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I tapped out after I realized that I was having an argument with someone that was probably no older than 15/16. When you do that you quickly ask yourself WTF am

I tapped out after I realized that I was having an argument with someone that was probably no older than 15/16. When you do that you quickly ask yourself WTF am I doing here?

jasonvorhe 6y ago
Are you serious? A lot of my political views have been shaped when I debated with adults in the internet at the end of the 90s. Did I most likely sound stupid during all these debates retrospectively? Definitely. But I suddenly had people to exchange ideas with that were non-existent in other kids my age. I no longer felt as alienated and I had a place where I felt I was safe in expressing my opinions. That was worth so much.
- ppf 6y ago
  That is a very interesting point. I have specifically stayed longer on various platforms, because I really did feel that I had an interesting and more mature point of view that the clearly younger (and immature) general populace of those platforms might not otherwise see. However, it's tough going, against the relentless reddit meme-spam and nitpickers who only care about being right instead of discussing ideas. I have now quit all other forms of social media except HN, and is a truly sad state of affairs that a large part of a generation has isolated itself from discussing and developing ideas, as they are sucked in by the addictive and shallow nature of social media. Thanks for nothing, big tech.
  - melomal 6y ago
    > reddit meme-spam and nitpickers 8 years of basically no engagement from me (maybe 30 karma points) I call someone out and bam I'm getting downvoted to kingdom come but at the same time being gilded with silver. It just didn't make sense. HN has so far been nothing but amazing conversations and it will hopefully stay like this. Big Tech played the PR game and won, PR is what makes a unicorn startup not so much the startup's product these days.
    - SketchySeaBeast 6y ago
      > I call someone out and bam I'm getting downvoted to kingdom come but at the same time being gilded with silver. It just didn't make sense. That tells me that there's both sides reading it, just one is larger. Isn't the goal to preventing an echo chamber having both sides expressing themselves?
      - melomal 6y ago
        For sure I agree, I just tried to check my Reddit account and it has now been suspended due to some activity so that I could find the comment. Unfortunately I cannot find it but ultimately it was not a debate, it was a classic teen response 'yeah but what have you done about it?!!?'. No value add and definitely nothing worth replying with.
- secondcoming 6y ago
  On reddit today there is no room for political debate. it's just 'accept the views of the subreddit or be banned'
  - amanaplanacanal 6y ago
    Are there any good places for political debate online? They seem to be universally terrible to me. It may be that reasonable political debate can only be done in person.
    - melomal 6y ago
      Sometimes text lacks the context that we need to feel and see as humans. IMO debates and discussions via chat will always be terrible. People misread texts all the time assuming it was said in a way that was meant to be insulting. Once we can manage our emotions and misinterpretation of text then we can start debating in a healthy fashion.
- melomal 6y ago
  > had people to exchange ideas with that were non-existent in other kids my age. This I completely agree with. I've have many hobbies in my early years that were considered weird of just not in line with what my friends liked. Having a chat to learn more and dig deeper was amazing to do. But there's debating and then there's just flat out teenager responses. I honestly don't mind having a debate or conversation but the lack of insight and knowledge only provides you with lacklustre meme attacks.

I tapped out after I realized that I was having an argument with someone that was probably no older than 15/16. When you do that you quickly ask yourself WTF am I doing here?

jasonvorhe 6y ago

Are you serious? A lot of my political views have been shaped when I debated with adults in the internet at the end of the 90s. Did I most likely sound stupid during all these debates retrospectively? Definitely. But I suddenly had people to exchange ideas with that were non-existent in other kids my age. I no longer felt as alienated and I had a place where I felt I was safe in expressing my opinions. That was worth so much.

ppf 6y ago
That is a very interesting point. I have specifically stayed longer on various platforms, because I really did feel that I had an interesting and more mature point of view that the clearly younger (and immature) general populace of those platforms might not otherwise see. However, it's tough going, against the relentless reddit meme-spam and nitpickers who only care about being right instead of discussing ideas. I have now quit all other forms of social media except HN, and is a truly sad state of affairs that a large part of a generation has isolated itself from discussing and developing ideas, as they are sucked in by the addictive and shallow nature of social media. Thanks for nothing, big tech.
- melomal 6y ago
  > reddit meme-spam and nitpickers 8 years of basically no engagement from me (maybe 30 karma points) I call someone out and bam I'm getting downvoted to kingdom come but at the same time being gilded with silver. It just didn't make sense. HN has so far been nothing but amazing conversations and it will hopefully stay like this. Big Tech played the PR game and won, PR is what makes a unicorn startup not so much the startup's product these days.
  - SketchySeaBeast 6y ago
    > I call someone out and bam I'm getting downvoted to kingdom come but at the same time being gilded with silver. It just didn't make sense. That tells me that there's both sides reading it, just one is larger. Isn't the goal to preventing an echo chamber having both sides expressing themselves?
    - melomal 6y ago
      For sure I agree, I just tried to check my Reddit account and it has now been suspended due to some activity so that I could find the comment. Unfortunately I cannot find it but ultimately it was not a debate, it was a classic teen response 'yeah but what have you done about it?!!?'. No value add and definitely nothing worth replying with.
secondcoming 6y ago
On reddit today there is no room for political debate. it's just 'accept the views of the subreddit or be banned'
- amanaplanacanal 6y ago
  Are there any good places for political debate online? They seem to be universally terrible to me. It may be that reasonable political debate can only be done in person.
  - melomal 6y ago
    Sometimes text lacks the context that we need to feel and see as humans. IMO debates and discussions via chat will always be terrible. People misread texts all the time assuming it was said in a way that was meant to be insulting. Once we can manage our emotions and misinterpretation of text then we can start debating in a healthy fashion.
melomal 6y ago
> had people to exchange ideas with that were non-existent in other kids my age. This I completely agree with. I've have many hobbies in my early years that were considered weird of just not in line with what my friends liked. Having a chat to learn more and dig deeper was amazing to do. But there's debating and then there's just flat out teenager responses. I honestly don't mind having a debate or conversation but the lack of insight and knowledge only provides you with lacklustre meme attacks.