I'll stay at the KT.

I read, but seldom post. Actually, the exchanges there are *nothing* compared to comments on news stories on Yahoo! Most of the posts on Hot Topics contain some reasoning. Yahoo! posts reveal the raw anger of many, many people just looking to spout off -- no reasoning involved. Now, THAT is scary.

The problem with Hot Topics is folks feed the trolls that visit. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and has a right to ex press it. You also have the right to walk away from a conversation you don't like. Folks trolling HT don't get it and keep feeding the trolls.

If you don't feed the trolls, they will go away.

"She is often wrong, but never unsure."
The following paragraphs are not written by me but I thought it was something many are feeling no matter where you stand in politics. Unless you are "never unsure". The media makes up so many lies to depict our candidates I can see why people are spewing so much misinformation. That's why the debates are important. Each person can correct the media, and better inform the public. If one does not believe the other, what better place than a debate to question each other?
As I said, the next part was written by another~~~~~

I was reading an essay written by a guy named George Saunders. The title is "The Brain-dead Megaphone."
He sets up this scenario. Suppose you�re at a party. A big group of people, with a lot of different experiences and opinions represented. All of a sudden, a guy with a megaphone shows up and starts talking.
Now, he isn�t smarter or more experienced than the other people at the party � he�s j
ust louder, but after a while that factor alone lets him dominate the party because he is impossible to ignore. If he talks long enough, he�ll ruin the party because people hate to feel ignored and they�ll give up trying to be heard.
When I read the essay, I couldn�t help but think of parties when I left early because some guy with five too many beers in him had rocked back on his heels, stuck his stomach out and started spouting off about deer hunting, best pickup brands, or alien autopsies. It�s kind of a personal quirk � just like some people can stand higher temperatures or relish bungee jumping, I have a fairly quick trigger on my "life�s too short" reflex.
It did make me think. Let�s go a little further with the analogy. Say we had four or five of those crazy screamers, spread around the room, all with megaphones and nothing useful to say. It wouldn�t take long before I fled screaming from the room. It does sound unpleasant, doesn�t it? The problem is, that�s just the way our political system seems to be functioning at the moment and it seems to me that it�s making us all crazy.
I don�t get it. There are things I know for sure, but not very many. There aren�t a lot of issues in which I couldn�t find some reason to say, "�but on the other hand." Where do these people get off, these crazy screamers, who speak with such absolute authority on almost any issue? It reminds of something else I read, in a book by Robert Parker. He was describing one of his characters and said, "She is often wrong, but never unsure."
There aren�t that many absolutes on this earth. I�ve been around a while, and I�ve led kind of an active life. It�s been my experience that whether you�re pouring concrete or deciding about air conditioning in the church there�s almost always a need for debate, discussion and compromises. Everybody involved needs to gather around, lay out the facts and offer their opinions. After a while, the best course of action becomes fairly obvious, and even the folks who disagree can understand the reasons the majority wants to move on. That�s what works, and we all know it.
So why is it always so easy to find people who are willing to offer opinions based on no real facts, yet uttered with complete assurance?
Here�s a thought. I�ve gone to other parties where the blowhards all gather in one room of the house and the rest of us go off elsewhere and have a fine time. This is America, after all. Even the crazy screamers, the brain dead megaphone shouters, have a right to express their opinions. But we don�t have to listen. And if enough of us stop listening, pretty soon the crazy screamers will have their megaphones taken away, and the rest of us will be able to hear ourselves think.
And wouldn�t that be a relief?

I would not go there I try to stay far away from negative people and places. Life is way too short to live it in a negative, bullying, fighting in a forum way.
I get way more out of trying to help instead.

chisue....I would love something in between but I suspect Hot Topics started out that way and became crazy. It would be nice if people could try to explain why they feel the way they do, be entitled to their opinion without name calling and fact less rants.

I believe the yahoo, etc commenters are bored and their nasty, nasty comments are their entertainment. Kind of like the guy in the car who cut you off, because he could.

I can tell you it did not. It came about so that the types of discussions they have, can exist. People tried to have them on discussion boards (which can be boring because they're so watered down now. Not this one). Spike created it to move it over there. At least, that is what I remember.

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I have been sleeping on this topic. I am torn. I'm not sure we should comment on any other board (it's like talking about someone behind their back--to me. I would've said it had it been Home Decorating, or any other board), and yet, I also want to reply. It's hard to find the nuggets of truth when so many factors play into the subjects discussed. The problem with the board is not that there is "opinion" and "fact", it's that issues become over-simplified. They're usually both right. The weight is different than they give the issue, but they're both right. It's the extreme ends of both sides who are talking. I do learn a lot, from both sides. I would love to see discussions be more balanced, but it's unlikely to happen. It is closer to happening these days than it was, say, three months ago. Such is life at Hot Topics. They (I am surely not including myself) are a well-read bunch, and interesting. Just one gal's opinion, not a fact.

:)