Hey everybody,
Let's not make a mountain of a mole-hill. The content that was removed was light-hearted banter. Perhaps illy-considered, but well short of "shaming". There was no judgement cast by anyone. There was no malicious intent.
Over the last few weeks I have had to deal with forumites being offended more than once, and frankly it's been a drag. A few things I've observed:
1. We can all work on being more thoughtful about what we post. Despite this being a fairly small forum populated mostly by middle-ages guys with a common interest in building and playing guitars, there is still a certain amount of diversity that needs to be considered and respected when posting.
2. We can all work on being less sensitive. Content that runs contrary to our own world-view does not require us to be offended. It's a choice. It's true that certain things rise to a level where one must say something, but often I see that bar set way too low. Usually the more productive reaction is to seek to understand the other person's true intent.
3. When we seek to understand other people's true motivations, most of the time we'll find they are not the two-dimensional monster we imagined them to be. People are more nuanced than that. I've found that most of the time conflicts like this come down to people's tolerance for humor.
4. Nobody gets to claim the moral high-ground. Everybody's view is just as valid as the next person's. Some who were offended in this thread have been the offenders in others, and they had no mean-spirited intent either. Sometimes you accidentally step on someone's toes in a crowded room. It happens despite our best efforts to work around one another, and it's not the end of the world.
You may not agree with what I've said, and that's fine, but I think we can all agree this thread needs to die.
