This is a good discussion.... a few thoughts....
It was Prof Mehrabian who pointed out that less than 10% of a message is conveyed by the words/content - especially if there is an emotional content... Forum posts therefore, missing the tone of voice and accompanying body language are very easily misinterpreted, particularly with regard to intent/attitude/mood of the writer - emoticons go some way to help this but are not enough to make up for loss of 2-way face to face dialogue.
In human communication the message received/perceived can often be very different to the message sent.. (Oh you meant "Land After Foxtrot" I once had to explain to a rather upset tower controller after I had nearly decapitated the grass cutter!!)
I would contend that whilst PPRUNE originally set out to be a "Rumours and News" site it has expanded massively and there is much content of an educational nature - reading a few threads on the Tech Log thread demonstrates this.
Anonymity seems to give some people license to write what they like and removes the accountability for their words and in a few cases license to to use an arrogant and/or aggressive style.... although in some cases this is misinterpreted.
I've discovered that to stay on PPRUNE and more importantly to contribute requires a high degree of emotional resilience and emotional intelligence - which is difficult to do when you have been flamed!!
Perhaps a rhetorical question... Is "Private Flying" a purely rumours and news thread or does it have an important role in making us all better/safer pilots?
I'm not anonymous on here and never will be and my contributions are made in the spirit of this - If I'm wrong then that's fine but I don't need shooting down in flames if I am - humour works best
