And said:
A lot of cavers get their info from elsewhere, as they've been put off by this forum, as it is dominated by a few overly angry "mano-pausal" men, as you're nicely demonstrating. :spank:
True.
The Old Ruminator said:
... People with odd opinions should be appreciated and it means that more forum talk is generated by such. One has to be careful not to be too rude or offensive .... Lets face it the forum would die if it became bland and agreeable to all....
True.
Both And and OR have made good points, and together demonstrate that a sensible balance between care and bravado is perhaps the thing to aim for.
What do people hope to gain from joining any forum such as this?
There are probably as many reasons as there are members. Condensing this to a few categories (together with my own views on each):
1 - Find friends and contacts - no problem here at all.
2 - Use as a channel to promote useful information, especially if you represent a caving-related body. Like key changes! Great.
3 - Ask for advice and help - excellent reason to join up, even if the reason goes once you have got what you wanted.
4 - Promote your personal project, aims and objectives in the caving world. This has the potential to be a problem! But can be a positive thing, of course.
5 - Promote your group's interest (rather than your own) to other cavers. Go for it.
6 - Primarily to confront others - this probably won't end well, especially if deliberately conflated with "promotion of a personal interest". But confrontation is not always a bad thing, provided it is done responsibly.
There is no easy way to manage this heterogenous mix of reasons, or the people concerned.
It is probably those in groups 4 and 6, and the bad interactions between them that deter everyone else from contributing, and that might be evident in the matter of the CSCC key news.
If everyone tempers the way they get involved, maybe the forum would work better?
The opposite of what OR said is also true - if there is too much confrontation, it WILL kill the forum.