Why did the boards split? Short version: It seemed like a good idea at the time
I'm sorry, James, but I have to say something. It's incorrect to think of it as one big fight. It was a series of stupid little ones that flared out of control, and two fairly distinct groups emerged. There'd be a spirited discussion, with maybe a few people being nasty (or perceived as being, which is effectively the same). That would simmer down, but... when the next disagreement came, it reminded everyone of the last flap, and the same two sides (more or less) would end up shouting at each other. I could tell you what the fights were about, but that's really not important any more; when tempers are hot enough, any provocation will do.
That went on (intermittantly) for about 18 months. Oh, plus the end of that was March/April 2003, and there was a lot of Iraq-related tension that wasn't directly related but had lots of people on edge. When everyone was sick enough of the sniping, a group of us started talking about just opening our own boards and getting out of a bad situation. It seemed like the two groups were not going to be able to co-exist peacefully, and it's a big Internet, so... we came here. We were very worried we'd be seen as "the bad guys" but decided that it was worth the risk, because we just couldn't stay where we were.
So, if we admins are sometimes a little paranoid
about the possibility of lively threads getting nasty, it's 'cause we've been there, done that, did *not* like it one bit.
PJ
