I have probably been as guilty as anyone of contributing to the general tone of animosity around here, but as Stilly River Sage points out, some of us are being stalked and harassed. Since sometime around the first of the year, I've had one particular person following me from thread to thread and posting derogatory comments shortly after I post. And I'm not the only one he does this to.

It's really unfortunate. On those rare occasions when not attempting to be disruptive, he seems to have the capacity to make reasonable contributions, but these posts represent only a minuscule percentage of the time he spends here. When he attacks me, I've tried to handle him pretty much the same way I would handle a heckler, attempting to turn the whole thing into a big joke, but it's become evident that he thrives on the attention. I've come to the conclusion that: a) it isn't going to get him off my back; and b) I'm beginning to feel that responding to him at all is undercutting my own credibility.

So it's back to basics. In the Newcomer's Guide (at the top of the list of thread titles) it says " . . . the best way to deal with both flamers and trolls is to ignore them. Give them silence, and they'll go away. They feed on attention - don't give it to them."   

So—no more Mr. Nice Guy. No more attention from me. From here on, as far as I'm concerned, the guy doesn't exist. I recommend the same policy to all.

Don Firth