That said, yes its still better than Yahoo, AOL (formerly; they turned off the comments section because AOL is full of extremist... everything), youtube, and so on. No one can control everything. The mods are doing their best but as far as I have seen, the current forums are pretty civil, or at least they are in comparison to any public media where real names are written down, regardless of whether or not the story is true or false. Public media publishing real names can really throw a life down, even if public excuses are made later on. At least here it is anonymity an no real damage can be done
(other than wanting to promote civil discussions on the boards, I don't really personally give a s**t if someone says d3 is a - *insert whatever insult you want here...really, do your worst if you so wish and enjoy it!...*- ).
Anyway, I am all for respect and hope posters here want that too. By respect, I also mean being able to tolerate different ideas and ways of thinking and agree to disagree in a civil manner, without assuming the worst from each other.
That said, its pretty clear that a few of us hate a few of the others and some truly dumb crap is thrown around here plenty. It would be nice if some posters could forgive each other sometimes and grow up some tolerance instead of always poking each other with a stick just to see another's reaction (it does appear to me that some enjoy doing the latter). Otherwise, you end up with ridiculous unending feuds like along the lines of: oh! I have the right to kill your chicken because your great-grandfather killed my grandfather's donkey! Instead of assuming bad intentions from each side, some posters should take some time to cool down and ask civil questions that are not meant to provoke but give others a fair opportunity to explain what they meant in an open manner.
Some other times one also has to accept someone else's answer (as long as not illegal...and if it is, simply report it to a mod ), as shocking as it can be to their way of thinking, will not change, regardless of the arguments... different opinions will always exist and be expressed, no matter what is said or for whatever reasons and it is entirely "normal" (I really love how "la normalite" - the normality - and "l'anormalite" -the abnormality - sound the same in French! ). Not being able to share opposing ideas or opinions at all is far worse than having the opportunity to disagree in a civil way, as frustrating as it can be sometimes (and how much tempting old cavern style skull bashing can be :p Heck, if we would always agree with each other I'd bet we would likely still all believe the Earth is flat...or worse... :whacked: ).
Posters should accept that and do their best to express their opinions in a respectful way that takes into consideration the (very likely) existence of other point of views. When moderators have to answer to the "How to put an end to the truly dumb crap " question or come to this conclusion (
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Darth333/double-facepalm.jpg) it is very rarely a good thing and, save exception, everyone loses.
Just my 0.02$