"Stifles; A Badge of Honor or of Shame?!" Topic

Disclaimer; this post is not to be taken overly serious. :-)

I was perusing my profile, and was reminiscing over my meager eight long-ago-earned, stifles. I know that here at TMP I am in the smallest of small-timers category when it comes to such numbers. There are some really top earners out there!

Question for the audience is; do you feel you earned them, or have you been shamed? Be ye self-righteous or be ye graceful, what's your take?

Call me self-righteous, but I was never close to being dawghoused while receiving them. Therefore, I must conclude that the offended were themselves suffering from membrana (thin skin) and an inability to be objective. Now, I find the stifles to be a bizarre badge of honor which I refuse to bestow upon any fellow board members! :-D

Add one more and make that nine! :-D

How is it that every time stifle is in the subject line I can't read it? The OP post is blank…

me thinks it is badge of how may idiots there are around..

Morons stifle me, and I stifle morons. That sums up my opinion of them.
And meanwhle nobody is harmed.

I have the most stifles.

CH, JtOFM,

I had to smile while reading your replies. :-)

B,
what is your take on your ginormous tally?

:-D

I couldn't care in either direction. Half of my stifles were earned on the CA boards and I can't imagine any of the people who stifled me then still come around here. The other half were mostly earned when I took a company to task for making bizarre claims about their non-existent products in their advertisements (which, after much argumentation, they stopped doing it) and for taking that same company to task for misleading their customers with outright lies. If you are going to stifle me for trying to bring some honesty into the way companies deal with us, then it's no loss to me if you don't want to read my posts.
On the other hand, I never stifle anyone

I have the most stifles.

You would have one more, if I didn't have to unstifle you a few weeks ago to see what you had to say.

Those of us with high counts are the high rofile guys. I would be surprised if I dod not have as many as I did, since I am the #1 poster.

Some people have additional memberships on TMP with the sole purpose of stifling others.
Heck, I even made up some Sybil sock puppet accounts to stifle myself, and my other sock puppet accounts.

Yes, they are silly. And they hurt the self esteems of the easily offended. what's not to like?

Some of the stifles I have weren't earned, some were very much earned. Mostly, I don't pay attention to the stifles I've rec'd to be honest.

The reason I stifle people is to remind me that they either said something incredibly stupid and I am reminded of that when I see their stifled post or that were outright offensive.

I have one guy stifled, and it is no reflection on the person himself.
It just happens that every time I go to his blog, my computer melts down.
So, for safety reasons, I stifled him.

Stifling is much akin to Voodoo. The practitioner experiences some degree of satisfaction while the target experiences comfort or discomfort in proportion to how it is percieived. Most don't care enough to even check.

I think my few were do to timing. I praised and did not see the post just before, who did not like the article. It looked like I was against his post. I really don't think I earn them.

I like to think I earned mine on the Napoleonic Boards some time ago; its like a badge of honor.

kind of like the old pensioner post-empire with the Legion d'Honneur pinned on his coat…"There goes a soldier of L'Empereur"

of course, I might have also earned them from the Conventions board too!…"There stands a veteran of 25 Historicons!"…

I've been stifled three times. Coincidentally, I've stifled three persons… perhaps there is a connection? In all three cases (I remember them well) the persons in question said something that was so offensive and ignorant of the reality of the world, that stifling was the lesser of two evils (as my gut instinct was to do the gene pool a favor and remove them from it).

Unfortunately, we have the Constituional right to be idiots, and as one of the <1% who have (currently) sworn to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, I am duty bound to suffer the occasional idiot.

However, the removal from gene pool option remains very attractive… I know the OFM would agree

Shame.

I have to be really wound up to slife anyone – once done (twice) I haven't unstifled

I don't like being stifled myseld so the answer for me is shame

They don't really bother me, so I just ignore them.

If I had to choose, I would say more of an honor, than a curse.

Like you, I don't bother stifling others, since that would be more effort than I want to put in against people I disagree with.

<Bede wrote: I have the most stifles.>

Don't exaggerate, you're not even in the top five!

TMP link

I have never stifled anybody..

goodness Sparker is still number 1,,,I am a bit surprised at that

I've got 8; no idea why <cue sound of sobbing> but don't stifle others. I am too lovable….

I don't care that much…

I once jokingly said The Alamo was a…mission…impossible…and got stifled.

Says more about the one does the stifling than about the one who got stifled ;)

Meh. I'm with John on this one. Mox nix to me.

Eric

See no point in stifling myself – if the post or person is offensive then surely better to report it than to do self censorship.

Stifling over a disagreement or a difference of opinion is in my view, to use a phrase, lame.

Why does it matter whether it's shame or honor ????

Pride or shame ?

