Audiophile Priorities and Recent Topics

Rent free.

I kind of look at this forum as a local watering hole where like-minded people meet. The occasional off-topic conversations don't bother me much. What bothers me is when someone can't handle his beer, gets belligerent, and then starts with personal attacks. 

What bothers me is when someone can’t handle his beer, gets belligerent, and then starts with personal attacks.

Like feeling so threatened they they start a thread with the same title as mine purely as an attempt to belittle my input and message? Yes, I get it and couldn’t agree more @oregonpapa

Hopefully mods will step in and stop this immature nonsense.

Off topic posts here replicate the all too common general off topic meandering of most human conversation. At least with social media you don't get the interruption and finishing of your own sentences with someone else's thoughts.

I'm increasingly disturbed

Others here also have noticed that you are growing, in your own words, "increasingly disturbed" at a number of well meaning audiophiles who have been on Audiogon often for several decades. Most of us have never had a hint of confilict or had a post deleted in our entire time on this forum, until recently.

Often people feeling disturbed speak to someone who can help, rather than report to the mods. The answer may not lie in a new cable, speaker platform, or fuse.

Nature of the Internet. This is a form of social engagement in addition to providing information. There are often dialogs within larger discussion threads between participants. Totally off topic- I’d look for a mod if you are a thread starter, since the point is to stay on topic, but I don’t mind some cordial banter, some humor.
I think the tendency to get into political issues has become more of an issue for me but I’ll just ignore the thread. (And for what it’s worth, yes I have views, but don’t post them).
I think the end goal of this thing is a community-- not to sound kumbayah about all this, but we help each other or try to learn something, or just post a query. I’m not quite sure what else there is to say on the subject.
This is not a heavily moderated forum in my experience (I guess unless somebody complains).
I’m not even sure if I started a thread that I have control over irrelevant posts by others. That might be an option, but disagreements are rife in this, as in any other pursuit, so that risks allowing the thread starter to eliminate opinions or views with which they disagree.
I think we can have discussions without rancor.
In scrolling through, I see this mirrors another thread on the same topic, I guess as a counterpoint. Shouldn't these be consolidated into one thread?

So everything doesn't matter

I try to pretend I’m in an actual room with actual people and actually had to take responsibility for what I say and whether I attempt to hear them out. I don’t always do this, but that’s the goal.

Various posters have gotten under my skin more than a couple times, and I have lost my cool. I've tried to apologize for those times.  I realize that I can do the same to others, so it's practical to forgive. And after all, we're trying to let audio -- the thing we came together over in the first place -- be the ever-dominant guide in what we say and how we say it. Because if this forum didn't exist, we'd have to invent it again!

First of all. Guilty.
Now that that's out of the way, I don't think any amount of discussion will change things in a meaningful way. The only thing I've ever seen that kept any online forum clean and troublefree was serious and consistent moderation. And that's a tiresome chore for those involved. In lieu of that, I can do my part.

Like feeling so threatened they they start a thread with the same title as mine purely as an attempt to belittle my input and message? Yes, I get it and couldn’t agree more @oregonpapa 

Agreed. If one didn't know any better, one would say you're living rent free in his head.