Shortly after coming to this forum, I started to wonder why so many of the people designated a "regulars" seemed to be doing little to nothing besides talking about useless and trivial material, playing games and doing all sorts of odd things.



I wondered "How are they regulars? They don't even post anything substantial! They hardly appear in these debate topics, they just talk about everyday things!"



Then, I finally understood.



1. Member attends threads and reads, familiarizing himself with the topics, the responses, and the different people.



2. Member begins to post, pose questions, read responses.



3. Member begins to answer questions, starts debating, getting into arguments. Member learns where he fits in, what his ideas make him, and starts to become solid in his stance.



4. Member becomes a hardened philosopher. Frequently engages in debate with people, readily answers questions in defense of his ideas. Becomes slightly agitated when confronted with an argument he has heard before.



5. Member becomes experienced. Contributes often to the forum, but becomes aware that many of the topics repeat themselves, and that oftentimes, the time and effort needed to respond and explain a certain point to the OP is not worth it. Begins to skip around the forum for interesting topics, finding less and less with each passing day. Member no longer finds any opposition, as those on the opposite side who have grown with him are doing the same thing.



6. Member starts participating in topics that have nothing to do with philosophy, because they are the only topics that are original and fresh. Begins to fool around and stops posting in the "serious" topics.

IllogicalFallacy wrote:

Shortly after coming to this forum, I started to wonder why so many of the people designated a "regulars" seemed to be doing little to nothing besides talking about useless and trivial material, playing games and doing all sorts of odd things.



I wondered "How are they regulars? They don't even post anything substantial! They hardly appear in these debate topics, they just talk about everyday things!"



Then, I finally understood.



1. Member attends threads and reads, familiarizing himself with the topics, the responses, and the different people.



2. Member begins to post, pose questions, read responses.



3. Member begins to answer questions, starts debating, getting into arguments. Member learns where he fits in, what his ideas make him, and starts to become solid in his stance.



4. Member becomes a hardened philosopher. Frequently engages in debate with people, readily answers questions in defense of his ideas. Becomes slightly agitated when confronted with an argument he has heard before.



5. Member becomes experienced. Contributes often to the forum, but becomes aware that many of the topics repeat themselves, and that oftentimes, the time and effort needed to respond and explain a certain point to the OP is not worth it. Begins to skip around the forum for interesting topics, finding less and less with each passing day. Member no longer finds any opposition, as those on the opposite side who have grown with him are doing the same thing.



6. Member starts participating in topics that have nothing to do with philosophy, because they are the only topics that are original and fresh. Begins to fool around and stops posting in the "serious" topics.

The problem is if you're in a myspace forum for too long you lose your soul and free will, the only way to keep it is to flame and troll. Although the latter is very rare, and I agree with all those points.

nice :]

Illogical Fallacy... you think too much, I think... *okay - intended, stupid joke*



Anyway, personally I would hope that there are actually a lot of people like me out there too. People who like to debate, but if a topic gets a certain number of replies before they get a chance to read it, they just move on. Basically, if a topic has more than four or five pages of replies, I don't bother starting to read it because I have better things to do. I just log in a lot, which is why it sometimes seems like I'm waiting for replies to posts.

give it a few months........















































































if not a year.

IllogicalFallacy wrote:

Shortly after coming to this forum, I started to wonder why so many of the people designated a "regulars" seemed to be doing little to nothing besides talking about useless and trivial material, playing games and doing all sorts of odd things.



I wondered "How are they regulars? They don't even post anything substantial! They hardly appear in these debate topics, they just talk about everyday things!"



Then, I finally understood.



1. Member attends threads and reads, familiarizing himself with the topics, the responses, and the different people.



2. Member begins to post, pose questions, read responses.



3. Member begins to answer questions, starts debating, getting into arguments. Member learns where he fits in, what his ideas make him, and starts to become solid in his stance.



4. Member becomes a hardened philosopher. Frequently engages in debate with people, readily answers questions in defense of his ideas. Becomes slightly agitated when confronted with an argument he has heard before.



5. Member becomes experienced. Contributes often to the forum, but becomes aware that many of the topics repeat themselves, and that oftentimes, the time and effort needed to respond and explain a certain point to the OP is not worth it. Begins to skip around the forum for interesting topics, finding less and less with each passing day. Member no longer finds any opposition, as those on the opposite side who have grown with him are doing the same thing.



6. Member starts participating in topics that have nothing to do with philosophy, because they are the only topics that are original and fresh. Begins to fool around and stops posting in the "serious" topics.

Awful cynical view, BUT, at least you are thinkin'. I don't know how you become one of these "regulars", but I think I could edit your post a weeeeeee bit and PERHAPS it'll fill up dat glass of your's. Bare with me.



1. "Regulars" have either LIVED or researched SUBSTANTIALLY the topics at hand. "Regulars" have integrated "trial and error" into every phase of their life, cause that's one way science has it right. And "regulars" are "social" in nature and usually "KNOW" people..............ALREADY.



2. "Regulars" ALREADY have FAITH in THEMSELVES. Probably cause of the "trial and error" thing in #1. HOWEVER, this makes no implication to AGE, I've known MANY younguns who have "trialed and errored" themselves into more of a MAN than some "men" I know. Get my point?



3. "Regulars" UNDERSTAND that sometimes ya need to give 'em a little "negative reinforcement". And dat don't make me "HARD", it's just "tuff love". And "regulars" love tossin out ideas and have 'em bouncin' around. IT'S FUN. "Regulars" only opposition is LACK OF KNOWLEDGE and CLOSE-MINEDNESS. Cause a "regular" doesn't CARE "BOUT WINNIN, he's here to LEARN and TEACH. Cause TRUTH is more important than winnin'.



4. AND noooooooo NOOOO N-O....................."Regulars" D-O N-O-T R-U-N A-W-A-Y and take their ball and go home. "Regulars" C-A-R-E about what forum SHOULD DO, which is, CREATE UNDERSTANDING and FIND TRUTH. NOT FOR DEBATE. REGULARS DO NOT CARE "BOUT EGO(however, they probably GOT ONE). But hey, I could be wrong, who knows? BE COOL and L8R>

Illogical Fallacy is right, i consider myself a 'regular' and i could relate to all those points.



you should also do the posting life of people who come here, post a few times, become apalled at the atmosphere and run shrieking for the 'home' button.



like, where's TOmmy and Jermey? those sexy sexy boys

MAN... THIS is so true.. Im feel I fit between 4 and 5 right now...

between 5 and 6 right now

Well then, I am here to propose a solution.



If you find yourself in around the 4, 5, 6 area, try going to a forum devoted entirely to philosophy.



forums.philosophyforums.com comes to mind.



It may offer a bit more of a challenge. If you mess up, moderators yell at you.

<--- between 2 & 3

Suppose I can linger here a while longer. :-)

In my arrogance and cynicism i'm probably 4 and 5 tho i don't see me going that far into 6 since i really do dislike people like that.

That's a nice way of putting it. With all the anger and whatnot on this forum, comparing debaters to addicts may not be extreme at all...