Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

I come here to learn about Amsterdam, find shops, make new friends when I visit and enjoy the mellow vibe here. Its my one refuge from most forums that end up being a free for all brawl online because no matter what people at the end of the day act like jerks over controversial subjects like politics and religion. I don't come here to read about crap that I can find elsewhere like that. But some people just have to troll and argue with complete strangers cause they have nothing better to do. That's all this will be. A mire of dramatic bullshit thats unnecessary and really doesn't fit in here. But if you are intent on making a new drama corner I will just avoid going in that section so good luck with it.

I vote NO. Thanks and have a great day

2rolling has swayed me with her cool attitude, I vote no.

2rollingstoned wrote:I come here to learn about Amsterdam, find shops, make new friends when I visit and enjoy the mellow vibe here. Its my one refuge from most forums that end up being a free for all brawl online because no matter what people at the end of the day act like jerks over controversial subjects like politics and religion. I don't come here to read about crap that I can find elsewhere like that. But some people just have to troll and argue with complete strangers cause they have nothing better to do. That's all this will be. A mire of dramatic bullshit thats unnecessary and really doesn't fit in here. But if you are intent on making a new drama corner I will just avoid going in that section so good luck with it.

I vote NO. Thanks and have a great day

+1 Agree

4chan is the place for those flamewars regardless of how civil you claim you can be while discussing controversial things. If you can be civil lets talk intelligently about Amsterdam, and a few other fun hobbies. Plain and simple conversing in flamewars is a hobby...which is fine...lets just keep it reserved for other forums. I have lots of other great thoughts, but im to stoned ATM! AK48 cured nicely after 2 weeks with rice

spidergawd wrote:I think things are OK as they are, the threads very rarely start as controversies, it's usually somewhere along the line that someone says something that causes upset and it all kicks off. As things are, to take the latest nasty outbreak as an example and I wont add anything to that, the inflammatory and racist remarks of Adamster were, quite rightly in my opinion, challenged and that should have been enough, although only the manner and tone were challenged and it would have carried more conviction if the premise on which the remarks were based had also been addressed. There are some on here though who feel that somehow there should be sanctions and censorship.
Stop keep bringing up Channels or I might think you spend too much time over there getting your prurient kicks or something.
The ACD is an OK space and the couple of times when things have been removed, like now, then it's usually been by popular consent as derived from peoples replies and comments in the thread in question.
I vote we leave things as they are; and the occasional outbreak ? Fuck it. move on.
Mind you the great coffeeshop ripoff's gone a bit viral, but that's what you get when you use CAPITALS for a header.

You're my Gawd!!!

cantona7 made a valid point about differences of opinion (beef's) that could carry over into other threads. Unfortunately it sort of happens already.

I voted no. I could write a thesis as to why, but this isn't the proper forum, pun intended.

Happy trails...

The majority (me included) voted no, but it seems to have gone ahead anyway.
Stoner logic?

Look mate this place isnt north korea we can discuss what we want

fortunatly lemming has provided a space to do that so other topics
dont end up like the one you were so offended about

joeuk wrote:Look mate this place isnt north korea we can discuss what we want

fortunatly lemming has provided a space to do that so other topics
dont end up like the one you were so offended about

Look mate, this was a poll that was obviously pointless, as the opposite of the majority vote is what happened.
That's all my comment mentioned, with a smiley BTW.
Is that ok with you mate?

I don't really care what people want to talk about, it's a free world, as long as it's not offensive, but I must admit that I feel there will be way more arguments and slanging matches here, than there were until now.

C ya mate!

I must apologise as it wasn't meant to be a decider if things went ahead or not, I just wanted an idea how the forum felt, I dont think what Lemmings done by adding extra sub forums will hurt, I do worry that any hostility in the politics section will spew into the rest of the forum but I'm pretty sure if it does then the politics section will just go, hopefully people will remember the golden rule (I have the url on speed dial ) to remind people of it if things do get personal/nasty, again I apologise for not making my intentions clear regarding the poll.

No worries Boner, the irony put a smile on my face, which is good thing!

