memes and negative reputation

[Moo]

As you may notice, the rules were changed today with regards to memes.

Essentially, you can now get legitimate negative reputation for using a meme like "facepalm" or "you fail at life" instead of dealing with a situation constructively.

Example 1 :
Say a newbie posts some very unlikely story with terrible spelling to the forum as part of their intro thread. Replying with "facepalm" to this is not constructive, because the newbie probably won't understand and is very unlikely to learn anything from the experience. A much better way of dealing with the situation would be to remind the newbie that Firefox, Microsoft Word, etc have built-in spell-check tools, and that poor spelling makes posts hard to read. You could also post something along the lines of "your girlfriend agreed to diaper you? At 15? Isn't that really rare?" to make the point that his story is not believable, without insulting him or giving the impression of despair.

Example 2 :
Someone posts a drama-filled thread about how they can't get a job, don't have the grades to get into school again, their family don't want them because they have a drug habit, etc. You could reply "you fail at life", but this is wrong. Instead, you should either :
(1) Ignore it, because you're not interested in this.
OR
(2) Report it to the mods () as drama, and let the mods deal with it.
OR
(3) Try to be supportive and positive about it. You could suggest a new way for the person to look for jobs, for example, or give a tip on how to give up drugs.

If you use a short, put-down meme like "you fail at life" or "facepalm" to deal with a difficult situation, don't be surprised if you get negative reputation for doing so.

You don't have to give negative rep to people who use memes, but you should give negative rep to people who use memes in a way that makes a situation worse, instead of better.

The 'bad' memes that I want to get rid of are things like "facepalm", "you fail at life", and similar memes that are used primarily to put others down, and to lower the tone of the discussion.

[DarkSunDS]

First of all, I never saw anyone who's stupid enough to say "You fail at life" in a thread like this, though it's not like I approve it. I also believe that the facepalm thing is explicit enough, especially in the example that you typed. And what about other memes like lolcats?

[Moo]

Originally Posted by DarkSunDS

First of all, I never saw anyone who's stupid enough to say "You fail at life" in a thread like this

I saw someone do it two days ago. it made me sad :-(

Originally Posted by DarkSunDS

, though it's not like I approve it. I also believe that the facepalm thing is explicit enough, especially in the example that you typed.

Originally Posted by DarkSunDS

And what about other memes like lolcats?

Same rules for all memes. Don't use em in a way which makes the thread go south.

[Darkfinn]

Aww... well that takes half the fun away... come on... admit it... some of these people deserve it.

[Martin]

he problem is that what's fun for you isn't necessarily fun for others. And remember that this is a support forum!

[Mr Alex]

Are you talking about the joking Fail At Life Card image?

I hope not.

[kevintje]

I like the idea, this new form of insulting just sickens me.

if you have a problem with someone's post, just tell them, or ignore them like I mostly do. the cat things are sometimes funny, but it's still rude and offensive, and I wouldn't like to get a reply like that on my posts

so... good rule!

[handfulofoats]

Originally Posted by Moo

As you may notice, the rules were changed today with regards to memes.

Essentially, you can now get legitimate negative reputation for using a meme like "facepalm" or "you fail at life" instead of dealing with a situation constructively.

I am disappointed to see this appear: Every now and then I feel something like this is just so appropriate to someone making such silly, blatant mistakes. There was a study released (and published in the NY Magazine) about people being "supported" too much, and the negative impacts it has on their life. If everyone is told they're "super duper," then everyone is going to get dumbed and dumber. If everyone here is accepted with open hands, then everyone is going to succumb to posts with less and less quality. From 2004 until now, I have steadily watched the number of intelligent post per 100 posts decline. By implementing this, I feel the posts of dumber individuals will overwhelm this board.

I know in theory it's nice to be supportive, but in reality, it usually hurts individuals if it's done too much. Intelligence is earned, my friends, and it's not earned by us slacking out to each person who comes onto this board. We're doing them a major disparagement.

[DarkSunDS]

Rick Roll is a meme, so do I have the right to neg rep the guy who created a thread for Monkey?

[Jack26]

Originally Posted by handfulofoats

I am disappointed to see this appear: Every now and then I feel something like this is just so appropriate to someone making such silly, blatant mistakes. There was a study released (and published in the NY Magazine) about people being "supported" too much, and the negative impacts it has on their life. If everyone is told they're "super duper," then everyone is going to get dumbed and dumber. If everyone here is accepted with open hands, then everyone is going to succumb to posts with less and less quality. From 2004 until now, I have steadily watched the number of intelligent post per 100 posts decline. By implementing this, I feel the posts of dumber individuals will overwhelm this board.

I know in theory it's nice to be supportive, but in reality, it usually hurts individuals if it's done too much. Intelligence is earned, my friends, and it's not earned by us slacking out to each person who comes onto this board. We're doing them a major disparagement.

I totally agree with everything there, but it's not quite relevant to this new rule. The point of it is to stop mindless insulting, not to force people to be supportive of all behavior.

Thoughtful, constructive criticism is more helpful than simply telling someone they "fail at life", which is ineffective because it fails to explain exactly what's wrong - leaving the person confused, rather than educated. Yes, it may turn away the person, but that would not be helpful to them. I think it's better to help people become what we want in our community, rather than kick out anyone we don't want.