The personality of a thread is the responsibility of the contributors, not the original poster. One of the things some don't seem to get, is this isn't a realtime conversation. We're not sitting in some bar, pub or coffee shop, where it would be odd to sit and say nothing for an hour or a day. We're in a web forum, and nothing says you have to be slapping the keyboard in immediate response to someone with whom you have a vital disagreement.

OT posts also show what people are made of, how they handle themselves, and how they deal with ill-considered posts. One of the primary ways I judge people here is how well they can separate their OT feelings/behavior from the main forum.

It disturbs me when I see that people can't control themselves sometimes, but I would never blame an "instigator." Individual responsibility just seems to be something that some are unacquainted with in their real life, or don't feel is necessary in the context of a forum.