Well, I have been out of the loop of the community for the past few months. I apologize. However, what I want to know is-What happened? Last I was there, people used to be nice to each other, now suddenly there is so much hostility I can barely visit the forum anymore! So, this is more of a rant than an editorial. I'm not going to name names of offenders, because you know who you are.

I know that a lot of new people have showed up. Some of them have been nice, some of them haven't. This has caused two problems-Jerks coming in and stirring up trouble, and jerks (and even regulars) making fun of new people. The former happens more often than the latter, however.

Case in point-This month's interview. I'm disgusted with the responce on the board. Apparently, a lot of people didn't like Woodarts. That's fine, but he asked to be interviewed, and we gave it to him. The interviews are NOT a place to carry out virtual flamewars. It's already bad enough they have constantly showed up in other posts, but even AFTER we told people to stop posting insults, they persisted.

Second, Kara Ann Vortex showed up. She had been the butt of jokes for a long time, before showing up. I had guessed when hearing she showed up, people would stop. Instead, they CONTINUED, with some really rotten posts coming up aimed at her. Guys, what ever happened to being constructive? I'm glad that others showed up with more maturity to help her out and calm her down, but the jokes were uncalled for. I didn't read them all, but I've run through enough.

Even while I was still posting regularly to the forum, the Dracoa incident came up. Guys, why do you have to resort to using swears and childish remarks in response to someone who is obviously trying to get you angry? This is called "Trolling." Can you please try to grow up?

So what happens when someone arrives and throws out insults and tries to ignite fights? Do what they do on newsgroups-IGNORE THEM. If you argue back, they're going to keep it up. When they've caused arguments and a flame war, they know they've succeeded. Please, guys. Don't respond to trolls.

Next, no matter HOW you feel about someone, don't stoop to their level and start insulting THEM out of nowhere. Why does that make you better than them if you come out with attacks on other people when they haven't done anything? Easy-it doesn't.

The hostility on the board has me apprehensive on returning to the community again. I seriously hope that I have misunderstood the situation, but I really miss the old community where everyone treated each other with respect. Let's try that again, to make the forum much more friendly, before we start chasing people away for good.