NOS wrote:This is a great forum, with many upstanding members. I've felt very welcome here, even when others didn't agree with my opinion, I was never made to feel inferior in my statements. I've noticed that we can talk calmly about most issues and voice different opinions without worry of having a flame session.
Gotta love Texas!

For the most part, 90-95%, of the time, I think this is correct. But I think we can still do better. The vast majority of regular forum members always consistently post positive, calm replies - even when completely in disagreement with the statements of the person they are replying to.
However, there are a handful of forum members, whose normal postings I generally always enjoy and respect, that will IMO, too quickly either label or post a short but inflammatory snide comment, that adds no value to the discussion. When this happens, especially to a new poster, it serves no purpose other than to escalate an already heated discussion. It has happened to me and I have watched it happen to others. It's not a rampant problem, but I do feel it can make our forum appear, at times, hostile to contrary opinions.
Again, I really enjoy hanging out here and do feel comradely on the board. I am only posting this to encourage everyone to practice patience and the deescalation skills that we know so well.
I didn't have a lot of time to craft this reply carefully - I hope it is read in the manner in which it was intended - which is that of constructive feedback from a fairly new member.
t

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