Respected Foes- once again a newbie question...

Hi, i've been a member for a couple of years, but i have been reading and digesting information from here for a lot longer. Anyways, today, i managed to acquire myself 3 'respected foes' messages. 2 were off a member who i didnt agree with , ie his views etc (he must have really disagreed with me ).. and the last were off a member who hadn't even posted on any of the threads that i had.
My question is this...Why is there this petty 'i like you' or ' i don't like you ' thing on here? surely the purpose of a free thinking intelligent forum is for people to be able to voice their own opinions and also debate when others have different views?
I see it as very petty, mainly due to the fact that, if you are not able to converse and argue your point, why then be a snidey little kid and say ' i don't like your views so i will add you as a foe'
surely the purpose of this site is to be able to express opinions, deliver information and , if you do start a thread, to be confident in your own beliefs to debate those that oppose you.?
If what i say offends you, then please reply on the thread that we were conversing on, don't go running to mummy and foe me...
I am very opinionated, , and i do not apologise for that at all, however, i will always show you why , and reply with respect.
I would appreciate the same courtesy back. Maybe if there was a 'respected foes' and then a 'foes' list i could understand.
And (bad grammer) to those of you that have 'foed' me, i look forward to intellectually sparring with you in the future.

Yes, i do know this has been covered in the past, but i was hoping to update it to 2011 since the last thread was 1998.

reply to post by crimsonred


Well, first off, we don't have foes anymore, they're called "Rivals" like someone who you compete with or enjoy debating with (At least that's what its supposed to be about) but, people still use it like the old "Foe" feature.

The best thing I've found about the new Friend feature is that you can follow your friends threads by clicking the button on the ribbon at the bottom of the screen.

This has made me friend people, not only because I agree with them but, also I use it to follow members who regularly post interesting threads so I don't miss any of their good stuff.

Its not just a popularity contest, now its a way to follow your favorite writers here on ATS.

I agree, it's a silly function I think they likely use to give an outlet for those people who just cant deal with an opposing viewpoint. I also have a 'foe' who likes to 'foe' me several times at once. Supposedly he was warned, but he just 'foed' me again this week.

And, mysteriously I got a 'foe' from a member I have never seen or heard of this week as well.

I suspect we are referring to the two same people. or same person under different accounts?)

Anyway, it's kind of a lame function because you get notified if someone doesnt like you, but dont if they do like you. Almost as if they want to promote adversarial encounters..

I actually respect my respected foes more than just the members who hate me. Its like when an anti-paladin meets a real paladin...the dislike is there but I respect em for it. At least they came right out and foed me! So I kinda have a secret love for those who foe me.

I do not foe people. Nobody here has the honor of me choosing them as that...not yet anyways. I'd like to think if I foed someone then they would be my Darth Vader to my Luke Skywalker...but not my dad.

Sorry if that didn't make sense at all.

Big shout out to my foes!!!



MM

Originally posted by Mr Mask
I actually respect my respected foes more than just the members who hate me. Its like when an anti-paladin meets a real paladin...the dislike is there but I respect em for it. At least they came right out and foed me! So I kinda have a secret love for those who foe me.

I do not foe people. Nobody here has the honor of me choosing them as that...not yet anyways. I'd like to think if I foed someone then they would be my Darth Vader to my Luke Skywalker...but not my dad.

Sorry if that didn't make sense at all.

Big shout out to my foes!!!

you crazy.me foe you now big stylee. may the fork be with you.

MM

reply to post by crimsonred


Just chill... don't look into it too deeply and wear the foes/rivals like a badge of honour. Remember, you can't please everyone in this world.. and nor should you try.

IRM

Since I am a new member and I have done this, I figured I'd give you a newer person's perspective (at least mine).

I have clicked the "I like you" button as you referred to it on two members because I wanted to keep up with them, not because I wanted to "friend" them as you would on Facebook.

I think someone else said it above that it can be used for that reason. I truly just wanted to keep up with their posts as they were people I don't see many threads from all of the time and I didn't want to forget about them.

Thank you all for the replies, i realize now that it is 'maybe' a way of following up on what certain members post, and if they are of opposing views, it gives the (foe starter) the ability to follow the threads that i am posting..i have a lot of respect for members on this forum, and respect everyones views- however , i also love debating, plus with the rules of this forum, we have to debate back with evidence (should we stray from opinion to matter of belief). Viva ATS