A few days ago I posted something to the effect that I felt like we were losing the board, as we have known it. [and was roundly castigated for that by some] I had vowed not to post again on the subject; but hell, I break resolutions all the time and here is an open opportunity staring me in the face.
Actually, there have been some rather nasty sentiments expressed here of late (although nothing prolonged). We have seen the return of an old political operative from Jerusalem. We have seen strangers pop in with patriotic pronouncements. We have seen old hands and members and such post almost exclusively on the Topic for ten days. This was once a refuge from the ol' day-to-day; now it sometimes seems like just another flame war, but with more civilized language.
Am I overstating the case? Overreacting? As someone stated above, we've been here before (although not with as much provocation). But people are paying less heed to the unwritten (and written) guidelines. We haven't been able to limit the venue. We haven't been able to close off long threads (there's always that one last point that has to be made threadnodically). We have reverted to using the easy oaths and (perhaps worse) shibboleths. So is that it? Are we become just another board?
