The forum description for Rant Time is "Everyone needs a rant once in a while. Throw out your feelings, rant it off you and hopefully you feel a lot better after hitting that 'post new topic' button".
Take a minute and read that through again. You see how it says that people are meant to feel better after posting their rants?

RPG-D is a public forum and everyone has a right to agree or disagree with someone's rant, and everyone is free to comment. HOWEVER, when did it become the norm to attack the person who posted? Go ahead, disagree. Explain where you're coming from. You have the right to your POV, but can you please keep in mind that the OP has a right to theirs as well?

I'm tired of people being attacked when they write a rant, and I know I've done it too, but it seems to have gotten worse lately... either that, or I'm just in a bad mood. It just seems to me that someone should be able to post a rant without worrying about their grammar first or being scared that you're going to be ganged up on. This isn't the Debating Stage or anything...

I just feel like you should be able to post a rant and feel better for having gotten it off your chest. It shouldn't be about defending yourself.

I think you're right, actually. I think it has something to do with having more members in a smaller space, if that makes sense. I'm not trying to scare away members, trust me. But I think that people are concentrating in this forum and with more people come more opinions.

And then there are those who just like to bandwagon with the dissenting opinion and take it one step further.

It used to be that you could rant and people would either smile and nod or they wouldn't post. I think the rant section needs to come with disclaimers. "Post with caution" or something.

In many threads you will get dissenting opinions, but I think it becomes quite heated in the Rant Forum because the first post is usually, well, ranty (for lack of better words). Unfortunately, I can't think of a way to remedy this short of shutting down the rant section which would just make the rantines seep into other parts of the board.

:D I posted something about that a few days ago.

I agree with you. People are getting snappy lately. I agreed with my lovely Joy and I got bitched at. Why can't I feel the way I wanna feel?! I don't understand that. I don't care what others have to think. It's a rant thread. I don't care either way. Some of the rants are just amusing!

RANT ON PEOPLE! RANT ON!

Oi! Who do you think you are complaining about rants?!

Also not a huge fan of rants that sideways attack people who are obviously on RPGD, under the guise of 'general annoyance.' If it's particular then it's damned well particular. This makes me paranoid.

As long as rants stay on topic and are not personal attacks at people, I don't mind. My current rant has opened up some very interesting arguments which I had not considered and I am enjoying peoples opinions. Nothing has got personl, some don't like my view in my original post but I have not been keen on their replies either. Horses for courses me thinks.

I agree though that some of the rants I have read have become very personal indeed, perhaps we need a "Rant Referee" who can keep an eye on it and keep people on track. It is one of the most popular and frequented places on the site so there are bound to be times when people don't get on. Especially considering the nature of the beast that is The Rant Room

Some people might not really mean what they say in the original post anyway, because they usually write it when they're angry, and not everyone thinks straight when they're angry.

It's not fair for people to be attacked for saying things they don't really mean. xD

Heehee, and I don't want to be attacked for saying people don't mean what they say here either, because I'm sure a lot of people do, just not all. xD

lol.

I don't think it's not meaning what they say so much as not thinking about how they're saying it. When you're upset and annoyed at something or someone, you aren't always going to map it out logically so that everyone else can get an objective view on it or monitor your tone. You're going to vent, which we all know is not always logical, and people lately seem to be making really snap judgements on people based on a rant.

I'm a big fan of the Rant forum, I really am. It's cathartic. And I'm even glad that it isn't just a smile and nod in response anymore- it's good to see whatever your problem is from another perspective. Like Kwentra, I enjoy the discussion that's popped up more and more. I sometimes trick myself into believing that everyone else thinks the same way I do and it's nice to get a reality check sometimes.

With some of the more recent rants though, it seems like people are ganging up on someone based on a rant they wrote when they were frustrated. People are often at their worst when ranting... that's kind of what happens when you bottle something up and then try and write about it. I just don't think it's fair to label people as elitist, ignorant, whiny, or whatever else we call each other based on the first post in a rant thread.

