RE: the question: ":Why do forum interactions become contentious". . .


I've just had a very unexpected and very unpleasant PM from a forum participant. 

He'd been suggesting I buy a certain component  and I told him politely that I didn't visualize that particular purchase fitting in with my long-range plans.  

His response was to accuse me of wasting everyone's time and to call me an "effing idiot" (except he spelled "effing" correctly). 

The great majority of interactions I've had here have been very enjoyable and recent input from
more experienced forum members has helped greatly in clarifying my plan for the next upgrade cycle. 

The thread on lesser-know Jazz has been great-- lots of participation and lots of terrific suggestions. 

Nevertheless, I've decided to take a break. 

Best regards,

Stuartk



stuartk
Unfortunately that’s human nature on social media where interaction is hidden behind a keyboard.
I wonder if the interface was changed to zoom or some such where real people can be seen, behaviour would be more respectful.AG. 🇦🇺
I suspect a mass Zoom forum would still have the 'chaos factor' involved.  That, and a major 'hit' on the AG server....;)
I'm sorry this happened to you. Remember that most people are not that rude. I am also sorry about your health issues. Take a break if you want to, listen to some music. Music is the best!

Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is THE BEST.
- Frank Zappa
We'll "see" you when you come back.
Post removed 
@stuartk
Don’t let a few jerks spoil your enjoyment. Hope you come back soon - we need more "considerate, respectful, thoughtful" folks on this forum so that we can all benefit.

Often, it’s surprising how narrow minded some folks are in this forum. Many of the contentious posts are from people who think that their truth is the truth for all. In fact, it’s not their truth but their perception. Everybody’s perception, preferences, hearing, audio chain, room modes, power quality, transparency, noise floor, etc etc is non-identical, so it’s evident that what one experience may not be the same for others. Like most men think their driving is above average, I think many audiophiles think their hearing is superior - this means many are overestimating their sonic acuity. The best we can conclude is that if enough voices say that a component performs a certain way, then chances are the component will perform similarly in one’s own system - there are no guarantees. This includes cables. Speaking of cables, there also seems to be an immature resentment of the high prices thus a few folks become anti-cable spending ignoring the performance improvements that better cabling provides. Many of these folks rationalize that it must be a placebo ignoring testimonies - placebos don’t work this way and people aren’t easily fooled when parting with significant money, in fact I’d argue that discernment increases with increasing cash outlays.

Also, there seems to be animosity towards MC on this forum. People with hair triggers waiting to jump on MC, although MC seems to provoke sometimes as well. I strongly suspect that the vitriol on this forum regarding Tekton speakers is directly related to resentment of MC who seems to default to only Tekton speakers and Raven amplifiers as the best answer when in fact there are many preferences and ways to achieve superior sonics.