Since obama was elected, I’ve seen an increase in posters who made comments that were odd. They were later pointed out as newbies or zotted. I recall saying to someone on a thread that it I would have to start checking sign on dates before engaging in debate or comments for a few that I didn’t recognize. Usually they were ‘outted’ before I replied. On the other hand, sitting back and observing for awhile is very telling.
There is a harshness to a certain percentage of FR posters that I dislike and that I think takes away from the seriousness of the serious debates. (As a poster of many silly pictures and dumb jokes, we'll leave that part out of it!)
I've been posting since November. It's still hard to know when to punch the abuse button unless it is so obvious that *everyone* would punch it.
I'm still learning the ropes but a little bit more adherence to the forum rules seems appropriate to me if we can do it without becoming the PC-style speech police.