On keeping calm discussions and not fighting over small differences.

G theorist

I've noticed a semi-major problem in the godzilla community that I've seen since 2014. Its not that big of a deal, but I feel like we have a major problem on settling disagreements. 

Heres 2 things that'll happen from time to time.

1. Most of the community thinks a movie/toy/show/etc is bad and will trash on anyone who disagrees or anyone who even takes a moderate position(think of alteori for those that know). 

2. A disagreements comes up that splits the community in half and usually takes a year or 2(or more) to be settled.

I feel like this is something we need to work on, because it can turn people away(especially those who don't come into this young). :/ and while I recognize there are some who have no idea what I'm talking about, they just haven't seen the worst parts of the community yet.

sonictiger

I try to keep it calm but some people (Gman) just trash talk about everything and it makes me mad.

first comment

Kattozilla

This is actually what inspired me to change my signature (besides me just having a really jumpy attention span)

Yeah, everyone kinda needs to chill out. Even me, probably-

KaijuBuildz

Remember the days where people could just have an opinion without someone else raising pitchforks and torches? Yeah me neither...

G theorist

@sonictiger , then you can DM him about it and talk. Arguments never solve anything.

sonictiger

Ok

Djdndnejwnwn

This is why I typically don’t share my opinion, I’d rather not have someone make a list to destroy everything on it.

Djdndnejwnwn

One thing I hate about this, Is the changing of opinion. No one should say things about a movie that they wouldn’t have said before, because people are squashing their opinions.

Don’t think I’m saying that I’m perfect and not doing anything, because that is far from true. Recently I’ve been trying to stop fighting

G. H. (Gman)

sonictiger,
Then ignore it.

G theorist,
None of this is really new. It's been going on with Godzilla fan forums since 1995. If some people don't like something there are inevitable clashes and in a lot of cases they were, much, much, much worse back then and in the early 2000s.

But you know what? Everyone landed safely. We survived the 1998 backlash, the massive headbutting over eras, death threats during the Millennium series and the division brought by Final Wars. People would get into flame wars and then land perfectly safe the very next week.

It's simply part of internet discourse. Always has been.

Djdndnejwnwn

@Gman,

But in my opinion it shouldn’t be. People should know to restrain themselves, especially online. Just because it happens and is inevitable doesn’t mean that it’s a good thing. Manners and respect are still needed. Just because we don’t know who they are and probably never will does not give me or anyone an excuse. As for solving this problem... I’m still thinking

sonictiger

Wow Gman.  Do you aren’t even trying to stop arguments.

that’s disappointing

G theorist

Gman, my *point* is that the constant wars and arguments can turn new people off from the community, also, they're just pointless. :/

G. H. (Gman)

Debate and arguments are part of discourse. In fact they keep things interesting. And on this particular forum, I don't think there's anything here that has been said that really necessitates the label of flame wars or harmful arguments. Just a lot of disagreements that some are taking too personally.

G theorist

You saying "some are taking too personally" could come off as gaslighting to the people a little upset. Its also just a presumption of someone's feelings.

A good discussion isn't what I've been seeing. A good discussion doesn't involve people being upset or angry or any negative emotion, because then it usually turns to an argument. A good discussion is when two or more parties have a respectful understanding of eachothers ideas. 

"I don't think there's anything here that has been said that really necessitates the label of flame wars or harmful arguments."

nah, I saw some pretty heated, non constructive, back and forth on here.

Listen, Gman, I'm not calling out you or anyone in specific here. This problem didn't just start on here, its a problem across the entire community and it needs to be solved, lest we worsen our reputation.

G. H. (Gman)

"nah, I saw some pretty heated, non constructive, back and forth on here."

Curious as to where?

MilqueChocolate

I haven't really noticed bad vibes here. I've been here for the few discussions recently that others may view as "bad vibes" but they really aren't. They're just taken way too personally. There's going to be debates on here because ultimately everyone isn't going to see eye-to-eye on every Godzilla film, especially the recent ones. I also notice that when someone has what people view as a "negative" opinion, its apparently a synonym for "trashed on" which it isn't. If someone is giving legitimate points about why a movie isn't worth its praise or did something wrong, its not being "trashed on". Being trashed on would be someone saying "This movie is absolute hot garbage" without giving ANY reason as to why. Its toxic if that same person insults you for liking the thing they didn't. That hasn't happened here yet (except in the disqus replies for the main articles but do yourself a favor and don't engage in that.)
I also believe that when someone says think "positively" about a film, it's really just not helpful. If we only looked on the positive side of films and ignored the negative aspects, every film would be a 10/10.