Is it just me, or have there been an unusual number of incidents where someone flamed out and needed a bucket of water dumped on him by a moderator lately?

Any idea why?

Hi Seth,

Nope, not more often than would be expected given the recent influx of people on the Forge. Some of the over-stepping has merely been do to unfamiliarity with the guidelines (in practice), some has to do with the usual cognitive-dissonance with a lot of the concepts thrown around here, and some has to do with regulars reacting to either of those effects.

If there's one thing I'd really like people to do, it would be to write posts in some other program first, and really read over them before posting them into the Forge. Composing posts actually into the Forge window has a way of becoming dangerous:
1. Type concept X.
2. Respond, oneself, emotionally, to potential reactions to concept X (remember, you're still typing).
3. Repeat or alter concept X right then and there.
4. Defend concept X against an imagined assault, often without stating that assault.

Sure would be nice to see less of that. It lends itself to a much more insidious and difficult thing, which is the tendency to enjoy a state of being pissed-off. This is a common thing on the internet and I don't care for it much; the habits of writing that I describe above have, as I say, a tendency to evolve into this highly negative and self-perpetuating behavior.

Best,
Ron

My time of the month.

Mike