Shambles........Sorry we posted at the same time and I missed your post. To answer, I think you believe that expressions of friendship or affection (for lack of a better word) are inappropriate in the forum and are better done by e-mail or private message. The bantering that many of us enjoy alienates some people and since they are uncomfortable and may feel excluded, they are not likely to come back or at the least, are afraid to post. These people are a silent majority. If this is one of your points, then I am saying that I disagree that the forum postings are inappropriate.

Friends often express these feelings in 3-D conversation and inter-relationships and to do so here is only natural. If some are put off by that here, then I expect that's true in 3-D. As I said previously, I don't jump in on some serious music thread with some outlandish thing or another, but in some of the BS...sure. We have had a lot of new members who have come in and enjoyed the banter. Some don't...I know that. There are an awful lot of threads where they feel more comfortable.

I have been reading the Uganda thread and as I have often said, your songs and poetry are simply superb and the power of your lyric in this case (and written in '96) was overwhelming. Equally, I'm sure that the very subject is troublesome or bothers some folks and they may feel that the thread and your work is not appropriate here. Or a gun thread. Or an Ireland thread. I know some would propose that we omit all of this.

A large part of what this place has come to mean for many includes the ability to discuss these and other topics with people who are well above the norm we meet in 3-D. All of us have multifaceted personalities and what upsets me may not upset you and vice versa. In relation to cyber or 3-D friendships, be they "life" or "road," I want to see all the best and all the worst, and I want to see the truth of both.

Spaw