A Plea for Sanity

All,
It has been noted, by some who a regulars, and some who are less frequent
posters, that ROFF has gotten nearly painful to read of late. Bitter exchanges,
misinterpretations, off-hand insults and the like are far too common, the
latest example being Dave LaCourse's "dialogue" with several folks. Perhaps it
is, as suggested, the annual "cabin fever". I think, in some cases, it goes
deeper than that. Here in the US, we are in the midst of a divisive election
year. Further, as noted in his own posts, David has some serious health
worries. I think such worries can, and do, color one's tolerance and manner of
dealing with others. About a year back, Mike Connor and I had a bitter
exchange, which upon reflection was probably made far more virulent by the fact
that both of us were in distress over the health of a loved one. Not that such
are excuses, but I am here to make a plea for tolerance of others which seems
to have evaporated from the posts of some on here. As Wolfgang noted in another
thread, this place has been capable of spawning friendships, fishing
partnerships and a special kind of kinship among its participants over the past
10 years. I have always enjoyed the intellectual debates and downright
silliness that occurs here, but as wayno noted, the tearing asunder of
friendships is painful to watch. I beg for sanity, and an attempt to understand
the feeling of others. Take the tongue-in-check stuff with a grain of salt,
understand the limitations of Usenet communication and try to bring something
to the table that is positive once in a while. I'll probably get the
predicatable amount of response along the lines of "don't tell me what to
do...",etc, but really couldn't care less. I am not telling anyone what to do,
just hoping that some can find it in their souls to do the right thing, and act
like adults.
Tom