Why can't we just make asking questions about dream interpretation against the rules?

Yes!

Deni is a meanie head!

Because there’d be a backlash about how ‘draconian’ these ‘rules’ are and yada yada yada and how no one has any humor and some other bs.

I wish that were possible.

I think a viable alternative is for the community to band together and answer all of them “It means the boy you have a crush on is going to ask you out tomorrow! Congratulations!” All of us. The same thing.

This should be done regarless of gender or what the actual dream is about. ’-)

Most of the questions here annoy someone. That doesn’t make them any less valid or stupid than any other question here.

Because then we’d have to yank relationship questions, religious questions, political questions, food questions, etc. etc.

@KatawaGrey What’s left?

@Adirondackwannabe – It would only be questions about how to make some program work on some operating system.

See what you’ve done deni: You’ve killed fluther!

I wish we could get rid of questions about getting rid of questions.

It takes a bit of imagination to answer the dream questions, and all of them are different. As always, feel free to pass over the question, unless having to read the title is more pain than you can stand. If that’s the case, maybe you should take a vacation.

If you want to bitch about something, then just have the honesty to bitch about it. You know they won’t be banned. Or maybe, god forbid, you could take a positive attitude towards it, and ask people what they get out of the dream questions. Maybe there is something to learn, after all.

Hey. Don’t pay any attention to me. I’m the crazy guy in the corner.

@wundayatta there isn’t.

@KatawaGrey that isn’t true. those types of questions have answers or at least opinions to be given about them.

There are some people that really do believe in dream interpretation. I really don’t see why people just can’t skip over questions they don’t like or aren’t interested in.

Not going to happen. Dream on, would be the more appropriate response.

@Seaofclouds because they are always the same and if anything should be taken off for being repeat questions. i think i’ve seen 20 “what does it mean if i dream about my ex boyfriend”.

@deni: My point is that if we removed every kind of question that annoyed someone, there would be no questions left.

Quite frankly, I don’t like the dream interpretation questions either but we can’t simply remove stuff that some people don’t like.

Then I say all the Sarah Palin and Fox News questions need to go too. We all know when those questions are asked, they aren’t really questions, but a chance to bash the two.

I am not standing up for Sarah or Fox, just making a point. Now I’ll be going, Shepard Smith is on. ;)

@jonsblond But those are things so worth bashing :/

@deni I still don’t think they should be banned. Considering there isn’t an official rule about duplicate questions at this point, perhaps that is what needs to be made official before we start banning a particular type of question.

Why is it all a big joke? Because YOU say so? Dreams can indicate medication reactions and over medication. Repetitive dreams can indicate something going on internally or within the environment that is being picked up on unconsiously and processed during REM sleep and stored for future reference. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that I dreamt for years that my mother would attempt to murder us all and then suicide. I barracaded my bedroom door at night because of those repetitive dreams. Years later as a Licensed Mental Health professional reviewing my mothers behavior I recognize that she was clinically depressed, suicidal and borderline personality disordered….and that there may well have been many occasions during periods of suicidality that she may have been homicidal as well…aimed at punishing my father she could have very well had thoughts of murdering her children and then herself.
Now call it what you want….precognition…hundreth monkey theory and collective conscious awareness…but I think those dreams protected me from harm.

Other people ask for people trained in examing dreams to help them figure out what they might be processing during the sleep time. I think it’s a valid question to ask. But then so would have Joseph Campbell and Jung.

@Joybird – I feel as if @deni is mostly venting, mostly about the dream question along the lines of this very particular type:

“I keep dreaming about this boy I have a crush on. Does this mean I have a crush on him?”

…where the details that follow clearly indicate that the asker is (1) in high school, and (2) has clearly gained most of their typing experience on a mobile device, where there is little use for punctuation and/or capitalization.

I think it’s hilarious how every now and then there seems to be a rush of these specific types of dream questions, followed soon after in the Meta section by at least one “Don’t you hate those dream questions?” question.

@Joybird don’t blow things out of proportion. if someone asked a question about a dream they were having for years about what you described, THAT is fuckin valid. it is exactly what @iamthemob said. i don’t ever see dream questions on here with any validity. and at the same time, if someone was experiencing the dreams you were, they would know better than to go to FLUTHER to find out what it means. so i suppose it is a stretch to say that all dream interpretations questions should be banned, because there can be legitimate ones. but there never is. all i’m sayin.

@deni But banning all dream questions would also ban the ones like @Joybird mentioned. Instead, if they are in fact duplicates, we need a clear rule about duplicate questions and we could flag them and they would be gone. If they don’t meet the writing standards, we can get rid of them for that too. Banning them just because they are a dream question isn’t a good idea and is not the answer.

We can’t ban them because anyone is allowed to ask a question on Fluther, as long as it meets the guidelines…but you already knew that. The way that I look at it, you can either ignore these questions or answer them in a noncondescending way that may help the OP realize that there is nothing more to a dream than scrambled stored memory images put together like a jigsaw puzzle.

2012 questions were banned.

All such questions?

I thought I just saw a 2012 question…weird…

I think I had a dream about someone asking a question just like this.

