Years ago when the first forum discussions were found on bulletin boards (remember them?) I made the earth shaking discovery that expressing the same opinions that fit nicely among my homogenous group of family and friends suddenly did not have 100% acceptance in a broader community.

My first reaction was to recoil and stop participating. But I soon learned that when reasonable people stop sharing their point of view, the unreasonable people start enforcing theirs.

So I watched quietly from the sidelines to see which reasonable people were most skilled at presenting their POV. Turns out that people who steadfastly address the IDEA while preserving everyone's dignity were consistently able to discuss ANY TOPIC without having it blow up in their face.

When people catch on to this simple truth, you end up with a whole forum full of respectful people who aren't attackers themselves, and who therefore don't automatically assume that others are attacking every time they say something.

The PGMusic forums have evolved into the good kind of place where everybody seems to understand that the only thing that works is to speak your mind in a respectful way, then don't start second-guessing the outcome. In a good group like this the outcome will generally be better than you could possibly hope for.

At least, that's been my experience on this forum.

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