Why are poker players (and in particular these forums) so hostile?

[TiltsMcFabulous]

I haven't been posting that long, but I lurked for quite a while before I decided to get an account.

The overwhelming sense I get from these boards is hostility. Strategy posts are riddled with people calling each other names, assuming that anyone who has a different analysis is a moron fish, and it seems impossible for 90% of the posters on here to disagree without being disagreeable. There is virtually no respect for any poster save for a few of the big shots, and those people get so much respect it borders on fanaticism.

People who are here to learn get insulted constantly, and every little mistake new posters make is not just immediately pounced upon, but brought up again and again. People actually look back through other poster's posts just to find things to ridicule them with here. This seems nuts to me. There is absolutely no sense of poker community, save for a few posters.

Non-strategy related posts tend to be flame fests where everyone competes to be the cleverest, and I have rarely seen a message board where so many people seem to hate one another. The OOT forum is just embarrassing, politics is similar, and WPT is dreadful.

I'm a normal guy, mid 20s, with a normal job and a normal life. I'm happy and well-adjusted, and don't feel the need to ridicule people on a message board incessantly. Am I that much of an anomaly? Because I often feel like the vast majority of the posters on here (and poker players in general) could use some time on the psychiatist's couch ... so very angry.

~ Tilts

[xniNja]

Poker players generally seem to be arrogant or at leasttt headstrong; One could argue it's somewhat necessary for success (at least in live play). As for the people on this board, many seem incapable of expressing any thought or analysis and instead prefer to resort to insults or meaningless replies. You learn to ignore the worthless posts and try to gain whatever you can from the worthwhile. It's a dirty job and can be hard to find, but there are some people on the site with intelligent ideas and the capability to express them.

[AnyTwoCanLose]

The people that are attracted to a game like poker which gives you a chance to show how smart you are are the same people that are attracted to flaming on a message board to show how smart they are.

Can you see why?

Is it really poker, though? Or do people just suck?

[mosquito]

The good news is, if you can deal with the people
here you should be able to deal with the people at
the poker table.

Actually the flaming is not as bad as it seems. You
are looking for it, so you see it more readily. Also
some forums are worse than others.

Keep in mind also that some of the flaming is friendly,
you just may not recognize it.

[RRRRICK]

I agree with your post and so much that goes on here is nothing more than low lever trash. But there are flakes of gold amongst the piles and pile of dung. You have to be prepared to sift through $hit bare handed to find it.

Remember people are safely anonimous behind there screens and grow balls because of it. Put all the knob head flamers in one room and there would be silence.

[DarkForceRising]

I have actually considered staring a thread on "The Psychology of Flaming" but it looks like you beat me to it.

My take on the whole thing is mainly that it is easy to take ones' frustrations out on others while hiding behind the anonymity of an internet message board. Mean-spirited behavior online is not unique to poker websites.

Furthermore, responding to some smart-ass with a comment like, "It's too bad we aren't face to face right now" only makes one look like Type-A personality white trash- when, indeed, the person on the defensive probably could smack the living crap out of the initial antagonist.

The 2+2er Blarg is a nice example of a self-satisfied contributor. From what I have gathered, he could administer a thorough beatdown to most people on the planet if forced to do so. Yet, he is one of the most friendly, eloquent and helpful posters around here. He has nothing to prove and therefore he feels no need to be an ass.

Although sometimes it is hard to resist a wry remark it seems to me that message board hostility is a product of frustration with ones' powerlessness and insignificance in the big scheme of things. It is unfortunate that these people don't take their problems out on their spouses, children, co-workers and employees like a normal human being would. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Bodhi]

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There is virtually no respect for any poster save for a few of the big shots, and those people get so much respect it borders on fanaticism.

[/ QUOTE ]

So true. I don't know what else to say.

[tdarko]

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The OOT forum is just embarrassing, politics is similar, and WPT is dreadful.


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first of all don't hate on the OOT b/c that place is for entertainment and not for the elevation of your poker game or to improve any other part of your life. when you go to the OOT it's to get away from the seriousness from the poker related forums and it's brilliant.

yes, the politics and WPT sections suck because ALL it is is flaming and nothing else.

secondly, you have to realize that when you have thousands of people together playing an ego-maniacal sport/game and then discussing their thoughts about it that they are going to get immature about it at times, especially coming from teenagers and college kids or even some forty-somethings that are set in their ways and don't want to hear anyone's crap. it just goes with the territory and this is why i don't post comments on others' hands b/c what i have to say will eventually be said anyway, now i will post a hand history (using bison's hand converter) every now and then if i feel the need to and let others tell me how i played a hand wrong or right.

i am like you i try to stay away from the childish arguements, now i may not be like you and stay away from the childish OOT [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] but that place is like crack [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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It is unfortunate that these people don't take their problems out on their spouses, children, co-workers and employees like a normal human being would.

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I'd rather it get ignored on the forums than show up as bruises on loved ones.

[RydenStoompala]

The attitude is not that big a deal. The behavior in B+M's is, for the most part, good. When it does get really bad, I find it funny. Anyone who would go Tony Soprano on a money-losing nit in a live game should be dragged into the men's room for a serious beating, and everyone with an IQ above a goldfish knows that. The flaming and pounding on poker forums is sometimes well-deserved. It keeps the forums interesting and generally limits the amount of nonsense that gets posted. If you invite a good pounding, feel honored anyone gave a crap.