Foxy,

I would be pleased if the tone was raised a notch or three at which point I would promise to not call "The Mad Monk", "the Mad Monk".
:).

Ok, the naughty corner for me :(...again.

Dear Examinator,

As I've said in my earlier post -
if we played by the rules consistently, OLO would
become extremely dull.

To raise the bar on any discusion is up to the
individual to do.
I admire posters like yourself, Pericles, Bronwyn, Pelican,
and Belly, - (just to name a few) -
for their ability to stay focused.

Of course that's not to say that I don't enjoy
jousting with challenging posters like Col Rouge,
Antiseptic, and Houellie - (again, just to name a few),
all of whom can surprise .

I'm a great fan of OLO and in all honesty - I wouldn't
really change anything about it!

Recently I had a post deleted and was threatened with suspension. Thats ok but now I find myself self censoring and even not posting. I have written three posts in recent days that I have not posted for fear of offending and getting into trouble again.

One of the problems for me is if an article is boring or staid I am not that likely to get fired up to post a reply. It is the "flaming" type of articles (like lord moncktons) that get me fired up enough to post and then it is likely I will say things that could be construed to be offensive and hostile. Should it be allowed for authors to "flame" away but not posters? I have seen quite a few articles here that could be considered "flaming" and plenty of posts that reply to them in kind.

This forum has always been pretty robust and thats the way I like it. We all have different views and I like to hear other peoples thoughts on things. I dont mind if people disagree with me or even call me names etc. It shows they are passionate and thats a good thing even if you dont agree with me.

One thing that was mentioned is that there is a dearth of female readers/posters apparently and some feel this may be due to the "flaming" that regularly goes on here. What do the females who do post here think? Is this too much like a boys locker room for you? Does the flaming that goes on put anyone off and why?

Dear mikk,

I'm sorry to hear about your recent experiences -
and trust that you're now OK?

I think that on the whole OLO is pretty balanced
gender wise. There seems to be a pretty even
mix - of males and females.

Flaming does occur from time to time - but that's
to be expected on any discussion Forum. It's
the anonymity in internet posting that gives
some people sheer pleasure to deliberately cause
offense by personal attacks and insults even though
they know nothing about the people they're attacking,
and they wouldn't do it in a face-to-face situation.

Some people think its funny and entertaining to annoy
or anger people and provoke emotional responses.
I've learned the best way to react is to not respond.
If they don't get a reaction - they usually move on.

It can be very difficult at times - I've been brought
to tears by some of the nastiness I've encountered in
the past - and it's during those moments that I've had to
take a break - and leave for a while.

On the whole however, I try to keep discussions centred on
the subject as much as I can. And not fall into being
provoked. But as I've said before - it's not always that
simple or easy.

Anyway, I hope that you're feeling better - and know that
you are a poster who's highly respected!

Johnj,
[1] For once I agree with Col - divergent views keep us thinking and maybe changing our minds .

[2]Graham probably does a good job with the delete button.

[3] Swearing and abuse belong somewhere else .

Foxy and Mikk,

Keep on Posting .

I reckon most men don't mind combative female opinion on different subjects .

Hairy armpits or perfume - I personally like a usually different, thoughtfull female perspective to a fairly predictable and sometimes abusive male response .