Where has the respect gone?

Unfortunately, life is entirely made up of varying degrees of good and bad, and that includes Agon.

The upshot? There seems to be much more good here than bad. Loads of knowledge, experience and camaraderie.

Yes, there are some knuckleheads, disruptors and detractors, but by and large, I feel like it has been worth my time to hang out here. Besides, the price of admission is pretty reasonable, don't you think?

Ezekiel, thanks for your post on this topic. It is valuable to consider. Spates of rudeness in the Audiogon forum threads seem to come and go, but usually the conversation here seems to me much more civil and respectful of others than some other places on the web. And I think that is because, largely, people posting here maintain a high degree of respect for each other when crafting their responses. It is not always the case, and sometimes a thread will totally degenerate.

The key to maintaining civility, in my opinion, lies with each of us who participate on Audiogon. I think we have a shared obligation to step in and "name it" when conversation becomes disrespectful of others or when personal attacks start up: to point out the inappropriate behavior specifically, describe why it is inappropriate and ask that it stop. Each time any one of us avoids doing that, we give license for that poor behavior to continue and to draw others in.

None of us should be "the forum police," but I value the comraderie and respect for each other that exists most of the time here on Audiogon. So, over time I've decided to be willing to step into conversations to name bad behavior that I think is destructive of this thing I value. And I've been pleased to see others join in doing so as well. (Lugnut: I think you and I may have different takes on the resolution of the interactions you describe, but I agree it all seems far better in recent weeks and I hope it will continue on this more civil basis.)

As you said so well:

"Let us all remember to respect the other person and let this stay a fun job, hobby or whatever it my be to you! Remember it starts with us all!"

To which I would just add, don't turn aside from the hard work of pointing out behavior that consistently is not civil or not respectful others, because the quality of the forums is up to all of us.
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Nicely put, by one of the most polite, honest people I have ever had the pleasure to deal with.

I agree with the people above who said kill them with kindness and they will eventually leave, or be weeded out.

Regards!

I would like AudiogoN to be the place that you describe, Ezekiel. It would simply great - friendly people, knowledgable, fun to deal with, etc, etc.

Reality is that it just isn't going to happen!! It's just the way we human beings behave towards each other (particularly in the West) when a lot of us get together in 1 place. Sort of like living in a big city (NYC or Chicago or LA or SF or Boston). People in these big cities couldn't care less & like some of my friends say "people won't even piss on you if you are on fire!" The Orient (as far as the USA is concerned) is generally far more people-friendly & tolerant but with the globalization of economies, I'm sorry to say that, it is changing for the worse.
The larger AudiogoN becomes, the more distant people get as there is a bigger probability that one could be wronged in a transaction.
To AudiogoN's credit, there are some very, very nice people who still frequent this place for both discussions & sales. I've had the privilege to deal with them & my many thanks to them for those smooth transactions.

Anyway, what this means to all of us is that we have to communicate more & figure out for ourselves if we want to deal with that buyer or seller. IOW, we'll have to adapt our techniques for a growing, far-flung AudiogoN. Nature of the beast, I'm afraid.

I wish that I could eat my above words & hope for an improvement of the situation!
FWIW. IMHO. YMMV.

It's very easy for people to hide behind the anonymity of the Internet when posting to these forums. Some people may just get more argumentative than they normally would in person. And I agree that as the size of the audience grows the more impersonal it becomes. But it also only takes a few scoundrels who regularly post rude and negative posts to give the impression of a general lack of respect.