spectre

I'm going to go through the list and give my interpretation so I can try and figure out what this big arguement is about.

Being friendly to new members, as long as I have been around, this hasn't been a problem. Lately, I've noticed many members (several who have posted in this thread) letting someone know that they did something that was rude or just not allowed. This seems to be a nonissue since I've witnessed it before the creation of this thread.

I like to occasionally leave a quick, smartassed quip. It may not be as good as something that marco, bones, or phred come up with,but it's fun occasionally. But just don't make it the only thing that you do. I don't see that as much of a problem, just keep it at least a little balanced, occasionally adding something more than a quick joke in a thread.

Let's face it, many of us, myself included, don't want to go into a thread, then have to click on a link to an article where we get stuck seeing popups/unders when the article can easily be copied into the thread. Also, if you are posting a thread, there is a direction that you probably want the thread to take, it doesn't take much to add one's opinion to the article.
There really isn't much room for discussion when the thread is just asking for a list. A thread like that just seems very boring to me.
As long as I've been here, Hal's been trying to get more people into chat. He had to drag me in there just to tell me that I was going to be a mod. Now, I'm constantly in there. It's just an extention of the board that helps the members become better aquainted with one another.
Again, this is something that has been stressed for a while now. If you like something, let the poster know. There's nothing worse for a poster than putting for the effort and the time trying to do something for the enjoyment of others and not seeing any positive feedback.

The way I see this is basically "don't be a dick." Who wants to post a thread only to be flamed because someone else didn't like it or just felt like being an ass? Is Hal saying we aren't allowed to disagree? No, not at all. He's just asking all of us to show the other members the same respect that we would show to someone who was sitting across from us having the same discussion. Disagreement is what makes actual discussion occur. Being an ass and flaming is counter productive. If you've been here for a while and you are a recognized name (and you know if you are), your words mean more to newer members than you think they do. We don't want people coming here and seeing those who are the "regulars" here flaming and doing the things that are against everything the tfp isn't.
I know this isn't the easiest thing for everyone to do. We're not asking you to stand in a mall, holding up a sign with the url, but if there's a friend that you know would like the site, just give them the url, you don't have to tell them your username.

If we didn't like being questioned, don't you think that we would have deleted this post and just banned you? We would like nothing more than just kick back and browse the forum without having to worry about policing it. I would love to never have to warn anyone about flaming, but, as long as people continue to do it, the mods and admins will continue to try and stop it.

To me, it's very simple, by joining the site, you agree that you are mature enough to be here. You can be silly, screwy, or whatever, as long as you show enough respect to others on the board to just be civil in your discussions.

And from what I read in Hal's initial post, he isn't asking for anything different than he has before.

__________________
"Fuck these chains
No goddamn slave
I will be different" ~ Machine Head