A serious question for the members of the R&S forum re: Cruel, hateful posts?
This is for all members, regardless of faith.
Many of us have noticed the increase of rude, hateful posts in our section. Folks, we are running good people totally our of our section. One example from today: A member posted a question. A family member had just been diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. He is a young man with two small children. She was asking for prayers for him. Some of the answers were heartless. This is beyond my comprehension.
The question is:
1st) In your opinion what causes people to display this type of behavior? (I truly have no idea why?)
2nd) Any ideas what can be done to improve the atmosphere in the R&S forum?
Thank you to all answer
Peace! Lotus Flower2008-04-05T11:09:23Z
Favorite Answer
I didnt see the post, but I am so sorry to hear that! I believe that we view ourselves as so separate and divided that we have lost our human decency! We allow shallow, depthless things to form boundaries against love and concern for each other. We can begin to challenge ourselves to Love and be at peace, no matter what and if we see that it is so hard...challenge ourselves with an even tougher question..."why is that?"
My heart goes out to that member and I will keep her and her family member in my prayers. I will also pray for this forum.
I've thought about this to. There was a believer the other day that was mocking atheist people by calling April fools day their day because the guy said that a fool says in his heart that there is no God. I didn't feel bad that he was misrepresenting the gospel as much as I felt bad that people were being degraded. I wondered if I should step in like I have done before but I wasn't sure if I should keep doing that. I think that it would be better if these types of question were not answered but on the other hand some of the responses may have made the guy think. You ask why this type of behavior is displayed? I would say it is either because the person is hating or they are trying to pay back evil for evil, either way it's despicable. I don't know if there is really a solution for this or not.
Edit: I just read your example. Maybe you should post that question. I think now a days people are kicking the weak or wounded .That's ashame when people are hurting like that to have such rude comments.
As an atheist, I can say I would never do that. I might wage battle with fundies over any number of issues, but I would leave that kind of thing alone. This is an R&S site and even if soliciting prayer isn't strictly within community guidelines, I would not begrudge someone that.
Some will answer in harsh and hateful ways just because they are people filled with hate. I have found these on both sides of the fence. They're not nice people and if atheists, they make a bad name for all of us.
There might have been some who didn't believe the questioner was really in that sad position. Thay may have truly believed the person to be a troll. Correct or not, that belief would mitigate their responses.
There are also a couple of fundies around who are impersonating atheists in order to make them look bad. Hey, there are some atheists who do the same thing to the Christians, so not making any generalizations here, but I'll bet at least one of the nasty responses was from one of them.
I personally disapprove of people sneering at the hardships of others.
I have not been around to see this. I have not read these posts either, which I should do before commenting but I won't.
I often prefer the Athiest posts even though I am a closet deist and strangely a Pantheist.. I waffle ;-) I hope these were not attacks by Athiests. Who knows... remember those old Holly Wood movies where the white guys dressed up like Indians and attacked a non-native outpost?! Hmmmmm?!!!!!
When I have seen requests for prayers in the past I have answered them in writing and in my actual prayers. In fact, I have prayed for my online friends and neighbours... they don't know that. Shhhhh.
Over the top and below the belt behavior has come up before. Like good behavior it ebbs and tides. Sometimes the line is fuzzy though. It depends who you are and how tough your skin is I suppose.
I have been called arrogant and some other silly thing on here before. In fact, someone who was on Yahoo answers went to the trouble of finding my 360 in order to rant at me about how dreadful I am this week. Hahaha!
Oh well. He is a cowardly lion anyway. No real name, no way to contact him accept to leave a icon style note and reply on my own site.
I think it is really up to us to keep a community standard. There are the vote edits that put the offending comment out of site. I know that it is too late by then but at least it show community support for the person asking the question. If used properly and not as sensorship!!!!
In the past, complaints have been abused and I am reluctant to use that method unless it is a physical threat or pure hate propaganda.
We could shut those individuals out, make posts like this one to discuss the problem, turn our questions to discussing these isssues as you are doing but continue on in depth. This is going to happen every once in a while.
We used to have a mayor! Do we still have a village here?! Perhaps we need a commiteee.
The popularity posts from the village did kinda undermined the village spirit. It was a bit cliquie. Ahhhh. Off track.
Just draw a line between critical thinking and critisism. It is natural we will react in a volitile way once in a while... cut people some slack for that. But, this... this is a reflection of a larger problem!!!!! This is the kind of thing that tells me we really need R&S.
I don't answer prayer requests, because I don't pray. And I think they are in fact considered chatting and in violation of Community Guidelines. BUT that is no excuse for offering cruel or mocking answers instead of prayers.
My own theory of what causes people to behave like that has undergone changes in the two years I have been on this site. There for awhile, it seemed the trolls were Google loyalists who wanted to ruin Yahoo. But then Google gave up on a question-and-answer program, so that should have eliminated the trolls. It didn't. I don't think it even reduced them all that much.
Then I figure maybe they were "testing the limits" the way adolescents do with their parents' rules. While we were in Beta, that had a certain utility value. And Yahoo has tweaked the Community Guidelines and the reporting system as a result.
Unfortunately, the only thing we can do is report those that are over the top. Many people brag that they never report, but I consider that irresponsible. If you care about this program and want it to continue, you need to take your share of the responsibility and report flagrant violations. On the borderline ones, start your answer with "Well, this is technically a violation, but . . ." and help a person learn how to use the system better.
I don't want to brag, but my award for "Community Leadership" from Yahoo suggests that I must be someone who understands how to build a good community.