Question: Can I delete my tip jar? I don't care if this gets recommended or not, so I don't want that thing down there...
I've written a few diaries here which weren't well received. I've also read a large number of diaries that garnered equal hostility.
In all fairness, my experience here over the past year has been mixed. My diaries are usually op/eds I write for the Johns Hopkins Newsletter. I post them here before I submit them and ask people for fact checking and grammatical corrections. My last article, one commenting on Stupak-Pitts, incited a discussion about the Establishment Clause in which a law student taught me a few things I didn't know about the first amendment and prompted me to rewrite one of the major arguments of my paper. Needless to say, I was extremely grateful to him and the other three people with whom I engaged in the discussion, as without them I would have submitted a factually inaccurate article.
Another article I wrote, however, was received with nothing but personal attacks, 'yawn's, and brusque dismissals. Whereas I was stating my opinion and making what I believed to be a valid case, people were immediately dismissing my points without providing any valid reasons or bothering to correct any of my errors. I submitted the article nonetheless and saw moderate feedback from friends - but I was extremely insecure about the content, although the DKos community provided me with no justification for my insecurity but only added to it.
Today I have read three diaries that received similar responses. Honestly, is this the way we present arguments here? I'm going to link to one of these diaries as I strongly believe that the reception it saw was extremely uncalled for. I will make no comment on the opinions expressed within the diary, as that is not where this argument lies. My argument lies with the comments that attack the diarist and dismiss his diary without justification. What I read in that diary is a collection of facts and an opinion formed around those facts. What I read in the comments are insults and immaturity, with people dismissing the argument as worthless without bothering to explain why.
We're all (mostly) adults here. If someone came up to you in person and expressed an opinion with which you disagreed, would you laugh in their face and tell them to treat their opinion like a suppository? What kind of bullshit is that? Would we stand behind Alan Grayson if his response to the Republican health care plan was a 'yawn'?
All I ask is that we show a little respect to people's arguments - even if we think they suck. If someone is basing their opinion on factually inaccurate information, laughing at them won't help. Instead, point them in the right direction. Provide a link to a source and say, 'here, this is why you're wrong, and you should learn more about this subject.' If someone expresses an opinion with which you disagree, don't attack them personally and dismiss their entire argument after the first sentence. Kindly express your disagreement and show why. Constructively. It's really not that hard. You might even teach them something!
I've been active in Facebook discussions for some time now, and that place can see the lowest of low debate. But occasionally I come across someone who argues like an adult - and I learn volumes from them - not because they laugh at my mistakes, but because they take the time to correct them.
Let's try to show the same respect here. I've learned a lot from the constructive comments that I've received on my diaries - but I've learned jack shit from someone yawning at my opinion.