice. The guys there will jump on you, and you should get a nice argument going. There might even be some good points made. Be warned, though, that some redditors are quite belligerent.
posted by kitfreeman at 10:48 AM on March 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by kitfreeman at 10:48 AM on March 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
The forum should be easy to join, and it should be hard to get thrown off for voicing unpopular opinions.
Fark springs to mind. Not quite smart as MeFi, not quite as dumb as /b/ and hard to actually get booted from.
posted by MikeMc at 10:51 AM on March 7, 2009
Fark springs to mind. Not quite smart as MeFi, not quite as dumb as /b/ and hard to actually get booted from.
posted by MikeMc at 10:51 AM on March 7, 2009
I'm sorry if I'm misunderstanding some detail, but why not Metafilter? ...you idiot! ;)
posted by salvia at 11:25 AM on March 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by salvia at 11:25 AM on March 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
Absolutely any forum on Topix will be work. There are forums on politics, religion, abortion, but you can find a fight in just about any of their 400k forums.
posted by Edubya at 11:33 AM on March 7, 2009
posted by Edubya at 11:33 AM on March 7, 2009
Dammit. "WILL work" not, "will be work".
Also, they do not require registration at all.
posted by Edubya at 11:35 AM on March 7, 2009
Also, they do not require registration at all.
posted by Edubya at 11:35 AM on March 7, 2009
Er... forgive me if I'm misreading this, but are you basically asking for suggestions of which forum(s) would be best for you to troll? You might be "elicit[ing] a controlled conflict", but the targeted forum members will be "having their community disrupted by a deliberately contentious newbie".
Depends on what he means by "disrupted", but there are plenty of forums that welcome or even thrive on dissenting viewpoints. If he's actually starting arguments on appropriate topics and not using disingenuous arguments, that's not trolling.
I'd recommend straightdope.com's message boards. They've gone way downhill, so they're not as good for information, but they're still good for debates/arguments. You may be a bit too close to their typical poster, but they have plenty of conservatives, theists, etc. to debate with. It's pretty hard to get kicked off, unless you are a major jerk.
posted by bluejayk at 11:46 AM on March 7, 2009
Depends on what he means by "disrupted", but there are plenty of forums that welcome or even thrive on dissenting viewpoints. If he's actually starting arguments on appropriate topics and not using disingenuous arguments, that's not trolling.
I'd recommend straightdope.com's message boards. They've gone way downhill, so they're not as good for information, but they're still good for debates/arguments. You may be a bit too close to their typical poster, but they have plenty of conservatives, theists, etc. to debate with. It's pretty hard to get kicked off, unless you are a major jerk.
posted by bluejayk at 11:46 AM on March 7, 2009
I disagree with everyone here. You're all idiots.
There now, that wasn't hard, was it?!
(just kidding OP..) Metafilter and environs are all you need. There are enough vocal folks here with excellent backgrounds and minds who will challenge you. All you have to do is stick your head up out of the foxhole and someone will usually take aim and shoot.
If you need examples of how to actually get INTO an argument, anything involving relationships, politics, sex, infidelity, politics, some goddamned silly ass thought experiment involving a plane on a moving walkway, politics are all good choices. Also, giving either legal or medical advice is a sure way to get a smackdown. Ouch.
O, I almost forgot.... Mac versus PC, beta/VHS, Von Neuman vs. Harvard, quantum mechanics, relativity, religion... all have been reliable potholes for me. Explore them at your own risk.
posted by FauxScot at 12:27 PM on March 7, 2009
There now, that wasn't hard, was it?!
(just kidding OP..) Metafilter and environs are all you need. There are enough vocal folks here with excellent backgrounds and minds who will challenge you. All you have to do is stick your head up out of the foxhole and someone will usually take aim and shoot.
If you need examples of how to actually get INTO an argument, anything involving relationships, politics, sex, infidelity, politics, some goddamned silly ass thought experiment involving a plane on a moving walkway, politics are all good choices. Also, giving either legal or medical advice is a sure way to get a smackdown. Ouch.
