Personal Attacks Had Better Stop Now!!

[Charles L. Cotton]

I have no idea what is going on, but the Moderators have been dealing with an increasing number of personal attacks. Many if not most of them have been by new or nearly new Members, which indicates people either aren't reading the rules or don't intend to comply with the rules.

I'm going to be perfectly honest and blunt; knock off the personal attacks! Our tolerance level is dropping at a record pace and I'm tired of Moderators spending a lot of time editing, deleting or moving posts that contain personal attacks. If this doesn't stop immediately, we're going to start using the "suspension" feature we've never used before. Either that or we'll just start banning people.

We're not about to let new Members destroy the atmosphere our Members have created over the last five years. If you have the slightest doubt that your post could be construed as a personal attack, then reword it. A good rule of thumb is this: if you are talking about the poster rather than the issue, then you are on thin ice. And don't even bother prefacing an insult with "I don't mean to offend you, but . . ." or something similar -- it won't work.

Chas.

[joe817]

Thank you. This needed to be said.

[USA1]

Thank you. This needed to be said.

[MadMonkey]

Oddly enough, we're having a very similar problem on the North Texas Airsoft board... started about a year ago with a huge influx of new members.

I don't know if it's a younger generation, or simply a generation that spent most of their lives hiding behind a computer screen instead of having face-to-face conversations (which, incidentally, is what I partially blame some of the intense political polarization nowadays on).

[baldeagle]

Charles, I'd like to be the first to apologize. I wrote what I thought was a reasonable response, but the moderator made it clear that I should not respond in that way and edited my post to remove the offending part. I have read the rules, but I didn't think what I had written was an attack. I understand better now what is expected, and I have endeavored not to head in that direction since then.

[fickman]

Oddly enough, we're having a very similar problem on the North Texas Airsoft board... started about a year ago with a huge influx of new members.

I don't know if it's a younger generation, or simply a generation that spent most of their lives hiding behind a computer screen instead of having face-to-face conversations (which, incidentally, is what I partially blame some of the intense political polarization nowadays on).

I don't think it's any one generation. . . it's the climate of the internet. All age groups have rude people, and most internet communities are incubators for bullies e.g. AR15.com, and fatwallet.com/forums/finance are ones I've noticed.

The atmosphere here is so unique (sadly) and refreshing that I bet most people are taken by surprise when they first experience it.

Regardless of the cause, I'm glad that Chas and the moderators are willing to protect this community.

[longtooth]

I will say thank you from all of us.
LT