I have not read posts here attacking another Board member personally
Max, you have got to be kidding.

In this kind of discussion, I feel often that there is a cultural fact about the way of living and interacting in the USA.
I will try to explain: we Europeans are usually - as far as I know - less careful about beeing kind, so in some sense we grow "with an harder skin" and we don't feel really offended or invased, even if an American would feel that way in the same condition.
As an example, in my country it is possible to meet an old friend after a long time, to hit him on a shoulder, and say "che ti prenda un colpo"= literally "(hope that you can die now) by an heart attack"!
And, believe it or not, it MEANS AFFECTION!