Note from a New Moderator for New Members

[Webstral]

We seem to have a number of new members over the past three or four months. This is very encouraging, as there was a time when many of us were worried that the forum was in decline.

For the newcomers, I'd like to offer a heartfelt welcome and a few pointers about how we do business here. This forum is a gentlemen's club. With very few exceptions, we prefer drawing room language and intellectual discourse to the sort crass and crude written expression so prevalent elsewhere. We prefer informed opinion (or acknowledged uninformed opinion) to the kind of ill-considered bombast one can so readily obtain elsewhere. We avoid baiting each other. The old hands on this forum are here for an exchange of ideas, not electronic shouting matches. If you are of like mind, we welcome you. If you are not of like mind, you will find your interests better addressed elsewhere.

Law and Legbreaker got themselves banned because they practiced standard Internet behavior here (Leg's recent attempts to conform to the forum's atmosphere notwithstanding). Given Kato's saintly patience and tolerance, these posters have accomplished something remarkable, albeit not commendable. Whether I am good role model or not, I'd ask everyone to have a look at the tone and content of the posts of the other moderators, plus Paul, Chico, and many of the other long-termers here. Colorful characters are welcome; colorful metaphors should be used with great discretion. If in doubt, write your reply as a Word document, then wait a few hours or a day. When I follow my own advice, I do a lot better at exchanging ideas.

Webstral