[California98Civic]

I love debate and I completely agree that identifying errors is fair, but how we do it matters a lot.

"You're an idiot" is an obvious ad hominem that'll degrade the quality of a debate quickly. But if we were to declare to people that what we think are their errors arise from the fact that they can't read or don't have a proper or complete education then we're only slightly less clearly attacking them ad hominem. That would not be "nice" either--even if the errors were really errors. I think it is useful for this community's success in attracting new ecomodders (of the skilled, learner, and dreamer varieties) if we "police" our own tone and make sure it does not unnecessarily chase people away--or alienate folks already here. I don't think just ignoring people is good enough to be attractive to prospective members or for retaining those here. I can ignore a thread or writer too, but it would be counter-productive for this site if ignoring each other became a really common practice.

I don't think I have said anything controversial or even all that original. I just think it needs to be said. Let's just "be nice," as Metro suggests.