fwiw, my participation in this drift was only a foolish attempt to apply some comments I made in another. I think I can reasonably try to paraphrase that as that some threads just go on with rows, positions are fixed and even another 1000 posts will not change anybody's mind. I believe I then suggested talking about things we have in common like gardening instead.   

This participation has already been taken as being part of a gang who I don't think I could join even if it existed (I'd differ in my belief there is a God for starters...) and apparently a desire to hide some story about a Labour cover up. Unfortunately, that is the way life works and I suppose we can all be guilty of it - putting reasons we want to see into things...

For the record, as for what I'd rather be discussing here. I'd rather be away but lack the sel discipline. The ugly truth is that I wrestle with drink problems. I can post for other reasons and, eg. do know a little about abc (I fixed the mandotab converter, originally from a site I started, fairly recently) and do eg try to play mandolin and tenor banjo in Irish sessions, etc. but if I get stuck down the bottom, it's usually connected, at least to start with, with a round of drinking. The sad fact is that in some ways, I view my own relationship with the forum as tainted and the bottom of the line poisoned. In saner times, I usually stay away rather than perhaps look in, find a nice thread (eg gardening or birds round the back) and then find I've got myself caught up in something else...

I genuinely do not want to feel the bottom of the line is poisoned (and I see my own good times here as well as the bad ones) and I don not feel matters from religion to politics should not be questioned. A question there is perhaps more whether the belligerence here could ever enable it...

I expect to get ripped apart for this but I'm trying to be open in terms of the way I'm seeing things at the moment.