Hello!
Thank you all for your comments. Allow me to answer at least to a few:
kaijyuu: At least I wouldn't kill you over having humor. However, I have to admit that your avatar images are frustrating me - on the one hand, one is cuter than the other, making me want to see the diversity, on the other hand, not being able to see the same image again at will is kind of irritating :) :)
Naryar: I think you described best what I was thinking about, especially when seeing things like the danger room thread: Diversity and differing opinions and discussing these are all good things in my eyes. But when things become name-calling and emotional, nothing good comes from it. For instance, in the danger room thread, a very interesting philosophical question was raised: "Is it cheating?" or rather "Can you cheat in a single player game without a score system?". Delving into the philosophical depths of that question would have been fascinating (albeit probably requiring its own thread anyway), but the word "cheating" is far too negatively loaded in that discussion to really leave room for such academic ventures.
I do not wish to remove the debating culture or controversies. For instance, I actually kind of enjoy seeing discussions about the merits of using the graphics, since it may tell me things I have no personal experience with as my contact with the graphics sets was relatively short. So, I never saw the detailed implications of the different limitations or possibilities of the graphics (like greater number of different tiles). And some of these discussions yield interesting and unexpected insights - the graphics debate for instance showing different styles of play as some people want to pause only if really, really necessary, while others preferring to press pause, drink a cup of tea, and then decide what to do (okay, I am exaggerating here :) :) :) ). So, there are a lot of positive surprises especially the (non-hostile) confrontation with the other can yield.
I differ with you as far as tolerating is concerned - in so far as I tolerate that which I can not understand, for understanding for me means already accepting as plausible/thinkable. Or let's put it differently, since that explanation feels a bit off. In adventure mode, there seem to be some players who enjoy murdering all civilians they can find. For me, this approach to the game is utterly and completely alien to the point that I really can't understand it and also feel uninclined to try to understand it. It just goes extremely against my grain. Thus, I can't understand it, but I do tolerate it, converse normally with people following that doctrine and also partake in their tales of sometimes bizarre adventures.
Personally, I tend to go to war only if I see someone attacked or threatened. Because going to war always means harming people, and harming people can only be justified in my eyes if it is the only way to protect people from harm (like policemen using force to stop a crazed gunner).
xdarkcodex: It is not that hilarious once you know that we indeed at one time had the impression that this was being conveyed. And unfortunately, that thread did degenerate and had to be locked.
dreiche2: I agree that this is a good community with a lot of positive vibrations. This is one of the reasons why I felt hopeful enough to make this thread. Turning a community upside down is nearly impossible. But raising awareness and hopefully encouraging people to speak up for their values can actually work and have at least a little bit of impact. I have had very positive experiences with the issue of respect for artists on another forum - of course there are those who would never accept the idea of being grateful for free art, but I found that the majority of people speaking up actually were open to seeing this, and bringing the topic into discussion also helped people openly say "You know, posting this without permission is not a good thing". Of course, not all things were changed, but a basically good community became better (at least in my eyes).
The same is my sentiment here: We have a great community here, with lots of helpful and interested people. There is a lot of humor and goodwill here. But sometimes, there are those dark clouds raising their head. And I am worried that they might poison our green meadows. Therefore, I try to raise awareness in myself and in others, that we may protect the good atmosphere of this community - mainly by trying to live by the ideals we propagate.
As for the thread title, I guess I was a little bit influenced by getting close to two aggressive threads in close temporal proximity (^_^;; But at least I think the title will get people interested.
Mike Mayday: Well, I can't judge whether I am naive or not. But I personally believe that the decent people on the internet actually outnumber the aggressive and abuse people by far. It is only a problem of the aggressive people being louder, more active, and maybe the decent people feeling insecure about their own values within the internet communities. I mean, everyone talks about the internet as "lawless" or as a place of constant strife, so even decent people may come to believe that lawlessness and aggression are part of the rules of the internet.
The way I see it, each community creates its own rules (within the rules we agreed to when signing up, of course), and each member can help shape the community. This is why I think it is important to encourage people to be positive.
BTW, thank you for the response in the other thread. I guess it is then just something personal between my computer and me...
To All: Thank you again for taking time participating in this thread. Feel free to continue commenting, of course. I apologize for this relatively long post, but I simply had so much to say and so little skill in compressing my message. I am afraid that some formulations are probably a bit confused, but I hope that the basic message is clear enough that you can figure out what I meant to say.
Anyhow, you are just great and I am really thankful to know this community!
Yours,
Deathworks
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Topic: How about a peaceful co-existence in the community? (Read 8607 times)