Why do some people on HP act so condescending toward others? Especially in the q

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   JeniferRWposted 7 years ago

   Why do some people on HP act so condescending toward others? Especially in the question section?
   
   I asked a sincere question recently regarding politics and immediately wished I hadn't.  I'll be the first one to admit I don't know something.  You never know if you never ask or search for knowledge.  I was curious of opinions and facts I would find from here.  I received one great answer right away which answered my question from their opinion then it was immediately followed by a snippet from someone else basically putting me down for not being more knowledgeable on the subject.  Well, that is why I asked.  Why knock people down behind a screen for simply trying to educate themselves?
   
   

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   promisemposted 7 years ago

   As a full-time online business owner, I can tell you that it's a common problem among all websites that have answers and forums.
   
   I suspect partly it's the lack of personal contact when posting. We're talking as much to a computer as we are to a person.
   
   Another reason is the decline of civility in this country that's largely the result of political extremism. He or she who shouts and insults the loudest gets the most attention.

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      JeniferRWposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for your insightful answer.  I think you're exactly right on all points.

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   Diana Leeposted 7 years ago

   All kinds of people cross paths here and not all of them are respectful of other people's feelings, but most are sincere and rudeness is not a common thing. I have visited forums far worse than this one. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

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      JeniferRWposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Diana for your response! No long term damage done of course but I would personally never want to deter someone from asking questions or trying to learn something by being rude.  Most people on here are fantastic I must say. I agree with you.

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   WordCrafter09posted 7 years ago

   There's SO MUCH room for all kinds of misunderstanding on here.  I can't say I've run into "condescending" (or even seen it) - but then, I don't ask many questions.  I just come looking for one or two here or there if I have nothing better to do.  Maybe I haven't noticed some things because I pretty scan past anything political.
   
   One thing is that it's always, or at least often, tricky to convey the right tone in typing; so there's always risk of someone misinterpreting a "straight, sincere" answer from one that's either a plain, old, insult or else a condescending one.  People often don't know who already knows what, so that factors into the mix too.
   
   The other thing, though, is that someone (like me) who scans through the questions often enough can notice how many questions pretty much don't look either like they're aimed at sincere discussion or else giving someone ideas for a Hub.  They just look like someone's either whipping up all kinds of questions (for whatever reasons they are, or else they're asking questions for possibly questionable reasons.   So sometimes an innocent and sincere question may seem (to one person or another) like "yet another questionable question" - so they give a fresh answer.
   
   Not to turn this into "blaming the victim" here, but so often, too, people take things as an insult and/or as someone being condescending when, really, it's just a matter of whether someone speaks/writes without a lot of fluff, or whether someone fluffs and "nicey-nice's" things.  Some people are OK with "non-fluffed" communication.  Some are OK with it from SOME other people or about some subjects.  Some people expect "fluffified" from everyone (or just some people about some subjects).
   
   Some people see "non-fluffified" and seemingly more "blunt" as "rude".
   
   On the other hand, the person who leans toward "fluffified" and "nicey-niced" in order not to seem too blunt can come across as condescending.  It doesn't help that some people "on the answering end" (whether here or offline) think if they "fluffify"/"nicey-nice" an out and out cutting remark (that's intended to be that) and get away with being demeaning and cutting by "taking the edge of it".  Then again, there are people who are just nice and don't mean anything by a remark that may be taken by the wrong person as an insult.
   
   I think all anyone can/should do is either ignore it all, or maybe ask someone sincerely if meant to be insulting.  After that both parties can either drop it or move on.

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   JeniferRWposted 7 years ago

   I agree with a lot of what you said ME for sure.  I don't mind the fluffed up and niceness, I truly don't mind the blunt answers.  To give you some background I am dense as a rock about politics.  I know it, I admit it.  I work all the time and the little bit of time I am not at work I'm playing Mom, the more important role of the two.  I don't have cable and while, yes I admit I need to personally do better research of my own, I was asking about the platform Trumps campaign was based on.  Other than a lot of BS that it felt like the media focused on I didn't know any real answers.  So I asked.  I got one good response and it honestly didn't even feel like a lot of opinion was even forced in there it was just bullet points which was fabulous.  Then I got an answer that basically said, 'you didn't care before, don't bother now.' It irritated me.  I see a lot of that and not just here on HP of course, it is everywhere as someone on here previously mentioned. It's done just to get a ruse out of people a lot of the time and I mostly as you said just choose to ignore it 99% of the time. I will never knock someone for trying to learn anything though. It seems like people get cocky, especially when politics are involved.   I just don't see why so I thought I would just get some other opinions real quick.  Which I do appreciate you guys chiming in! Hope you all have a great day and I appreciate your thoughts.

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