Sadly because social media has given access, a "voice" and a platform/forum to anyone and everyone. Due to the safety and relative anonymity of sitting at a keyboard rather than engaging in person people who would otherwise never be aggressive or in your face feel empowered to bully, "shout" and impose their opinions on others, often aggressively. Factor in the era of "selfies", constant bragging and boasting, one upmanship, being able to continually show off and come across as experts on every possible topic large or small, real or imagined and here's where we end up. Am I cynical ? Yeah, but I totally believe it's true.
RE: the question: ":Why do forum interactions become contentious". . .
I've just had a very unexpected and very unpleasant PM from a forum participant.
He'd been suggesting I buy a certain component and I told him politely that I didn't visualize that particular purchase fitting in with my long-range plans.
His response was to accuse me of wasting everyone's time and to call me an "effing idiot" (except he spelled "effing" correctly).
The great majority of interactions I've had here have been very enjoyable and recent input from
more experienced forum members has helped greatly in clarifying my plan for the next upgrade cycle.
The thread on lesser-know Jazz has been great-- lots of participation and lots of terrific suggestions.
Nevertheless, I've decided to take a break.
Best regards,
Stuartk
He'd been suggesting I buy a certain component and I told him politely that I didn't visualize that particular purchase fitting in with my long-range plans.
His response was to accuse me of wasting everyone's time and to call me an "effing idiot" (except he spelled "effing" correctly).
The great majority of interactions I've had here have been very enjoyable and recent input from
more experienced forum members has helped greatly in clarifying my plan for the next upgrade cycle.
The thread on lesser-know Jazz has been great-- lots of participation and lots of terrific suggestions.
Nevertheless, I've decided to take a break.
Best regards,
Stuartk