Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm just curious here, so please nobody judge.

Being an older Gaian, do you ever feel an urge to step in when you see kids posting rude comments directed at other members?
Not policing the forums, but just makign a passing remark as needed?

I'm definitely the type to respond and let the kid know "Excuse me, but that was uncalled for"
Maybe it's culture clash, but I would never have spoken rudely to anyone at that age. I developed some attitude during highschool because it was such a miserable experience and that was my coping mechanism, but even then, I got quiet and withdrawn rather than saying anything out of line.

I don't know, maybe I'm the odd one out. But I would be interested in hearing anyone's opinion on the matter.

Depends on the situation. If two people are arguing, I'm not going to jump into the middle of it with a comment. But if it's just randomly rude, I'll say something about it. Although, I spend almost all my time in my guilds so I don't run across anything like that all that often.

Yeah, a lot of times if I see 2 people sniping at each other I tell 'em to chill....

I stick mostly to the guilds these days as well ~ the forums are out of control. Used to be when someone posted in the wrong forum (i.e. Exchange) the regular exchangers would gently point them in the right direction ~ usually with a link included ~ commerce is commerce after all and bump threads are especially annoying when you're trying to sell something... but now the responders are rude and hostile... so I avoid the forums...

I used to say something like...give them a break Poster B, we were all new once, Poster A, ignore the idiots! But as Lil' Brat says, the forums seem to be out of control these days. I very rarely wander past the comfort of my nice cozy Geezer's guild these days.

bump

Actually, a lot of my job in real life is addressing and redirecting that kind of behavior. Also, I have some personal experience that makes it painful for me to witness outright attacks on others.

The tough part is that responsibility for our actions comes only through a slow and steady process. Also, the definition of rude can vary considerably from individual to individual, so you kind of have to pick and choose your fights.

For me, I usually step in if one of these issues are at stake:

- Someone attacking someone else for being a N00b. Learning is important to me and you have to start somewhere. Calling someone a N00b is as bad as saying "Don't Ask Questions." I feel you should always ask.

- Sexual Harrassment. I feel very strongly about this, mostly because, yes, I'm not very pretty in real life and if I ever said some of the stuff people say on here, I'd get canned, sued and maybe even jailed. I kind of think of stepping in to stop male chauvinist, female borderline or just plain grossly inappropriate sexual conduct as a way of levelling the playing field.

- Elitism. I just... really hate people who either want to hog everything for themselves ('cause they saw it first) or who use some media concept, ideal or social trend to put on airs. I mean, really! Grrrrr! That cheeses me off and it's hard NOT to say something.

In all these cases, I try to say something constructive, if I can... but if I post too fast, I'm afraid it will be as negative as if I'd been the original aggressor.

Every since I started playing in here, I figured the regular forums were just too much for me. I get annoyed to easily with the way some post in them, so I avoid it for my sake and theirs biggrin I figure, if I am there, and I see it, I will say too much. But, like was said earlier, they are way out of control and have so many negative posts. Heck, I got a rude comment on my avi, just because it looked like I ripped someone off! (which I did not)