These are just suggestions. They are *not*, as some calling for the reinstatement of posting limits or more stringent "rules" or "moderation" seem to want, restrictions or demands. React to them as you will:
* When reading people's posts, think about *intent*, in the Castanedan sense. What was the *intent* of the post; that is, what did the poster hope to accomplish with it? Did he or she *intend* to uplift or help people, or did they merely try to dump on and demean someone? If the latter, do you really want to reply to what they wrote and thus become a party to that *intent*? * When responding to other people's posts, cast a thought or two before you press the Send key as to what your *intent* is. * When reading other people's posts, give a thought as to whether anything in the post is *original*, or has anything to do with the poster's actual real-world life. Do they share with you some adventure or spiritual experience they've had *recently*, or are they lost in the past, or in theory, intellectually masturbating to concepts they've only read about or heard about, and never experienced personally? If the latter, what can you ever expect to learn from interacting with such a person? * When reading other people's posts, try to discern whether or not the poster whose post you're reading is trying to "win" something. If they are, do you really give a shit about the 'war' or 'dick-size contest' they're trying to "win," or is it all in the poster's head? If they're the only ones concerned about "winning," click Next and move along. Leave the fighting of the petty ego-wars to those who believe they actually exist. * When someone posts the same tired old putdown post that they've made a thousand times before, with only the name of the intended victim changed in its latest iteration, is there any reason to respond? If you can't think of any, why respond and add to the repetition? Allowing the person to *demonstrate* their obsessive compulsive disorder is usually more effective than trying to answer or counter it. * If a person who has a history of being chronically angry and nasty seems to get the *most* angry and nasty when the people they lash out at ignore them and don't respond to or even read their posts, isn't that a great reason to *keep* ignoring them and not responding or reading? They've already revealed the thing that bothers them the most -- their greatest fear, that people will treat them as if they don't exist and as if nothing they ever say could possibly matter. Seems to me that the best thing one could do to deal with people who think like this is to help it come true. Happy New Year, and happy posting...
