I think a fair number of guys over there have aspergers. I'm not using that as a criticism, to belittle syndrome, or anything like that. Simply put there just seems to be a fair number of folks with limited-to-no self awareness over there, who completely fail to pick up on the tone of a thread before thundering in. These guys have some theoretical knowledge and some heartfelt, unwavering opinions and they just have to drone on and on at will. Some guy picked up a 6-string SX Jazz bass and was then roasted out by another poster who thought they should have purchased a Carvin, and didn't see the value of the mods the OP was performing. This seems to be the model over there; glance over the original post, go on a bomb-dropping exercise to impart your knowledge on topic X even if it is only tangentially related to the original post and likely to cause offense due to the harshly didactic wording, and then start moaning when people call you out on your remarks. The place really sets the benchmark for petulant grievance politics on Internet forums.
Another exchange I saw was basically this:
1) Poster wants to know if the hollowbody basses on Rondo Music are any good as they are in a casual Jefferson Airplane cover band project.
2) Second poster suggests they get a new Epiphone Jack Casady instead (only 2X OP's budget).
3) Third poster suggests the new Guild Starfire reissue, as it is closer to what Jack played (only about 8X OP's budget).
4) More posters share their opinions on the new Starfires in terms of fit or finish.
5) Somebody points out there is a used Jack Casady Epi in the classifieds.
How much of that is actually helpful? How many posters had actually played the Douglas-branded hollow body bass? How many of those guys just want to say
their bit because they have to be heard?
When I did post over there, I did always wonder why some idiot on the other side of the world was so emotionally invested in what I happened to spend my money on.
I lurk on a couple of aviation forums, and I'm always amused and disheartened in equal measure when I see a new poster get chewed out for mis-identifying an aircraft. Aviation spotters seem to always moan about the decline in museum attendance, airshow attendance and the lack of interest in historic aviation in younger generations... they fail to see that they are the cause of some of this! Talkbass is the exact same.