This isn't going to be a long diary. Basically, I have to get this off my chest before I start head-desking again.
I've been a Kossack since 2003. And I love this site unabashedly. Even though sometimes I get enraged at our most common subject matter, i.e., the depredations and fuckups of the Republican Party. But I've never had a more difficult time reading it than lately... and it all has to do with the Hide Ratings.
- I have never HR'd anyone. Tempted a few times, but I just don't feel the need to suppress someone's thoughts. Doesn't mean I have to agree, or listen further.
- Way, way too many posts lately have been overwhelmed by snit-fits over who's HR'ing who and why. I'm having trouble finding comments on the original post, because they get pushed down by dozens or hundreds of comments, starting at the tip jar or just below, about HR's. Often there are many more comments about the HR'ing than the topic of the post. Everything is becoming tl;dr on that basis alone.
- I feel like I'm back in my intense D&D days, dealing with a cadre of rules lawyers. Dozens of people are citing technicalities, interpreting justifications, and otherwise splitting hairs about the damn HR's. At least back then, the donuts were edible.
Here's a thought: If you really don't like a post, enough that you have to comment on it, why not... comment? Or PM? Or even call it to the attention of a mod? Because all this sound and fury signifying nothing, over a bunch of mouse clicks, is past comic, past tragic, working on pathetic.
I guess what I'm calling for is, if not the abolition of the HR system, at least a lot more self-control when invoking it. dKos is becoming clogged with hissy fits over this, and I truly believe It Is Getting In The Way.
If someone is truly offensive, well, that's an issue for the mods. If someone is factually wrong, well, cite facts to counter what's wrong. If someone mentions something in dubious taste, or disagrees with you, or is just being an idiot, or doesn't like someone you like, or or or or or... please think before you start an HR flame-war that does nothing except piss off everybody involved and waste a lot of time when you could be doing something interesting/useful/fun.
No one's mind will be changed, no one's anger will magically go away, and the flame-war itself is gonna sit on the servers as a permanent record of That Time When You And A Colleague Or Three Argued Over Political Correctness And Embarrassed Everybody In The Meeting Hall And Feelings Were Bitter For Weeks Afterward And Some Of The People Started Posting Recipes Just To Distract Everyone But It Turned Into A Food Fight And Now The Walls Are Caked With, Well, Cake And The Whole Place Smells Of Vanilla And Beer And Anger And Regret And Nobody Wants To Clean Up Until The Other Guy Starts To Damn Clean Up And We're All Gonna Piss Off The Landlord And Nobody's Gonna Want To Join The Club And I've Got A Fucking Headache And The Kids Won't Shut Up And Go To Sleep.
Think of the children, won't you? Thanks.
< /.02 >