Harry Krause wrote:
Frankly. I find this place vapid now. I don't miss the strife, but
without real discussions about issues, what's the point of having a
discussion group?


Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
Allow me. There are blogs and other groups where commentary is not
only warranted, but invited.

No, please allow me:

Harry, talk boats. Or shut up. We know that you can talk
boats if you want, the choice is yours.

It's true that there are other places on the WWWeb where
political comments & discussion (and a fair amount of
name-calling) is appropriate & welcome. But it's silly to
drag a huge amount of politically motivated bickering &
butt-biting into a boating forum.

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
... Here, the only "discussions" were
related to who insulted who and why - there wasn't any real discussion

That's not true. There was a certain amount of real
discussion going on. I actually learned a fair amount and
followed a number of interesting links.

- just a lot of hootin' and hollerin' and posting "articles" that
everybody had pretty much read anyway.


Then how come every time I posted documentation of my
statements, a fair number of anti's always rose up in heated
disarray, proclaiming "it ain't so" even though they never
had any facts to indicate that it ain't? You did this
yourself several times, although you can see I'm not one to
hold a grudge.

.... The
past few days have been interesting - everybody has gotten along and
everyone has had fun and maybe even learned something along the way.

I much prefer this as it is. The volume is down, the language is
normal and things are just fine.


I agree. The last few days have been a big improvement. It's
obvious that the offenders can use self-control *if* they
choose. Perhaps with the right kind of encouragement from
the rest of us, they'll continue to exercise that self-control.



What has interested me is that there have been several attempts to
initiate combat, but they have been rejected soundly.


Perhaps.

Frankly, I see this thread as the first feeble stirrings of
the next round. Just wait and see.

Regards
Doug King