Some clarification on "I also think it's our responsibility to read what people write and make our own judgements about them rather than have the group tell us what we should think."

I believe people should make up their own minds about other posters here. It's how life works. I do NOT believe studying the posts of others is necessary. If I sounded like I was saying everyone should have to familiarize themselves with the on-line personalities of others, I didn't mean to. Some folks are into personalities, some aren't.