More & more it seems to me that pilots, the world over, are more interested in point scoring of fellow pilot by calling them names, rather than being respectful colleagues, who might disagree on a point but can remain civil in disagreement.
Not just pilots, unfortunately. The same thing is happening across all industries and even in science (particularly in contentious fields like nutrition, climate science and evolution) which was supposed to be the last bastion of logic and reason.
One of the 4wd forums I frequent requires all members to have a registered signature accompanying all posts. On that forum the incidence of rude and disrespectful posting is a nano-fraction of what it is here on PPRuNe.
Unfortunately, as you rightly point out, anonymity is a necessary evil in an employment based forum. There's a reason so few public servants (or ex public servants
) post on forums like these:
CRIMES ACT 1914 - SECT 70
Disclosure of information by Commonwealth officers
(1) A person who, being a Commonwealth officer, publishes or communicates, except to some person to whom he or she is authorized to publish or communicate it, any fact or document which comes to his or her knowledge, or into his or her possession, by virtue of being a Commonwealth officer, and which it is his or her duty not to disclose, shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) A person who, having been a Commonwealth officer, publishes or communicates, without lawful authority or excuse (proof whereof shall lie upon him or her), any fact or document which came to his or her knowledge, or into his or her possession, by virtue of having been a Commonwealth officer, and which, at the time when he or she ceased to be a Commonwealth officer, it was his or her duty not to disclose, shall be guilty of an offence.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years.
That's why you don't hear much from CASA etc. Most of you don't face these draconian penalties, but you could face dismissal or disciplinary action if your compnay found out what you were saying about them
.
One of the reasons PPRuNe succeeds is because of its anonymity. Without that, many people would be too scared to post, and IMHO a certain amount of faff and dick swinging is a small price to pay for the quality information and opinion that still gets published here.
People come and go from bulletin boards for many reasons, and of course anyone may choose to leave if they don't like the way the board is run. There is also a natural attrition from boards as people come, read/post for a few years and find a certain sameness to the arguments after a period of time (moderation has come up a few times before
). That's their perogative, as is going to a restaurant, hobby group etc.
There still seems to be a large number of active members here and new members every day. 'Post quality' is subjective and influenced by nostalgia, but we're obviously still here and reading, so it can't be too bad...