I stick to my principles - PMs are strictly private and not for publishing on a general form, no matter what the content.

So, suppose I get a really shitty, abusive, threatening PM? What good does it do to make it public? No matter what the truth of the matter, there will always be someone who suspects me of (a) provoking it (b) lying about it (c) stirring up shit...

Delete them unseen if you guess what they might contain. Ignore them if you deign to read them. If you get harrassed over and over again, copy them to the Mods and ask for intervention.

I'm a comparative newcomer to the 'Cat - since 2007 - but I've never sent a "really shitty, abusive, threatening PM", or anything approaching it, to anyone - and I've never received one. Good behaviour can be contagious.

Some rules I try to follow when posting:

1. I never denigrate anyone in my post - never use an uncomplimentary, half-joking, piss-taking nickname.

2. I never say that another person's statements are rubbish - without offering a logical alternative.

3. If I offer an opinion or an argument, I try and offer a basis for that argument - unless it's a purely personal opinion, in which case I say so.

4. I never - ever - not ever - send an abusive PM, and try to keep my posts reasonable and reasoned. It's just too easy to slag someone off thoughtlessly, and then the thread becomes just one series of insults after another.

I wasn't always so thoughtful in my early days on Mudcat - sort of responded to other peoples' styles - but now I now how I want to behave.