I also agree that rants about other people on RPG-D are uncalled for. There's a rule that says no flaming and no personal attacks and a whole lot of people seem to be toeing that line and wanting to start drama.

I don't think anyone labels anyone from their rant posts, or, not that I've seen anyway, but I've missed quite a lot of threads, so maybe I'm just lucky and picking the nicer ones. I just think that a lot of people here have strong opinions, and like to state them. =)

I'm super stubborn too, so whenever someone replies to my statement I feel a giant pull from the keyboard to reply back. I try to stay polite though, if I've failed to do that then I do apologise.

With rants about people on RPG-D.. That's a tricky one :/ Because it could be seen as hurtful, but it is only a rant, and more often than not it's nothing big. I've made rants on another forum about my best friends before, but I still love them. <3 They just occasionally do some things that get on my wick xD

Then don't write that crap.

I agree that attacking someone for a rant is uncouth, but disagreeing, perhaps even attempting to disprove their points, it perfectly legitimate. It's the RANT board, people, not the "hold hands and hug" board. If you post there, you might want to grow a pair and be able to deal with a little dissent, cause, uh, some people don't deal well with having aspects of themselves or beliefs criticized/outright attacked.

And some rants do just that - the topic creators are by no means innocent little lambs, cruelly set upon by us evil, hateful wolves. The very idea of a rant board, though noble, tends to lead to schisms, arguments, and bad blood. Some degree of this is only to be expected.

I totally second this.

No - snap judgements are not being made about people through these rants. I recognize that people are frustrated. That's fine. But when you start ranting, be it about some aspect of society that you have no clue about, or one in which you decide to generalize, you will get people who will disagree. You will get people that have a little less tact that others that disagree.

For myself, rants are not exempt from normal rules of engagement. I understand that people are frustrated and pissed - I'm pissed off all the time, about something or the other.

It's the internet, and there exists an edit button for a purpose. Do not post a rant as a knee-jerk reaction to something, because if you don't watch what you're saying, you might end up with a debate rather than a rant.

I like reading rants... I like disagreeing with them even more (not for the sake of disagreeing, only if I really do have an opposing opinion). In real life I never get this opportunity to be so confrontational. I don't mean for my rants to be taken personally though.

Other than a few things in the "Dear ____" thread, I haven't seen anything that qualified as a personal attack in the rant forum. Obviously, I don't read EVERYTHING that's ever posted, so maybe I'm missing some of them. I agree that these discussions shouldn't be made into flame wars though.

I figure, so long as everyone's still using civilized language to argue their points, it isn't flaming. It's when people bring out the big guns (SWEAR WORDS lol) and direct insults at specific people that it becomes a flame.

Maybe the arguing has just gotten a bit more vehement lately? I don't know O_o

Yes, but when it comes to people say...flaming...the other, there is a line.

I don't give a crap if you like what I say or not, but I did not outright call you out and insult your intelligence. When someone does that to me in a rant thread, it's not needed. That starts a fight. There is a line between disagreeing with someone and then just attacking them because you don't like their opinion.

When you're angry, you don't always understand what you're typing until you calm down. By then, the damage is done. There is no need for people to flame others in disagreement. With what you posted, you basically stated that it was A-OKAY!

Um. Nu. Nu it is not. It's a rant thread. If you have a beef with someone, take it to PMs. Don't plaster it all over the thread flaming them. That is not what the thread is for. Disagree all you want. Don't flame someone about their opinion. Don't force yours down my throat and I won't get defensive.

I was wondering if anyone else noticed this.
It's getting so that you can disagree gently, but someone always has to make a nasty comeback. Or some huge disagreement starts over what was just supposed to be, "I respect your opinion, but I disagree." People are entitled to those rights, but...you don't have to get snippy about it...