O, I almost forgot.... Mac versus PC, beta/VHS, Von Neuman vs. Harvard, quantum mechanics, relativity, religion... all have been reliable potholes for me. Explore them at your own risk.
posted by FauxScot at 12:27 PM on March 7, 2009
Seconding the Great Debates forum on the Straight Dope message boards.
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:40 PM on March 7, 2009
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:40 PM on March 7, 2009
Roughly speaking, I am atheist, liberal, pacifist and slightly authoritarian.
Metafilter would be kind of a sing-along for you. Doesn't sound like what you're looking for, unless you want to try espousing some conservative viewpoints.
Also do you mean mediation practice? Then definitely try posting and arguing conservative stuff. It'll help you see both sides of an argument.
posted by txvtchick at 2:37 PM on March 7, 2009
Metafilter would be kind of a sing-along for you. Doesn't sound like what you're looking for, unless you want to try espousing some conservative viewpoints.
Also do you mean mediation practice? Then definitely try posting and arguing conservative stuff. It'll help you see both sides of an argument.
posted by txvtchick at 2:37 PM on March 7, 2009
Call a post or a person out on MetaTalk. Last week there were some great blowouts. Seems like what you're looking for. Pick your subject, and something someone was wrong about, and let 'er rip.
posted by Simon Barclay at 2:53 PM on March 7, 2009
posted by Simon Barclay at 2:53 PM on March 7, 2009
Yeah, or -- it's true that Metafilter is in some ways a singalong -- but there are enough dissenters from the chorus on the Blue (I won't say "trolls") that I'm sure you could find an argument.
posted by salvia at 3:49 PM on March 7, 2009
posted by salvia at 3:49 PM on March 7, 2009
Christ, no. Do not manipulate people into a "controlled conflict" for the interests of your "meditation practice." That's totally obnoxious. Internet trolling is so 1995.
posted by paultopia at 4:33 PM on March 7, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by paultopia at 4:33 PM on March 7, 2009 [3 favorites]
Just pretend to be a Republican here. Easy-peasy.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:22 PM on March 7, 2009
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:22 PM on March 7, 2009
A lot of issues with conflict are coming up in meditation practice, and it would be helpful to have some sort of laboratory in which to elicit a controlled conflict. A contentious web forum would be perfect.
If you sincerely believe that conflicts, online or off, CAN be confined to nice, neat little parameters that won't bother you too much, you really don't understand what a conflict is.
Reading your question, I wondered if you really understand that there are other people involved, that the people in online fora, writing those posts and comments, are actual human beings, separate from yourself.
posted by jason's_planet at 6:30 PM on March 7, 2009
If you sincerely believe that conflicts, online or off, CAN be confined to nice, neat little parameters that won't bother you too much, you really don't understand what a conflict is.
Reading your question, I wondered if you really understand that there are other people involved, that the people in online fora, writing those posts and comments, are actual human beings, separate from yourself.
posted by jason's_planet at 6:30 PM on March 7, 2009
Every which way I read your request, I can see it only this way:
You're a mediator who wants to join a community and set some fires, so that you and your volunteer firefighting team can put them out. That's sociopathic.
There are times a community has to draw a line on what they do and do not support. I do not think it is responsible for AskMe to support the answering of this question. We need to be a socially responsible community when it comes to our relationship with other communities. That means we don't do things to hurt them.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:00 PM on March 7, 2009 [3 favorites]
You're a mediator who wants to join a community and set some fires, so that you and your volunteer firefighting team can put them out. That's sociopathic.
There are times a community has to draw a line on what they do and do not support. I do not think it is responsible for AskMe to support the answering of this question. We need to be a socially responsible community when it comes to our relationship with other communities. That means we don't do things to hurt them.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:00 PM on March 7, 2009 [3 favorites]
I agree with five fresh fish... this seems to be a request to cause disruption on other boards... we certainly wouldn't want MetaFilter to be a target for this...
posted by HuronBob at 7:05 PM on March 7, 2009
posted by HuronBob at 7:05 PM on March 7, 2009
Five fresh fish, I think he said 'meditation', not 'mediation', though perhaps both are in order.
posted by anitanita at 7:11 PM on March 7, 2009
posted by anitanita at 7:11 PM on March 7, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by parmanparman at 10:03 AM on March 7, 2009 [1 favorite]