Between here and THR over the past 2 years, it occurs to me that one thing that causes all the rudeness, condecension, psuedo intellectualism and expert snobbery that takes the form of knocking and slamming other people's posts, threads and comments that erupt into hollering and screaming across the board is that we don't speak to each other here the way we would sitting at the supper table in person. Much like when we are in our cars, we are quick to curse or knock other drivers through our windows with our lips or waving our fingers (which one
).
I am not just talking about members (although there are plenty of those withe their "put this thread out it's misery" and other such comments), I am also talking about moderators who close threads because they think the discussion is not worthy of board time, or "run it's course" or is a "too old" or just because they don't like them followed by needless knocking other people's opinion or thoughts. That's not what a moderator is. That is personal bias. A moderator is supposed to be a devil's advocate who makes sure everyone is playing fair and by the rules keeping the discussion civil.
By-the-way, I am not getting on my self-righteous soapbox and excluding myself from this, I have been guilty of this sin at times as well.
If 10 of us were to walk into my motel room right now, shake hands, sit down and have a gun discussion, we would dare not say half of what gets spewed with rolled eyes
on this thread to other members. It would be embarrasing to yourself, others in the room and might even result in your getting punched in the nose. But it's easy to type things over keyboard looking at your own words on a computer screen instead of looking into a man's face as you converse.
Just a thought.
