+1
I agree completely and said exactly that every time someone whined about a Gun Rights thread being posted on the Doublegun forum. But that was never enough. Certain folks, some who I feel were anti-gunners posing as gun guys, kept complaining until Dave would move the thread. Some were drawn like moths to a light and couldn't just look and then move on to something that interested them. They had to whine and complain to Dave. They acted like any information they personally didn't like would overload the servers and cause the site to crash. I could probably buy a pretty nice gun if I had a dollar for every time I responded, "Just don't click on it if you don't like it."
Some preached about the lost civility of the olden days. Well, one of my earliest posts here, a double gun question, was met with insulting derision from one of our now deceased elder statesmen, a guy I grew to like, though it wasn't easy. A couple others chimed in because I had the gall to innocently ask a question that had beaten to death over the years. I guess I was supposed to read the entire archives before asking a question. Being fairly thick skinned, I let that roll off my back and persisted and learned a lot that you just don't find in gun books. That wasn't a singular isolated incident, and I saw the same happen to others. I soon learned that the oft remembered civility of the olden days was nothing more than selective memories.
As for the frequent charges that many good guys have left because of incivility, I say bullshit. And I'll take crude honesty over polite dishonesty and hypocrisy any day. Most who have left either died or became too ill to post. One guy who left was roundly chastized for accepting a screaming deal on a small bore higher grade Parker from a new poster in the For Sale section named Grandpa's Girl. Even after Grandpa's Girl made a thread dedicated to explaining that it was her conscious decision to sell the gun cheaply, no one who was critical and accusatory ever offered an apology. I never once said a negative word in any off topic threads until now. I still haven't complained to Dave. But I wanted to illuminate the sheer hypocrisy and disingenuous behavior that masquerades as civility here.
Thanks for helping to make my point.