Maybe I should have said banned for awhile. I remember mods stating no more would be posted. 2012 questions are different from dream questions, I know. There must be sites on the interpretation of dreams.

@hawaii_jake – I had a dream about you having a dream about a 2012 question…

…does that mean my crush likes me?

@faye There must be sites on the interpretation of dreams.

link

Some people actually believe in that sort of thing. I just skip them.

Same as @YARNLADY. I just skip them. If we could all use the Power of Ignore, this site would be a better place…

Trust me, I think the vast majority of dream interpretation questions are stupid as well. But I don’t find it hard to ignore them.

You know, I skip all the other questions I find silly or that don’t apply to me at all…but for some reasons the dream ones just get me! I guess it’s because they seem so blatantly obvious “why am I dreaming about my boyfriend”....well, i have no idea why you might dream about the main person in your life. It’s like if someone were to ask “why do my feet hurt when i stand all day?” or “why does eating mcdonalds for 3 meals a day give me an upset stomach?” it seems like the answer is so obvious that i can’t not make a snide remark.

No Fluther shouldn’t ban them. If you don’t like a question just ignore it. I see way more stupid questions than dream interpretations.

Oh gee! Here we go again. CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG!?! Dammit!

Genius!

Andrew’s answer from another thread:
———————————————————————————

To clarify, in the founders’ and staff’s eyes, ‘quality’ means:
* Sincere
* Well-written
* Good discourse

It doesn’t matter if the questions are about someone’s dream, how to find a great restaurant, or the relative intelligence of a squid vs a chicken, as long as it fits those principles, it should stay on Fluther.

Ooh, ooh, ooh! Sparkly new question guidelines are up!

@augustlan – New guidelines – love ‘em.

@augustlan Sparkly new? Tee Hee.

@augustlan oooh, shiny!

@ question: Because dreams are as unique as the individual dreamer. Some people see their dreams vividly and not as a fiction and want to know possible interpretations or meanings.
If you don’t feel that way, fine. Skip the fucking question.
I’ll skip the ones about the (xxx) technology that you are using and don’t understand completely.

Every single question ever asked on Fluther is idiotic in some shape or form. If we outlaw one type of question for being too stupid, we would have to outlaw them all.

@deni Judgemental and intolerant much? Maybe someone here thinks your questions and/or answers are insipid. Does that give you any less right to ask or answer? Is that not the point of Fluther, to ask and get answers from people who are interested or knowledgeable? If you are not interested in, or knowledgeable about, a certain question then skip it. Otherwise please don’t try to make other fluthers feel inferior to you.

@deni Banning all such questions is like throwing out the baby with the bath water. Perhaps I feel more strongly about this because I sometimes work within a framework of Shamanism and other forms of nature based healing. A dream can be used by a strength based person to foster healing and growth for another. In the hands of the right person interpreting you move people to contemplate or self reflect in ways they might not have considered previously. To me it doesn’t matter if it’s a 15yr old kid with a crush dreaming about her object of affection or someone with a reoccuring dream. Who appoints themself as judge and jury over what is meaningful and to whom? It might not be important to you at all. Well in my spiritual orientation that means the lesson for you is one of learning accomodation. The questions asked by others are not always meant for us. There is still learning that can occur by witnessing the interaction.

removed by me.

@deni How come?

@deni Wouldn’t that be just a misuse of power?

@AmWiser Why must we all just get along. Wouldn’t that sorely impede debate which can lead to higher thinking and resolution? Where is the challenge or the growth potential in all looking, thinking and acting like clones?

@Joybird I think it all comes down to users being on here for different reasons. Some are on here for serious debate, comparison of different philosophies and technical reasons. However there are many on here that use this site more like a social networking site, maybe to goof around and even for an ego boost.

There are respectful ways to debate or “correct” someone however. But I agree with your above statement.

Er, why not just have a feature where you can ignore threads with certain tags, and then require or ad “dream interpretation” tags to such threads?

I feel like people are taking this thread a tad more seriously than it was meant to be taken.

@iamthemob Agreed. I also didn’t realize how seriously some people feel about the subject.

♪♪♫♫ We all live in a yellow submarine…

I realize the belief that strangers can accurately interpret a dream is somewhat childish, but I like the questions because I like reading about the Questioner’s dreams. Those dreams are really happening in some other dimension, and it is interesting to read them. They could be relevant to me, for all I know.

I also agree with others here that it’s best to put up with all sorts of questions.

I just really wish that the dreams were more often the ones that needed interpretation – that objectively kind of made no sense.

Like…I had this dream this one time…I was dressed in a Flash Gordon costume, inhabiting a dying universe. The universe was 2-dimensional, but not really – it was kind of like one of those old portable water games with balls and platforms or hoops…where you would push the big plastic button and it would shoot bubbles of air that would lift the balls up and you’d try to get them on the platform or in the hoop. I jumped from platform to platform shooting my lazer gun at small, lizard like creatures shaped like balls. I had the assistance of creatures that looked nearly exactly the same, except they were furry and had antennas. Eventually, the furries and I realized that the universe was not salvageable, so we hopped into a spaceship made out of tinfoil and sped past planets and stars – which looked like they did when you had graphics with lines showing the path of the planets’ orbits.

