Happy, happy, happy, happy.
Not. I've been away for a while, barely checking in to a few threads and the JollyR, and a few PMs. More recently I've found more time to play, and cautiously opened a few other threads to see what's new (they have a tendency to suck you in and Poof another 30 minutes of Life is gone).
Remember way way back, when the Game the focus, the Players were the perk, and Getting To Know a few friends closely was what drew you back every day? There was no whining (well, maybe a little), no faceless baseless bashing (or just a little bit), no over-the-top Nuclear Option reactions (by most), and no macho ego (well... never mind)? Ok maybe that never existed. But at the very least, we gave more benefit of the doubt and didn't assign every human response to a fatal character flaw.
I think we've become a family that have taken each other for granted so much that we have hair triggers for everything, and screaming tantrums when we feel slighted. Let's take a collective breath. Disagreeing is fine. Do we have to take Everything to the mat and start an online cat fight? No. There are better things to worry about. Sure I've been drawn into it, and made my own rants, so this is me too. But you know what? It doesn't matter! Let's back off, find some perspective, take one or two in the jaw and shrug it off.
And Clap Along. Dammit.
Manfred