Jeri - I agree with your analysis. Rodney's suggestion, whatever the motivation, seems common-sensical to me.

I guess I've lurked Mudcat long enough not to be surprised or particularly dismayed when the tone of a thread turns ugly. I try to avoid such threads.

One thing continues to baffle me. I still haven't found any correlation between the initial post and the anger level of the replies. Some initial postings that I would expect to generate a firestorm produce threads that are models of civility. On the other hand, I'll read some initial postings that I think are as bland as dry toast (like this one). I'll begin reading down the responses expecting a chorus of "me toos" and find instead a lynch mob. CarolC, is there an idea for a research paper here?