Since my supply of both napalm and flame retardant underwear are running low, I thought I would offer my personal opinions on what has become a topic of issue recently on FT.

The problem that we face is that people do not know how to attack a position or idea without attacking the person who promulgated the idea.

We are a rather opinionated group who often has the opportunity to debate issues where we see the same set of facts from diametrically opposed positions. The challenge is to be able to share your thoughts without disparaging the people behind the opinions.

How foolish a person looks when you lay into someone and then find another post by the same individual with which you agree. We may agree - we may agree to disagree - but we learn more by being a community than anything else.

In my 6 months here I could never hope to be able to articulate what I have learned - I hope that I have been able to share in return some of my knowledge since this give and take is also the basis of our community.

So, in the sprit of "he who has not sinned cast the first stone", we all would do well to remember that people will have views that do not fit our own - debate the subject and not the underlying people. My rule, which I hope to studiously apply in the New Year, is to never post anything I would not say to a person's face. It is SO VERY easy to get rather vitriolic when you are typing, but civilized people would not do this in person.

Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for allowing me to join and become part of your community.