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Things can sometimes get heated in this forum, and as everyone knows there are some people who go through life deliberately passing wind just to see the reaction.
I have been a licensed amateur radio operator going on 50 years, and there has always been an unwritten rule that any subjects other than politics and religion were allowed. As I said it was an unwritten rule and is sometimes broken,especially by newer members of the fraternity.
We have no such rule, and I don't think I would want one in spite of its obvious wisdom. I believe in free speech, it's something in our national soul, handed down by our British brethren. This was never a forum designed for the thin skinned or the feint of heart. It was designed simply to get off topic posts out of the computer forum, where they constituted a distraction to the business at hand.
We have some less mature members (and I don't necessarily mean young, we have our share of immature older people) who have a habit personally attacking anyone they have decided they don't like, regardless of what the person posts.
My point is do not try to turn this sometimes barroom brawl into a polite tea party. That is not likely to ever happen. This forum has ben very successful in keeping contention out of our computer forum.
For those looking to the moderators to protect their tender sensibilities, That is not likely to happen either. and when our good old members join in the frey, it makes it difficult to oppose one and not the other. And as I said, we all believe in free speech.
If you expect shunning the jerks will get rid of them, forget it, there are plenty of other jerks on their side. If good people shun them, you will just find the jerks overrunning the forum, since their natural predator's will not be holding their populations in check.
In the end, people come and people go for a thousand reasons of their own. They may blame it on the arguing, but that is only one small reason people don't stay active. There is not a forum on the internet that does not have members leaving, and being replaced. Many of them are very decorous forums discussing great literature, science, and medicine. People just get tired or sick or develop other interests. that's life.
If you decide to leave we wish you well, if you decide to come back we bid you welcome. If you can't stand to be attacked, stay out of contentious threads. If you state an opinion on anything, be able to support your position, hopefully without becoming disagreeable.
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