My concern is this-- keeping in mind the thread title is "A Cure for Trolls." (And was "The xxx xxx Problem." Kinda the same titling basis IMO.)

The issue for me is not curing them-- that's their lookout. I don't want to/need to/plan to control/fix/change the actions of trolls. The issue for me is curing MY reaction to them, and I have had a pretty good handle on that for quite some time. (Some days a better one, some days worse.) We each have to find outr own way toward that, if and when it's an issue for us.

Let's get real.

For some people it's not an issue. For some people, Mudcat brawls are part of getting their blood pumping around inside their tired old bodies and their fuzzy brain chemistry. (See the threads about depression-- it's not just ME "diagnosing" this... it's what people have said about themselves.) And I also know for a fact, by what certain members have said, that for them it's a way to get their testosterone upped by winning over another competitive male. And testosterone is essential to normal brain function, too. I don't find it a particularly GOOD way to unfuzz, but some people apparently rely on it, and thats' THEIR lookout.

Don't most of us joke about Mudcat addiction? Well, there is a good amount of truth to that. Mudcatting does affect brain chemistry, and how it affects it has a lot to do with how one conducts oneself here. Mudcat can be calming to some, energizing to some, enervating to others. Some folks aim it or receive it as a healing energy. Some aim it or receive it as a hurting energy. Some don't aim or receive at all and just "are."

The point we all have in common-- in what we've said in this thread-- I think, is that we all have some choice in what we ourselves do. Can we just agree that this is what has been said in common, and that it is actually a really important point in itself as well as a big piece of common ground? If we stopped judging one another, we might actually notice that common ground.

I can already hear the usual replies- "yabbut!"

~Susan