Originally Posted By: David Snyder
People,

I have a deep dark confession to make. I have visited a few other forums and thought I was going to have to check myself into a mental institution afterwards.

Crazy stuff. I will leave it at that and say no more.

I attribute about 100 percent of my growth as an artist over the past 3 years to this forum and the way it is professionally conducted. I am serious.

I am not sure people know how lucky we all are to have a place like this which somehow validates your talent and enables it to grow with gentle suggestions in a place where no one is God and no one is King.

It is not like that in the rest of the world.

I am very grateful for this forum and all the people here and just wanted to say that for 2018.

You are all a great bunch of people and you have helped me a lot.


Hi David,

You are 100% right about the affirming and friendly culture on this forum. What might be less obvious is that it is neither an accident nor a fluke.

Internet culture is a micro-version of world culture, and there are well-known principles that work to turn systems of anarchy (no rules, so the strong dominate the weak through force) into more civil environments.

I think the ideal system has few rules, so people can interact without worrying about walking on eggshells. But there is one key rule that seems to be enforced in systems that are characterized by civility: in every discussion, people must make their point without doing damage to the other person's dignity. Challenge the idea, not the person espousing the idea.

The people on this forum have understood that principle for years, and as a result, you rarely see the kind of personal attacks that are common on so many other forums.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ey71h8ep047758h/AAC12jNM0Hz9Q8zsh5iDeqNHa?dl=0