Oh my! What has happened?
 

What has happened? This site used to have such good responses to questions, and concerns fellow Villagers have.

Lately, the responses have attempted to be sarcastic in nature, try to make a joke, or otherwise, belittle the original poster. I am not pointing to any single person, or topic, but a general trend.

I've subscribed to this site for over 4 years, and found it to be quite useful, adding insight to the many of the issues and concerns of fellow Villagers.
Let's please try to get back on-track, and be more considerate of the OP.

Give the masses an anonymous (well almost) platform and this is what will happen. Just look at the vitriol on the Internet in general. The more people that sign up the greater the chance of having some nasty ones.

Sometimes it's good to laugh.

I admit I am more skeptical than usual and I am sorry. Sometimes making light of things is good and sometimes changing the subject with humor is good but sometimes people really do want to be serious.

It used to be a great site.

Only a few people on here can really be anonymous. Us Top Ten posters in quantity anywhere are fairly easy to identify.

I try to get good information when I can and only remain skeptical about things when they are not multiple sources to an OP's ideas.

I still feel that this a wonderful site for information about the Villages. It does leave a great deal to be desired in the Political Section but that is mainly because everyone is anonymous for the most part on there except for a few times when genuine handles come up or you can recognize people by a motto they use.

I don't like rumors or innuendo...I find them trite and unnecessary when coming from fully formed adults with decades of experience. When I read a post that is a "I read this somewhere..." or "so and so said" then I call the person out to verify what they posted. They rarely do and our lives(what is left of them)don't need the stress some people perversely provide by chicken little proclamations. I find it insulting and self serving.

Am I angry? No...just intolerant of ignorant behavior designed to instill anxiety and provide self worth through internet acceptance.

Maybe this site can go back to being gentler and kinder but I think there needs to be more transparency. Those of us that have been on for a long period of time can pretty much know one another, (at least by their posts), so we have a good idea of where people are coming from. Some have become very good friends.

Some anonymous posters want to stay that way so they can say what they want to say, without being confronted face to face. In my travels about, I have met people who have asked me if I am "2BNTV", and I said yes, and they were very pleasant.

If more people would think before they post, maybe some people's feelings wouldn't be hurt so easily. If more people would stop before they hit the "submit" button and say to themselves, "is this something I want to put out to the public at large", maybe things would get back to normal.

That's my opinion and I stand by what I say.

BTW - This has been going on for a long time.

totally agree. My mother used to say "if you can't say something good about it, don't say anything". I try to adhere to that. I estimate I don't read more posts than I do. Ignoring is very helpful at times.

As usual Joe, you have it right and I agree with you other than for remaining, or wanting to remain, anonymous. I prefer to go unrecognized although there are a couple of people I chose to know me.

It used to be a great, fun, interesting site, now it is none of those things. Although we do get some interesting medical topics. Great pity because it was the first thing I did with my coffee in the morning.

Also, in my humble opinion, it is now a Garage Sale site - too much "junk" for me to wade through. By all means use the site to sell, but please have a separate category, don't have it mixed in with day to day topics.

My favorite subject!
Discussing the actions of the minority representation as a general condition.

Most (pick a number, I choose 97.473856%) do and say the right thing(s).

Papa, I think you are right. Just recently the OP requested information. Several posters responded. The OP came back in all caps and asked if anyone read their post. I responded that is the reason I often don't respond to posts. My post was removed. The all caps post remained.

No comment. Actually, just one---this thread needs to make a distinction between nasty, degrading and insulting responses and humor(whether you personally find it funny or not) There is a COMPLETELY different intent behind each of these types of posts, they cannot be lumped into one. And as Forrest Gump said, "That's all I have to say about that"

Agree, tired of it.