Quote Originally Posted by WOXOF
Allright, I'll tune the transponder off of 7500 for a minute here Shelby07.

I'm glad you decided to stick around. You seem like a stand-up guy who has a lot to contribute to this BB. I think that once you get a feel for the members on here and see how many asshats come and go each month, you'll realize why Pguy got the responses that he did. I'm not a big fan of name calling and neverending flaming either so I normally will stay out of it.

I come here to learn and talk about cigars. I personally can't stand to see a 5 or 6 page thread bashing some asshat and then only see 2 or 3 replies to a legitimate question regarding cigars. You'll soon see however that we have to be suspsicious of new members at times in order to protect the small chunk of cyber space that we have. The occasional flogging is a neccesary to keep things in order.

I don't believe you have to "walk on eggshells" around the FOG's either. Just be yourself and show respect for the guys that help build and contribute to this forum.

Good thread, it shows a lot of maturity and class to handle it this way.
Were you being hijackd???? (I think you mean 7600 )

One thing I can say about this place is that there is a lot of good information here if you look for it. I haven't looked for too much that I couldn't find. So, I guess, to be active on the board people talk about things other than cigars. That's a good thing. I guess it is inevitable that sooner or later someone will step on someone else's toes, intentionally or not, and the fur flies.

I am kind of surprised at the passion that appears on the board too. Being an Italian born and raised in the east coast I can understand it, tho. I find it hard not to jump in and shoot off replies right away. I have found over the years that it's best for me (knowing my personality) if I just walk away for a while and think about what I'm going to say or do before I make a reply or take action, and what the consequence might be. The trick, for me anyway, is to stay on point and ignore the emotional aspect. instinctively, that is very hard for me to do. I can usually figure out a way to say what I want to say without screwing up too bad. I didn't do that when I walked away from the board last time and realized pretty quickly that I screwed the pooch. I just got hot and fired a response without thinking what the consequences would be. After thinking about it for a while, I realized what GG was saying to me. So now I have resolved to get up, walk away and think about what I want to say before I reply to a post and which way my reply might move the thread.

The other unique thing about message boards is that everyone on the board is included in all conversations. We tend to forget that as we are writing. Right now I am replying to you, but our conversation is very public and it's easy to piss somebody else off without thinking or even meaning to. We are just not used to that. Of course, the inevitible outcome is that someone will get pissed, shoot off a reply, receive another scathing reply, and the race is on.

I get your point about asshats showing up occasionally. The trick is going to be not pissing on each other during the heat of the conversation. That's hard not to do.

All in all, though, I am enjoying the board and lots of the people on it. I hope with a little discussion we can make it even better, and I hope I can be a part of that.

On an off note, you've heard the old "squak altitude" story, haven't you?

Mark