^I'll agree with nearly 100% of that as it stands. The niggles I may have with it are minor, and most likely just things lost in the translation to text - as tends to happen in forum discussions. There's nowhere near enough bandwidth for super deep online conversations without a lot of preliminary groundwork being laid down first. And that doesn't happen too often - although one of the things that makes DoCo so great is that we have a community here who understands each other well enough, and displays such a high level of courtesy and respect, that we manage to avoid the silly arguments and nonsense that goes on in most other places the minute a discussion gets serious. That's pretty rare finding that environment anyplace. And it's even rarer finding it on the web.
As far as topics go, there used to be a local radio talk show around where I live that used to say in their introduction: "Our lines are now open. And the topics are
yours to choose, and
ours to discuss."
I think that pretty much sums up my philosophy about what makes it appropriate for me to put my tuppence in. I generally don't broach sensitive topics with strangers, although I may occasionally do so with a friend or friends.
However, if someone decides to bring up something with me first, then I feel what follows falls completely within what's 'proper' and 'polite' to talk about.
But that's me. And my way of thinking about what constitutes an appropriate subject for discussion doesn't quite coincide with some current notions about "correctness" all the time.
But so it goes. Stick around long enough and you eventually discover that even the generally accepted rules of etiquette start to change.
