The night shift aside, I have been party to collective opinions and snarky behavior recently that I fear drive away well-meaning posters. It is intimidating as heck to join this board in the first place, but I've seen posters who challenge the dominant meme get blasted into oblivion with cutting replies and multiple dislikes that are very easy to take personally--especially since some are intended to do so.

This is not a plea for a Kumbaya session, just an observation. We are getting older and our format is quaint. Contrary opinions make this place interesting, but challenging them rhetorically without real argument makes our board no fun for people that think differently, and likely no fun for different people.

I guess I am asking us not to gang up on posters who are critical--even stupidly so--of an opinion most of us share.  I have been fortunate to meet many of you personally, which helps me temper comments and accept disagreement; but most of us are strangers. Passive-aggressiveness rules message boards. I hope we can keep it from ruling ours.