First off, this is a post from me as a participant of the community. I generally try to avoid being an admin here socially, as this community should be what the people make it, not what I or a few others try and force it to be.

I can see some parts of where Rob is coming from. And I think some of it is due to the difference in free time some people have. I know some people here browse frequently, due to downtime at work or whatever. Others visit less often, once a day, or once a week even. Sometimes the opportunity to make a counterpoint seems lost as the thread has moved on. And with the quick reply at the bottom and some peoples misuse of it, the threaded views don't work well to bring back old points for active discussions.

The quick replies can also put people on the defensive quickly. And this can lead to irritation and fatigue when visiting, as they feel they have this uphill battle to fight just to have a fair chance at sharing their side.

On a more personal note, this is one reason I left the IRC room a while back Tony. What started as me just simply poking fun in a lighthearted way at a parking situation at work involving fuel efficient spots turned quickly into me having to try and defend my situation. This happened early in my morning, at work, with my mind somewhat tired and also being inundated by the days first requests. The mix did put me into a hostile and defensive mood, to the point I decided to just throw in the towel and leave. You appeared to have a goal of proving me wrong, in regards to a situation that started as a joke, or at least thats how my mindset at the time interpreted it. I've seen situations here that mirror that feeling. I bring this up to offer perspective, not as a way to make an attack. I personally don't care about it anymore, nor hold a grudge about it. It just turned into my sign that the IRC room wasn't for me during work hours, and during non work hours there isn't much activity. I reverted back to participating with you and the others here, on my own time and schedule.

The lesson from that for me was to stop multitasking so much, as it is distracting, and leads to misinterpreting a situation due to it lacking my full attention. I now try to read these boards only when I have a fair bit of free time, to make sure I can give my full attention to the words others have typed, and to my own replies.

Over the past year or two, I've been adopting a much more care free attitude, and it's helped a lot. I'm trying to get out of the somewhat common geek nitpick mode, letting the smaller things just not get in the way. I suppose in part it's just part of my own maturity growing over time. I hold this community dear, because it has been a major part of my adult life. I make very few apologies for my past stances on things, but hope people don't also hold me to the mental state I was in when I was still technically a teenager with some of my early posts. And yeah, sometimes I'm a bit unstable, leading to situations like my stress meltdown around this time last year. Backing away for a few months helped, and I'm glad the admin community here is still strong enough to allow me to do so if needed.