It's unfortunate when I have to come into a thread and lock it because some, not all, of the members involved choose to publicly post personal dislike and/or attack, or respond with the same.

It's very unfortunate when I have to do it with a thread as informative as this can, and has been. It's not a feel good for me for sure.

However, there have been actions both publicly and behind the scenes to help this thread stay on track...with some success.

If you have a personal issue with another member here that's posting within the guidelines, take it to PM please. Posting personal dislike, or responses to that, with flames disrupts the experience for those who want to relate, share, communicate. It doesn't just upset the member you have a personal focus on in the moment.

If someone posts a public attack, or flame, please refrain from responding and report the post. Responding continues the conflict...fuels the fire. If you don't like someone, or something they've said on a personal level, send them a PM.

There are many more reading and attempting to respond than just the person you might have personal issue with.

If public flames and attacks continue from this point, they will be removed and the person(s) involved will receive a PM...regarding either initial perceived attack or response in a flaming/attacking manner.

Please keep it supportive. Remember, if you don't like someone or their posting, you can place them on ignore to get the most of your experience. You can report their posting if it's against the guidelines. You can PM them your upset. There are many tools to use that enable you to be heard and interact here *within* the guidelines for the benefit of the whole. Members have really good tools to control, to a huge degree, their experiences here.

I know it can be difficult when we're feeling anger or upset, or even a deep passion about something, NOT to reflect that in our posting. It's OK to disagree, it's OK to show that passion, it's OK to show that view from the other side of the fence. What's not OK is to take it to the level where it becomes a personal attack in perception of the reader. It's at that point we should back away for a few, click that "red x" for a bit, take it to PM, gripe about it with another, whatever your need might be to keep from posting publicly something that can be considered hurtful or flaming for the whole of this forum.

This is not to one particular member involved in this thread, and many have kept their posting within the guidelines. In fact, that's why I'm loathe to lock it. However, I feel it best at this time.

Thanks,

KD