Honestly, Hubski hasn't been as great at encouraging intelligent discussion as it could/should be. Certainly not as good as I'd hoped. Since joining, I've seen repeatedly that certain users utterly reject opinions they don't like, and go out of their way to chase those users around. Or they'll just throw fits at a notion they don't like and loudly abstain, as if their abstention from an activity is supposed to manipulate people into not doing it. Hubski is a good attempt, but it isn't perfect.
I agree -- but remember what you're not seeing. This week I've been in the midst of a really excellent pm discussion with wasoxygen, someone whose beliefs rarely dovetail with mine, to pick one example. I've been a part of other internet communities where I felt comfortable engaging other members in lengthy one-on-one chats, but never about such erudite subjects. Take away the dots and you get a better environment for discussion. Fact is, hubski is a thousand times better at this than anywhere else on the internet. Every once in a while I break out of my normal sports+music reddit use, comment seriously on something somewhere, and am inevitably reminded that no, it's not like hubski. Then I flee.
In which the very words (if I may quote you) "Things could and should be much better" appeared. I think it is constructive to compare things to real alternatives that actually exist, not to things we imagine could or should be. As you do here, comparing this site to other online spaces. As you know, you go to the Internet with the website you have, not the website you might want or wish to have at a later time.a really excellent pm discussion
Usually I end up talking about them with ironpotato in IRC, I don't PM much here.
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire US armed forces....
Oops, thought this was reddit, my bad.