I find it funny that after nearly three months this thread has a new life. While I appreciate the original poster’s point of view and I love the concept of the Gaza Strip as a guideline of comparison. I think we can look closer to home and do just as well. Many of our cities have become war zones. Just watch TV or listen to the radio. We have for better or worse have become a less genteel society and who we are as Americans (referring specifically to citizens of the US so not to offend our friends to the North and South) across the spectrum is reflected here. The Rolling Stones on Ed Sullivan in 1967 were asked not to sing “Let’s spend the night together” because it was inappropriate in 1967 to talk about people “sleeping” together without benefit of marriage while today on Top 40 radio you have a pop diva singing about S&M. In the 70’s you had Phil Donahue exploring social issues as well as fringe topics. That type of programming had its jump the shark moment when Geraldo had his noise punched. Then there is Jerry Springer. Therefore, what we see in here while not perfect is in some ways better than the outside world. I can tell you it is a far sight better than what I found on Cruise Critic.
While I will agree there are a select few of the high post count posters who can be condescending (I have been accused of that myself) I also would put forth there are newbies who come on itching for a fight or are testosterone laden with an axe to grind for equally no apparent reason. Two of these individuals are in “Richard” measuring contest as we speak.
I believe many of the issues in here are not the “stupid questions” but
A. The repeated asking of the same question by the same individual; Example the second person to post to this thread said “as all I did was ask a simple question about Birth certificates and was pretty much attact about my finances and told that If I cant afford to cruise and buy passport. that I should not be spending the money etc..... there has to be limitations. here.” Yes, she did ask a simple question about birth certificates. She asked a simple question about birth certificates a total of four times from what I can see. Twice in April and twice (so far) this month with the answer being the same every time. The question had been asked and answered (answered by Mary in April). Yet she continued to ask the same question. In my opinion, she made a non-germane, non sequitur comment (alluding as to why she did not have a passport) in one of the threads that someone questioned (Ross) and she took offense to being questioned on her comment. So where do we place the limitation? On Ross for asking what he thought to be a germane question to a comment made by the poster or on the number of times you are permitted to ask the same question. What is the point of asking the same question several times over several months? Is the poster hoping someone will say exactly what they want to hear whether it be correct or not?
B. The non-acceptance of a factual answer; Examples
a. Recently there have been two ladies recently who asked could their non-toilet trained babies go in the pool. Factual answers ranging from the copying and pasting of the policy from FAQ to the extremely brief “NO”. Yet in both cases, these ladies proceeded to go after anyone who factually stated policy as hating kids and continued on how their trip was ruined.
b. Carry-on Policy re: Alcohol/Soda: Again, the simple question of “Does Carnival really mean I have to carry it? Why can’t I pack it?” People will post from the FAQ (which the OP obviously read because they are asking did Carnival mean it) or say, “Yes, Carnival means it because it can explode in your suitcase ruining your and other people’s cloths. The OP rather than saying “OK makes sense” will whine about the answer and how heavy the soda it is.
c. Dress Code in MDR: A personal favorite are questions on this subject. Again, a recent example, OP stated her husband had read and was upset that at dinner in the MDR collared shirts were required for gentleman and she wanted to know it was true. She was advised it was and then proceeded to whine about him having to buy collared shirts and this was an unnecessary expense since they had paid so much for the trip already. By her comment, she created the impression he owned nothing but collarless shirts. She was not an innocent bystander in the slugfest that followed.
Can there be a greater degree of civility? Of course but it requires all parties to be civil not just the oldies. Just because you do not like an answer to a question does not give you the right to trash those who gave the answer any more than those who give the answer the right to trash the questioner. There are many folks in here who are hard-core Carnival supporters defending Carnival right or wrong (I personally do not understand that) and can be over zealous in their defense. On the other side of the coin there are those with extremely low post counts who come to be provocative for the sake of being provocative to let us say poke the bulldog then cry when the bulldog they poked bites. To put it another way, it reminds me of the old joke: What's the definition of chutzpah? A boy who kills his parents and then begs the court for mercy - because he's an orphan.
Civility s a two way street. Funville is a community so to speak and like any community, it has its own rhythm. When the rhythm is disturbed that causes disharmony, the gentleman who was used as an example wrote an excellent piece in an effort to help the new people who did have an issue (So You Want To Introduce Yourself To a Message Board By Complaining...) and I wrote “Opinion Piece: Suggestion on how to get the help and/or insight/opinion you want in First Time Cruiser Questions” and still new people will post without a sense of the ebb and flow and just jump in. I used this analogy yesterday you walk into a party where all you know is the host. You walk up to a conversation that is fully involved without knowing the history of the participants and proceed to the participants to behave. They turn and look at you with the look of “who the heck are you”. Well in here, either you are ignored or “snarked” since that look cannot be given.
Carnival does care; Mischelle and Mary do yeoman’s work and should probably be in the VIP line at the Pearly Gates. When it truly has gotten out of hand or gone on too long Mischelle has just said, “Play nice” and it stops.
Again I do not disagree with the basic premise of the OP I just believe it is a bit one sided in it view. I think there are people on both sides who need think about the following: How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Just my thought
