In the years I have been participating here at The Pilots of America, I have learned many useful things, and, most importantly, have met some of the finest people I know, some of my best friends in the world.
I like the fact that, because this forum exists, there is at least one married couple with beautiful children, people who met through Pilots of America. I met my best friend at a Pilots of America-organized event, and I cherish that fact greatly.
So the behavior of people, in general, varies from time to time, and maybe some of them lose track of the fact that, whether you are speaking to someone face-to-face, or typing to them in an Internet forum, you should always be civil, polite. It's not always easy to do, and the times don't help, but I still think it's worth the effort.
When I type something, before I click, "post," I ask myself this: "would I say this to a room full of people, in person?" If the answer is anything less than an unqualified, "yes," I delete it and move on. This is never served me poorly.
One other thing that I find very useful:, and this applies in life at large, as well as in our imaginary world here: if there are multiple ways another person's comments could be taken, some of which are harsh, and others of which are innocent, I will always give the benefit of the doubt and assume that the intent was not to offend. It is so very easy to express oneself in a way that, without intent, can hurt feelings, and so very hurtful to accuse others of malicious intent when none was intended.
