@I:
We'll have to agree to disagree then. I have known many people who are cheered up by going to a party, and then again I have known some who just feel more alone. There is nothing inherently wrong with either of those reactions, and neither have anything to do with whether folks are actually insulting each other or not. This is not about teh posters who are bantering, Follio–its about the feelings of those who may hesitate to post. Again, its a matter of what you feel the purpose of the thread is, and whether this sort of banter is helpful in making people feel comfortable posting or not. I do not.
I know, I understand the issue, that's why I was asking what actually made people uncomfortable. The only answer I've gotten is that people don't want to interrupt a conversation. That sounds silly to me, but who am I to argue with the evidence. Maybe I didn't realize how incredibly anxious and scared to post some people are. I mean, some of them are people who are really not shy to speak their mind in other threads and be assertive. Maybe my perspective isn't that important since I've never had those problems, at least not online. To me it's nice to have a thread to vent when you have nobody to vent to in real life but I guess I don't bring the same context as other people.
My question ends up being though, what happens when someone says something through a confession (or reply to a confession) that legitimately sparks interest even though it's a tangent? Trying to take that across to another thread is awkward and you don't necessarily want to start a PM conversation about it. I think my whole outlook of posts in this thread would change if it started getting modded for that.
Incidentally I actually have a confession. My cousin plays in an orchestra and she had a concert today. Her parents drove up from out of town to go to it and my whole family went as well, but I didn't. I kind of feel bad because my initial reason for not going was actually pretty stupid and not related to my cousin directly. Basically a few weeks ago the concert came up in conversation and I said maybe I would be interested. I didn't know the date or time, just that it was coming up. Then yesterday I find out the concert is the next day and everybody just assumes I'm going. So I was like "whoa wait a minute, I didn't know about this and I'm not sure I can go" and everyone piles on top of me about how they already got my ticket and why wouldn't I go (do you hate your cousin?). It turned into a big argument and in the end I said I wouldn't go.
It was all pretty petty and I mean I actually love my cousin who is an amazing girl and I have basically crushed on her in the past (yes I know she's my cousin but she's that awesome). And I didn't even end up doing anything today. But I just couldn't stop myself from making a point. Growing up my parents always had a nasty habit of making decisions for me without telling me and I always found out at the last minute. Trying to refuse always ended in a huge guilt trip among other things and I just can't believe that still, as a grown man, they don't feel like it's important to actually include me in decisions that affect me even if they assume something is a foregone conclusion (which they assume incorrectly rather often).
So yeah. I work pretty hard all week and weekends are something I really look forward to, if only for being able to sleep way too many hours and not have anything to worry about. Of course I also get to do things with friends, go out, play games, etc. You'd think week days work for that stuff but I come home after work and with annoying frequency, after I exercise and eat dinner I feel so tired that all I really want to do is sleep. So it just really rustles me to have unexpected plans made for me. Even though I really should have gone to the concert.