OTOH:

Speaking as a veteran of the auld forum here, I suggest you may be mistaken; despite the fact that we are all adults, the sheer nastiness--and the hurt--that some people are capable of makes some constraints necessary. Because without them, the black smelly stuff gets higher and deeper, and the opportunity for interesting and lively conversation gets slimmer and slimmer.

But the constraints are really and truly minimal.

Use a consistent handle.

Do not attack people personally.

These are an outline of basic decency. Some folks in the past used their absence to act less than decent to their fellow human beings, with harsh, and ill-founded slurs, slanders, defamations, insults, and obscenities.

I do not feel we need to put up with such stuff, because anyone who seriously wants to up braid someone else can do so without breaking the rules of basic dialogue, if they are articulate, and if they are not they need to work out how to become so. This is not a stage for any half-baked bean-bag to prance on naked, spewing vitriol and hatred.

I have a great deal of respect for the balance and intelligence Joe Offer shows in doing the least amount necessary to maintain a fairly respectful environment.


A