It's real drag below the line these days. Same old people in the same old slanging matches. It's ever been thus to a degree (I'm sure www can all remember the worst offenders of the early 2000's) but has definitely got worse in recent years and is it now pretty much impossible to continue a civilised discussion before the regulars trash it. I'm all for the rough and tumble of vicious debate, but that's not what is happening now. In my early years on this forum I learnt a lot from people I never would have communicated with in real life as our paths would never have crossed. These discussions had profound effect on me and challenged some of my fundamental assumptions on a number of subjects. It was often uncomfortable to be challenged in such a way but there was a more tolerant atmosphere around the discussions, less of a tendency for folk to think they knew it all and have seen it all.
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