Dignity and Respect - please read

Members,
I would like to ask you all to reread the posting guidelines.

You may disagree with someone if you do so respectfully. You may think that you have the moral high ground and wish to tell someone that you are more correct, proper, PC, or whatever than them, but you must still be respectful of their opinion and attitude even if you disagree with it strongly.

This is a place for discussion and information sharing. Any attempt to gain control of the "proper attitude" will alienate others. We have many extremely experienced people here and we come here to share that experience. When one person posts over and over argueing that there's is the "correct attitude" it is destructive to the process of debate, it is also against the rules.

I have my attitudes, and my opinion and I try to offer them up gracefully without the need to belittle others, because I know others have equally valid ideas, even if I personally think they are crazy or improper or disagree with hem.

Just a thought. The debate guidelines may become more strictly enforced if required to maintain a polite and open debate platform.

Thanks for your time. You will see if you reread this that it is the opposite of a personal attack. It is a request for civility between those that disagree. If you can't be civil, don't post.

Jim -

I agree with Jim. The moderators are now discussing this among ourselves and if need be we will take action to maintain the intent and spirit of these forums. Some of us have been here a long time, which is how we got to be moderators in the first place. We don't have any vested interest other than having an enjoyable place to meet online and discuss hiking and backpacking.

We recognize that this site has members with varied backgrounds and levels of experience, but no one is right 100% of the time and constantly belittling others for their opinions is not what we want to see here. If someone is factually wrong, fine, let's see a correction, but if someone does something differently than you do, that does not mean they are fair game for personal attacks by anyone here, regardless of how long you have been a member or what you know.

If you think you are right and I disagree with you, I will point out why you are, in my opinion, wrong. BUT, that doesn't make you a bad person or me superior to you just because we disagree. The only exception I would make is if I read something that I know is wrong and if followed by a newbie, could, in my opinion endanger them. Then I will be more agressive in pointing out why that particular piece of advice should not be followed.

My advice-read what you post before you post it. If it isn't something you would like to see written about you, don't post it here. There are plenty of other sites that revel in name calling and all of that, so go find one of them.

In case you're having trouble finding them (the link is at the bottom of the left hand column on this page), the Forum Policies are here.

OG, I agree with you 100%, but it goes the other way also, show a little respect and you gain respect. That's true for all of us, whether you're on this forum or any where else in life.

If you come off as haugnty here, you're probably an arrogant person in your "world", and people around you feel that way
And if that is true, then it's probably true on this or any other forum.

Just an opinon, I may be far off the track, and if so, I apologise ahead of time

J.

Actually, you can show class and respect even in the face of people who don't share that vision. And when we do that, it does make these boards better.

As a new participant of these forums and a relative newbie to lightweight hiking, it makes me extremely happy to see this discussion taking place, and feel more positive about sharing my own experiences and questions. Too often the anonymity afforded by the internet permits people to interact in ways that wouldn't be acceptable in "the real world", making people like me just less interested in participating, and I think it's a sign of a healthy community that this discussion is taking place in the public forum involving moderators AND members. Rock on!