The reason I am particular about rants I start is because I believe that if you don't want to run the risk of someone jumping down your throat, write it down in your journal and not on a public forum, or shout at the screen. This includes rants about other members. Rant forums are not an excuse to bitch at someone without repercussion.

Fact is, if everyone bitched and moaned to the staff about the attitudes of others, then they would be overrun and never have time to deal with anything other than other people's drama. That's a crappy place to be. If you are going to write a thinly veiled rant about an 'individual' then understand what it is you're doing. Yes you're subtly thrusting a finger under their nose and telling them to cut the bull, but you're also alienating yourself. Doing that is fine so long as you are prepared to take what comes.

Another fact: you will always run the risk of offending someone and in a rant forum it is taken as green-for-go to be able to voice opinions even if those opinions may seem offensive. If the recipient (and the recipient alone) is offended by any remarks then they should bring it to the attention of staff rather than having ten people who take things on face value, fight their battles for them.

You are not their mother.

Ranting on a blog or a personal journal is a sounding board--suitable if you just want people to acknowledge what you're saying without bringing themselves into it. When you write down angry thoughts onto a rant forum you expose yourself and are left open to the comments of others. They are not obliged to agree or even like what you wrote and just because it was written in the heat of the moment does not excuse some of the spiel that comes out. A rant is often the opposite of 'not meaning it'. It's absolutely meaning it. It's you uncensored. We're (largely) more civilised and light-footed when calm and rational but I don't think we falsify any feelings that are rattling around.

Furthermore, if the OP is writing in the heat of the moment and it is deemed acceptable, who is to say that all the replies don't follow the same thread? Therefore if they too are written in the heat of the moment and you, 'don't really mean it', shouldn't they be treated in the same way?

I remember when the Rant Section was really slow, when it was first put up... I was the main poster, along with RyanA (I think) and maybe a few other people, who aren't that active on RPG-D anymore. Except back then because it was smaller, people used it for more flippant situations (like I ranted about how I found something gross in my box of croutons, or how I had a choir concert on SuperBowl Sunday). The rant forum is becoming more popular because people are posting more serious or mature threads - like December's thread about middle schoolers getting paid to get good grades, or, the presumed catalyst for this rant, Lady Notorious' thread about short, crappy posts.

But this is the way I see it:

1.) You are typing this in a public forum. You have a right to your opinion, but so do other people.

Honestly, except for some of the responses in Lady Notorious' thread (I'm assuming you mentioned the elitist thing because I said so, judging from this rant and the discussion in the EL) and some obvious personal attacks on other members, I don't see the rant section as becoming a battleground. It's become more intense, I suppose, but that's because lately there have been more topics that call for intense responses. It's about heavier subjects that people can discuss. Some people do get snippy but that's because they're not reasoning maturely. (I just got out of Rhetoric, excuse me, haha.)

2.) I understand that people write things when they're frustrated. I've done it. But if I really feel like I shouldn't have said it, I'll go back and delete it or change it so it doesn't sound as unreasonable. That's the thing: You are typing your feelings, not physically saying them before thinking. It's like when people go for the insane defense but are counted as sane because they were fully in control of themselves when committing a crime. To type, you generally have to have some control of yourself. Physically saying something you might regret is different, but going to RPG-D's rant section, then thinking of words, typing them up in a semblance of order, then posting them, requires a little more composure, yanno?

Basically what I'm saying is that you are fully aware of what you're doing, and given the nature of other threads and that this is a public forum, people who rant should expect that people will reply - and not all of them will agree with the OP if it's something even slightly controversial.

Anddd I kind of forgot what other points I was trying to make, but I think this is most of it. lmao. Anyway, I don't think RPG-D is getting out of control or anything. The rant section is supposed to be a little angry. So long as ranters and repliers aren't unnecessarily "rude" or "snippy" elsewhere, then it's all good in the neighborhood. Though I don't see many people being rude/snippy enough to cause alarm.