Post #651332 by LostIsland on Sun, Sep 9, 2012 10:42 AM

Interesting thread, but somethings to consider. A lot of folks may come here with the intention of sharing some info or media, only to find out that what they have to offer is already represented on this site (a lot of stuff you know). Other folks may come here to share and/or help out only to be turned away by rudeness (have experienced that myself). The injection of unnecessary, unwelcome drama and negativity into some folks' life is enough to keep them from participating in the community at all (I was a lurker for years because of this behavior). Then there is the question of whether we want folks being "judged" as to what their "value" to the community is. The diversity of any community is based on it's participants, not necessarily their contribution. While I would love to see less negativity and rudeness on this site, I would hate to see someone treated badly because their contribution may be perceived as lacking. Some folks come here to learn, some folks come here to teach and some folks just come here to hang out and talk with good folks. The different motives in accessing this site come with different sets of self-inflicted responsibilities.

I would love to see the negativity and rudeness disappear from this site, but I would also hate seeing folks judging each other as to whether they personally believe each other's contributions are worthwhile or not. Unless negative, abusive or unreasonable, maybe we should just accept folks for who they are and realize that while we may not know the particular value of someone's contribution, we also don't know how that value may change just around the corner. If we alienate them before they have learned or developed their role within the community, we may be losing out on a hell of an artist, writer, contributor or even good friend to tilt back a few zombies with. Just a thought.....