Why is anyone posting here... why are you?

[psionandy]

Sometimes, when I look in this part of the forum, I have to wonder why anyone posts here.

It isn't a right (human/constitutional/God given or otherwise) that we have this area. The fact that we are all indulged by the owners/administrators/moderators of this forum is an immense privilege, and we should all be aware that it could (legitimately) be taken away at a moments notice, and that would be completely fair (if a little sad)

A few days ago in a different discussion @dan330 asked me why i bothered.... and I promised him an answer. I 've decided I didn't want to put it in that thread, because its really a separate topic.

Here it is, If anyone else would like to reply about why they post here, that would be great.


Here's my reasons anyway.

• Its NOT FACEBOOK or even REAL LIFE... I like to kick around ideas, and get a lot off my chest on different topics, If I do this on facebook, I may upset people that I have to have dinner with, or inflict my views on people who just come to facebook to look at pictures of Guinea Pigs and Unicorns....
  
  
• There is a really smart group of people here, who know more about things than I do... listening to them is educational and awesome. I also know that if I try and fake/fudge/float a half baked idea they'll let me know.. and I'll have learnt something (even if it was the hard way On different PDA forum (remember PDAs? ) I could have had my ass handed to me in a discussion about the educational standards in the military ... Charts/papers/ sources where produced to back up the case as well... The Marine in question did it though, in a really nice and helpful way... It turns out I was completely wrong and I learned a lot as a result. If you ever suspect I'm making up some statistic... call me on it and I'll go off and find the source to see which of us is right.
  
  
• If someone is posting stuff that just isn't true in any part of the forum, I feel a need to correct it (This is probably some psychological issue of mine) I don't mind people with different opinions.. thats fine, but if you tell people they can just plug a lightning connector straight into a nexus 7 and that gives you full compatibility with Itunes, that's just plain untrue!
  
  
• I want to know what people with different ideas to mine think.... Its really easy for me to find people who agree with me, but finding someone with a completely different view on an issue, who's prepared to talk about it and explain it (without punching me on the nose) . We're lucky that there are some really smart people here who have opposite viewpoints....

• In a lot of the discussions (Presidents, Climate, Brexit, Guns, Drugs, The ethics of stealing bandwidth and tethering) I realise that there are downsides from my position. I think I have a (mostly) consistent viewpoint on a lot of these, but the secret is, that deep down inside, things would be a lot easier if the other side was right. I WANT TO BE WRONG! I can't bring myself to pretend that Unicorns actually do exist, however nice it would be... but if someone can provide proper proof that they do, and let me know where I can ride one that would be awesome. When it comes to politics though, a lot of people just repeat the soundbites, slogans, dumb talking points from Fox News or the Socialist Worker. If your side is the right one, please tell me why.
  
  
• I like long bloated self indulgent posts (see above)

If anyone would like to say why they're posting here that would be awesome.... even if (especially if) your reasons are completely different from mine.

 

[PitCarver]

No one has all the answers;
No one even has all the questions.

The trick is is to get the right answers to the right questions.

 

[Deleted User]

Why?

I'm beginning to wonder..

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I'm trying to get Android users to nominate me as POTUS when/if I run.

 

[Hadron]

I'd vote for you, but I'm not American . Actually I've been thinking of writing to Michelle Obama to ask whether, if she's not interested in running for POTUS, I can interest her in a smaller country across the pond. We could certainly use someone with sense here right now...

Back on topic. I rarely post in this section. Mainly because I feel that it would be difficult for me to really engage with some of the things said here without falling out with people - possibly related to my time on staff, where you have to be careful about that, but I pretty much took that attitude before then as well.

So why visit here at all? Actually I mainly come here when something catches my eye in the "new posts" list. As for posting, occasionally it's because I see something that I just have to challenge, even though it's unlikely to change the mind of, for example, a committed climate reality denier or islamophobe. More often though it's just because I see a cheap shot and can't quite resist taking it .

 

[psionandy]

I'd vote for you, but I'm not American . Actually I've been thinking of writing to Michelle Obama to ask whether, if she's not interested in running for POTUS, I can interest her in a smaller country across the pond. We could certainly use someone with sense here right now...
.

Thats an excellent idea you have there..... and so i've stolen it.... (sincerest form of flattery and all that)
http://androidforums.com/threads/fantasy-leaders.1116288/

I know i'm being a bit cheeky... so say the word and i'll hit the big red delete button....