[targa911man]

I am one of those old-timers who has not posted as much lately, but it is a reflection on changes in my life rather than dissatisfaction with the board. Weekends tied up with kids in college and a weekend home keep me from a lot of the weekend-intensive member activities, but I still try to keep my foot in the door with the occasional flame, sarcastic comment, or ignorant question. One of the things that has been the board's strength is that people are serious and dedicated entusiasts but do not lose perspective, i.e. we all know there are more important things in life than (dare I say it?) Porsches. Sorry, I mean 911s. This helps to keep us a community of equals, which keeps it a community of mutual respect. We may give advice to one another about what should be done, but once the individual decides what to do we support that. If there is a "golden rule" on this board, I would say it's something like "It's your car, and the most important thing is that you be happy with what you do to it and in it." It may sound simplistic, but I think basically all we do with the board and its related activities is make each other more happy with our cars, which is mutually rewarding.
What I see on other boards is that sometimes people get too much of an emotional or ego stake in what's said. Ironically to me, these people tend to be the most protective of their anonymity, yet they become the most upset and abusive when they disagree with somebody else or someone disagrees with them. If boards required the member profile to have accurate personal information--I'm not talking about address and tel. no., just who you are and the city/state you're posting from, a lot of the nastiness would disappear. My name and city are on every board I'm a member of, and I don't post something I wouldn't say in person. And I don't send nasty PMs to avoid public scrutiny. Some people who do that justify it by saying they didn't want to embarrass the person publicly, or that because the comment was emotionally charged it was not appropriate for public posting, but it's interesting that they only do it to people they never expect to meet face-to face. Along those lines, because this is a local board and we meet in groups frequently, we put real names to real faces and know not just the city, but the individual house each other lives in--so we pretty much have to take personal responsibility for what we say here. I don't mean to imply that we are a bunch of jerks who would trash each other if we thought we could get away with it, it's just that personally knowing the people you're posting to (in front of the community) is an incentive to be civil.
I don't know exactly what occurred to trigger Charlie's reaction, but unless it's someone whose opinion I value and who I know, I personally am not going to get bent out of shape by a post or a PM. I would hope other Dorki would take the same attitude. If an unknown or unmet member is being disrespectful to other members in posts, I think we can just let it go in one ear and out the other. I think joining in the fray just keeps it going and rewards the initial rudeness. The worst thing to do is to respond in kind. We know who posts helpfully and who has gotten their hands dirty with us under our cars. We can expand the Dorki circle with down-to-earth people like ourselves, and I don't think the occasional foray of troublemakers into the mix will put a significant damper on things. They don't have the courage of their supposed convictions, and it is extremely unlikely any of them will be there when one of us is in need, so why worry about them?