Over the years I have been a member of several different Internet discussion groups and forums about Las Vegas and gambling.
Most of them died for the same reason: disrespect of others that created ill will and prompted members to leave.
It's easy to be disrespectful of others when you're online. You don't have to worry about getting socked in the nose, and you don't have to worry about your wife looking at you like you're a raving lunatic when you hurl insults.
Online, there are those who are "right" and will pound away at those who are wrong. You wouldn't bury a friend or neighbor with insults after winning a point, would you?
I won't mention the other forum here by name, but there is another forum where the members literally will gang up and pound away at anyone who doesn't see it the same way that the majority sees it. On that forum "right" equals "might" which means they will pound the poster with the wrong opinion until he goes away.
If folks participated in online discussions the way they talk at dinner parties, the online discussion groups would survive.
We've had our problems here. In part because i let the problems continue. I let the problems continue in an attempt to protect the concept of free speech. But as I mentioned in another thread "free speech sucks" and sometimes what is protected as free speech is simply trash talk. Yes, even the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled to protect trash talk.
In the last couple of weeks we have welcomed here some new members and I thank them for joining. They have made some very strong contributions here and if you've noticed our number of active viewers has increased dramatically. There used to be a time when we had about 20 or 30 active viewers on the site. Now, we are usually running more than 100 active viewers on the site at any time, and this morning I saw more than 160 active viewers on the site at one time. We have more active viewers on this discussion forum than on another forum that recently sold in a million-dollar-plus deal.
I think our community has grown because we have added a lot of quality discussions here and I want that to continue. Thank you for your contributions. Thank you for starting new topics of discussion, too. You have broadened our horizons and I thank you.
I would hate to see the recent growth destroyed by antagonistic comments.
Please. When you post, instead of posting as if you are sitting at home or in your office without your wife or significant under watching every word that you type, post as if you are having a discussion at the dinner table during a lavish dinner party with neighbors and business associates -- people whose feelings you wouldn't want to hurt, ever.
If we act like we are at a dinner party with friends and neighbors and associates, our forum will grow, our discussions will be better, and we will all learn more from the additional information that is shared here.
Thanks.
