Hmm. The irony is that many - not all - of the people who this thread's complainants have in mind (but lack the the balls to name, of course -'twas ever thus) are some of the most thoughtful and fair-minded and free-thinking people here. Unfortunately, these latter have one fault: they will not not suffer quietly religious bigots, creationists, evolution-deniers, atheist-demonisers, thread-starting tarts, serial misrepresenters, far-right backwoodsmen, homophobes, misogynists, liars, racists, apologists for countries who deal in repression of minority ethnic groups and defenders of child-abusing anti-education perpetrated by organised religion. They call a spade a spade and a wanker a wanker - and will always say why. Contrast that with the pusillanimous and disingenuous yearners for a golden age that never existed who make unsupported claims about why people stop posting on forums (I've stopped posting on forums, or on individual threads, myself on many occasions, nearly always because I was getting bored). Many of the below-line discussions that turn controversial endure an abysmal level of debate. I'd like to suggest that that's a major reason why people are often tempted to stop posting. However (and I've said it, and others have said it, so many times it's beginning to sound banal): if you don't care for what you're reading, don't read it. It really is as simple as that. I hate the Daily Mail so I don't bloody read the Daily Mail (I get to see a copy about once every two months when I'm waiting to get my hair cut, just sufficient to refresh my disdain for the thing). The above-line discussions seem to thrive well enough to me, so just don't come down here if you don't like it. We can fester very nicely here below thank you without your coming to whinge about how much we're offending you (and it really isn't that bad compared with a hell of a lot of online offerings). If you continuously click on threads that you know are probably going to offend you, well you may need to question your own sanity!