C) Neither

I have quite a few, not totally sure why () – but from when most went on I believe that they were "goodbye rasberries" from ex-members (the banned and the lapsed) so I really couldn't care less about them (the stifles).

I've never stifled anyone – that's my badge of pride. There's lots of people I voluntarily ignore, it's not that difficult to do.

I've only stifled once. I've been stifled six times.
As those who bestode stifles upon me were those who could give, but not take, at least when it comes to the exchange of ideas, I am left with no shame.
I guess that leaves me with the badge of honor option. Although I'm not sure if the term is properly descriptive.

I must conclude that the offended were themselves suffering from membrana (thin skin) and an inability to be objective.

You presume that there care enough about what you have written to be offended, rather than simply irritated by your writing style.

I've learned that the "stifle" function is akin to the "De-Friend" option on Facebook. If one is so offended by what someone posts to "stifle" them, then the "stifler" probably wasn't a friend or someone worthy of being your friend in the first instance.

The same old argument again.

There are still those who accuse the stifler of having a "thin skin". That is not it at all. It is just that the stiflee is not worth reading. He is a moron, and not an entertaining or amusing moron.

Frankly, it puzzles me, this "democracy of ideas" nonsense. NOT ALL OPINIONS ARE EQUAL, AND NOT ALL ARE WORTH LISTENING TO. Some people are just plain offensive fools, and unworthy of attention. I have no problem if some see ME that way.

It's a curiosity, neither pride or shame, that's all.

I have never stifled anyone but myself (and not even that with this account). Yet my fame precedes me: I am now no. 41 in the top 100 "most stifled" (I still think Bill is weird to even keep score), and steadily rising. I know that "Whatsit" has stifled me, he said so; otherwise I do not know and do not care….

Me thinks John has it.

I don;t care if people like my opinions or not, just like me they have the right to ignore what they choose so it doesn;t bother me at all that I have a few. If you get worked up about people ignoring you then maybe you should look at your self and try and figure out why people could care less what you think other wise just move on.

Wow, I started this post in humor and fun. :-D Sounds like I have ruffled a few egos! :-/ Plenty have understood my point by addressing the subject with humor and a light heart while others are just a wee bit too serious. :-( Grrrr! :-D

If I understand this properly, I have been accused of being:
1. Too good of a writer???
2. A narcissist

Either way, I "will not" stifle those composers of out-of-context responses, and "will" continue to find humor in the ones that I have received (to include the one for merely posting such a topic in the first place???)

:-)

Neither. It's just a prove that your words will upset some people, regardless how innocent you think those words are.

John wrote: <NOT ALL OPINIONS ARE EQUAL, AND NOT ALL ARE WORTH LISTENING TO.>

Hear hear! That may be the best thing you have ever posted.

Meh. As I have said before in similar threads its pretty funny that some here equate using the button with being "thin skinned"," feelings easily hurt",Ect. Or as a sign of weakness. Some use the button so to no longer have to see some of the actions and rudeness that our fellow posters commit here. And some can become quite nasty. Some wear it as a sign of pride that they have never used it or that they have received one. Well kudos and good for them. But I like others could not care less if I receive one or if I give one. Its none of their business. Robert

Dang it, so many posts I can't read . . . .

Morons stifle me, and I stifle morons. That sums up my opinion of them.

I've never stifled anyone. There is an old proverb: when a wise man and a fool talk together the difference between them is this; the wise man will learn something from the fool.

Though sometimes it is admittedly questionable whether what you gain is worth the effort.

I don't stifle others, but I figure the ones who stifle me are, as John said, "morons", so good riddance.

Sometimes, it's very clear to me why someone stifled me. For example, I recently made a few controversial comments which landed me in the DH (Unjustly, of course). This was immediately followed by a slew of new stifles. It was clear to me why these new stifles arrived, and frankly I welcomed them since I was 'fighting the good fight'. However, sometimes, when I'm being my usual innocuous self, I'll find a new stifle and it's less clear why it occurred. Maybe someone read an old post and didn't like it. Who knows. Generally, though, I take them as badges of honor and don't mind in the least if some "moron" decides to pull the trigger on me.

I was kidding earlier since I have no one stifled no matter how bad a few tempt me. I have four of them and only one I understand how I got it. It always seems a little strange to me how some people seem to stifle everyone and others attract them like experience points.

Lightweights.

Just out of interest…how do you see who has stifled you?

Just out of interest…how do you see who has stifled you?

TMP currently does not have this functionality. If you have interest, perhaps you could start a poll requesting this feature. You never can predict the results.

I was looking at the Most Stifled list and the top two most stifled are both Australians. Is this a coincidence or are Australians more prone to being stifled?

Nah, people are just jealous of the wit and intelligence from down under….:)