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alastairmonk

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Why is it that I see more and more posts which are missing simple civility or common respect anymore? Over the past few days, I've read a number of posts which include words like "stupid," "idiot," "ignorant" and their variants. Many of them are directed at other members of the forums.I may be in the minority here, but I'm really disappointed in the recent trend away from common decency and civility. I don't read the flight simulation forums here or anyplace else to see a flame war... there are limitless options on the Internet if I were to wish to see that. It used to be that the flight simulation forums and newsgroups were among the places where you'd find reasonable people discussing the topics at hand. Over the past few weeks, that's simply not the case here.I'm not going to blast anybody by name here, nor am I going to blame AVSIM. Tom, Francois, and the others have plenty to do without mediating these spats on a regular basis. Those who've been involved in the bickering, acrimony, name-calling, and whatever else you wish to call it know who they are.The only thing I'd like to ask is that people hit the "Preview" button at the bottom before posting a message. Seriously. It only takes a moment. Once you've got a preview up in front of you, read your message again. Don't read it as you intended it written. Read it as though you're the target audience. Better yet read it as if you're somebody just stumbling across the topic. I'm sometimes amazed how different a post may sound to others than it did when I wrote it (and more than once, I've just canceled the message because I can't find a way to say what I want to without coming across as a schmuck).I'm a firm believer that the written word is, while sometimes the most eloquent, is the most often misunderstood. What you think is a sarcastic reply may come across as insulting or ignorant. What you intend as witty may come off as caustic. It's made worse when you consider that not all of us who participate at AVSIM speak English as a primary language. Idiomatic English is a different language than that which non-English speakers are taught... and American is not the same language that is spoken in the UK. As somebody who is married to a woman who is forced to speak her fourth language around the house, I can tell you that "linguistics" is the leading cause of marital strife in our home.There. Just wanted to get that off my chest. (Yes, I previewed this one several times and modified it before posting)

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Guest emergency_pants

Bill,I'll certainly take your advice. I'm sure I've either been misunderstood or simply not written very clearly and/or carefully in the past.Well said, Sir.Simon.

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Unfortunately, there will always be spammers and more or less evil people around. Not all of them have to be interested in flight simulation either.But, I think you said it very well, and hopefully some people will calm down a bit.Dave

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Hi Bill,Over at the "other" forum I had made some comments which may have been taken the wrong way myself and in the process may have lost a potential friend. Even though I had said "cheers" at the end of the "post" my comments were taken out of context and as such resulted in a rather caustic PM winding up in my in box from the person whom I directed the post at. After doing a search of this individual's past postings, I found that he, on numerous occasions had used a flamethrower with other people within the forum. And since his private inbox is not enabled I was not able to respond to his PM. This caused me to do some soul searching and withdraw from the forum for a time. I had actually issued a public apology. After this period of time I was able to slowly get back into the forum, measure my words carefully so as not to offend anyone, but yet provoke thoughtful discussion.Cheers:-wave

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Well said ! I view these Forums (here and "elsewhere") as primarily for the dissemination of help and advice, and as such there is really no need for unwarranted bad manners.I have some sympathy for some of the regulars who get frustrated with the same basic questions cropping up all the time (sometimes only separated by a couple of posts) but even here there is the choice of merely ignoring the question or posting a civil reply to go search for themselves.However, we all know that as in every other walk of life, there are individuals who like the sound of their own voice, and others who want everything now and have no regard for others. Out in the "real" world I meet it all the time, so fail to be surprised when this "normal" behavior appears here.I fully support your request for civility (and, dare I say it, would like to see the "preview before posting" option used to tidy up punctuation sometimes completely absent, but that's a different matter !) and hope that those who recognise their own "hothead" tendancies take the opportunity for self-imposed improvement.

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