This thread started off well. (I agree Amir and others entered the conversation in good faith). But as it progressed a lot of the commentary moved from critical inquiry of Josh’s results to include plenty of criticisms of Josh’s behaviour and character. No, that doesn’t mean the going-off-the-rails aspect is all the fault of ASR members. But it still invites scrutiny of what some of the ASR reaction looks like to audiophiles viewing a thread like this.
ASR has, among some audiophiles - including those who are not opposed to the type of information this forum can provide - an unfortunate reputation for “group think” “pile ons” and poor treatment of those not taking the ASR approach every jot and tittle. I’ve spent plenty of my own time on other forums explaining why much of these characterizations are undeserved. But every forum is made of people, and sometimes people are still gonna people…even on ASR
So in this thread we’ve seen plenty of criticisms of Josh’s character and behaviour- including ascribe malign motivations. But if this reaction itself is placed under scrutiny, there’s a sense of “You must have some agenda in questioning our motivations. Don’t drag this into the mud. We are just trying to rationally scrutinize a particular claim about audio gear!”
Firedog has been arguing that there is some self blindness to the behaviour here. He may be wrong. (And I may be wrong in some of my criticisms)…. But some people here seem to be intent on trying to prove his point.
Posts like these end up supporting some of firedog’s criticisms….
“Troll” has become the unfortunate lazy insult in Internet discourse. It’s often become a substitute for “
Someone is strongly critiquing my position, and since my position is the reasonable one, this person’s critique must not be sincere, so I’m going to call them a troll.”
It’s a form of the common: “I attribute my position to reason; my opponent’s position to psychology.” (Often attributing some base motivation).
An Internet Troll denotes someone who is
insincere about what they are posting, the only motivation being to enjoy making people upset or angry.
I see no reason to believe firedog is not just as sincere about his position here as anyone else. Just suggesting he is a troll is lazy and unnecessary discourse.
(That also goes for other lazy tropes like accusations of “
Sealioning” - a conveniently slippery term. If you argue a point in a disobliging manner you can be called a “Troll.” If you debate in a civil manner - “Sealioning!!”).
Ironically, if you want an example of what looks more like traditional trolling, you would come closer with posts like
THIS;
View attachment 550849
This type of meme is drawn right from the Trollisphere of toxic social media discourse (eg “Drinking the tears of The Libs…)
It says: “
Join me in enjoying the upset emotions of the person(s) we are skewering.”
That is drawing closer to the Troll mindset than anything Firedog has posted.
I mean it’s fine if you want to post stuff like that for giggles. It’s not the end of civilization.
Some mocking can be cathartic.
But it’s at the cost of making some of Firedog’s (and others) criticisms look justified. We can see poor behaviours in the people we disagree with but it gets a pass, slips by easily..even upvoted!…among the people we agree with.
It’s worth considering that these posts and others like them, and some of the emphasis on Josh’s character and motivations, amount to a mode of discourse that turns off audiophiles who may otherwise be open to what ASR has to offer.
(Begins clapping for fish…
