Jo
From posting on other boards, it seems to me that each board tends to move towards a culture (best word I could think of) that is uniquely its own. Whilst I have no problems with re-hashed topics in general, obvious questions, or a search through eternal threads, if it causes irritation to some, then certainly it is worth discussing. In theory, though, even if we arrive at some sort of consensus, it will only be a conditional one. New people will arrive, and some regulars may leave. As the composition changes, the culture will, too. Apart from Anu, I doubt if any of us have more than the average level of control over the administration of this board. At our worst we could be rude and personally insulting, and thick-skinned trolls and spammers will shrug that off.
I suspect that, because the primary feature of this board appears to be one of discovery (together) rather than contention (to convince the other of your point), we can usually manage to maintain both an intellectually stimulating, yet friendly, environment. This will, however, fail from time to time. Should we berate ourselves about it, or see it as just another of those slings and arrows that we could, perhaps, shrug off?
I admit that my 'tolerant' attitude comes from spending a great deal of time on boards where contention is the name of the game, and without a 'live and let live' approach, I would soon be turned into a quivering, twitching insult machine. Even so, I do not think that we have yet reached the breast-beating stage where we need to re-examine our raison d'etre and conduct.
Just my opinion, though. Perhaps we fear that future newbies may be too sensistive to take a little rough and tumble? What's the opinion of our masses?
cheer
the sunshine warrior
