One would have thought that the lessons that we learned in kindergarten would have by now become second nature & we wouldn’t need to be reminded to play nice.

There have been several blogs/sites that I stopped visiting because all I would have to type is something as simple as “I love sunshine & fresh air” and I would be slammed with insults! That is crazy! Sometimes I would agree with someone’s post & the poster would come back & tell me to buzz off (well, not those exact words, but you get my drift), that he/she doesn’t need my validation! That is even crazier!

That people are so quick to just start firing off insults, and even threats of physical violence, over someone’s opinion is just so sad. I can’t begin to imagine that these same people would speak to their boss, neighbor, spouse, children like that!

And unless something is spelled so incorrectly that it takes away from the meaning I see no reason to play “English Major Patrol Officer”. All one would have to say is “I am sorry. I don’t get your meaning. Perhaps something is misspelled?” or something polite like that. Heck, we all get dyslexia fingers now & again. It is insulting to constantly point out someone’s spelling & grammatical errors. If we were speaking face to face would we point out each others accents, mispronunciations, speech impediments? No, that’s impolite- at least that’s what my kindergarten teacher told me! So that same respect should apply to posters.

Well, I for one have enjoyed this site and only recently started posting any comments- I wanted to read how people were treating each other before putting my own neck out only to have it chopped. So far, so good! I haven’t noticed anything too “snarky”, but maybe that’s because they’re removed before I see them?

Thanks Erin!

I like much. Keep write good!!

You’re just keeping the spam and truly nasty internet trolls away. It’s a breath of fresh air, and I wish other sites would follow suit.

“Hi. You have nice written here. Good discuss. I shall read often. IRRELEVANT LINK TO VIAGRA CANADIAN DRUGS.”

Keep up the good work.

I think a firm hand with moderation, simply deleting without explanation if necessary, is better. Unfortunately posts like this will do little to deter the link farmers and spammers – would it be worth looking into an anti-spam system like the one WordPress uses, or something? Or a membership-based system?

I know I’ve often had a bad habit of firing up and mouthing off without thinking, something I’m trying hard to remedy.

This is a wonderful blog and I hope it will ‘stay nice’ despite the increasing popularity. (Popularity is sometimes a negative force, no?) By the way, if you’re a regular reader and not participating in the forum, do pop over and join in. Really nice people and fun conversations.

>> “Would this be how I would phrase my disagreement if I were being asked to state my opinion [...] out on a first date with someone I’d had a crush on since the third grade?”

You mean Amanda I.? awwww… There’s a whole blog dedicated to that topic…somehwere…

Best,
Shalin

Anyway, love this blogsite and hope the postive vibes stay postive!!!

Or when people write a comment as if an original post was directly specifically and exclusively to them, and they get all huffy and defensive.

Frankly, I very rarely feel the need to disagree with OP material because if I disagreed with the main writer of a site … I wouldn’t read it. If I disagree, it’s most commonly with other commenters! But after some early missteps (it does take time to master netiquette) I think I’ve gotten it to the point where I can write a reasonable comment.

So, Erin, I’m with you on this one. If I get PMSy and start bitching, delete me with my blessing.