On the contrary I have found this to be around a thoughtful and reflective thread. My own observation was that the breakdown in common civility began in the 1980s with the rise of Fox news and and other media that, shockingly, encouraged interviews where people actually talked over each other did not politely listen to each other’s comments. At that period of my life I was active with a lot of public meetings and gradually began to notice the same behavior manifesting itself in small town public meetings. People were emulating what they were watching on TV and thinking it appropriate. Ironically I think much of what we have considered common courtesy in modes of address stems from periods when the consequences could be dire. I am thinking of the American West where men commonly were sidearms and earlier in Europe when every gentleman carried a sword as part of his attire. It was important to not give offense unintentionally.
Dealer affiliations and attitudes, assumptions and lack of respectful engagement in audio.
When I started in Audiogon 20 years ago it was a different place. There was pretty civil discussions with fellow audiogoners. There were audio dealers on the site and there were also hobbyists and it wasn’t a big deal. I been on the dealer side/business side the last 7 years. Here is what I find. A lot of us tend to be quickly negative and nasty to those who disagree with us. We don’t have the sharing of knowledge spirit that we used to have. A lot of us want to show others how much smarter than we are than them. In addition to that there seems to be an attitude that if you are a dealer you gotta be shilling instead of just telling the truth. More importantly there seems to be an attitude that audio is the only thing you do. I have a firm in my professional life that I have ran for 25 years. I’m smart enough to know you never know who you are talking to. I just think audiogoners have repeatedly started to step over the line and become HABITUAL LINE STEPPERS and not engage with the necessary level of respect. A lot of us in the hobby just want to meet and have positive audio and music experiences. Not rage debate! WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS EVERYONE?