This board is unreadable if it decays into useless infighting. But it also becomes useless

[lindysalsagal]

if differing opinions about policies are stunted.

I don't want to wade through pages of angry personal attacks. Not interesting to me.

I also don't want to just read one party line, either. I want to read differing opinions so that I will learn something, even if it is that I don't agree with a position.

It seems to me that sometimes posts are shut down over policy and others are allowed to continue when they've become personal and ugly.

It's run by volunteers, and that's a good thing. It's not perfect, and that's a good thing.

I don't have time to comb the internet for news and politics, so this board serves my purposes. Personally, I'd like to see more differing opinions here and less personal insults. But I don't have the time to be a moderator, so I know they have to be allowed to make the calls as they come up.

It is human nature to attempt to build a following and gain supporters, keeping score, taking posts personally. But that is unsustainable, and erodes the quality of the discourse.

This board should be about learning, not winning. Reading this board may upset you, but that's OK, too. Challenge your own assumptions. If you can't take the heat, take up knitting.

I suggest that when a poster annoys you, make your policy case, cite your source politely, keep it impersonal, and move on. Or just ignore it. No one is forcing anyone to follow a thread to the end.

Making the moderators our parents, choosing between squabbling siblings, is a foolish waste of precious resources. So is shutting out differing opinions.

I don't think moderators should feel compelled to edit much at all. Except for LBN, let it roll, except in the most egregious cases.

Thanks to the moderators, and everyone who's taught me so much on here. I'm so grateful that I'm no longer among the uninformed.