ok. I have to ask, because frankly I was so confused when people were commenting about rudeness, because I hadn't read anything that I construed as being upset or rude, then someone replied something about getting popcorn smilies. Is that suppose to be an insult of some sort. Gosh, I would need to know something like that because I'd end up insulting people without meaning to.
(I'm a definite newbie to these boards)
No insult. Simply put, the popcorn guy is simply announcing that the topic of the thread is a hotbed one, and they are anticipating that it will get ugly. A shorthand, lighthearted (In my view) way of saying, "Here we go again..." I certainly don't use it as an insult. Just shorthand. I also think that smilies are a shorthand way to soften what you are saying.
this guy:
Tone is something that is very hard to indicate using the shorthand informal style that is often used when posting to boards like this one. I see smilies often as a way to say, "I mean this in a lighthearted way." Like when I post about favorite snacks, I almost always mention Mickeybars, I also always include the Mickey bar icon. I love Mickey bars. So if I post something that jokingly tries to say Disney snacks are just okay, I follow up with an almost worshipful comment and smilie about Mickeybars. I think it's cool that the DIS has a smaile for Mickeybars, and I also just look ofr an excuse to use it often.
oooh - I thought of another one.....anything saying or implying that folks who stay at the values are less wealthy than folks who stay at GF, or that any kind of social class distinction might exist, also suggesting in any way that folks who are in a deluxe should be entitled to more (future) amenities than those staying in a value or moderate - especially when you use the loaded term "entitled" , also anything about changing the current fastpass system,
AS for creating a sticky, I dunno, that could be tough. I sort of take this as a tongue in cheek thing. While threads on these topics often disintigrate some don't - or at least they take a while to disintigrate.
Ther are probably a few limited ones like refillable mugs and pool hopping, and late fastpasses. Maybe we could put a link to a central therad that then links to a few threads on each topic. So if someone asks , we could simply say, "You asked a hotbed topic. you are probably new tot eh DIS and didn't mean anything by asking this. It is a hotbed topic. If you want to know about refillable mugs and other hotbed topics look here." Kind of like the popcorn guy smilie.
I also see that many folks posting on this thread see the joke of it, but some are already asking, "Why is X a hotbed topic?" (an honest inquiry) Which usually triggers someone to answer with why they feel the issue is important, which usually triggers another person to give their counter take onthe opposite side of the topic, and so it goes...
THAT's what the popcorn smilie is about. Yeah, it's alittle like rubbernecking on the highway. But often folks who use the popcorn smilie use it to also say, "Here we go again, and I'm going to just back out now before it gets ugly." A way to stay above the fray. Sometimes I intend to stay out of something, but when I see it the thread has gone viral - ans is up to 20 pages - my curiosity gets teh better of me.
Now the pot guy is a little stronger. He's resverved for when someone thinks they spot a troll - ther are a small number of folks out there who intentionally try to fan the fire, also called trolls. They post something that just intentionally sounds nasty or mean spirited or designed to trigger a mean spirited response. The recent DIS ban on certain topics is indicative of some of the range of topics that might fall into this category.
One more thing, despite it's flaws and limitations, I think the overall development of this new form of communication is amazing! I read posts not just to rubberneck, but to see how this new form of communication is developing. It's like a new language is unfolding before our eyes and we're a part of it - just like texting. Just seeing here how different folks interpret smilies is fascinating, don'tcha think?
You are probably right. This reminds me of the stories about my husband's grandmothers. They were big time line cutters. You couldn't tell them otherwise.
I am sure like you said we have all been flamed one time or another. I know I have. It didn't take me long to learn.
. I might have cried! 
