Is it normal this is disappointing about iin?

When I joined nearly 4 years ago, the site wasn't like this. There were a bunch of regulars but they were all really friendly and genuinely helpful to the people asking the questions. This used to be my go-to site to feel good. But over the past year or so the site has become really mean-spirited. It's definitely not as fun as it used to be.

I agree with you entirely. Mean-spirited people suck, and just because there are a lot of them doesn't mean their presence is inevitable or acceptable, or that people who see that they are mean-spirited are somehow at fault (seriously, why do we have so much of a problem with blaming bad people for doing bad things?). IIN is not a playground for mean people, and treating it as such saps it of its potential.

I agree. The site didn't use to be like this a couple of years back. Now it is so negative.

Yeah I notice this too. It's not even trolls, as most of them are joking & there always was trolls, it is genuine assholes, the kind of people that walk all over nice people in real life and say it is their own fault for being nice. It was cool when this site had a more introverted userbase, but like I've said before its basically yahoo answers now, the only way to get "good karma" now is to be a troll or an asshole.

Huh? I think it's the uninteresting, vague, repetitive posts that are the drawbacks.

From what I've observed, ten percent of the posts are a legitimate reach out for help, while five percent are intelligently funny and designed to make you laugh, another five percent goes to polls that are pretty interesting.

Then thirty percent consists of trolls; sick incest posts, weird and disturbing sexual fantasies, strange events that are too weird to have even taken place, etc,. And about fifteen percent of questions aren't even for IIN.

Then once you get past all that, the remaining thirty-five percent of questions are from people who just seem bored, trying to be funny, but fail because their sense of humor is a carbon copy of what Hollywood uses now, a few polls that aren't too creative (and aren't even asked in the poll format which deteriorates the whole post, in my opinion), posts about why you like or dislike IIN, ridiculous questions about relationships that just require you to use common sense (which seems to not be so common any more), group hate, like feminism and religion etc,. There's a few more but I can't really think of them off the top of my head. But I'm sure you understand what I'm trying to say...

With that in mind, I think most users don't feel like they need to be helpful, or that by making rude and insensitive jokes are OK: because this site is kind of dumb and boring, for the most part. Or that being hurtful is fine because "this isn't IRL, it's the internet". Which just goes to show how people become desensitized by the virtual realm [the internet]. And it also goes to show just how mean people are when they're hiding behind their monitors. It even happens here with the "Anonymous poll creator(s)", too. They say some pretty awful things, things I'm sure they wouldn't say if they weren't anonymous.

However, I'm still not seeing all the mean users getting thumbs up while the "good" ones are thumbed down. I'm not seeing too many mean comments, but I don't come here too often as of right now.

Care to provide examples?

Depends on what you consider helping someone. I know I can say some negative things however only when I have good reason to or to help the OP out, such as telling someone "You won't get the girl/guy move on to someone your level" rather than "Beauty. Eye. Beholder. Believe you are able to and you caan, Tinkerbell" which so many people do on here that is just as harmful if not worse as they set them up for failure.

This site definitely used to have better people on it, and before you jump down my throat, I am not saying all the users are bad.

I asked a few of the old regulars just before around the time they left for good and never to be seen, the ones that used to give good feedback and reasoned comments why they weren't taking part in IIN so much, and the reason why the older members left is because of the opposite of what you are claiming, really. The few I asked in casual discussion stated things along the lines of this site becoming too "feely" and more about making someone feel good that giving them the truth that would help them more...And I would agree with that happening here.

Being assholes for the sake of being an asshole is one thing but being one of the "Believe in yourself and you can do anything" types of people on here...I'd say they're far worse...I shall name them Tinkerbells.

I don't think a sarcastic comment always constitutes ridicule. I'm incredibly sarcastic, but I do give legitimate advice when I feel it's warranted.

If you can't deal with trolls then don't cross the bridge.

Any website like this will attract trolling. If somebody gets upset over things people they've never met say, then they probably should stay off the internet because it is inevitable.

I hear a lot of people say this site was so much better in the past...but I have browsed a few post from years ago and saw very little if any differences in the kind of replies people got.

Give us an example of what you are talking about.

Nah - I think you're being naive if you expect a website populated by random people using pseudonyms not to have mean-spirited comments now and then. It's human behaviour, certainly on the internet.

It's also naive to think every question asked is done so with courage or a legitimate pursuit of opinions and advice.

In my experience, more often than not people contribute with good intentions to the best of their ability. At least for the first time a question is asked, and if the question is well-composed and genuine.

Of course, when a person posts a question that's been asked 100 times before, like "IIN i fell in love with my friend", or "IIN i'm 18 and still a virgin", or "IIN i masturbate 3 times a week?" it starts to become pretty tedious.

I think it's unfair to characterise the IIN user-base in such a negative light, because there are some intelligent and considerate users here who do their best and consistently offer insight and good advice. How long have you been around?

"brave enough to ask their personal question"

Typing words into a textbox behind several layers of anonymity isn't something I'd connect brave with.

Given how a solid quarter of the submissions here are fetish fantasies about wanting to bang relatives, I'd say that a bit of snark in the comment section is to be expected. Ultimately, what is the point of this site? It's a place where people are given the opportunity to ask if something is considered 'normal' by the other users of this site. Essentially, the point is to distinguish between what is 'weird' (by the subjective democratic process here) and what isn't. As part of this process, individuals will inevitably disagree with the OP, and it seems like that is how the site itself is built.

If you want freedom of speech (hah That's a joke on here), you have to let the bastards have their say.

I"m a dick hole i guess