OCOTILLO WIND TURBINE THROWS OFF MULTI-TON BLADE, PROMPTING WORLD-WIDE SHUT DOWN OF SIMILAR TURBINES

[winter is coming]

128. LOL. I was already composing a response to one of your "this isn't junior high" posts, so

I might as well put it here.

This isn't junior high. This is a pattern I've seen many times on the internet.

Poster A posts something unfounded and ill-formed. Often this initial post tries to inflate a pedestrian event into a controversy, crisis, or scandal. Posters B through K make replies along the lines of "Huh?" "That doesn't make sense." "Got a link for that?" "But what about…?" and "What bullshit!", while exposing Poster A's inexpert knowledge and/or shaky reasoning.

Poster A's responses evade rather than clarify, and classically accuse those who question him of being ignorant or corrupt. Sometimes links are provided, but they rarely say what Poster A claims they do. Often, initial arguments are tentatively discarded when challenged; Poster A claims, "but that's not what this is really about," yet he will circle back to discredited arguments in other sub-threads as if nothing has happened.

About this time, Posters L through S show up and decry the "bullying" that Poster A is undergoing by having his posts disproven and ridiculed. They are either unaware of or indifferent to the fact that Poster A has repeatedly made bogus claims and tossed insults like confetti. It's okay for Poster A to make specious assertions and insult others, but no one's supposed to expose Poster A or insult him in return. The "mature" thing is to let his bullshit stand and move on.

The next step in this little drama is usually some sort of GCBW post. Or posts. Sometimes the "I'm going to leave this place!" declarations go on for a good long while, with Posters T through Z and some of Posters L through S saying, "Don't go! Don't go!" If Poster A actually leaves, he will reappear shortly after vowing to never return. And then the cycle begins again.

And here's the thing: Poster A is never going to stop. He feeds on the drama. Whether I say nothing or rebut every absurd assertion, there will always be a new controversy, so there is no end to be served by suffering in silence.

I name bullshit when I see it. You, of course, are free to choose differently.