My own take on this (from someone who is an erratic poster anyway) is that this forum used to have a friendly and cooperative atmosphere to it and that that has changed in recent months and I believe that that is putting people off posting. It has become much more confrontational environment where people aren't really willing to listen to other people's opinions and just want to scream and yell that they're right and the other person is wrong. In other words it has changed to being like much of the rest of the internet!
Hopefully if people can calm down a bit and be a lot more respectful of other people's opinions then this forum can return to something like how it once was. You don't have to agree with someone else's opinions but clearly stating why you disagree in a friendly and constructive manner is much more likely to get them to change their mind and agree with you that simply turning it into an argument.
It is also extremely arrogant to assume that you're always right - if you're going to start a discussion or express a point of view on something then you should be prepared to read other people's responses with an open mind as they might just have a good point! If you're not doing that then you will rapidly gain a reputation as an arrogant person and that will damage the credibility of anything further that you write! If you want to be an accepted expert on something then you need to gain the respect from your audience and ignoring their points of view instantly destroys that respect and your own credibility!
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