When did we get so mean?

I have been noticing over the last few days that the answers given, particularly to veery new residents questions, have been increasingly snarky. I have always functioned on the assumtion that there is no such thing as a stupid question and that any honest question deserves a thoughtful and considerate answer. Lately it seems as though many who answer are prejudging the new person as unworthy and answering with some flip comment that doesn't answer the honest questions and skirts the edge of attack.

I realise the holidays are stressful for many people, but would taking a chill pill and washing it down with liberally spiked Egg Nog be so difficult?

bah ..

humbug.








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A Merry Christmas to all (and all other relevant holidays), and to all a good night!

Unfortunately, there will always be a few snarky people out there - quick to lash out at anyone they deem to be inferior. We may even have a bit of snarkiness in each of us to some extent. I don't think this is something new to the SL forums. I'm so glad that most who do answer ARE helpful since I totally agree that no question is stupid. I've also noticed that when someone is nasty, particularly to newbies, many forum regulars jump in with great answers to try and drown out the grinch.

Are you referring to the appartment one and the store one? I think the responses there are understandable because the OP(s) showed they couldn't be bothered to do the basic research themselves.

Any post that gives the impression of being a cover for "I want in on the monies but you have to do all the work for me" will get the same negative responses.

Overall, I actually thought RA got better in the last few weeks. Less derailing and more helpfulness.

I understand if some Oldbie is tired of answering the same old questions over and over again but gee they really aren't required to answer every post or even read it. I never understood why they answer or even come here if it bugs them so much. My answer is if something bugs you so much you're being nasty to new resident. How about doing something else and not answering or reading the post unless you just enjoy others seeing you as a jerk? Some I think do it because they are forum Grievers.
I think sometimes I have noticed others even caught myself answering in flippant, silly way recently for me personally ts not intended to be mean spirited but I am just bored or trying to distract myself more then usual.

Who are we to judge if its a cover or honest. I would rather assume honest and give good info that might be useful later on to someone. I think that is actually hitting the nail on the head...we are all way to fast to judge these days.

Thank you. You phrased it much better than I managed too. Big Rainbow waves!

Worse is when you give an answer and some forum wag gives the answer-giver crap for it just because the "answer" only fixes 80% of a problem even though that's the best that SL can do. :/

I've noticed that trend lately too. It seems a few here are too busy reading and answering each others threads started merely to intertain themselves on silly things that have nearly no relevance to how SL works and in no way help anyone trying to grasp the workings of the game. It seems a newbie with a legitmate question is just too much trouble to actually offer any help at all...........often (in the guise of "helping) pointing to some almost related topic "discussed" many months ago (which often is prefixed with some comment about using the search feature and how useful it is). I've followed some of those links to previous threads and the question asked and answers given are seldom what the new person asked about..........almost usless for an answer). Most people do attempt to find the answers on their own first but with their limited experience in SL it's extremely difficutlt sometimes to know what to search for.

Like every forum I've ever seen there is an elite few who love to show everyone just how much they know..........and how stupid everyone else is. It's a shame.....but a fact of internet forums.

I completely agree! People can choose NOT to answer if the question seems banal to them. They do have a choice. Why take the time and effort to answer a question you do not like just to make someone feel stupid?
I like how you admit to being bored enough at times to answer in a flippant way FD - happens to me, too! - but I don't think you've ever done it to a newbie.

i reckon people do this to feel special.
they talk down to people, give condescending replies and they feel a little more knowledgeable and important for it. in their mind there is no better way to underscore their own expertise than to remind people 'who knows more'.

I am always glad to see some Oldbies who are nice and not cranky..my first guy was from 2003 but I was just confused ancient newbie for years before I got courage to do much.
Big Rainbow waves and blink back!
Boy when I started to ask questions here there were a whole lot of very nasty Queens and Trolls who gave me a hard time for asking questions about being a Resident in Resident Answers.
Have Good Holiday Darkness and Everyone else be they grumpified or non-grumpified Forum Troll or Non-Troll flavored Newbies or Oldbies.
Edit: Grumpified is special Trench Elf word made up by my current Alt, FD Spark made up word of two merged words. I do not own a copyright on my made up words though.

If, as someone else guessed, you are referring to the store and the apartment questions I must completely disagree. I think there's a difference between rudeness and being brutally honest. Being brutally honest was appropriate in both of those cases.

august 14 2005 7:12pm pst

Isn't it possible to be honest without it being brutal (dripping with nastiness).

Ex:

Your new haircut does not suit you. I do not like it.

Your new haircut is just plain ugly! Why in the world would anyone choose to cut their hair that way?

(can you tell I just cut my hair today and hate it?)

Agree with this. Just ignore it if it's bugging you.

Pots and kettles.

I don't see much of the "meanness" in here that is being discussed. Just because the advice given isn't what one necessarily wanted to hear doesn't make it mean, it makes it tough love. But you refuse to see the difference and are taking a shot at those who give advice that is actually more helpful than allowing them to run headlong into a business they are not ready to be in.

Only one post had any kind of bitterness in it, and it was in response to a poster who came across as completely lazy, without taking any time to do the most basic of research. I wouldn't and didn't respond in that manner, but there is a problem here in that there are a lot of people looking to come inworld and get into business and have everyone else think for them.

asking for normal help and it`s usually all good

those 2 threads as allready said, were of newbies who did no basic research and just asked for everything to be handed to them on a silver platter
big difference if they would have asked more specific questions like how it`s done with land/group land to rent

didn`t reply to it as others made some good point as i`m not an old grunt yet

Actually its more than "those 2 threads" its a pattern I have watched over the last few weeks.

/me is innocent after cutting back on posting and do something useless ls coding instead of spamming

Examples? Links?

I personally think its pretty self-righteous and unkind to assume someone is lazy because they don't know how to find things. I didn't know where to find anything for long time and when I finally made this Alt finally got the courage to ask certain question and got bawled out because I didn't know how to use search. Personally I was lost and had no clue how to even use Search for months and when I did it was really hard sometimes even find key words to find what I was looking for.
If you want to share information and help, great but if their is condition on who you're going help why bother responding in first place?

If there were ever a time to start nit-picking and putting people on the defensive, Christmas would probably not be it.

I didn't see anything like that at all in those threads. Certainly if there was it wasn't the norm. I think people just need to stop being so damn sensitive.

If a person is going to make a claim and accuse the boards of being mean, why not back it up?