Pretty much. I go back and forth on this... on one hand, I'm in that "here because of the old board" group and enjoyed it while it lasted. I know I've said both things that fall in line with the "pussification of the board" and offensive things too so call me a hypocrite if you want. It'd be easier to just pick one or the other and stay highbrow or lowbrow but I think there could be a balance, like sticking to making fun of people for what they can control and avoiding otherwise. Not trying to sound self-righteous here, just being honest.... or maybe I should just stop being a pussy and y'all can go fuck yourselves too. I think I posted for the first time on Tucker's board when I was a freshman in college and now here I am posting from this office cubicle I've worked in for a couple of years. I've become a lot more mature and aware since then and likewise I think the board has changed similarly with time. I still want to get my laughs in and love the satire and dark humor but I don't laugh at some stuff that I used to anymore. Maybe (like this board) I've become a little too stiff and sensitive, but I can't help but think I know better than reverting to otherwise when it comes to some topics now. I don't think focusing more on purely offensive humor and becoming edgier will bring in the type to participate in intelligent threads either as much as just the offensive threads either, but then again this board was spawned from the RMMB so who knows. Regardless, I appreciate the fact that you have to use proper grammar and can't just say "because!" as a rationale for your arguments here. That should never change.
I've been on this board a long time but I'd consider myself mostly a lurker. When I go to post I like to read through the entire thread first to make sure I'm not just re-hashing shit someone else has already said. It seems like a lot of threads, by the time I get to the end, has devolved into 2-4 people just replying to each other that has taken the thread completely off topic to the point that the conversation is over.
You're not wrong here, but sometimes it would be cool if some folks would speak up and bring a thread back around. If you have something to say, even if it's phrased differently, it would be fun to read. Personally, I like different viewpoints, even if they are critical of mine or others.
Then, by all means, feel free to step in and ask questions or make a comment that helps get it back onto the track that you want. For what it's worth, we're going to be stepping up the modding a bit to help enforce that stuff a bit more than we have (or haven't) been lately.
I disagree that the board's gotten too nice and that's the problem. I was at the TMMB because of the stories, not because of the racism, sexism, etc. Funny stories drew me in despite that, and the idea that we want to become "edgier" as a solution to getting more members seems really counter intuitive to me. Is that really the only way to get more people? Is that really the thing that made this place worth visiting? I mean, clearly for some people, but I don't think that's universal. It's easy to paint objections to assholery as being "too PC" but that's just saying you don't want to be called out on your shit. You learn some interesting things around here as people are more comfortable opening up, I think that's a valuable atmosphere to cultivate.
What drew me to the RMMB (I started lurking when it started -- second time around -- as the TMMB) was the stories. The harsh moderation and overall "intimidation factor" was what kept me from posting up until its death. What draws me to here, initially, was the flat irreverence. Gradually that morphed into the interesting opinions, and that was fine too. Just give me something interesting, something that's a reprieve from everything formal and PC and neatly-packaged that I deal with in normal life... As others have mentioned, that this board is becoming increasingly "PC or die!" where you get lampooned for making a racial stereotype joke or calling a fat girl fat, is admittedly driving me away in the same way the harsh moderation of the RMMB discouraged me from posting. Ideally, this board would be a mix between great opinions and "funny or die." With zero expectation of being politically correct, and zero ramifications for not being so as long as it's funny. I'm politically correct 9-5. I come here as a BREAK from that.
But see, this is part of the reason I almost never post anymore. My sense of humor has changed as I've grown, and some of the threads just don't interest me. Yes, I'll still make dark jokes (just the other day I told my mom to slap the dick out of my brother's mouth, so clearly I'm not super PC), but there is one simple thing: stereotypes of women/races are lazy, hacky comedy. Saying "I don't want to be PC" is like saying "I want to make the cheap, easy jokes!" If we want to be a board of intelligent discourse and "funny or die," throwing out a bunch of stereotypes that would make Carlos Mencia fans giggle probay shouldn't cut it. Take the "like a girl" thread. I guess I don't get the joke. "This company made a commercial about the fact that "like a girl" is an insult and most girls lose confidence in themselves as soon as they're old enough to understand that society thinks they're inferior. Let's make jokes about women being dumb whores!" First, it's stereotypical bullshit like "women can't drive, hurr hurr!" Or a woman fucking multiple dudes. The irony is, it's just reinforcing exactly what that commercial's message is. If you showed a man banging 4 women, he'd break his hand from all the high fives. When it's a woman, she is a whore. On a board level, its hacky comedy like I'd expect from a Larry the Cable Guy show. It's jokes straight out of a 1950s stand up routine. "Look at that woman, she can't hold a gun!" is about as pointed a joke as pulling your eyes back and speaking with a racist Asian accent. You'd roll your eyes at that shit if someone tried to make you laugh with it in real life.
When I spun up that thread, I hoped that it would elicit some sort of indignant, morally outraged replies, or some other "shit disturber" response, but it didn't. To me, that result would have been the humour, not the thread it self. That made me sad, especially when I watched people jump on that simple "humour". I was hoping for more.
Like many threads and a board that allows broad freedom, the topic may mean different things to each member. But, I thought the point of the mockery of the LikeAGirl thread is the irony that commercial aired during the world's biggest sporting event. An event that girls don't possess the skill to play in. And, for a product that men won't use.
I think I was the first person to post in the LikeAGirl thread and be like "Um...guys?" Yeah, I'll take the PC hit, but what D26 is 100% on point with what I'm talking about. I'd get if shit got clever, but that was some low hanging fruit we went after, and I thought we were better than that. Funnier than that. Wittier than that.
We are. But sometimes it's still funny when Thag trips over the club and falls in the fire, or Dick Van Dyke stumbles over the ottoman, or Kramer smashes through the door. Arrested Development has some clever, twisted dialogue, but it's still funny when Gob clucks like a chicken.
So... Only men watch the Super Bowl? Huh, This is a strange way to find out I'm gay. And that dudes can give birth. I should contact science about that. Again, I don't see that as "ironic." I see it as "this event is watched by 100 million people, and probably half of them are women, let's target them, too." If anything, the irony stems from the fact that they're advertising to women on a sport that became infamous for its athletes (who you just said women could never compete with physically, remember) beating the shit out of women this year. Maybe the thread should be "get punched in the face in elevator and is forced to apologize for it... Like a girl!" But I guess in fairness, they also beat their kids. Anyway; my point isn't that it's about being PC, it's that its about being funny. I Guess I just don't see a lot of comedy in racial and gender stereotypes anymore, and that thread just seemed like the perfect example "easy" comedy. You can type random letters in a search bar and find that kind of shit, my point was I thought we wanted to be better than that. Hell, half the posts in there could have just as easily been in a YouTube comment thread. Is that what we aspire to?