I have participated in FlyerTalk for EXACTLY a year now, after a quick "baptism" at Higgins in PDX on March 4 of 2000. During this time, I have attempted to actively avoid and ignore any involvement with antagonistic or obnoxious issues, figuring that I am forced to deal with enough of this in real life. I occasionally subscribe to viewpoints that are diametrically opposed to those of other FTers, especially those involving language and censorship; sometimes I encounter just too many incidences of US-centric cultural predilections. But many of the folks who hold some of these opposing viewpoints are close friends of mine and, in fact, have become close friends as a direct result of my participation in this community. Folks, we all do not have to look at the universe in precisely the same way.

Once in a while, I have encountered a tone, either real or imagined that I felt was unsatisfactory or inappropriate. When that happens I generally do not respond and simply ignore the thread from that point on. For FTers who do this on a regular basis, I tend to skip their posts in general. There are not many cases like this and it is not particularly hard to do. I picked up this habit long ago after lurking for many years in rec.travel.air, where the noise to signal ratio is much much higher.

So to all of you fellow FTers, I offer you the fundamental wisdom that I attempt to live by, sometimes with various degrees of success. If you encounter a poster whom you dislike or dsapprove of vehemently, please try to remember this old adage:

"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience."


[This message has been edited by LarryU (edited 03-04-2001).]