Now tell me…what the heck did that mean?

@Zaku umm, why ask the government to do what we are capable of doing for ourselves? It isn’t really all that difficult to avoid questions that don’t interest you. Simply scroll on by…

Maybe we could have a wiki about dream meanings?

Flame off, people! Sheesh. Deni is expressing her opinion here; let’s try to be respectful.

The dream questions don’t bother me; I don’t like them but I skip. I don’t like questions complaining about other questions either, but I don’t hold any of that against the OP. We’re not all going to agree. It’s a beautiful place when you are able to ignore the questions you don’t like; I sincerely wish that everyone could find a place where such questions don’t negatively affect you to the point of complaining in a new question.

I roll my eyes every time one of those ‘I dreamt about the guy I like, what does that mean’ questions appears, mainly because it makes me ask myself, How many times can this question be asked? Really?? I find it weird that we get so many of them.

What I have picked up from Ben and Andrew is that they want Fluther to be open and accessible to anyone who has a question they legitimately want answered. That means welcoming all kinds of people with all kinds of questions, rather than being a stuck-up, pretentious kind of site where we openly disdain certain people or certain kinds of questions. It’s not so welcoming if, immediately, people roll out the snark or if we censor new users’ questions.

It takes some will-power and maturity, something I admit I find in short supply sometimes, but I think we’d all be so much happier and content with each other if we just avoided the people and the questions that annoy the shit out of us. :)

@deni bailed on us….

@janedelila I would have too. Sometimes you just have to walk away.

@FutureMemory watchu tryin to say

@deni

Only that you’ve stated your opinions and that the tone of the thread had developed a hint of hostility, therefore it was possible you decided to stop participating.

@All I had a few laughs at this thread tonight about a day after it was first posted and gave quite a few GA’s. Why? Because they made me laugh, or think, or consider another point of view.

There’s a saying I love sayings There’s no such thing as a stupid or similar word question, except the one not asked.

Fluther is populated by all types of people who probably would never otherwise meet to share concerns, problems, highs and lows of life, and a myriad of other subjects and topics.

And that is precisely why Fluther is great and why we are ALL here.

So chill people and enjoy.

If interested you may send donations to I-really-love-fluther@i-do.com snicker, snicker

@FutureMemory thought so! ;) yes i thought it was funny how angry people got. i dont see any of them responding seriously to dream questions and also if no questions are bad then i don’t see why they’re so upset about this one. :)

@MissAnthrope Spot on. We do want to focus on accepting.

But at the same time we definitely want to 1. Keep the level of discourse up, 2. Reduce the number of duplicate questions and 3. Give people the opportunity to filter out stuff that isn’t interesting to them.

That’s one reason we have specific guidelines about relationship questions.

@deni I respond seriously to dream questions, and any other questions, if they, and only if they interest me. If not I skip them. No one called your question “bad”. I found it ironic that you found it funny that people may have gotten angry about your seemingly (to me anyhow) angry question.

and @MissAnthrope and @andrew
I would like to think that this would be a first place for a young person to ask a dream question and get the advice this collective can give rather than see them go to “Is it normal?” or “Yahoo Answers”. They might get flamed out of existence there. I don’t see that there is a lot of superfluous activity on Fluther. People generally seem to really want answers and it is not their fault if the question has been asked in similar ways.
Want to help, answer.
Want to roll your eyes, feel free.
I, for one remember clearly how it felt to be an adolescent and I liked when adults took me seriously.

Why does it seem that about 98% of the dream questions are from newbies that never return?

@chyna its true

@deni @chyna In that case: Why be concerned about the questions being asked in the first place? Just let them ride.

People who ask questions and then don’t hang around probably aren’t worth your time and effort.

Agreed?

Because you’re giving me….

We’ve had such a rash of dream questions lately from brand new members that I seriously doubt at least a few aren’t current members screwing with us.

@FutureMemory I can’t believe someone would do something so retarded silly.~ (sorry, I just had to go there) ;)

You’d be surprised what bored people will do. A few months ago I made the name FactFromFictionTruthFromDiction and began each post with the catch phrase “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”, regardless of the topic. I had fun with that for like an hour. The best part of it though was getting a PM from the man in question the name pays tribute to welcoming me to the site.

That was you? Ooooh…that was awesome

Dreams are all different, and endlessly fascinating to young people seeking meaning. They don’t yet know how to construct meaning for themselves, and it is up to us to teach them how to tell their own stories in a healthy way. At least, that’s how I see it.

@FutureMemory words to live by! if the glove dont fit, you MUST acquit!

@deni :)

I agree with the crazy guy in the corner!
If you done like the subject, skip it. There can be meanings to dreams. And sometimes people need these answers. Take a vaca Deni! And buy a smile while you’re out!
I’m new to fluther. But I will answer dream questions when I can.

Buy a smile while I’m out? lol

While we’re at it, can we also ban questions about cats? Just take it to the vet, damn it!

@bob_ Hey! Cats are complex and some of us have cats with many digestive, physical, and mental problems and a trip to the vet for every issue would not only be very costly but also in most cases unnecessary :)