at the top, and upfront, i do not think, nor believe that any one person's opinion is more, or less, important than the person who arrives next.  what i do think needs to be addressed is the delivery of whatever opinion you may have if you're so inclined to share it.  mostly i don't come into the forums because of all the endless bickering... no scratch that - it's not really the bickering but the sheer amount of venom that exudes in the bickering, and i just don't understand it [nor do i need yet another person to point fingers at any labeled "troll" as that only adds to the pile of smelly stuff that's so pervasive already].

i'm not saying to stick your fist in your mouth whenst someone walks all over you, as each person is responsible for teaching others what is acceptable to them and how they wish to be treated.  just as how we teach people around us about ourselves by the way we comport ourselves.  we all have boundaries which need respecting, even in conflict.  without respect, for others, but p'raps more importantly for yourself, you can justify your own poor behaviour and easily allow yourself to mis-interpret someone else because of feeling defensive all the time rather than even allowing for the possibility that you've read things not intended, and it just becomes an endless cycle.

i sit back and try to picture all of us in an actual room together, try to imagine just what that would look/be like - in reality, and not just some 'i'm safe here at the other end of my modem' snarky imagined POV.  i mean just because you're sitting behind a monitor does not alleviate one's responsibility to interact with others as they would face to face, or without some form of decorum.

i'm here to try to learn a thing or two... or 20,000, but i'm frustrated with having to sift through so much detritus just to find a nugget beneath a haystack. [again, i wish to thank those in this thread for clarifying a number of things for me.]

and here, too, i sit back and think about this --   what if i were a new user to Poser, or a new resident of Rendo, or both.  and yea, now i have my own little Poser newbie forum, but am i the type to stay in my little corner of Poserverse? absolutely not, so i come exploring... and oops!! i wander into this forum, or this thread, or, well, take your pick.  and i have questions, i want to learn, my manual says something i just can't figure out on my own, or my tutorial is saying "do this" but the "this" doesn't exist that i can see.  now how in the heck am i potentially going to feel posting my question[s] after reading through x-number of threads that have so much bloody negativity?  well, of course, i can suck it up, and who knows, maybe i get help and pleasant help at that, or maybe not.  or maybe i feel so intimidated, or feel concerned about being put down or maybe jumped on for my ignorance, i don't ask for help.  and maybe i find someone in the galleries and instead ask them my question in a sitemail.

regardless, the bickering hurts everyone, from those who willing participate [i see that as poor self-respect so it only reinforces that feeling and one is hurting themselves]; to those who stop coming because of the lack of sense of community even though they have so much we can learn from and/or feel inspired by; to those who read, get turned off and never bother to come again, because without "new blood", ideas eventually just become too derivative [look at the box office as of late with all the sequels]; and to those who might feel quite sapped of creative energies simply because wading through the forum, well, it can be emotionally exhausting at times.

as i said in another post, i think posting concerns or thoughts on the new release is important.  and even though i've never used DS, i too am interested in the DS opinion of what they see... [excellent point, Nanette]

there can be value from everyone as long as everyone's intent is TO ADD value.

[edited because i forgot a comma and to BOLD text in my last sentence] :o