to address the subject of the thread:

folks....it is mathematics and the dynamics of large groups! When it was much smaller, we had very few 'nasty' posts. I can't remember any real trend till Gargoyle got his dander up.....but eventually, with a LARGE assortment of personalities, someone will take issue with a comment, a topic..or just an attitude!

Sure, we can plead for restraint and sometimes even get a little, but with Max's policy of "I build the sandbox, it's YOUR responsibility to play nice in it" (he said almost exactly that), the large group of folks who have wandered in here will inevitably include some malcontents of various persuasions. Some use their names (MAV), some post without names just to irritate and prove they can!

We get regular pleas to NOT respond to flames & trolls, and many "take the pledge", (I did...fell off the wagon..*wry smile*)...but the metaphor of this place being like a community or a family is more relevant than before. We have a central organizing theme, but like at a festival or singing party, lots of stuff is going on that is not music!

At a party, you can (usually) go in the other room...or at least not join the conversation you don't like...and you CAN do that here, but the threads being in a long list are a snare!...there is a "NO BS" way to view the threads, but only a handful seem to be willing to use it, and it does depend on the thread being titled that way...and there is no avoiding threads that creep.*sigh*

I used to protest about the % of music threads and the TYPE of music, too....but once Max made his declaration, I said to myself..."self", I said, "you might as well give up and go with the flow,'cause the good parts are as good as it gets, and the idiots are gonna be here anyway!"

I, also, have been reading 'fewer' threads than I used to, for various reasons: 1)there are MORE, and time is a factor.. 2)they are getting repetitious in some ways, 3) I am tired of my OWN reaction to anonymous 'guests'

but as I have said, there is NO place like this, and I will never give it up...I have met people here who have become real friends RT, and I have learned so much it awes me. And it has allowed me to hone my own thoughts on many subjects---musical and non-musical.

I am a better person for having spent 5++ years in this digital craziness, and I chose it of my own free will....