Well, I disagree, Tom.

And you're an ass.

;-p

Actually, I'm not comfortable with the personal hostilities on display here either. I realize hostilities are bound to flare up from time to time, but a constant background hum of sniping can bring down the overall tone of this place.

I appreciate your measured, thoughtful contributions, Tom. I especially enjoy your simple response to irrational or intemperate comments and posts: "Oy." Always makes me smile.

There's nothing wrong with calling out someone's ideas specifically -- it's when you call out someone themselves that the game changes.

However, I submit that the reason why we see this is there is a scapegoat group here that no one seems to have an issue trashing:

repugs
rethugs
Republicans are fascist
McLame/McShame etc.

We routinely see posts that fall under the neat Orwellian bleat of

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

What happens is that enough of this bleating legitimizes these types of discussions -- which, of course, brings down the general tone of the boards.

If we required more scholarly expression of points of view, I guarantee you that the tone of the board would change.

The "problem" (viewed in this light of trying to change the board tone) is that some people come here for reasons other than enlightenment and discussion. Loneliness being one, boredom being another. Still others come here to see their name in lights.

And here lies the rub. I think this also explains why some of blogs more akin to PEOPLE magazine are on the rec list while others more akin to THE ECONOMIST are not.

I am finding more consistent content on DailyKos these days, but perhaps the new software will help these issues.

Communities always form, but the rules they follow have some variation. I don't expect people to never say anything mean, I'm not a Pollyanna, but I felt we had a consensus that we like this place. Therefore, we should protect the commons, which means the listed blog post titles.

That means not inviting counterattack by posting incendiary titles. Nasty stuff can also show up on Google searches and get bandied around as exemplifying wacko liberals.

I don't know that any one blogsite can be all things to all people. We are all here for different reasons.

I am not an intellectual, although I consider myself to be of reasonable intelligence. Some of the conversations here are way over my head, but I still read them in hopes of learning, and often do. In these conversations, I normally keep my mouth shut and just listen. Every once in awhile I will hear something that makes me crazy, or makes me want to cheer and I'll add a comment.

Every once in awhile I'll venture into the conversation. Most of the time, people are respectful and will disagree politely. Some of the times I remember most fondly are heated discussions with people I'm pretty sure think I'm an idiot, but they teach and ask questions, acknowledge when I have a good point, and sometimes even "dumb down" the conversation a little so I can participate.

But, I'm not always in the mood for an argument, and the posts that point me to interesting articles keep me from having to scour the net...a time saver I find valuable, so I'd hate to see those go away.

And I like that people like me have the opportunity to spout off from time to time. My posts are more emotional than intellectual, so I try to keep them to a minimum, and rely mostly on "comments" to make my points.

I like the community post that Raider started, and that I've been babysitting. It's nice to see things on there that don't get enough rec's to be around for awhile. It's a good place for newbie's posts to be highlighted...Although I enjoy very much the posts that you big guys make, and that almost always make the reader rec list, it's nice to hear from the little guys, too.

Anyway, my point is, this place, for all it's warts is the best blogsite I've found. It really does feel like a community, and I'm enjoying being a small part of it.