[MeoTwister5]

Originally Posted by Qilin

This is, for one reason or another, turning into an argument between two factions, which also represent two prevalent ways of viewing the forum:

Spoiler for two sides:

One side seems to prefer to look at the forum primarily as a means of discourse, a pure melting pot of ideas. As such, contextual barriers to freedom of discourse like tact and cultural values are often eschewed in favor of more detailed discussion, and as long as any given argument follows the conventions of logical discourse, it's fair game.

The other side sees the forum as an extension of real world social interactions. With that view in mind, it's self evident that social etiquette is every bit as important or even more important than proper discourse. Things like trust, humility, and respect are given equal or even greater value than logical arguments.

What kind of forum are we trying to create in the first place, I wonder?

Let's just say that, in my case, I'm with the latter. How I act here I act in real, and vice versa. I have very little respect for people who use places like these to act out their repressed a-hole tendencies they can't do in real life due to threat of repercussions.

And I always put civility of discourse above everything else.