There is a glimmer of joy and discovery in the responses I have received from my first ever post, but overshadowed with an overwhelming sense of disappointment. I was expecting enthusiastic discussion and sharing of knowledge about a subject we all have some enthusiasm for. Instead I got a really heavy dose of interpersonal attacks, peevish self interest, bad manners, and typical grumpy old man behaviour. I have been accused of being a grumpy old man myself far too often, so I aspire to better behaviour. I'm not sure I want to hang out on a site that is dominated by bad behaviour. Offer me some encouragement please.
I spend a lot of time reading old threads on this site, and the members here are a huge wealth of information. Unfortunately, this place is used as a battle ground sometimes. It's ugly, hurts the site, and paints an ugly portrait of a supposedly polite armed society.
It's best to ignore the cancerous arguments and focus on replies that are directly made to the OP, though I find that hard to do at times.
