Content Quality, Echo Chambers, and more

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

I agree with you that I wish the quality of discourse was better. I think the quality of discussions on the main Atlas discord are generally better when it comes to social conversations, but on economic conversations, it still has a very clear bias to the leftwing. Part of that is my fault.

Even though this forum does not have particularly intellectual conversations, it's still better than the vast majority of politics forums or online conversations. We just don't live in a culture filled with intellectual nuance. Few people have the bandwidth to have these conversations given how hard the economic conditions are and how toxic the national culture is right now.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

I think one of the main reasons for decline in content quality has to do a lot with the recommend feature. I'll be the first to admit that my effort I put into posting is considerably lower than it was before the recommend feature being added and that the quality of most of my posts has greatly diminished, because the recommend feature is so much more rewarding towards snide jabs at other posters (of ideologies opposite towards your own, of course) and one-off quips than substantive analysis.

As for the analysis of polls, I think that has to do with the growing distrust of polls across both sides. It's easier to dismiss polls people don't like as junk when you have the discrepancy between state polling in 2016 and 2018 to look towards. Quality pollsters like PPP have started working more on a private commission basis, and for whatever reason the public polls they release tend to be more D friendly from what I've noticed. It just feels like there's less high quality polls than there used to be. And of course with that said, that invites more accusations of junk polls, especially if one result is so wildly off base from what the rest of the polls were saying (not that outlier polls are necessarily junk).

this post is trash, and smells just as bad as the animal you're named after

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

I think a lot of the divisiveness and hostility in national politics that has come up this past decade might be to blame. Politics also attracts a lot of nutters, a lot of ideological extremists, and other undesirable folks.  There's also some really great people. I think the problem is that some of us get way too emotionally involved. I'm really only in it for the maps and data, and I could care less what others think politically, or what others think of me. I post my opinions and reply to discussions to challenge others on their opinions to try and make a more perfect world. If someone is a critical thinker they can listen to both sides of the debate and make an informed decision. I think if we all sat back and hid the avatars the vast majority of us here would find a lot of middle ground.

I also agree on the recommended button. We don't need one line "burns" to fill up every thread!

Emotions and caring are important. It's in our nature to have feelings and express them. It's part of what makes us human. I have nothing wrong with emotions. And I don't give any points to people who don't care about anything; that just sounds sociopathic to me. I just want people to express themselves with more than just feelings in some of their posts. And I want people to be able to talk and debate in spite of their strong feelings. The 2020 forum has too many one- and two-liners that don't lead to substantive discussion.

I am guilty of making too many one-liners myself.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

I think a lot of the divisiveness and hostility in national politics that has come up this past decade might be to blame. Politics also attracts a lot of nutters, a lot of ideological extremists, and other undesirable folks.  There's also some really great people. I think the problem is that some of us get way too emotionally involved. I'm really only in it for the maps and data, and I could care less what others think politically, or what others think of me. I post my opinions and reply to discussions to challenge others on their opinions to try and make a more perfect world. If someone is a critical thinker they can listen to both sides of the debate and make an informed decision. I think if we all sat back and hid the avatars the vast majority of us here would find a lot of middle ground.

I also agree on the recommended button. We don't need one line "burns" to fill up every thread!

Emotions and caring are important. It's in our nature to have feelings and express them. It's part of what makes us human. I have nothing wrong with emotions. And I don't respect people who don't care about anything. I just want people to express themselves with more than just feelings in some of their posts. And I want people to be able to talk and debate in spite of their strong feelings. The 2020 forum has too many one- and two-liners that don't lead to substantive discussion.

I am guilty of making too many one-liners myself.

Totally agree, and I'm guilty of it too. I think we all need to be mindful of one another and realize that this is a very difficult time and everyone is reacting differently. We're all human and I don't think we should hate one another because of our political beliefs. I might disagree with you politically but I don't dislike you personally. That's how it should be for everyone here.

Just to be clear, I hate you because of your username.