Ok. It seems that a few people have misinterpreted the meaning of my last note. I’ll make another attempt to clear up any misunderstandings.
In retrospect, it seems I may have been a bit ambiguous. When I said that “Charter Members” are talking to “Charter Members”, it was in reference to threads like these. I said that I have/had read most of these threads, so that’s where I’ve seen the behavior. (I apologize if this was confusing. I posted early this morning, so sleep was lacking. I hit the submit button, so I’ll take the hit.) Obviously, as people join in this next month, they will be “Charter Members” (I think), so in other threads it wouldn’t be surprising as membership rises. But when “Charter Members” talk to “Charter Members” in threads like this, again acting as if they are superior by joining a message board, while thinking that those that don’t are “cheap bastards”, “whining morons”, or worse, it leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. This community is better than that… at least it should be.
I’m neither whining or a moron. I’ve not asked for and will not accept sponsorship. Libertarian and others that have contacted me via email, thank you for the offers. However, I’d rather your generosity go to someone in need. And again, for those of you who have asked, I have no problem paying for things on the internet, so I have no problem with what the Reader has done.
I suppose I could have chosen not to respond to this thread and just gone away, but I thought it might be worthwhile for folks to read why someone may not be leaping at the opportunity to join. At the end of the day, this thread will close, the board will go on, and so will I. Unlike many, I do not believe the board will be doomed. It will change for sure, but I don’t see it shutting its doors anytime soon. But in the spirit of “fighting ignorance” (whether or not it’s the ignorance you want to fight at the moment), I chose to post to supply a perspective.
I, however, do consider this place to be a great corner of the internet, where people from all over the globe can add to the knowledge to those looking to learn. About anything! I worry that restricting membership to those that pay will reduce the pool of brains to pick from, reducing the overall mission of this board. Time will tell. And not allowing anyone to search will not only cause redundant posts, but will keep new folks from learning the power of this board… the compiled knowledge made up of years of questions, answers, debates and opinions of some fascinating people.
I will leave with a thank you to all of you who have made me think, given me an answer, a new perspective, or made me laugh. The only common thread here is the english language. Other than that, I’ve learned something from people that I probably would have never interacted with ever were it not for this board.
SFP
“We all inhabit this small planet… we all breath the same air… we all cherish our children’s futures… and we are all mortal.” - John F. Kennedy
)
