Open letter to a few people here

[limr]

I'm a totally unbiased newbie....and I must say that we should all get along. That doesn't mean we have to agree with everything someone says, but do it tactfully. Respect is earned. I learn a lot from all the forums I peruse. More than I can contribute. I hope that stays the same for a long time, and I'll be more than happy to share what little I do know. I respect everyone on here, and hope everyone can do the same without letting petty arguments get in the way of learning. Nice meeting all of you, and I hope this can be a productive forum.

I'd like to just get this post seen once more.

A lot of you may take umbrage at how Robin went about this or even that he feels this way in the first place, but the truth is that some folks here don't take things too well when someone disagrees with or challenges their ideas. There are also quite a few that DO know how to disagree respectfully but sadly enough, many of those posts get drowned out in all the chest-pounding and posturing of those who just want to prove their alpha status.

Sometimes the derailed threads can be fun to watch - I am guilty of the occasional rubbernecking, I admit. But really, it would be much nicer if the disagreements did NOT descend into the "I'm right and you're wrong! I'm not listening anymore! LA LA LA LA LA!" schoolyard spat.

 

[ratssass]

...ahhh sun morn tpf

 

[rexbobcat]

Geez Freaking Louise.....................................................There are some people around here that take themselves far too damn seriously. This is photography for gods sake, it's not freaking brain surgery, it's not feeding starving children, or finding a cure for a terminal disease. Hell it's not even rescuing an abandoned puppy or kitten. It's taking freaking pictures. Yes for some it may be their lively hood which is serious to them, for others it's a mere hobby which to enjoy they take serious to get results, but get over yourselves and quit taking yourselves so damn seriously. Frankly the 1,000,001 thread on whether photography is art or not, doesn't really amount to $#!& in this would. It saves no lives, it feeds no hungry, it provides no clothes to the naked nor does it give heat to the freezing or cool to those in repressive heat. While a photograph may be enjoyable to look at, so is a new born baby, so is the smile on the face of a starving child that has eaten a good meal for once, so is the expression on the face of family and friends that have just learned that their loved one is not going to die. If that first caveman that picked up a stick from the fire and drew those first crude drawing on some cave wall would have know that this is the kind of thing his simple act of pleasure was going to turn into he would have pissed on that drawing and washed it away.

Using your soapbox to rage is dumb too.

 

[Overread]

And that's quiet enough since it seems everyone is starting to want to turn this into a personal rant at each other thread.