Why is abusive, negative content allowed?

Trolling is utterly pointless and I think it is too much to expect the moderators to jump in all the time to stop it. Rarely, I have had some very critical posts about me and it is unpleasant, but we are all big girls and boys, so suck it up.

It is a good idea if other people on the thread, who haven't
been trolled, tell the poster to put a sock in it, or get off the thread. Everyone has a right to be wrong headed, I am sure I am most of the time.

There was a great notice up in Richer Sounds, a budget UK electronics company, which said.

" The customer is always right, even when he is wrong, the customer is always right."

• I’ve used the report button once.
• amg56 is right to ask that we stay on an OP’s topic — at least initially — but some tangents go to really interesting places.
• "Friction" is how we challenge one another’s misconceptions or faulty reasoning. But b_limo is right to call out those who cross the line into meanness or pettiness. Still, before I hit the report button, I try really hard to be charitable to see if the style of the response is intending to instruct. (But many of your are right that there are unquestionably cases or occasional patterns that betray malign intent.)
• While this is not something to censor, I tend to skip past posts which answer a question by merely mentioning a product they happen to have bought. Unless a list has been called for by the OP, shouting out gear names without reasons is a big time-waste. (Even a little history -- "I had A, then, B, then C, and C was better for x, y reasons" -- mitigates this problem.)
• As lg1 points out, I don’t like to be harangued because I asked a question that’s been asked before — I do try to research my questions before taking people’s time up with them. That said, some posters have been very helpful by gently reminding me to go look at an earlier thread. That’s been great, and if that ends the thread for my own post, that’s just fine. I’m really posting to get answers, mostly. not just shoot the sh*t.
• One thing which has kept me on the forum is that in the few times I was flamed for my question, I just held my tongue and then others came in and redirected the conversation back to my OP. There are some good sheepdogs around here — and I’ve typically sent them a private message thanking them. This has lead to some nice private exchanges for me.
• Final opinion, I really decry irrelevant political commentary and sniping. One thing which has been a true godsend to me about audio is the apolitical nature of it. It relaxes me to be, for once, in a space where politics won’t crash in and set tempers flaring. It’s also reassuring for me to think that someone who’s political views I’d disagree with could nevertheless teach me something about audio — that we have common ground, after all.