[CCIP]

I think the main thing is avoiding descending to the level of venom and general bad-spiritness. I think arguments and debates are a great way of community-building, as long as they're within bounds.

On the other hand, the other thing that could really use being reminded to people is that they should really remember what this community is about. I'm actually against a separate political forum because it'd only give the topics more focus and make people dwell on them more. This community nor any specific part of it should ever be about politics. Or the environment. Or big-time sabre-rattling of any kind. I think if people come here specifically for that, they should really reconsider why they're at Subsim in the first place. There's better forums for politics than this - but let's not kill the chance to have a good community outlet for these things, too.

Also, while GT can be a more persistent headache if one takes it very seriously, I'm glad to say that I never found it more problematic from the administration perspective than the much nastier things that happened between modding teams in the last couple of years - those were a lot more difficult, but I'm also glad at the approach Neal & co. take to those, mediating as much as moderating.

Also, don't overestimate the "power and glory" of the mods. They're members too, and most of us have very limited jurisdictions that Neal assigned us. I think all the mods I know have been extremely well-behaved, though at the same time I don't think it's fair to expect them to remain aloof of everything, especialy in parts of the forums totally outside their moderating area. Mods are human too!