I just wanted to give a heads-up that I added two new items to the BLF Rules. All the others are still the same:
That pretty much says it all. Constructive conversations, corrections, and polite disagreements are encouraged. But fighting is to be avoided at all costs. Whether it's you are somebody else who is getting hot under the collar, please drop the subject. It's just not worth winning an argument at the cost of disturbing the peace and offending others. And frankly, it's impossible to "win" a heated argument, because the other person won't change his/her opinion anyway. If the point of contention can't be discussed in a friendly manner, it shouldn't be discussed at all here on BLF.
Thanks to the majority of our BLF users that make a concerted effort to be peaceable. And thanks in advance to the small percentage of our users that tend to get into arguments for modifying their behavior.
[Edit: 27-AUG-2014]
I also added some boilerplate text. It's unfortunately necessary these days.
Thank you, sb! I agree, internet fighting is pointless and just upsets people. People seem even less likely to change their minds online than in a face to face encounter. Better to just all get along.
Very true! Must have something to do with the fact that we can’t read the other person’s body language and facial expressions. Sometimes in a real face-to-face argument, you can tell that the other person realized they were wrong (even if they don’t say so) and you can drop the subject with a feeling that you got your point across. On the Internet, on the other hand, it’s common to beat a dead horse.
Oh, and by the way, just to prevent problems in this thread, if anybody was planning on posting that meme “Fighting on the internet is like…”, please don’t. Although often good-intentioned, it’s pretty offensive and never comes off well.
@can: Good point. It is also counter-productive to defend or support either of the two sides of an argument. If a thread starts to get heated, the best way to handle it is to simply stop reading that thread and send me a PM so I can step in.
Maybe it’s electrified and they both tried marking it?
Invisible reasons that affect so many of us. I’ve gotten caught in it too. Don’t even know if I started it! Can’t remember. Tried walking away and talking about it elsewhere later. All seems well.
It does seem like the essence of the forum has been changing, can’t put my finger on just why. We do need to all remember we’re here in support of something we all like doing, and it really is that simple.
Edit: I should add that, like myself, a great many here are going through tough times with ill health and personal issues. It would seem that we have come together here in the first place because we’ve taken on this hobby as a self healing, time of peace helper…I know that’s how I use it and I know many other’s that do the same. So it’s even more important to be compassionate and forgiving as folks deal with major issues….something this life has been throwing around in heaping helpings lately.
What I think happens all too often is that people come here after being on other forums and bring with them the same hostility they get from other sites. If they are continually attacked on other forums by trolls/haters etc, they get defensive and see attacks where none exist at all. So they get snippy and it just escalates. I know that more than once I have seen an insult where none existed and just about behaved the way I would on other forums. I have to remind myself that this forum is not about fighting at all.
Excellent point. It’s always good to give the benefit of the doubt, especially in these difficult times. As a matter of fact, that’s why one of the BLF RULES is “Have fun.” BLF should be used for fun and recreation, I think we all have enough stress and rules and laws to follow in the outside world.
raccoon approved. :) 
on the internet…
