This happens every now and then.... things get heated somewhere along the way and then someone gets upset and stomps off (not saying it's right or wrong, I don't even know what happened in this instance) and then a thread is started to scold all the members that did wrong, wrong, wrong in the eyes of whoever starts that specific thread. Talk about judgmental and turning the tables around on everyone else. Hypocritical, anyone?
And then members join in, some stand up for those that are simply offering opinions (could those opinions be offered nicely? of course, but this is the internet and we can't see facial expressions or know the true tone of the message that someone is trying to get across and since none of us are mind readers we can just move along to the next point) and then other members gang up on others for being rude and not following that posters own idea of what someone should say and how they should say it. Whew. Anyone else tired?
It is the internet, people! Yes, we all have made some very good friendships. Yes, there are times when we all get on each other's nerves and rant and rave. It happens. I know this.
But what it comes down to is knowing that we are a hugely diverse group of people, from every walk of life, from every culture. We all think, eat, dream, walk differently. We all love differently, we speak differently. So when someone posts and they want opinions, they have to know that they are not going to get some rigged response. If the thread interests enough people then the OP is going to get a wide range of opinions and they don't have to agree with them, but they certainly asked for them and there is no blame in that.
So, maybe we need more explicit, concrete, forum rules. For instance, if you want to post a rant and do NOT want opinions, say so. If you want feedback on something that happened, say so. If you want people to not give a rip about a lot of things, forget about it. If there is one thing that is true about all of us, it is that we are passionate about something, somewhere along the way. And no one can expect any of us imperfect beings to just turn ourselves off when we are asked to participate in something. That will never happen. And for goodness sakes, stop blaming each other and pointing fingers, this isn't grade school either. Know yourself and whether you can appropriately handle yourself in a heated debated/thread/rant, etc.. and know when to walk away so that these types of threads aren't started anymore. And, oh, yes, one more point.. be true to yourself... don't act one way or another because it has been implied that it is required of you... just know yourself and your own boundaries.
