Well, I was just tempted what I did was to unsubscribe, once. Then I had another question, but was given the same treatment so now I’m gone for good... I don’t care if there’s interesting stuff or if I can contribute some, it’s just a hostile circle or i-dotters and t-crossers, life is too short
That's the right decision on your part and it speaks well of you. Nonetheless, that doesn't change the fact that your negative reaction has consequences and those consequences may be harmful to the forum. They have not only lost a potential member who was interested in the subject, you are here complaining about the forum in question, just as I am here testifying to my dreadful experiences with Metafilter.
It's really challenging to pin down cause and effect for social phenomenon. It usually isn't as clear cut as "Flicking cigarettes out your car window while driving can start a forest fire." But I wonder a lot about the cause and effect of social events and how to mentally model them.
Much of Georgia is split nearly 50-50 between blacks and whites. Other races represent a tiny fraction of the population. Years ago, I saw a TV show that traced the origins of gang violence in Atlanta to a small number of Hispanic children being treated badly at school by both whites and blacks, which meant almost everyone treated them badly for being the wrong race.
On the show, they interviewed some of the original members of the first gang. One of them said he joined because he was tired of being scared. After he joined, he no longer needed to be scared because now people were scared of him.
Online forums are real social environments. What we say and do on the internet can lead to serious real world consequences. People have married others they met via an online forum. People have been fired from their job for comments made online.
My recollection is the gang violence in Atlanta could be traced to just nine Hispanic kids who simply were treated in a very unwelcoming way and who just could not make positive social connections no matter what they did. You don't need to mistreat all that many people to lead to a metaphorical conflagration.
Our actions have consequences. For good or for ill, those consequences often come back to us.