Old Timer wrote:

joeuk wrote:Look mate this place isnt north korea we can discuss what we want

fortunatly lemming has provided a space to do that so other topics
dont end up like the one you were so offended about

Look mate, this was a poll that was obviously pointless, as the opposite of the majority vote is what happened.
That's all my comment mentioned, with a smiley BTW.
Is that ok with you mate?

I don't really care what people want to talk about, it's a free world, as long as it's not offensive, but I must admit that I feel there will be way more arguments and slanging matches here, than there were until now.

C ya mate!

Democracy, at its very very best, is in my opinion little more than the oppression of the minority by the majority. If a vote ends up as 60:40 against a proposal, 'democracy' says that that 40% just have to 'lump it', thereby sewing the seeds of resentment that foment trouble later on. (maybe I'll post more on this in the Politricks section!)

I think excellent sense has prevailed so far in this debate. I believe the fears that exist, however, are based on a reasonable expectation in view of what's happened before. If 'progress' is to occur then we simply have to transcend that crap and work jointly to ensure that things dont get out of hand.

I'm gonna say again that I feel people frequently identify themselves too closely with their opinions - especially in the more contentious debates. This means that even though The Golden Rule is being obeyed by not directly attacking a person but rather their views, the result is often that people do feel personally attacked when it's their opinions that are being called into question. I dont suppose mentioning this will prevent it happening but at least it's a 'heads up' to anyone who's interested.

I'm looking forward to some serious debates on here and would encourage anyone who gets involved to bring their most constructive heads.

Has anyone else noticed how we have had a civilized discussion though there are polar opposite opinions? If only all discussions were so civilized, just imagine...
I'm for free speech, not reckless speech. Know the difference or be the different!!!

Happy trails...

Uncle Ron wrote:Has anyone else noticed how we have had a civilized discussion though there are polar opposite opinions? If only all discussions were so civilized, just imagine...
I'm for free speech, not reckless speech. Know the difference or be the different!!!

Happy trails...

I like the distinction between free and reckless speech. Gonna attempt a definition:

Free Speech: speech unfettered by anything other than the same basic respect and courtesy for others that you would wish to receive yourself

Reckless Speech: speech which seeks to deny to others the basic courtesy and respect you would wish for yourself

??

If someone appears to hold a view that I find highly offensive I am aware that I am at risk of feeling antagonistic towards that person using the reasoning 'if they hold a view like that they must be a *#@t!!.etc etc'. This is a flaw in my thinking but one that I am aware of and most of the time I catch myself.

Sensitive people dont respond well to sarcasm because it is an obvious 'dig'. Seen SO many argie-bargies occur on here that have started as sarcasm-jousts! Such is life but it doesnt have to be that way all the time.

No. To me I come here to find out about Amsterdam and its coffeshops not to argue and give all the boneheads in here another area to be boneheads theres already a forum for that its called Channels.

@Old Timer
To be fair, we haven't really ignored the poll. The vote was about Controversy Corner and we've decided not to go down that road. Controversy Corner only exists as a thread and that has been hijacked by such non-controversial debates as whether Hendrix was the best guitarist ever, and who's going to argue with that (rhetorical question, don't answer that!)

What we do have now is a politics sub-forum. We've always had political debates in 'Other' but they now have their own home. By ring-fencing politics and giving it two moderators we make it easier to administer. As Boner says, if it gets too nasty we can just close it down and delete all of the posts in it at a stroke.

At the other end of the spectrum we now also have a new personal sub-forum. I'm hoping this will develop into a super-friendly place with nothing contentious in it whatsoever.

@Uncle Ron
I expect my anarchist roots are showing but I think the more boundaries you set the more people push against them. If there are no boundaries then people generally take more responsibility for their actions. It doesn't always work but it's great to see when it does and worth the downside IMHO.

Lemming wrote: I expect my anarchist roots are showing but I think the more boundaries you set the more people push against them. If there are no boundaries then people generally take more responsibility for their actions. It doesn't always work but it's great to see when it does and worth the downside IMHO.

+ 1.