Anyone else think there's too much hosility in the air?

[Ibjr]

Yes, the major problem is the rapid growth of the user base. I would also bet the average age of users is dropping. I really noticed it was a problem when Apple dropped something or raised some price, and when I complained, someone helpfully suggested I go back tot he windows i love so much.

 

[chrono1081]

If you think Macrumors is bad you should see the fredmiranda.com forums if you constructively criticize a star photographers work.

I think part of it comes from the fact that most people here love mac. There are a lot of people on this forum, that for whatever reason (I wont mention names) hate mac and anything good about it you mention they come down and say how windows is better and mac is horrible etc etc. I'm not talking just trolls but people who have been here for a long time as well who do nothing but bash the OS. This makes others on the board want to get nasty back cause face it, everyone is sick of hearing mac bashing. I hear it daily at work. If you don't like mac, dont buy it, dont come to macrumors.

I just don't want this board to turn into the gamedev.net forums where any slight disagreement gets the thread locked. I got a "time out" on that board for simply telling a user making a linux game isn't going to be profitable : / Thats extreme.

 

[PeterQC]

Something that I found is that there's many people around here that don't EVEN own a Mac, and is just there for criticizing or trolling. Or, to defend themselves, they own one, hate it, but still keep it for absolutely no good reason. And usually, the only thing that comes out of their contribution in a thread is, again, another debate about Mac vs PC, which I'm getting REALLY tired right now.

That's something that I don't even start to understand, WHY are they there then? How do they positively contribute to the discussion? Why does almost every news discussion always have to turn in a debate?

 

[Wiska]

I punched a kitten. It felt good.

 

[kastenbrust]

Since this is a PHP site it would be really easy for Arn or any of the Admins to filter out words automatically, so people who wrote offensive posts would just look really silly and illiterate.

Its amazing how general topics become personal debates very quickly, for example the other day i was talking to someone about a programming topic, and i helped some guy, and i was actually right, and then someone else comes along and says im an idiot and dont know anything about programming?!?

There should be some system, similar to Yahoo Questions, whereby if the original poster has their problem fixed by an answer in the thread, they should be able to lock the thread and congratulate the poster who provided the answer, and then you could have points which build up and give you the ability to have a display picture or cool name like 'macrumors 68030', rather than the stupid system we have now where you get status by the amount of posts you've written, and clearly some peoples posts are trolling.
That would encourage better behavour in the forum, and keep the help threads professional, and easier to search through if your trying to find a solution for a problem but dont want to ask the same question again.

 

[miles01110]

What's next, should I get a time-out for saying I punched a kitten?

Absolutely. Be nice to our future cats!!

Yea I think there is hostility in the air, especially in the politics section.

Show me a civilized politics board, please.

I'm just so friggin tired of have to filter through a bunch of whining and fighting in a thread to just find the information I need.

Then don't; in 95% of cases, the answers you need will be within the first 5 posts. That's the advantage of such a large member base; someone is going to know the answer.

Maybe if the words "thread" and "post" were banned from being said in a thread, there would be less offtopic talk about people and more ontopic talk in regards to the discussion at hand.

I fail to see how banning certain words helps in any way. You can still be offensive and off-topic without using those words or others that might be banned.

...for example the other day i was talking to someone about a programming topic, and i helped some guy, and i was actually right, and then someone else comes along and says im an idiot and dont know anything about programming?!?

In this case I would calmly explain why I was right, and then probably just ignore the rest of the thread. Why bother fighting about something you know is correct? I don't care if someone else chooses not to believe me, it's their problem and not mine.

...and easier to search through if your trying to find a solution for a problem but dont want to ask the same question again.

There are two kinds of people that search: veteran users who know that searching is much quicker and often more beneficial than making a new thread, and the rare newbie who reads the forum rules. Searching is already easy enough, I don't see how a rating system improves anything.