Excellent post Dart!
In that vein I have something I would like to express publicly. A few weeks ago I made an unfortunate statement in the SZ that was rude, boarish, uncivil, and in violation of the RoC towards ReverendSlappy. I was rightly punished for it by the MC. It's been weighing on my conscience ever since, and a couple of days ago I apologized to Slap privately. But since my comment was made in public, I think only right to state that I did indeed apologize to him for what I said.
And I must also say that Slappy was very gracious and humble in accepting my apology, and frankly, I feel much better about it. We actually exchanged several PM's and kinda got to know each other a little better outside of the SZ environment, and that I think is a very positive thing.
I was waiting for SZ to reopen before posting this, but Dart's post made it seem appropriate to post it here. So, thanks Dart...and thanks again Rev.
Frank,
Thanks for mentioning that publicly, though I certainly don't think it was necessary.
The SZ is a place where we discuss (mostly) important matters that we take very, very seriously. If we didn't take them seriously, we wouldn't spend our idle time prattling on and on about them on a website somewhere. But seeing that we do, it's entirely unsurprising that the conversations get heated, and it's inevitable -- but unfortunate -- that sometimes things get a bit out of line. It's natural: To adapt an expression of Frank's, sometimes people's fingers move faster than their consciences do, and some personal barbs, less-than-humble tones, or out-and-out insults fly. I know I've been guilty of at least the first two of those a time or two, and I've apologized for it. If I've missed anybody in those apologies, consider this post another one.
But I think that for all the hand-wringing in this thread, the simple reality is that on balance, the SZ isn't bad at all. There might be some bad blood here and there, but that's going to happen in any forum in which people's opinions are discussed (for example, while I'm mostly a lurker in the aviation forums here, I'm
quite certain the same phenomenon -- or worse -- happens there as well). It's one of human nature's perhaps unfortunate -- but inherent -- traits. But on the whole, the totality of the arguments that take place in the SZ represent an erudite, informative, respectful, and sometimes even lighthearted and fun body of discussion and debate that I personally haven't encountered anywhere else.
Ultimately, I don't share the suspicion that the issues we've seen of late are indicative of any actual systemic problem or conceptual flaw; I think they're to be expected. The community here has grown, the volume of SZ posts has grown, and so should it be expected that the number of issues would grow. Perhaps they've grown non-linearly with respect to the increase in volume, but that's more accurately attributed to the current political environment, IMO, than any possible shortcomings in the concept of having a place to discuss issues that are inherently more heated than flying.
In short, I think it'd be a tremendous waste and a genuine shame if we were to have to say sayonara to the SZ simply because of predictable issues and a foreseeable (and very likely temporary) increase in the occurrence thereof. I don't think tossing out the concept as a whole makes any sense at all, and I think the tools and resources are already in place to effectively manage it. If that effectiveness isn't there, then the problem is with the specific tools and resources -- not the concept.
Anyway, that's all I have to say about that.
