What do you have against dream questions anyway?

Didn’t you answer your own question? Many people think that dreams mean nothing at all.

I think dreams always mean something (if not, they wouldn’t exist) but that it’s impossible to tell what they mean without a thorough discussion with the dreamer, because the symbolic used is particular to the dreamer, and even unique to each dream.

It’s not like dreaming of, say, fire means the same thing always and for everybody.

It’s not that dreams mean nothing necessarily (though often they are just random meaningless nothing), but the best person to analyze and interpret your dream is probably yourself. You know your psyche better than random strangers on the internet will.

I’m not opposed to the questions. I just would hate to see someone act on a random dream.

I peed in my grandmother’s house once in a dream. In reality, I peed on myself in bed…

They are not no-no’s for me, but then, I have taken classes in dreaming and have a regular dream practice and group, and I am curious and open about what may be going on with dreams, and have had many interesting experiences with them and have heard from others about others.

I think the negative reactions tend to be balking because the person posting tends to write “what does it mean if I had dream X?” and questions which are written in ways that seem to have different premises and assumptions than the audience make one feel obliged to mention those differences rather than answer implying that for example, if anyone has dream X, it means Y.

Also we have many skeptics and physical materialists and people who just don’t think dreams mean anything and feel like that opinion should be noted on nearly every such dream question.

In the classes I have taken, there is a very helpful and important practice taught about how to answer this type of question, and that is to word the answer so that it avoids implying that you know the meaning of the other person’s dream because, as @Darth_Algar very correctly pointed out, the real person to interpret a dream for someone, is the dreamer himself. Nonetheless, having someone else listen and respond to one’s dream can be very useful if framed carefully, because we very strongly tend to respond to our own dreams in limited and habitual ways, and simply hearing how other people take them can have us approach them in all sorts of new ways, which can be remarkably effective at getting us to see things about them and about the issues our subconscious conjured them for in the first place.

So what we generally make sure to do is start out an answer by saying something such as, “If that were my dream, I would think that maybe….” instead of “I think it means Z” because that implies you think it means Z to them – it’s a subtle shift, but it removes one layer of translation that the listener’s brain needs to make in relating to what you’re saying.

My dreams usually have a strong meaning to me and I can tell where they came from. I often dream whole movies in technicolor. I don’t particularly ascribe to a belief that there are universal symbols in dreams. So often in these dream questions the poster seems to be looking for confirmation that someone does or does not love them and that is primarily what I object to. However, while I don’t often answer these questions, I don’t usually go on them and disparage them either.

For my own dreams some are meaningful. Some will stick with me all day while I try to work them out. For others the meaning is pretty much on the nose and it takes me all of one second to deduce. Still others are just pure randomness that makes me respond with a bemused “what the fuck?” upon waking.

@Janbb Often in these dream questions the poster seems to be looking for confirmation that someone does or does not love them and that is primarily what I object to.

That is true. Many people assume that their dream tells something about the future (premonitory, if that translates), or about what other people thinks. That’s absurd. You are the one making your dream up, and you know nothing about the future. There’s nothing magical in there. It’s a way to bring up desires, fears, etc. Most of times the meaning is trivial. Like “it’d be extra nice to be with that girl”.

@MrGrimm888 I peed in my grandmother’s house once in a dream. In reality, I peed on myself in bed…

The meaning of your dream was probably just: “Wake up! You’re peeing.”

^Yes LOL…That dream actually had meaning. But it didn’t mean I should pee at Granny’s house…

^ No, it meant just the opposite…

Nothing.
But in my occasional experience with Fluther, certain questions always seem to arouse the ire of what is clearly the Fluther “elite”, whoever that is.
It is a simple fact that there is something in the Fluther culture that insures that certain questions will be met with a swift and harsh moral judgment.
As I have observed, such questions-

Express some doubt or skepticism that global warming is a product of evil, industrial, bourgeois humans

Express some doubt or skepticism that the Democrat party is uniquely enlightened and the Republican party is uniquely primitive

Imply a disagreement that Barack Obama is infallible

Attempt to imply something positive about cops or the military

Reveal the OPs belief in God

Search for meaning in dreams.

It seems that all such questions are regarded as equally stupid on Fluther.

On the other hand, I don’t see as many corrections in spelling or grammer. So maybe things are looking up.

Dreams occur when the mind sorts the events of the day and/or your life. I have nothing against questions about dreams.

Bugger all, they’re no worse than the self righteous warblings of the self appointed intellects.
“Why so serious?”

When doing dream analysis it is important to know the person, their history, their issues and their feelings about certain things. If not it’s like shooting into the air.

@josie Haha much truth. Although I did ask a question here about positive police stories once, and got many examples, without strife and whatnot.

@ucme Right, in my details I was going to compare it to other taboo questions, until I realized that there aren’t that many ’‘am I pregnant’’ questions.

I think a dream question from someone new would not be taken as seriously as someone who is well known. LornaLove has it right.

There is “I had a dream about all my teeth falling out”. That might be interesting to look into.

And then there is “I had a dream about my crush so does that mean they want me?”

The first can try to be interpreted (Do you have a upcoming trip to the dentist?). The second can’t since another persons feelings are involved.

@josie :: You are the one that brought politics into this for no good reason. Take the shit to meta.

I’m cool with dream interpretation. It’s the kids who can’t get it through their heads that dreams don’t predict the future and/or their crush’s feelings that bore me. All we can do is tell them “no your dream does not confirm that your crush loves/hates you.”

Dreams can be as full of significance as poems or paintings and can’t be dismissed out of hand. Most of those described on Fluther however are not like that. They lack detail and emotional content and seem little more than trolling.