[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Maybe I just have a far different memory of the old CD than most...

It was far harsher than the CD I see now. I see a lot of folks complaining at people being too harsh or disagreeing with opinions. But none of that is new.

A quick waltz through some threads found several of these "trustees" saying some pretty nasty things. I'm not doing this to call them out, merely to point out that it's always been this way and that saying "Let's go back to the old days" is at best a pointless thing to say.

Andrew has a lot of truth in this, especially on the technical information that over time proved informative enough that a business major could learn enough to be dangerous. I know Dave laid the smackdown on me here on at least one occasion--but I deserved it. I don't find any fault with blunt, well-written come-on-you-guys discussion when a person knows their stuff.

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

In high school my friends and I used to joke that we would be able to better present ourselves to colleges and scholarships committees due to the fact that we spent so much time on Chief Delphi. We were ripped apart so often for poor spelling and grammar that we made a large effort to try and present ourselves in a more professional manner. In fact, I still think a lot of my internet writing style comes from thinking "How would Andy Baker try to communicate this?".

My post count here on CD is...high, but it would be thousands more if I posted every post I aborted because I couldn't hit that level of quality. Not even just spelling and grammar, even the thoroughness of my research or argument. The spelling and grammar seem to have improved by my seat-of-the-pants measurement, but it is something that we have to keep an eye on as a community. I speak from experience: this is a very, very marketable skill in any profession.

Originally Posted by Duncan Macdonald

While we try to keep CD moving forward a couple of things that I would advocate removing/reducing:

-Reaction gifs. In a community consisting of freshmen and rocket scientists we are going to say/learn something that someone else finds simplistic or wrong. In my opinion reaction gifs rarely contribute to the tread and are sometimes used to intimidate or belittle others.

-When people say If we really have less then 10 people generating meaningful content can we eliminate this forum rule? Or can you just green dot 9 other somewhat useful posts? Posting this often feels like people wanting attention for sharing opinions or being a good person.

Reaction GIFs have their place in my eyes (sparingly, and generally as an alternate form of praise), but I will say something about reputation. According to the CD control panel, my reputation-giving power is currently 622 points. That's a large swing for a user with fewer posts, which may have a greater effect than I might deem necessary. That colors my decision to leave positive/neutral/no reputation on a post. Your mileage may vary.

Posting this way also has the secondary effect of a public endorsement, which can have its own effects on discussion. I'd agree that an in-depth reply is better, but nobody's perfect.