Well, John, I don't think I am especially impolite, at least not very often. I could probably phrased that comment more effectively, somehow. Let me try this: I don't much care if someone is offended by my honest opinion, and I especially don't care if anyone is put off by their misunderstanding of what I might be trying to say. It's difficult enough to find the words to express one's point clearly without worrying about being both clear and inoffensive.

Better?

To address another point, something that Liz just mentioned an hour or so ago:

There is an increasing pattern of folks not reading people at all after the first few posts. They form a picture in their heads of that person and then use that as a reference whenever they read one of their postings...

That's just crazy! There are plenty of threads I don't open at all (or that I don't open every time I see 'em), but once I start reading through a discussion, I read every post. (Well, on occasion I'll skim past a lengthy message if the first couple of sentences fail to engage my interest.) I have of course formed negative general impressions of some individuals, but never anything so hard and fast as to cause me to skip a person's every word!

Even though some Mudcat personalities have emerged to become full-fledged "people" in my imagination, I still relate to a forum like this as a meetingplace of ideas and opinions, not primarily one of personalities. Certainly, I have learned things and/or gained insights thanks to the contributions of certain characters who I don't always like.

Isn't it obvious that a person might be mean or insensitive ~ or at least come off that way in his/her hastily-written messages ~ and still have expertise to offer in the realm of, say, instrument repair or folkloric scholarship? Or that a person with whom one disagrees about politics and/or religion might share one's passion for a musical genre or period or performer?

Whenever we judge a fellow cyber-stranger's character and personality on the basis of his/her skill at written self-expression, we're fairly likely to be wrong. And even when we might be (accidentally) correct in our assesment of another's character, that still does not mean that at least a few of the person's ideas, or reports of facts, might not be worthy of consideration.

Read everyone's contribution to any discussion you enter! At least then you'll know what you're disagreeing with...