respectfully blunt vs outright blunt

i have been largely absent from this message board of late. the reasons aren't important. what is important is what i am seeing now that i am starting to be more active again.

this thread is partly triggered by:

Frogboy - Doreen - I hope you remember that next time you read on SKinbase another extremely nasty post by ChiChiGirl that attacks me personally multiple times even though I'm not even involved on the issue nor was I ever involved on this issue.

this is in the thread called "John Grunger Part 2". this is not the only reason, but this is the "straw that broke the camels back".

i have been at this message board almost since the day it was born, and before that i was active at several of the Stardock news groups. i feel that over the last year or two, this message board has become far less friendly and respectful. i am seeing many examples of people being blunt, if not out ride rude to other people.

/me *considers how to try and explain what i mean*

looking at the quote, Frogboy is being blunt, but not rude. realistically, who would not be blunt under these conditions? at least Frogboy is responding in a reasonable and adult manor. the question remains though, why should he have to put up with "extremely nasty" and personal attacks? i am presuming this is an accurate description.

most of the people at this site and message board are adults, at least in terms of their biological age's. yet there seems to be so many posts that simply lack adult respect.

now, there are times when a blunt reply was called for. eg, if someone is here offering or asking for warez. however, simply because someone offers up an opinion you disagree with is no reason to be that blunt with them. of course, this does assume that the all party's in the discussion are listening as well as talking

i don't have any immediate solutions, but i do see this as a problem. this message board just doesn't seem like the friendly and welcoming place that it used to be. if this gets much worse, i am going to be tempted to suggest the site admins start banging heads together in private. this would probably produce a load of "i am being victimised" threads, but if it produces a general increase in the level of mutual respect at this message board, then i think it is probably worth it.

/me - a cat who is getting fed up with all of this, and just wants wincustomize to be a happy and friendly place once again.