Just wondering abut hypothetical situatiions

[wolfie]

Actually, this part of the thread about biased responses wasn't part of my original thread.  It came up when someone said people may think they would get different responses depending on whether it is presented as hypothetical or real. 

Anyway, on the biased question, which is very interesting, it bothers me that a member would feel that he or she might get different responses to the same question depending on whether the responding members think it is a real or hypothetical situation.   I don't mean that every posters response would be the same as everyone elses.  I know that we all may see things a little differently.  But the individual responses should not be altered by whether the situation is real or hypothetical.

It is weird bit there was at least one thread where the majority was in agreement that the response to hypothetical situation was A but when the real situation was reveal then it all changed to B should have been done. It does seem like there is a bias against the OP in any thread. In the thread I mentioned it was assumed that the OP was the instigator and the opinion was against her but once it was revealed that the OP was a bystander then some opinions changed to once again be against her. I have noticed it in other threads that frequently the OP is seen as the "bad" person no  matter what the actual situation.

[Bijou]

This discussion is pretty interesting and has gone beyond my original question, for good reason.  Too bad I didn't post it in the Coffee Break folder!  But maybe it would have turned into a hot topic...
Thanks for all your thoughts and responses. 

[Bijou]

Actually, this part of the thread about biased responses wasn't part of my original thread.  It came up when someone said people may think they would get different responses depending on whether it is presented as hypothetical or real. 

Anyway, on the biased question, which is very interesting, it bothers me that a member would feel that he or she might get different responses to the same question depending on whether the responding members think it is a real or hypothetical situation.   I don't mean that every posters response would be the same as everyone elses.  I know that we all may see things a little differently.  But the individual responses should not be altered by whether the situation is real or hypothetical.

It is weird bit there was at least one thread where the majority was in agreement that the response to hypothetical situation was A but when the real situation was reveal then it all changed to B should have been done. It does seem like there is a bias against the OP in any thread. In the thread I mentioned it was assumed that the OP was the instigator and the opinion was against her but once it was revealed that the OP was a bystander then some opinions changed to once again be against her. I have noticed it in other threads that frequently the OP is seen as the "bad" person no  matter what the actual situation.

That's just what I was hoping didn't happen, but it appears it can.  Maybe that's the reason someone might post hypothetical. 

[Dindrane]

What you say is true, but in a hypothetical folder, you would know that is all there is.
How do you feel when someone comes forward later and says, "I'm mary"?

Generally, when someone reveals the situation they posted about as a hypothetical was actually something that happened to them, my feelings on that "reveal" depend upon the motives.

If they seem to be attention-seeking rather than looking for genuine advice, I typically just ignore the thread from that point forward.  Other than that, I don't really care how they phrased the question initially or later, as long as they didn't intentionally leave out information other than the fact that it wasn't hypothetical.

I don't think there should be a folder for that type of post because I see no utility in separating the type of threads.  If it's not a type of thread you want to read, all you have to do is not read it.  Particularly for threads that are hypothetical situations all the way through, it's really not that hard to just ignore it from the start.