Civility

[Palatinus]

I removed a few posts today.  I was compelled to by the kind of language directed at others on a personal level.  I really did not like removing anyone's posts and I would like to not have to do that again.  I really appreciate everyone coming on here and having discussions as well as disagreements and even arguments.  I just really would like everyone to remain as civil as possible even when disagreeing with someone else and even if you don't like their tone or the way they put something.  Criticism can make you feel badly and condescension came come across even if you didn't intend it.  These things happen.  The worst thing to do in response to these things is to get nasty though.

   It is understandable that people on this site would disagree or even get angry with each other.  A group of people playing a game that has been out of print for over ten years shows a certain amount of stubbornness.  But it also shows a certain faithfulness and depth of character that I think we can all appreciate in each other.  The important thing to remember is that feelings of angry or annoyance will pass but if you post in the heat of the moment something personally offensive it doesn't just appear and disappear in a flash like the emotion; it stays and sticks out like a sore thumb.

   I hope I have handled all of this well enough not to put anyone off or discourage anyone from posting freely.  Thank you to all of you for your participation in this forum and for your many many wonderful posts.

[Palatinus]

I have removed more posts, modified one for language, and temporarily banned a user.  To those of you who are a part of this on-going problem, please stop.  Everyone here is trying to have a good time and useful discussions.  Sometimes contention over a particular topic can cause tempers to rise.  That's fine.  If you feel the need to strongly disagree with someone, that's great too.  Being obnoxious in your disagreements is annoying and it would be better if you weren't, but if that's they way it is fine.  Just being down right abusive and attacking people because they annoy you and not because you have any legitimate point about the content of their argument is not okay and needs to stop.  I don't care how ticked off you get about the way certain people phrase their disagreement.  Also, the F-word is pretty much not okay.  It really lowers the quality of the site.

[Palatinus]

So Rucker chose to leave the forum.  He felt that he was the victim of bullying and decided to no longer deal with it.  Whether or not things were as bad for Rucker as he felt they were, this is a very sad thing that he felt he had to leave.  He has contributed a lot to the forum.  I know in recent weeks he has posted things that were off-topic and personal attacks, but the vast majority of his posts were very relevant and appreciated.  Regardless of how anyone felt about Rucker, please take a moment to reflect if anything that you say could be said in a more civil way.  No one should feel the need to harshly berate anyone's ideas.  We can all talk about things even when we disagree without saying negative things about each other.