It seems to me that perhaps what has been considered "normal" isn't the healthiest we could be. Regardless of which side of the fence one falls. Anyone watching or participating has to admit there is plenty of fault to spread around.
Personally I am not happy with what has been normal here and have been examining how I could handle situations better. I hope that many here could do the same thing. A perfect example is Britania. Frankly I have not cared at all for his style of posting, and have considered it merely adding more fuel to the fire. His last post however completely redeems him in my minds eye. He self reflected, recognized what he felt he could do better, admitted it, apologized and offered an olive branch. That is an adult and I admire him for it.
Who amongst us is guilty of arrogance? sniping? condescending comments? outright insults? name calling? baiting? multiple posts of nonsense? lying? manipulating? multiple aliases?...and the list goes on. Where does personal responsibility and accountability come to play? What happened to integrity and honesty? Who here is utterly innocent?
If someone posts something we know or believe to be incorrect, can't we just make our point in a civil manner to make sure the right information gets to the board without doing the in your face end-zone dance? Regardless of how the other poster behaves doesn't it behoove us to "try" to act like adults. Is this how we would behave if our children were present? If our parents were watching :)?
The leaders of this forum should be setting the tone, not creating discord. We should be working out our differences privately, agreeing where we can and agreeing to disagree when we can't. We should be honestly discussing posters who are behaving in way that take away from our board. Not to cut off free speech, not to expect perfection but to at least expect respect for another human being. Those who choose not to play nicely should no longer be posting, and that should include each and everyone of us. Add a "little" arguing a little laughing plenty of wine/golf/car/(fill in the blank) talk and we could be kinda normal.
I'm not talking nirvana, I'm just talking a little peace. If we're not capable of this then perhaps we need a few moderators that can play Marshall Dillon.
GLTA
Coyote
