[RushCrush]

We would all be better off if we would ask the other party what he or she thinks instead of telling them.

Exactly. Just like e-mail, it is difficult to tell the tone of something you're just reading on a message board. I think there is a lot of defensive-ness (is that a word?) going around. Much more so than there used to be here. People aren't ALWAYS trying to insult or ridicule.

[beyond the sea]

Exactly. Just like e-mail, it is difficult to tell the tone of something you're just reading on a message board.

Yes, most of us cannot write well enough to be totally understood (not meant to be critical, just honest). Something is always lost on the written page.

We should all just slow down and stop making so many suppositions about others' ideas before getting it clear.

I think there is a lot of defensive-ness (is that a word?) going around.

Yes there is. But unfortunately that defensiveness sometimes manifests itself as offense.

People aren't ALWAYS trying to insult or ridicule.

Certainly not.